Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label motivation. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Help yourself

The best help is self-help. Now I don't know whether that's a cliche or not, but I genuinely believe we undermine the power of taking our own advice.

All too often, I have fallen into a spiral of self-accusation, blaming my unhappiness on the most mundane tiny incidents, allowing a small situation to have a larger-than-life effect. If someone asked me how my day was, the answer would always be, "I'm tired" or "It was tiring". In fact, I can't remember the last time I got up in the morning to bless my day. To look up to myself and say, "You are a winner, you got this." We spend so much time criticizing ourselves that we forget how important appreciating ourselves is. 

So much good can come if we begin positively. Instead of whining, be thankful. Someone definitely has it worse than you. Your problem can be fixed. YOU are fixable. Put a brave face on. Listen to uplifting music. Allow yourself to enjoy your life. Free yourself from being solely focused on the little black dot in a large white space. 

Listen to yourself. Actually, record yourself talking. Do you sound negative and tired all the time? Are you complaining more than you are complimenting? Are you being bitter when you think you are being practical or realistic? Are you sounding optimistic? Do you think you sound happy? These are important questions. They define the way you come across when other people hear you speak. The words that come out of your mouth are a reflection of what you feel inside. If you master up the courage and motivation to fix your problems, you will sound brave and hopeful and inspirational. Even to someone else who could be needing a little push themselves.

Why is it that we never listen to our own advice? Not listen to, failing to compliment and always complain about yourself and your life is exactly the opposite of the steps we need to take. To have a healthy life, a good life, you need to pay attention to who you are. You can only do that once you give yourself credit for existing, for being a real human-being with feelings and emotions and ambitions and ANSWERS.

So stop selling yourself short. You have an infinite amount of hope available unto you. Mine away against the core of your distress. You have the strength of character, I know you do because to have a strong character you have to make it first. The first step is always a step. An action. A move forward. A breaking of stagnant thought and mind and body.

Listen to yourself. Give yourself advice. Lay the bricks to the foundation of your character. Build your own house. Because that way, you will give no one else the power to knock you down. Do not undermine who you are and what you are capable of. 

I believe in the power of human perseverance. It all starts with you taking the first step. I'm ready now, are you?

Sunday, October 20, 2013

abide with me

I was 5, dressed in my dancing colours.
That day as everyday, you picked me up from pre-school.
Everybody laughed when I said,
"I forgot everything daddy, but I didn't cry."
You just hugged me tight.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

in lieu of today's crowd,
clinging on to dry-cleaned arms
of suits and shirts
accessorized with sturdy watches
that tick us closer to the days
where we have to live without each other.

today, i remembered the smell of your perfume
how no other man smelt the same
used to be angry at you for so long,
thought you lost your stripes
you didn't bear your fangs like the others
but now i see, you were there.
silent fighter 
fighting battles i couldn't see.
i yearn for the days
walking beside you,
up to you,
sitting by you,
laughing with you
crying for you,
the words do not amount
to how much
but here i am
rings on my fingers,
words in my mouth
years in my eyes,
missing you.

a father's love is like no other,
and as all those girls and boys wiped their eyes
derek redmond at the 1992 olympics
tore strings in our hearts
as he crumbled 250 metres before the finish line.
400 metres away the projector screens can't tell my story
the way they told his,
no one's documented this
us and our struggles
to make it by

a gradual discolouration,
as the colours fade,
the voices die
and i'm left with dreams of
bmw x5s
caricatures of our faces
rolling down out the door
our ages collide as we try and set things straight
the war out in our minds, the debate never wanes.
fighting harder to show you
the truth,
daddy i'm getting by
i'm living this life without you,
and yet if invited, you're by my side.

turned to look at mama and she was lost.
searching for her father too i guess,
imagining him,
the tree of life beareth fruit today
abide with me, abide in me
don't let me go to waste
6000 miles away i can hear you say
don't let me go to waste,
abide with me, abide in me
let me stay.

walk into my door
an old man of 64
crowding the hallway
grandchildren giving him the love he never had
he's finishing a race his father never ran.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

finding motivation

For me, motivation is a pretty hard concept to come by. Not because I am not self-motivated, but because I find it hard to translate my drive into action sometimes. Being perfectly honest here, I am talking solely about my studies.

There is so much that grabs your attention in your final year of high-school, secondary, Sixth Form or college. Literally, every experience that you missed out in your lower years, everything that you could have possibly ever wanted will smash into your gut and make you deal with its presence for 3-6 months and then make you deal with your absence from its presence for the rest of your natural life. -.- Why? Shu haada (as they would say in my hometown, Sharjah, haha) !


Now look at this, not only will you have to deal with rationing your time fairly for things that could possibly mean all  the most amazing things to you...you will also have to deal with working your behind off to protect your grades or push 'em up so you manage to keep your university offers.


It is a pretty hard thing to juggle love, friendships, family and potential projects involving things that interest you. You have to look at the things that demand your attention because after you leave you won't be able to give them the same physical attention as you would do if you were to stay. You have to satisfy your own personal aspirations since it is your last year in school because everything else you do is meaningless unless you make sure you meet your own goals. I say this because while everything you want maybe granted to you in the moment...everything you need is still awaiting you, you still need to be conscious of the decisions you make everyday that are helping to build your future, helping to build the foundation for the new frontier you are moving to. Yet, do not underestimate the influence of newly-formed relationships or experiences in adding to your bank of memories and eventually, motivating you in one way or another, to be better than you are today.


You will find that life is not just about making a path for your future. It is knowing in your heart with firm resolve that you will get to your destination, but you need to have acceptance for all the sacrifices, compromises and just generally, experiences that will break you to make you along the way.





P.S. Sometimes, just shutting yourself, and getting your shit done...is better than getting lost around distractions. Be firm with yourself, at this point...it shouldn't matter to anyone else but you.