Every day is a good day

In some way I tend to agree...

In other ways, I always say though, “same shit, different day”.

Every day brings new beginnings, new challenges, new people – you might be in the same situation, environment or place but each day you learn or see something new.

To me it’s all about having peripheral vision, seeing everything around you instead of just what is in front of you or behind you! We should never let the demons of the past control our future. All that we can control is the present - so why not conquer it?

In some way or the other, our lives are affected by someone or something every day.

Every day is a good day in my daughter’s development towards her schooling – everyday she learns something new. Every day she discovers another body part, another colour, another shape, every day is something new. To her, every day is a good day, especially if there are treats involved J

Our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses

This is absolutely true!

I love talking, I love communication with different people, and I love smiling (believe it or not). After all, this is why I studied Public Relations – I am a good communicator.

Sometimes though, I tend to talk too much, could that be a weakness...?

It always happened to me in interviews. You know when they ask the first question, then you a bit hesitant and nervous, so you give a short answer. They then ask the second question and ask you to elaborate...you then start talking and giving examples like there’s no tomorrow...and think, have I said too much? Have I shown the true me?

But is the “true you” not who you want them to know, surely you don’t Want a job where you have to front up all day because they (your employees) don’t know the true you?!?!

Be true to yourself, it can only benefit you...!

Try a cliche

A cliché is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect.

First thing that comes to mind is Bruno Mars, well, not him personally but maybe his songs and the fact that every “Dick, Tom and Harry” sings it. Without a doubt, the song losing its original meaning.

I can assure you that Bruno Mars wrote his songs, he wanted them to be played all over radio stations across the world but he would have wanted people to know why he loves music and to know why he made that t=song, to understand it and to be able to connect to it.

Not to play it so loud that you can’t hear the words...

Talking about singers being cliché – who next but the talented Justin Bieber, I mean really now, my six year old daughter knows most if not all of the lyrics to his first hit J yet again, so do I LOL!

#67 Minutes

Like everyone else, when I thought about what I was going to do with my 67 minutes – I wanted it to be different, for it to be worthwhile. While I was thinking, I came across a request from a Nurse at a Rehabilitation centre in Mitchells Plain about a boy who had been in a car accident (as a passenger) who sustained brain injuries.

This was the perfect way to spend a meaningful 67 minutes...

I then decided to incorporate three of our players in, Pieter Louw, Duane Vermeulen and Lionel Cronje and together we went to pay Ricus Smith from Table View a visit. When we walked into his home, it was as if the sun’s rays were directly in the living room. The look of excitement of his face and the glow in his eyes was a feeling I would never forget.

Ricus was the first team captain of his cricket team and rugby team – but due to his injuries sustained in the accident – will never be able to play again. His left knee shakes uncontrollably, but he talks to us as if nothing is happening. He speaks about rugby to the players as if he was going to be playing again tomorrow – his faith in God is unbelievable.

Never give up, keep the faith*

Banks at lunch-time

What a bad idea...!

I should know better, banks are most popular at lunch time, especially between 12h00 and 14h00. The funny thing though is there are so many characters in the bank. The rich, the poor, the sane, the not-so-sane and then the tellers, who’s main aim in life is to make our stay in their queues “worthwhile”.... all you hear is the advertising playing (promoting themselves of course) and the voice saying “Next customer please” at a volume of about 100, yet still some don’t hear her.

You eventually get to the front after watching the same advertisement for about 10 – 15 times, and hearing “that woman’s voice” for about 10 -15 times ...you are told “sorry mam, you need to be in another queue”...

At which stage, I nicely put up a performance and work out the bank, swearing to never come back, but sneaking in a week later in different clothes – hoping they don’t notice me LOL!

The thing that irritates me the most though is that most employees allow an hour lunch break and by the time you have completed in your business in the bank, what are you left with...”15 minutes boss”

So, I’ve invested in internet banking – the way of the future J

Rather, say nothing AT ALL

You know when you walk past someone’s desk... and you think, should I say something or shouldn’t I?

You shouldn’t...just carry on walking like you were before. I find it most irritating that when I am busy working, people would just walk past and randomly start talking, even though they can see you busy!

Now don’t get me wrong, I am a very sociable person but when I am busy – I hate disturbances.  I leave my office door open for common courtesy, because if the door is closed – someone will open it and say “Why is your door closed”? Now I mean really...

If the door is open but I it looks as if I am busy, then you know what, I probably am busy!  

Many a times, people have nothing to say, but they talk anyway, when they do talk though they end up rambling causing them to make a fool of themselves – most of the time, they don’t even realize it.

Feelings follow behaviour

Of course our behaviour is triggered by our feelings. The saying goes for every action, there is a reaction!

If we feeling sad, we act in a negative way. If we are feeling angry we denote our anger in a negative way. If we are happy, everything around us seems positive. If we are excited, or motivated, all seems hunky dory!

Positive behaviour and attitudes are so powerful, only once it occurs do we realize it’s potential. By being positive we enlighten people around us, leaving everyone feeling good, not only about their situations but all about themselves!

Not only should we be afraid of acting on emotions in our relationships but we should be very cautious of acting on feelings in our places of work. Lashing out at your Manager, could have serious consequences...

It is better to practice a little than to talk alot

“Actions speak louder than words”

“Talk is cheap”

“You can walk the walk, but can you talk the talk”

These are all saying that relate to the topic. Humans in general tend to talk too much or out of turn. People who talk too much: Politicians, Family members, Managers, Celebrities & Marriage counsellors.

Politicians talk for all the wrong reasons, making promises and hardly ever coming to the party (no pun intended).

We all have that family member that always has more than the rest, who can always organise more than all of us, or so they say.

Managers, how they can go on and on, and on about the same thing.

Marriage counsellors, I have always wondered if besides having the academic knowledge, if they have ever been through a divorce themselves?

Celebrities, now to some extent some of them actually do, do more action than words. For example: Madonna, Angelina Jolie, and Bono to name but a few.

Practice makes perfect – if we practice what we want to say or even achieve, we will need not have the need to speak about it. If we are effective in what we are trying to achieve, our actions will speak louder than our words!

Life

Does life move too fast, I tend to think so yes, too fast for my liking?

I feel it especially when I go to sleep, and when I wake it feels like I have literally closed my eyes for the whole of uhm...30 seconds!

Life sometimes moves at the pace we want it too, sometimes it doesn’t move the way we want it too, but who we are to question...All we have to do, is keep the Faith*

I quote one of the most powerful poems out there,

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord

Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.

Sometimes there were two sets of footprints; there were two sets of footprints,

Other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed

That during the low periods of my life,

When I was suffering from

Anguish, sorrow or defeat,

I could see only one set of footprints.

So i said to the Lord,

You promised me Lord,

That if I followed you,

You would walk with me always.

But I have noticed that during the most trying times of my life

There have only been one set of footprints in the sand.

Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,

“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand, is when I carried you”

-          Mary Stevenson

Time flies...

It was only but yesterday that I held Raziyah in my arms; well it was all but 6 years ago – still feels like yesterday. Born on 3 March 2005 at 16h08, the day I will never forgot.

Weird how you remember everything that happened that day, except I don’t remember the pain. Mothers are always saying how excruciating the pain is during child birth, but hardly any of them can recall the pain – the most beautiful pain.

Before you know it, you planning that over-the-top 1^st birthday, taking them to crèche’ and then “big school”...and whoops, that’s where I am at right now. I don’t even want to think about high school or university, no, thank you! It’s amazing how they develop as individuals, how they form their own identities and how precious those priceless moments with them are, and believe me there are quite a few.

From the silly sounds she used to make, to her first words, and then saying...”OMG”, she’s knows Justin Bieber and wants to dress fashionably. The feeling a Mom gets when she hears those words in indescribable, my body goes into shock and I think, where the time has gone...

Wedding cake in the middle of the road

If this ever happened to me...I would crawl into my naval and die, seriously (LOL).

Being in engaged is wonderful, things seem all so flowery and blissful...until wedding plans begin, tempers flare, and we disagree on arrangements and argue over petty issues. In wedding “world” 6 months goes by very quickly, and surprisingly I agree. Our date has been set for 28 January, which technically leaves 6 months left (hides).

The wedding cake, now weirdly, I kid you not, was the first thing that we ticked off on the “to do” wedding list. It is an orange cake (orange in flavour, not in colour), draped in icing with flowers as decorations, leading in tiers with miniature cupcakes of the cake on the top...my description is an injustice to it though, I apologize.

Be that as it may, picture this cake, being put onto the car of our caterers, which was ticked off second might I add, driving to the venue and falling off the car – into the middle of the road = Bridal Disaster, I tell ya!

The only thing that every bride wants is for her day to be perfect, after all it is the fairy tale day that she has been dreaming of all her life!

It is a poor idea to lie to yourself

Of course it is a bad idea to lie to yourself, to convince yourself, to make yourself believe something that isn’t true? Why make yourself believe something that isn’t true, only to set yourself up for disappoint. There is nothing worse than setting high expectations of something only to be disappointed...

Are we victims to our own sub-conscious controlling our lives? Of course we are, we allow our minds to run free with our souls.

We do something wrong, then convince ourselves that we never committed it in the first place, or that what we committed cannot be that bad, or the excuse we find ourselves using far too often, “it will never happen again”...

I always tell myself to expect the unexpected in most situations, but lying to yourself would honestly cause more damage than the trust. As they say the truth only hurts once. If we our honest with ourselves from the get-go, we wouldn’t have to put in unfamiliar predicaments.

Don’t lie to yourself in any way, relationships, work, everyday life, if there is one person in this world you should be honest too, it’s you!

“Honesty is the best policy”

I’m wandering...

Not all who wander are lost...Not all that is gold glitters...

Is the above true? I think so yes! I’ll start with the latter...

We saw a gold glitzy ball, particularly in the club, and we think “Dam, tonight’s going to be a good night”. We see a gold pair of shoes and naturally we think “I’m going to look super hot in that”. We walk into our places of work and everything seems so shiny, but you think “Is my job really this glittery and glamorous”?

I sometimes sit and think what am I going to do . . . so I wander (or my mind wanders), does this mean am I lost? Or does it simply mean I am seeking answers?

There are many times in our lives when we just need to slow down a bit and take in our surroundings. We need not take our situations for granted, we need just to appreciate. I came across an interesting saying the other day, “The first half of our lives we spend wishing time would hurry up as life simply moves too slowly for us. The second half, however, we wish time would slow down. Time is valuable, make it count”.

The sound of one hand clapping

Surely that depends on what your hand is clapping, right? Is it clapping the ground, a container, your face?

No, the sound of one hand clapping is – SILENCE. The silence that you experience, the silence in your life.

Our hands are powerful elements in our lives. We use them to show both excitement and anger. We use our hands to show affection, when someone gets hurt we pick them up, we rub their faces, with our hands. When we are angry, we lash out using our hands. Who would have thought that our hands meant so much?

When we love we use our hands as a sign of showing it, when you hold your loved one’s hands, you connect, you connect two beings. When we are cold, we rub our hands together to create a sense of feeling, a sense of warmth.

However, when there is nobody to connect with, the hand is not heard by any, there is silence and the hand connects with nothing.

The sound of silence is deadly – there is no feeling, no emotion, there is nothing. With silence comes loneliness, darkness and sadness, nobody wants to be alone.