What in the World

From the movie INVICTUS

Mandela: What is your philosophy on leadership Francois? How do you inspire your team to do their best?

Francois: By example. I lead by example Sir.

Mandela: Good… But How to get them to be better than they think they can be, that is very difficult I find. Inspiration perhaps? How do we inspire ourselves to greatness when nothing less will do? How do we inspire everyone around us? I sometimes think it is by using the work of others.
On Robin Island, when things got very bad, I found inspiration in a poem.

Francois: a Poem?

Mandela: A Victorian Poem. Just words, But they helped me to stand when all I wanted to do was to lie down.

Francois: I understand Sir. On the way to a game in the bus, the men are silent. When I think they’re ready, I put on a song that I have chosen, and it helps.

Mandela: We need Inspiration Francois. Because in order to build our nation, we must all exceed our own expectations.

This is just outstanding. Let’s first see where they drew their inspiration from. The Creative Arts. Because really… the creative arts are Deep speaking unto Deep.  We draw from this vein to strengthen, inspire, encourage our soul, our heart. This is why inspiration is more than “just words”. It is Life.

I know for myself I have drawn inspiration from lyrics to songs, poems, movie lines, such as we read above and, encouragement through short meaningful phrases from my Mentor.

Like when I said… “I can’t do this!”
Mentor: “Why not?”
Me: “Because I know my limitations!”
Mentor: Yes, But do you know your Potential!?”

I’m looking for ways to achieve Greatness. ! Because nothing less will do.

Taps.

It was my Birthday

With Canada’s Birthday, then my Birthday, and friends dropping in for overnight visits, writing kind of got away on me. I apologise if you were taking the time to stop in to read and there was nothing new to reflect on or encourage you to explore the realms beyond your current experience.

I’ll continue to share with you food, from the table I eat from, so that we can enjoy a meal together and leave satisfied and full.

Taps

Happy Canada Day to Us Canadians

Well we just can’t ignore the one day we become patriotic. For the most part we just are Canadians and we don’t think about it much.

And the Queen visiting too… ooooo. Some believe we are now past all that Royals whoopla. I would say that it doesn’t carry the weight it once did. With all the controversy around the Royal Family also, it isn’t hard to see that their blood runs red like the rest of us and they aren’t a standard to be raised.

But I am glad for days that we remember our roots.
So here is our Anthem.

O Canada!

Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

French Version – Translation

O Canada!

Land of our forefathers,
Thy brow is wreathed with a glorious
garland of flowers.
As is thy arm ready to wield the sword,
So also is it ready to carry the cross.
Thy history is an epic
Of the most brilliant exploits.
Thy valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights

Happy Canada Day … !!!

Taps

Learning the Easy Way

The other day I was sharing some information with a colleague. What I was sharing was difficult for my colleague to accept and embrace. It was a steep learning curve. As I finished up and was preparing to leave they said, “Well, I would rather learn the easy way… not the hard way.

I thought to myself, “Really?” I could see that the easy way I was offering in that moment was not easy, it was challenging.

I started to muse on that statement, and I saw that even though we have learned to say that, we do not really mean it. Because the easy way is usually the first thing we’re presented with and we often, if not almost always, look for another way. The reason? Because the easy way is not really easy, it is just first.

We’re prepared to deal with the consequences of choosing the hard way, but the consequences almost always surprise us because we thought we had chosen the easy way.

So what is the Easy Way? It usually requires discipline and sacrifice on our part.

If we accept someone’s counsel or wisdom on a matter, due to their experience or expertise, this may require us to sacrifice our own thoughts and opinions. If we need to learn from those who have been down the path before us, be they young or old, then we need to humble ourself, which requires personal sacrifice. (Sometimes a younger person’s understanding of the world we now live in will be more up to date than an elderly person’s, who would have years of experience in other areas.)

The Easy Way can sometimes be a shortcut, but it will take perseverance and discipline to accomplish. Perhaps it is actually a direct route and, should we take it, it will save us from the endless wandering and frustration of coming back to the same place where we were first offered the Easy Way. The Journey we took just became the Hard Way.

In the days ahead of us, it would be best that we recognise and learn to embrace opportunities when they first come to us. I remember a saying from years ago… God does not let you fail a test, you just keep rewriting it until you pass.

We can choose to avoid tests completely, but if we want to make any progress, tests will come to us. So now… how do we discern the Easy Way? The Easy Way comes with choices, the Hard Way comes with consequences.

Selah…    Taps

Through the Window Pain

Stepping up to a window, I scrutinize the past,
not really wanting to focus on the future.
Familiar faces, meaningful places, and memories, each held close,
rush in like family arriving home for Christmas all at once.

Peering at bygone days through clouded windows
I try to clear a small area, but it only smears further.
Genuine memories fade like colour photographs exposed to harsh light.
Could it be that my past retains me more than I retain it?

Nostalgia wraps me in comfort of the familiar,
offering a warm beverage at the kitchen table of my mind.
Old familiar echoes shuffle along, pacing hallways, going nowhere.
Sand runs through my fingers, not willing to wait on me forever.

An impatient knock interrupts my thoughts, demanding I open a Door.
The first risk I embrace is uncertainty. The second is opportunity.
At my feet lay a newspaper. The headlines read…
“Future out of reach. Live Today. Leave the Past behind.”

Talk to the Wall !!!

I have been enjoying more and more, a curious experience of late – That of Talking to a Wall and getting answers. It happens often when I am particularly stuck. I have not been able to define this encounter in this way before now. The understanding for this has only come to me in the last few weeks. In fact… in sharing with a friend, I was able to articulate it, even though I have understood for years how it works. I am sure that many of you will find you have experienced something similar.

“The Wall” can be anything. For me it is often people. The way it works is, many times in our mind, we cannot seem to find our way through to an answer. Thoughts are milling about but they do not really have any form that we can see. Feeling like a tangled confusion of threads, we try to pull on a single thought thread… and it gets tangled up with other thoughts, ending up in a knot (more confusion) the harder we pull. After a while we cannot separate or organize them.

So… I have discovered the best way for me to respond to the mental clutter is to get my thoughts out of my head and in front of me (so to speak). By doing this, they take on form, (shaping an understanding) that I can grab ahold of to respond to.

I do this by finding someone who will sit and listen to me share what is on my mind. I need to talk it out. Most of the time this someone is nearby or perhaps a friend. They do not even have to be able to answer or understand what it is I am trying to decipher or sort out, to be a good wall.

The Wall works as an echo of my words ringing in my ears even as I speak them. They bounce off “the wall” (the person listening who is really just providing for us an environment to share our thoughts) and upon hearing them, an “Ahhhh Yes, That is it!” rises within, as I hear my words from a slightly different perspective. They may be the same words as the ones milling about my mind earlier, but by “talking to a wall”, the spiritual atmosphere flips them back to me in a way I can really hear them and often this echo carries a key that unlocks something I could not see or hear before.

Becoming aware of this, I wondered briefly if the Jewish people had something going for them standing at The Wailing Wall to pray. Plenty of opportunities for echoes there! But perhaps they are not really listening the way they should be to hear them.

So try this when you need some answers. I think God can work as a Wall too but the key is speaking it out loud, and learning to listen to yourself.

“Talk to the Wall”. A new chapter book for me.

Cheers… Taps

Just for FUN !!!

Socks

Strangely, they disappear.

Starting with one which leads

surreptitiously to another.

Soon there are many halves

separated from their whole.

Suspect abduction might

solve the abiding enigma?

This poem is called a Pleiades. Only one word is allowed in the title followed by a single seven-line stanza. The first word in each line begins with the same letter as the title. The line length is restricted to six syllables. Why don’t you pick a fun topic to write about and see what you can come up with?!

I thought that most people can identify with this problem so I decided to write about it. I hope it makes you smile.

I’ll catch up with another post on the weekend. Wanted to give those who are persevering with me, something to read. Thanks!

Cheers…   Taps