There are moments in life when certain events threaten our very existence, the ground we stood on as we looked forward to the future disappears from under us. The very earth, quakes, rumbles and tumbles with all sorts of challenges, crisis and pandemics. Every crisis brings about it, solutions and problems. It destroy a lot of our certainties and creates uncertainty. As human beings we become afraid and look back to some reassuring history, religion or science or anything that can reassure us of a future still. The very cars and aeroplanes that moved us from place to place have all been grounded. And we are locked up to ourselves, the very social clubs that kept us preoccupied are closed down. Places where we ran off in a bid to run away from ourselves, from our worries, our fears and our problems are now closed down and we have no choice but to deal with them. We can no longer pretend to be busy being busy while diverting our attention away from issues that need our immediate attention.
At one point in my life, all seemed to melt away. I know that what l had to go through has made me who l am today. At that period of time, l was overwhelmed and thought it the end but here l stand writing another chapter of my memoirs. In other words all l am saying is, when everything seems to melt away from under you, it is not yet over. Like ice melting away it does not mean the water has been lost but it simply means the water has changed itself to vapour because that is the best state it should be at the moment. Be not afraid of change, for change comes with growth, change brings about transformation, change brings about enlightenment to opportunities we may have wasted in the past but which we should no longer waste when the dust settles. It is so true that we have no need to fear the future unless we forget how we have fared in the past and how we have won in the past.
At a period of my life, l stood on the ground of my degree. I was sure that having that degree was opening doors for me in regards to career, promotion and yet this was to no avail. Standing on the ground of my degree was no solid ground to stand on. Thus miserable and dejected l settled for any job l could get, because in life you need money to pay bills. I started working, l was offered the mere minimum because l had no experience in the field yet l worked very hard. Within a short period of time l was one of the best and yet no increment in salary came even after requesting time and time again. No promotion came even after going for interviews for better paying position. I was basically living month to month, there was more month left after the end of the month, the salary was well spent. Looking back now, it was not that the money was not enough but it was me not budgeting well. We usually blame everything and everyone else in regards to our state yet we do not take responsibility.
After a while l got frustrated with the job and became a serious alcoholic, after having a near death experience in one of my drunken escapades. I totally changed my life, l joined a church and became engrossed in church activity and we had a twenty one day prayer and fasting. Afterwards l was so sure that GOD was telling me to resign from my work. My friends and family thought l had lost it and did their very best to discourage me from resigning. The work was killing me inside and yet l believed GOD always meant for us to be happy and at peace. So anything that threatened my peace, l had to let go. I have to say, resigning was the hardest thing l ever had to do. The very faith that GOD would provide for me was at a great battle with the fear that what if it does not work out. What if l fail to meet my rentals and l am thrown out of my house or l am unable to make money for food and all.
The first month was easy because l had money for rent but when we approached the second month, l knew l was in trouble. What l had thought, the home based projects were not bringing income enough to sustain me. The very ground l stood on, a salary at the end of the month and income from my business all had vanished into thin air. Everything seemed to have melted away, GOD seemed to have deserted me, regrets, fears, worries and despair became my constant companions and at the same time, pride held me down because l was not willing to ask for help. I think we all need help sometime and we should be man enough or woman enough or human enough to ask. To cut a long story things worked out in amazing ways, maybe one day l will share the full story. So when everything melted away it was simply a time for me to turn the next page. So if everything seems to be melting away in your life right now, remember it is not the final chapter. So do not dare give up.
Faith is not denying that things sometimes do not work out but it is choosing to look at what could be and not what now is. When l was in the crisis all l saw was despair and hopelessness and thus l attracted the very situation that maximized my state so that l got the confirmation. If you always say, l always misplace my keys believe me for a very long time you will forever be looking for your keys. If you keep your attention on what has always been, what has always been will keep manifesting. Life is not a competition of sorts, you cannot make manifest in life what you want when your attention is on what they want for you or what they expect for you. Where your attention is, you will direct your energy and your actions will bring about the results equivalent. We are directors of our own movies and writers of our own life story.
The song writer, Jackson Brown sang, “Just do the steps you have been shown by everyone you have ever known until the dance becomes your own. We do the very steps and dances we been shown by everyone else and the dance has become our very own yet it brings about the very same results we no longer want. We are a sum total or average of the people we hang around. By beholding we become changed, look at the circle around you, if you hang around losers you will end up a loser. In the song he says, into a dancer you have grown from the seed someone else planted. Go on and plant some seeds of your own between the time you arrive and the time you have to go home because in the end there is one dance of us all and that dance you will do alone. We need to break the chains and shift from manifesting what we don’t want and to what we want. If you keep your attention on what you don’t want, what you don’t want will always keep coming. Addiction is simply never getting enough of what you don’t want. A fool is one who thinks the same thoughts and does the same thing expecting a different result. The currency of attracting what we want is our thoughts.
Choose faith over fear, choose not to concentrate on what is not working but to be grateful for what is working and to know that it will work out at the end. When everything else seems to be melting away then be ready to embrace the next chapter of your life. Bruce Lee said, “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend. Changes come with lessons, when the student is ready the master or teacher appears, you must be ready to learn and be better. Like a butterfly breaking out of an ugly caterpillar, be not afraid. We will rise out of the crisis we now stand in.
With GOD all things are possible, the question to ask is, is there anything left out in “all things?” In quantum physics it states, particles themselves are not responsible for their own creation. In the bible Saint Paul said, “That which is seen has come from that which doth not yet appear”. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is calling those things that be not as if they were and thus they become.
This is Sir Brian signing off:
Whether you believe in GOD, science, philosophy or anything of that matter, know that when all seems to melt away, when unsure of how it will work out. Say to yourself, IT WILL WORK OUT, we don’t always know how but we ought always to know, it will work out in time.