Think about it, chew on it, spit it out & come to the light!

Happy Friday mon ami!

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merely existing

be a Conscious soul

make Conscious decisions

to Be

to smile

to laugh

to lead

to do Better.

be Conscious. be present. be alive.

be Conscious of your decision to make today Your Happy Friday.

But I did.

Fighting potholes, blackberry wipe-out disasters, lunatic bad drivers & getting harassed by the fat old guy with the oil stains on his t-shirt, there really wasn’t much reason for me to get out of bed!!

Fighting the bad experiences that come to you never result in bringing the good ones to you quicker, quite the opposite in fact.

In my wallowing and self-pity this week I missed out on:

• Glorious thunderstorms
• Continuing rise of the rand over the dollar
• Another amusing week from the comedian Malema
• Chocolate cake
• Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu official retirement

I could go on, there are so many blessings and miracles in Mzanzi. After a week of being oblivious to most of them, today, I am choosing to embrace them.

So cheers to being overwhelmed by love, laughter & hope of the great nation that we live in!

I am choosing to enjoy the sunshine today.

I am choosing to have a HAPPY FRIDAY!

The world will turn around the sun. It will spin on it’s axis.

Day will become night and night will return to day.

The tides will rise and fall. The moon will wax and wane.

The summer will turn to autumn then winter. Spring will come again.

Babies will be born. They will grow and live and love.

We were once, each of us, born and one day we will all die.

This is the nature of nature. This is our world. This is life.

Don’t let the sun rise and set without finding more, learning more, giving more, being more.

Live life so that when your end comes, Death will brag.

Share love – BIG love – for it is all we can leave to the world that matters.

And when, one day, the world no longer turns be sure you lived the most you could.

In this way, there are no regrets.

Happy Friday.

Malcolm X spoke of the Woman as the key to change – we rely on mothers to raise our children and they then become the hand that creates and shapes the future of our world. When a nation cares for their Women, that nation is making an investment in their future. If we take bold steps to better the lives of women, we will be taking bold steps to better the lives of children and families too.

The reason women were and are treated as inferior is because we treat ourselves that way. Women are always the first to put another Woman down. The competitive nature of trying to outshine, outdo, outrun one another at all cost will continue to keep us in the boundaries that we have created for ourselves.

So often we are forced to amend our behaviour and suppress our femininity to operate in a “Man’s World” or fit into the “Boys Club”. I always find it refreshing to find women, especially successful women operating and succeeding whilst doing so with the grace and dignity of a Lady.

We need to come together as Women and respect one another before we expect anyone else to show us respect. We are most harsh and judgmental of other Women’s actions and decisions. So why do we choose to continue on this path of destruction instead of supporting our sisters?

Are we not all human?
Are we not all Women?
Do we not all face the same hurdles of gender equality together?

Yes, yes, yes we do. The sooner we realise that we are all Women and we all face similar trials and tribulations, the sooner we start helping each other through these problems and learning from one another.

Our goals for this decade should be to strengthen families and societies by empowering women to take greater control over their own destinies. This cannot be fully achieved unless all governments – here and around the world – accept their responsibility to protect and promote internationally recognized human rights.

Whether it is while we are doing our hair at a salon, or walking together to fetch water from the river, we need to come together and talk about our aspirations and concerns. However different we may be, there is far more that unites us than divides us. We share a common future. And we must find common ground so that we may help bring new dignity and respect to women and girls all over the world – and in so doing, bring new strength and stability to families as well.

I am a daughter of South Africa and the spirit of Ubuntu says that my child is your child. We are all citizens of South Africans before we can be called doctors, bakers or bankers. We create the country that we live in. When we create a country in which every woman is treated with respect and dignity, every boy and girl is loved and cared for equally, We create a country where every citizen has the hope of a strong and stable future.

Don’t Panic.

Though it seems like problems and stress and failure seem like insurmountable barriers to your success, they’re not. You can always find a way – whether around or over or through the problem – there is always a way past if you just remain calm.

Stay Focused.

You have all that you need now. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be alive. So rather than focusing on what isn’t in your life, focus on what you do want. That way you are working towards your goals and not running away from what you don’t want.

Live. Now.

Life is for the living. Choose to be amongst them. You could choose to defer life to when you have more money or when you retire or when you lose those few extra kilos though until then you won’t be living, you’ll just be existing.

You could also choose to live now. Take life by the short and curlies. Chase your dreams. Live your dreams. Have a little fun. Have a lot of fun. Love some, care some, cry some and smile some.

Life awaits you, go get it!

From inanimate elements

it takes its lively form.

seeking more, it gifts breath to the soil

and begets more life.

Its creations are creative and

always growing.

So from primordial stew,

to luscious green plants,

to intelligence and intelligent awareness -

it flowers and

prospers and

adds and

expands into

This.

What a Miracle Life is.

Image courtesy of http://hiladybug.wordpress.com

I can laugh and sing and play. I can swim in the ocean and feel sunlight on my skin.

I can smell Jasmine blossoms blooming and rest in the Weeping Willow’s shade.

I can dance among falling raindrops and lick snowflakes from the sky.

I can hear birdsong from my window or the rustling autumn leaves.

I can stroll a city sidewalk on a warm evening or leap through a meadow of daisies.

I can hold a loving hand and I can embrace you so you know I care.

I can be a child and a father; a sister and a friend.

I can love. Surely this is life’s great gift?

I can simply be and for this I can be grateful that I’ve got life.

Happy Friday.

In a discussion that came up surrounding the Jo’burg production of the Vagina Monologues this week the discussion led to a statement by a gentleman unknown to me who said: “Violence is not something done by a man against a woman, it is something done by a person against another person.”

I was moved by this as it brought two points home for me. Firstly, we’re all just people – a hurt on one of us is a hurt on all of us.  And secondly, it is time for our species to start living in peace, tenderness and concern for each other, now. The expiry date of violence, abuse and neglect has surely passed.

It seems we have held on too long to these things and they no longer serve us. What purpose does an abuse, a rape, a beating, a molestation serve? They do not make us wiser, nor stronger, nor happier, nor safer. We don’t move forward.

Certainly if we are to become wiser, stronger, safer and move forward as a civilisation we must unite to create a just and safe society for all, now. It is time for us now to band together and end all forms of violence against all people and things. It is time for us to release our ancient barbarism and embrace our latter day civility.

It is time, now, to stand together for the safety of all men, women and children from the scourge of violence and abuse. Would you take up this challenge? Would you be a conduit for peace and a warrior to protect others?

Let us end this old era of violence and usher in a new era of peace. We owe it to our children. We owe it to ourselves.

Happy Friday.