This is why a Comfortable Life Could be an Illusion

[Adapted from my Forth Coming Book, "Turning Your Setbacks into Major Comebacks]

"The biggest risk is not taking a risk...in a world that is changing really quickly the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks" -- Mark Zuckerberg

"Where there is no struggle, there is no strength" -- Oprah Winfrey

So a few weeks back, I did mention that there is a group of people that you should show the window when they show up at your office or house. These are the bunch who are selling 'secrets to success' that require you to do nothing but 'pay a small fee' to acquire their proven and tested secret. Once again, show them the window, it is a faster way out!

Try sitting here all your life and let's see how it feels

Then...there is also another bunch of well meaning people. I have been in this bunch before. For some reason, this bunch is made up of 'spiritual people'. They are well meaning because they fully advocate for your comfort (read status quo). They tend to tell you what you want to hear, not in malice but in 'care'. Let me give you an example:

 More than a decade ago, a certain organization for which my dad was part of was engaged in an ugly tussle over money and leadership.

This religious organization would almost always guarantee the country of Sunday drama for close to a whole month! It so got to me seeing my dad on TV under those circumstances. So I sought counsel from a young Pastor. He told me the following:

"Everything is going to be OK. Your dad's organization will resolve this. Things will be very fine since you are a child of God"

Even as he spoke, my young mind did not grasp it. Yes, I needed counsel...but I did not need pampering. What he told me did not work...and frankly, from that day on, it has always been an embarassing encounter meeting him in the streets.

There is an interesting relationship between reality and hope, action and faith. There is a group of people who would want to dwell on hope while negating reality, and exist in faith while negating action. 

Again, like I said, this group of people are well meaning...but honestly I could say that they are not balanced. They could be ignorant...or less knowledgeable. Much as they are well meaning, it does not always follow that their advice will work.

The philosophy that advocates for a smooth like glass life from beginning to end is flawed, unscriptural and deceitful. In life, there are three things that are interestingly related:

• Reality: Especially when the reality you are facing is a crisis, you seldom want to accept it. You wish it was not there. Not accepting reality is living in denial. Living in denial effectively disempowers you from making quick adjustments that would initially put you on a path of recovery.
• Comfort: Who does not want a comfortable life? Who wants a life of struggle all the time? The paradox however is that without the struggle...where will the comfort come from? So if anyone is giving you a therapeautic advice that borders on maintaining your comfort and quitting your 'struggle', think twice before you take the advice.
• Hope: Hope alone is not a strategy. A good therapist will want you to explore some immediate options that you can take while you are waiting for your breakthrough to come. A crisis is not a stamp on your forehead that you are now vegetative, only the Divine can come through for you. Hope alone as a strategy makes you immobile and paralyzed, waiting for an outside force to help...or waiting for time to elapse so respite can come.

Finally...this thing about maintaining our turfs...and keeping life strictly within the way we want it to operate...I could say it is a lost battle. This is what Bill Gates said:

"In business, by the time you realize you are in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you are runnig scared all the time, you're gone"

I have come to realize that this is not just in business, but also in life...especially the life of a visionary. Makes sense? Share your thoughts.

Intelligence from Death and Bereavement [Video Inside]

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart" --Steve Jobs

Last month, we lost a colleague in a fatal road accident. The boy was barely 25...and was on his way to pick his graduation gown when he met his untimely death.

Naturally, everybody was thoroughly shaken and for a second, we were reminded of the fickleness of life. It is Casting Crowns who immortalized the scriptures by singing:

"I am a flower quickly fading,

Here today and gone tomorrow

A wave tossed in the ocean

A vapor in the wind..."

The Legendary MacElvis

In quick succession, last Sunday my wife came to the sitting room looking shell-shocked! She gravely announced to me, "Mac Elvis is dead!" I was seriously taken aback. Mac Elvis is the young lad who was the "New Artist of the Year" in the last edition of the Olive Music Awards in Uganda.

Needless to say, most people in Christian circles in Kampala Uganda mourned the passing on of this young visionary. Most of us had our profiles in Social Media painted with Mac Elvis' photographs as we remembered him.

My wife actually hosted Mac Elvis and three other gospel artists in our house just about a year ago. Now he is no more.

What made me do this post however is this sobering move that I just did with my facebook coverpage. I just pulled down MacElvis photo...and with it replaced mine and my son.

As I did that, I just wondered...is that how a life is replaced? By few clicks of the mouse? Forgotten? Gone? Isn't that just sobering enough?

I have been bereaved once. It pained so hard. The toughest part for me when I lost a brother was when he was lowered into the ground. What finality that was. What a cruel separation. Reality dawned.

So, as I pull down Mac Elvis photo from my cover-page, I have to say the following:

• Everytime someone close passes on, it is not only time to mourn, but it is also time to seriously review and consider our lives.
• Everytime somoene we know passes on, it is time for us to come back to reality and know how fickle our lives are.
• Everytime someone passes on, it is time for us through the mirror of their lives, to look at our own and consider their greatest regrets...as well as ours right now.
• Everytime someone passes on, it is time for us to look at our lives and find out any loose end that needs to be tied before our time comes.
• Most importantly, every time someone passes on, it is time for us to consider whether we are living to the maximum potential of our lives at the moment.

This was MacElvis last project before he passed on in an accident in a swimming pool while on Mission in Tanzania: It simply says, "Do not Give Up" in Luganda. What a timely message to leave behind!

I believe that everytime we attend a funeral, we should not just be going through the motions of the ceremony, but also accepting this as another wake-up call. Of late however, I have seen how the human soul has become more and more numbed everytime someone passes on...we grieve for a week..and then we revert back to life as usual!

MacElvis taught my wife and I the virtue of determination and consistency. With that, we will be embarking on our unfinished projects and kickstart them back to life again.

R.I.P Mac Elvis