2013. The Place to Be.

Howdy partners! First off, I wish you all a fruitful, ūber awesome and profoundly blessed year 2013. 2012 was great in many ways, I am glad that it ended well for me. Now that we are in a new year, I'm sure we all have great expectations, are ready to effect change, and generally lead better lives. In essence, 2013 is the place to be for all that and more. How about we start with Asa's The Place to Be? Happy 2013 guys!

Back to the Basics, Even as we Forge Ahead

"He who has not first laid his foundations may be able with great ability to lay them afterwards, but they will be laid with trouble to the architect and danger to the building."

- Niccolo Machaivelli (The Prince)

We still need to leverage on our past in our quest to shape our lives.

Now that 2010 is finally taking its place in the annals of history, everyone is keen to see how long they can last before New Year resolutions are abandoned and old habits are embraced once again. Actually, the resolutions will not be forgotten that fast, what is most likely to happen is that many will be leading busy lives in the stead of disciplined lives.

That said, we often entirely lose sight of our past and thereby forget the good in it that brought us to where we are. In forgetting past encounters, we fail to realize that the people involved may have added value at some point. In forcefully erasing past activities from our routines, we fail to see that only by doing them then did would we learn that they are damaging, and thereby learn to avoid bigger mistakes and loss in the future.

Much has been written and sung in an attempt to address what was. In Larnelle Harris's song 'I miss my time with you', God asks,

it hurt's me when you say

you're too busy

busy trying to serve me

but how can you serve me

when your spirit's empty

Likewise, Nelly Furtado sings about an abandoned, forgotten love:

We forgot about love

We forgot about faith

We forgot about trust

We forgot about us

Now our love's floating out the window

Our love's floating out the back door

Our love's floating up in the sky in heaven

Where it began back in God's hands

In trying to shape an uncertain destiny, we need to go back to the basics, and carry on with those worthwhile things that brought us this far.



What things in your past, no matter how much you want to let go of it, do you give credit for getting you to where you currently are?

Happy Holidays

As curtains close on 2010, we take time to thank you so much for your company all along.

Thank you for dropping by and joining us on this journey of Insight, Inspiration and Self Discovery.

Your reading, sharing and commenting on posts has kept us going each day, every day.

See you all in 2011.

Happy Holidays!

No more Missed Opportunities in 2010. Seize the Day!

The Years Gone By

Looking back in 2009, we all learnt a lot in life. Hopefully, we became better persons and are now looking forward to a richly rewarding year.

The walk into the future will not be without challenges and hiccups. There are new things to be done, new people to meet, new days to be lived. Informed by what we experienced in the last year, we can use that as a foundation for the accomplishments we endeavor to realize, as stepping stones into new horizons.

Seize the Day

The new year presents us with opportunities to make the most of every moment.

Otherwise, we may die regretting the time we lost when we already had the chance.

Carolyn Arends

From the Prince of Peace compilation gospel album, Carolyn Arends sings Seize the Day, a deep song that encourages us to make the most of the days we've been given, even as we seek God's guidance and favor.

Following are the song lyrics:

I know a girl who was schooled in Manhattan
She reads dusty books and learns phrases in Latin
She is an author, or maybe a poet
A genius but it's just this world doesn't know it
She works on her novel most every day
If you laugh she will say

Chorus:
Seize the day, seize whatever you can
'Cause life slips away just like hourglass sand
Seize the day, pray for grace from God's hand
Then nothing will stand in your way
Seize the day

Well I know a doctor, a fine young physician
Left his six-figure job for a mission position
He's healing the sick in an African clinic
He works in the dirt and writes home to the cynics
He says "We work through the night so most every day
As we watch the sun rise we can say

Chorus

Well I know a man who's been doing some thinking
He's as bitter and cold as the whiskey he's drinking
He's talking 'bout fear, about chances not taken
If you listen to him you can hear his heart breaking
He says "One day you're a boy and the next day you're dead
I wish way back when someone had said

Chorus

Well one thing I've noticed, wherever I wander
Everyone's got a dream he can follow or squander
You can do what you will with the days you are given
I'm trying to spend mine on the business of living
So I'm singing my songs off of any old stage
You can laugh if you want, I'll still say

Chorus

The above lyrics and artist names are copyrighted to Carolyn Arends. They appear  here for educational and personal use only.

The Challenge

For those of us who subscribe to the writings in the good book:

Let the giving of thanks be your sacrifice to God, and give the Almighty all that you promised.

- Psalm 50:14 (Good News Bible)

Now is the time to make the most of every opportunity. Remember all those new year resolutions you made last week? 2010 is now here with us.

Seize the day... the clock is ticking...

Living in 2010

"I'll tell you something,
It's not hard to die when you know you have lived, and I did.
Oh, how I lived."
- Edie Britt (Desperate Housewives s05e19)

The Lessons We Must Learn

Only yesterday, I was watching season 5 of Desperate Housewives. The 100th episode (s05e13) is titled "The Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened". Here, residents of Wysteria Lane remember how the neighborhood handyman Eli Scruggs deeply affected their lives.

Later on in episode 19, the housewives took time to remember Edie Britts, who really lived her life - a life that was one of a kind.

Steve Jobs on How to Live Before You Die

In 2005, Steve Jobs, the legendary Apple Inc. CEO gave a commencement address at Stanford University.

Following is his address:

In his talk, Steve Jobs outlined three life stories that in his opinion, characterize a life well lived:

1. Connecting the DotsYou can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards.So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.
   
   You have to trust in something... because believing that the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.


2. Love and LossSometimes life's gonna hit you on the head with a brick. Dont lose faith.You've got to find what you love, and that is as true  for work as it is for your lovers.
   
   Your work is gonna fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.
   
   If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking, don't settle.


3. Death"If you live each day as if it's your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."Remembering that you are going to die, is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked, there is no reason not to follow your heart.
   
   Death is the destination we all share. It's life's change agent, it clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now, the new is you. But someday not too long from now, you'll gradually become the old, and be cleared away.
   
   Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others opinions drown out your own inner voice.
   
   Most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

In Other News...

Today is the first day of the year 2010. Amid all the fanfare and gratitude of making it through 2009 to see yet another year, do we have it within ourselves to let 2009 be the end of something, and 2010 the beginning of everything?

Like Abba said in their 1980 hit song Happy New Year (from the album Super Trouper):

Happy New Year... May we all have a vision now and then,
Of a world where every neighbor is a friend,
May we all have our hopes, our will to try,
If we don't we might as well lay down and die... You and I.

Following is the video to this song:



We at The Walkabout and the greater Complit Communications family do wish you all the best in your life, your work, your studies and your dreams.

Cheers, and Say Hello to 2010!