Giving Way

It is said that the human body and spirit is build to absorb shock and endurance. We never really now what we are capable of as a people until faced with danger, tragedy or problems. This logic suggests that people perform at their best when faced with unusual situations because then they act out of instict and use intuition.

Intuition and instict are what gives us godlike status. Well, if you happen to be a spiritual person, you will understand that there are forces in the universe beyond logic. Our visible union with these forces is through memory, dreams and intuition. Whether you believe in them as an individual is irrelevant. Fact is that they exist.

The fair factor about life is that no one chooses what life should bring for them. Nor can we choose when these events are to happen to us. But central to all of life's undertakings is knowledge, understanding and experience. You will never be the same person after going through these events. Whether we choose to actually learn anything from our past is debatable. This is why the human brain can remember and hold memories for so long. So that we may remember what must be remembered, and that which has been learnt is forgotten and erased from memory.

Perhaps the most important thing about life to me is dreams. I have come to accept that dreams communicate messages to the dreamer. Much the same way nightmares do. The only way to stop nightmares is to understand what they are about and they will go away. Dreams unfortunately do not tend to repeat themselves too often. So as and when you dream you must endevour to remember your dreams and what meaning they hold for you. Of course some people say dreams are superstitious, but people will believe whatever they want to believe. Always reflect on your dreams and you will be a free person.

Having gone through the ups and downs brought about by life, I have missed some of the most significant messages brought about by dreams. And that is the biggest mistake of my life. We sometimes lead busy lives with not much time to ourselves. Wherever we amy be in life, every person needs the time to reflect and introspect. It is only by looking at ourselves that we get the true meaning of what our lives are supposed to mean. And the beauty of life is that your life means to you what life has brought for you. There is no need to be validated in what you are. And that is purity in its truest form.

Why exactly would I talk about life from a philosophical perspective in a biography?

At the height of my economic prosperity I forgot about the simple things in life like dreams. Sometimes I did things contrary to my instincts and feelings. When I began dismissing certain things in life as a nuissance simply because I had shut my understanding towards them. And the truth be said, no one can ever run away from the truth about him/herself. The majority of us black people tend to forget who we are the moment we make a success of our lives. And not being able to differentiate between yourself and your wealth is dangerous. So I stopped looking at myself as a person and only saw the prosperous person.

I guess things happen for a reason, whatever that reason may be. I have learnt that it is a waste of time trying to find reasons behind why certain things happended in your life. Life happened and you must just move on, hopefully with an understanding of your circustances. The more prosperous I became, the more empty, lonely and miserable I became. The more wealth I generated, the more meaningless it became in my life. As if something big was missing in my life, and finding that something proved illusive. My discontent with my life continued even though business/work was going great.

I finally felt like I was choking and since I still couldn't figure out what the missing link was, I thought it best to loose everything and start life afresh. Okay, maybe saying I couln't figure things out is too big of a statement. To some degree I knew what was wrong with my life, but the gap that existed between my real life and what I thought to be what needed to be done was too wide to try to fix things. It was just easier going bankrupt and start from scratch than trying to figure things out. The best thing about starting afresh is that there are no expections to be met. You can be whoever you want to be without any buggage.

Simple things in life, if not kept in check and guarded, have the potential to spin out of control. And this is exactly why every person must reflect often. And without this understanding of my true self, I lost touch with my life and realities.

I am a quiet and peaceful individual, and I value my peace tremendously. Not knowing what is wrong in my life proved the most streneous and stressful of times. Even though my leaving everything I had worked for may seem irresponsible, it probably is, I placed more value on my peace of mind than anything else. Material things can always be worked for and attained, it is only a matter of time.

So this was just a story about the many things, thoughts, feelings, dreams, visions and realisations that put me where I am today. Although I am flat broke, I am extremely happy with my life. I am contend of who I am.

I no longer view success in economic terms, but rather as that which makes you happy and fulfilled. And a happy fulfilling life I believe to be the key a long life.