the s-H-i-f-t series …to living truly and fully

However good we get, we can always get better, and daily raise into higher ideals, PERPETUALLY SHIFTING INTO HIGHER REALMS OF CONSCIOUSNES…

…it is a good place to be; a state of CONTINUOUS SHIFTING rather than PERPETUAL SINKING.

I have here collected little bites into what a SHIFT starter pack would look like, feel free to add what else you feel fits..

1. S-SELF

2. H-HUMAN: In one of those my lazy moments (and I seem to have a lot of them lately) I went on social media, and I have a recollection of a certain statement because of the weight of the truth it carried.  A student asks a wise man and a philosopher to tell them which field of professional undertaking would guarantee them a place in the success wagon in our shifting times. I imagine the wise man scratched his beards (aren’t all wise men supposed to have white beards), and the response was, “that field is that of BEING A GREAT HUMAN BEING, there is no competition there.” And I totally agree.

We are living in a time of emotional disconnectedness and internal discontentedness, leaving a great majority emotionally drained or internally empty. My sociology professor may have been joking when he said we are born as beings, but we must all grow to be human, yet that is such a serious joke that I have not heard anyone laugh about it. And before you become the first one, just think about it ...how human have you been in your being? How many souls go to bed with a smile on their faces because of your selfless acts of kindness? Is there anyone anywhere whose path is illuminated by your HUMAN light? And have you made anyone’s burden lighter today?

“What does it mean to be human?” you may still be asking. If I may rephrase what I already almost said; “Today, and every day, be the reason someone smiles. Be the reason someone feels loved, be the reason why someone believes in themselves, and the goodness of people” And so the second way to staging a SHIFT is to REDIRECT ALL YOUR ENERGIES AT BEING HUMAN; caring about, empathizing with, putting on other people’s emotional boots, walking a mile in them, and GENUINELY BEING MINDFUL OF AND CAREFUL WITH HOW YOU MAKE OTHERS FEEL. Remember;

“People may forget anything you said, did or gave them, but they will never forget how what you said, did or gave them, made them feel”

I do not remember who won any of last year’s Olympic marathons. However, I still remember the Zhengkai International Marathon in China; Kenya’s elite athlete, Jacqueline Nyetipei Kiplimo, helped pass water to a dehydrated disabled Chinese runner, slowing her down, and costing her the first position and the $ 10,000 price money (And that was way back before Kenya owed china anything). She gave up winning to help a needy athlete. Yes, it’s not all about winning. She did not win the Gold, but she definitely has a Golden heart, and she won our hearts too. This act received more media attention that the winners of the marathon. The Sunny Skyz wrote:

‘This act of selflessness ultimately cost her the race, but her second-place finish will never replace the first-place finish she has in our hearts’

…be a brother’s and a sister’s keeper! Be deliberate on the ‘i-motions’; the internal movement of thoughts and feelings that you stir in others, for by them, you activate ripple effect of the emotions that get stirred in you. This has a great influence in the direction your life flows. This concept is so profound that in the Christian religious literature, it is recorded that whatever is done genuinely and lovingly to another needy person, it is done unto God. I know we have conquered gravity to fly heavy crafts and the water to float high density metal, but we need to frequently visit earth and be human. As my brother GG Muriuki once wrote; “curve out your name in people’s hearts not on tombstone. It is more satisfying!”

It starts with you, you could start today, now, with a text, a call, or undivided attention to someone seated next to you!

the S-H-I-F-T series …to living TRULY and FULLY

Once in a while you wake up and realise that the reality of your life demands that you do something about somethings. That the current direction of your life may need some deliberate directing …and that is not even the main thing. The issue is, sometimes, often times we do not know the button(s) to press in order to achieve the kind of transformation we aspire and hope for, and with this state of affairs, we first feel stuck, then when that feeling isn’t checked, we begin to sink into heaps of unresolved issues upon heaps of internal struggles. I have been there, actually, we kind of are always in that state, of getting out of something and/or into something. Yes, our century has experienced immense shifts in the way things are done ...how we travel, communicate, transact, etc, ...and the one way to keep up with the demands of our time is a enter a place of continuous SHIFTing. Knowing that however good we get, we can always get better, and daily raising into higher ideals, PERPETUALLY SHIFTING INTO HIGHER REALMS OF CONSCIOUSNES…

…it is a good place to be; a state of CONTINUOUS SHIFTING rather than PERPETUAL SINKING.

I have here collected little bites into what a SHIFT starter pack would look like, feel free to add what else you feel fits...

1. S - SELF: When it comes to SELF, you are all faced with the choice of sitting in restricted cubicles, flushing the hours of your life down some social, corporate or religious toilet or going against the grain to DEFINE and DEVELOP your TRUEST SELF! It is ascribing to the Shakespearenic philosophy of, “to thy own SELF, be true.” I have always asked my audience to name their best places to work. The answers are as varied as my audience in the last few years. Only a handful ever said "the best place to work is at SELF" Yeah, that for me is the BEST PLACE TO TOIL! 

People have been deluded by the idea of job security, higher salary and huge benefits, etc, which are okay, who doesn't enjoy that? But first things first; an investment in self is the best security since, by investing in your mind (reading, deliberate and continuous learning, emotional intelligence, people skills, etc), body (healthy daily practices and exercise) and soul (issues spirituality NOT RELIGION, but the ability to marshal peace within yourself; to know that no matter what happens, things somehow work out. To know that the universe is forever conspiring to help you, and finding the ways to align yourself with it, and learning to let go), then you SHiFT from looking for and waiting on outward resources to being resourceful by utilising the many attributes you are endowed with WITHIN YOU... …and there is nothing as secure in our century as being resourceful. 

After having to deal with the tragedy of coloured papers and faded people, current investors are looking for individuals who have discovered and are illuminated by their unique internal spark/light, where previous investors looked for external paper qualifications whose light continues to dim in gloom.  At a cognitive level, investing in yourself is telling yourself and the world that “the value and potential I possess is important enough that I am going to give it the energy, space, and time to grow and create results.” …THEN, and this is a big THEN, the universe begins to reward your EFFORTS TOWARDS A BETTER SELF with amazing results. How well you IMPACT AND INFLUENCE SOCIETY hinges on how well you DISCOVER AND DEVELOP yourSELF! 

SHIFT at its core is about working towards A STATE SUPERIOR TO YOUR FORMER SELF. True shift is about SELF-GROWTH, or if you like, PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT.

2. H-HUMAN 

In the Words of the SEER

When the doorbell rang, I knew it was him. We had talked the night before, and he was visiting us in this place where he had helped them rewrite the scripts of their lives. I reached for the door, turned the knob, and my lower jaw fell! I stared at a man on a wheel chair, trying to adjust his oxygen mask. Before pity could register on my face, Jon spread his hands, inviting me for a hug. He had a broad smile, well arranged white teeth, and was not surprised at the shock each of us registered upon seeing the man behind the cool, calm and collected voice on the other side of the phone. He had a tight and warm embrace, after which he wheeled himself through the door, strategically stopping at a place he could see all the five followers would had come to listen to his wisdom. Jon looked at each one of us, from left to right, scanning each of us with eyes that seemed to infiltrate our minds! He began to talk. His voice as steady and confident as he always sounded on phone…

“If you want to know the value of time, ask a man who doesn’t have a lot of it!”

He reached for his oxygen mask, took one long break, let it hang from his neck and continued; “Sometimes we live life so casually that we never take time to meditate on the beauty and grandeur of this terrestrial ball in the middle of space that we live on called earth. Having lived casually, we become casualties of unfulfilled dreams, and so live unhappy lives. We live on a constant spiral of measuring life by how many expectations meet, and that leaves us with zero treasurable experience. We fall in the trap of collecting the ever elusive material things, at the expense of creating memories that last. Are you surprised that depression is a leading condition, and suicide rates have increased” Jon reached for a bag that hang on the back side of his motorized wheelchair. He pulled out five electric bulbs and asked each one of us to collect one. We did. “Every day, ONLY at the TOP OF EVERY HOUR, WHEN YOU REMEMBER, day time or night time, you are to put TEN pebbles of sand into your special bulb” We nodded. “You will later get to know how special this bulb is” He placed a manila envelope on the ground, turned his wheelchair, and headed for the door. “Right now it is exactly noon. That envelop contains the sand, you can start with this hour if you want” Joh said waving his left hand in the air, as the right hand steered his wheelchair to the door. He paused at the door, placed his gas mask in place, too a long breath, and off the mysterious man went.

The bulbs had a small opening that allowed only one sand particle at a time. We added each their ten, shared the sand, and headed out of this place that Jon meets his followers.

Six months later was our next meet up. We came with our bulbs. To my surprise, two of the bulbs were lit, except mine and Leo’s. Jon showed up in his usual style. “I see what you have accomplished with the bulbs. Three of you still have the bulbs as I gave them, only with some pebbles of sand. The other two have turned their bulbs into lamps” He said with loud claps amid his infectious smile. “Tell us what you did, uuhh, Phil.” “I set my watch to remind me consistently every hour for six hours from 5 am, and on the fourth month, as I added the last particles, my bulb lit” Explained Phil. Netto had a similar story. “See, this bulb is about consistency, even if it is three hours a day. But consistently, every day. I knew where I had gone wrong. I had added my particles at least six times a day, but there were no definite time, it would be in the morning, sometimes  other times midday. I explained that to Jon. “And that is the lesson. Consistency. Get a plan an even if little specific things at particular times every and one day, these little things will light up for tire life. If not, you will end up like the many people who have amazing bulbs given to them by the creator in various forms, but which, due to inconsistency, and the interruptions of the noise of your digital age, never turn into colourful lamps to our feet” He said, pointing at Phi’ bulb which was now turning blue and making even the old furniture in this room look beautiful… And Jon left!

…it is 2019; forget competitiveness!

I am in no way a millennial. I still own a Kodak camera that requires an exposure roll of flexible film which is later used to develop photos in a darkroom. To-date, I would rather a manual car than an automatic car, and the last time I saw someone with a selfie stick I wondered why a young girl, whose name I later learned was Slay Queen, needed a walking stick. I was born and brought up in the last century in a small and not so quiet village called Matwikani in Makueni County. I say it was not quiet because in this village lived a medicine woman, and people travelled far and wide to seek her assistance in matters health and ‘protection’ from evil that had befallen them, or that which they FEARED might befall them.

Oh fear, why do your illusional teeth bite so bad, then reach so deep?

But then, there was something else about my village. The few, and I mean the very few young people who competed well enough in high school and made it to the university were the best examples. They were adored. Falling in love with them was not a choice, especially if you had ‘chosen’ not to make it to university. You had to love them, the whole village did. And for sure, we kind of thought that they were the true essence of BRAINS OVER MATTER, because those who competed well enough to make it to ‘campus’ MATTERed, the rest were just MATTER; they had weight, and they occupied space! …and they didn’t seem to have a place in the world …then

That for me was the greatest delusion of my century, but hey …the world has moved on, so should you and I

We live in a different world now. In this century, a peasant can find their place at the palace, and the poor can sit at the high table with the Prince. This SHIFT is based on a not so new, yet not quite embraced concept. I DO NOT BELIEVE in COMPETING for WHAT I WANT, I believe in CREATING WHAT I WANT! THE BEST WAY TO SECURE YOUR FUTURE IS NOT TO WORK HARD TO BEAT SOMEONE ELSE AND GET WHAT THEY HAVE, BUT RATHER TO WORK SO SMARTLY TO CREATE WHAT YOU WANT. If I was a millennial I would say #CREATIVITYisBAE. I am not, so I will say it this way. If there be anything like a COMPETETIVE EDGE, then it would be CREATIVE EDGE. Your ability to bring creativity to your business, relationship, career, passion, studies, innovations, inventions and any other venture you may engage in, THAT IS THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT YOUR FUTURE!

Disclaimer: I have amazing millennials in my life, and one in particular, Brian Kasaine a.k.a B.K has been giving me some millennial jabs against my will. I will end this as B.K would…

…SCREW COMPETITION!

When all work gives only money, that work is costly

In their waking hours, men and women are constantly preoccupied with activities that are supposed to help them ‘make ends meet.’ In that ‘making ends meet’ desperation, individuals are willing to do anything to make that all elusive shilling. In the process, ABLE MEN AND WOMEN ARE MADE TO DEVIATE FROM WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO WORK, TO WORKING JUST AS MEANS.

Imagine you didn’t have to make money …what would you do?

Suppose you didn’t have to please any one …what would you do?

What if you were fearless …what would you do?

WORK ought to be viewed as A CANVAS UPON WHICH THE WORKER EXPRESSES THEIR BEST SKILLS AND ABILITIES, WHILE EMPLOYING THEM TO CHANGE THE WORLD IN SOME WAY, HOWEVER SMALL. Yes, work ought to make more than money for the worker. When all that one earns from work is money, then their ‘work’ is costing them a lot.

The workplace ought to be a place to express your innate abilities, pursue passions, fulfill dreams, and build meaningful relationships. And so the next time you are heading for a job interview, and take on the job offer, pause and ask yourself ‘…would I take this job if I had just won the lottery and didn’t have to make money?’ If the answer is a genuine yes, then go on and work work work …you might as well have found your task match. Pick tasks according to the characteristics of the task as they relate to your own characteristics

But you must first fall in love... the first rule of everything

One of the greatest sales principles that all salesmen and women should ascribe to is the concept of ‘underpromise and overdeliver’

Well, let’s get one aspect of the preceding statement out of our way. “But I am not a salesperson” I have heard people say. But let me tell you something. You are daily selling yourself to something. Whatever it is …an employer, a possible financier, a client, or the young man pitching himself to a possible partner …name them, we are daily selling ourselves… The problem is only one, as pointed out by Abraham marslow

“The story of the human race is a story of men and women selling themselves short”

There is a different way that we need to learn and walk on, then we begin to change the script of the human story, and that starts when we can set for ourselves worthy targets, meet them, then exceed them.

In my short sojourn on planet three, I have observed two things that are a precursor to ensuring we don’t sell ourselves short...

1.     You must fall in love: There are few things that make men and women act crazy. One of them is love. We all have crazy stories of how we went the extra mile to please, put ourselves in awkward positions to win a heart …THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT LOVE, and I haven’t met anyone who succeeded, and was not in love. Well, I don’t know what you are imagining right now, but the point is, you must FALL IN LOVE WITH YOURSELF FIRST, then FALL IN LOVE WITH A COURSE, an undertaking, a trade …a PASSION …that is the love I am talking about. Nothing takes away excellence, and the ability to meet and exceed targets than men and women engaging in passionless pursuits.

Let’s pause here for a moment: are you in love with YOU, and the things you are pursuing as study, work, business …are you? Because when we talk about positive energy, genuine love is the purest of positive energy, and the moment you fall in love with your chosen pursuit, nothing can stand in your way …TRUE LOVE MAKES US DO CRAZY THINGS! GENUINE LOVE KNOWS NO BARRIER… IT IS THE TRUE WAY TO DELIVER TARGETS AND EXCEED EXPECTATIONS WITHOUT EXTERNAL PRESSURES!

But again:

2.     You must fall out of love: Remember there are distractors, there are those things that cannot go together with excellence in delivery of agreed targets, I know you know many of them. But here we want to fall out of love with our comfort zones. Failing to meet targets is humankinds default fallen state, meeting targets is the beginning of excellence …EXCEEDING THEM IS THE REAL MEANING OF EXCELLENT DELIVERY!

It is better to underpromise and overdeliver, yet the majority of people overpromise and under deliver

When all work gives only money, that work is too costly

In their waking hours, men and women are constantly preoccupied with activities that are supposed to help them ‘make ends meet.’ In that ‘making ends meet’ desperation, individuals are willing to do anything to make that all elusive shilling. In the process, ABLE MEN AND WOMEN ARE MADE TO DEVIATE FROM WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO WORK, TO WORKING JUST AS MEANS.

Imagine you didn’t have to make money …what would you do?

Suppose you didn’t have to please any one …what would you do?

What if you were fearless …what would you do?

WORK ought to be viewed as A CANVAS UPON WHICH THE WORKER EXPRESSES THEIR BEST SKILLS AND ABILITIES, WHILE EMPLOYING THEM TO CHANGE THE WORLD IN SOME WAY, HOWEVER SMALL. Yes, work ought to make more than money for the worker. When all that one earns from work is money, then their ‘work’ is costing them a lot. I agree with whoever said;

Working hard for something you don't care about is called STRESS,

Working hard for something you love is called PASSION...

The workplace ought to be a place to express your innate abilities, pursue passions, fulfil dreams, and build meaningful relationships. And so the next time you are heading for a job interview, and take on the job offer, pause and ask yourself ‘…would I take this job if I had just won the lottery and didn’t have to make money?’ If the answer is a genuine yes, then go on and work work work …you might as well have found your task match. Pick tasks according to the characteristics of the task as they relate to your own characteristics