Strange Times Versus Eudaimonia

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(Photo credit: Flickr)

‘These are strange times. Reason, which once combated faith and seemed to have conquered it, now has to look to faith to save it from dissolution.”

Well, should I write, Happy New Year? I think so because this is my first article for the New Year, yet the world has gone through and is still going through strange times. There was the story of a madman who insisted he must rule for a billion years (former Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh) and now we have a President of the free-world who insisted on building walls, and causing as much division as he wanted.

These are strange times indeed.

However, I’ll rather go along the Hannah Arendt line, which was self-explanatory:

”The ultimate end of human acts is eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all acts are but different means chosen to arrive at it.”

I guess we might as well pursue that which makes us happy. 2017 is a year I want to pursue a wellness of spirit, soul, and body, and I hope you can all come to a place of wholeness too.

I hope you’ll all have a wonderful weekend.

Much love, always! 🙂 🙂

On Humanity And Idiosyncrasies

Dec4

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(My ideal place to be now!)

“Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” Dalai Lama

If we continually observe the world, it’s really filled with sad news, war, war, and war! Yet in the midst of the seemingly absurd, grotesque, insane, and obscene, we have to carry on living.

My husband and I were having one of our ‘philosophical chats’ when he quoted Dalai Lama, it hit me like a sledgehammer; am I working too hard?

However, after a brief soul-searching I came to this verdict: I love life, I really enjoy living even when I’m working hard and juggling multiple responsibilities with kids screaming for my attention, countless office deadlines and uncooperative plots ( my novels and several other manuscripts I’m working on).

I am absolutely certain that I enjoy my idiosyncratic attitude to living because life has no part two, there are no dress rehearsals or a delete button. We take what we have, use it wisely and hope for the best, and I think we ought to strive to find joy in life in any way we can.

December is a month of frenzy cum feverish spending, planning, office parties. Why not pause for a while, enjoy the snow-capped mountains, (if there’s one in your vicinity), the fake reindeer, and annoying Christmas jingles that normally grated on your nerves.

I intend to, I hope you’ll all enjoy everyday living.

Have a fantastic weekend friends!

Much love, always. 🙂

A Taste Of Heaven

Nov4

(Lake District, England)

I was flying, at least several feet above the ground. I felt the warm sun on my face and the gentle breeze became my new lover by caressing my face. I saw a sea of sunflowers swaying to an imaginary music. The sight stunned me as I watched mesmerised by the awesomeness of it all. My soul was at ease, all my problems floated away into nothingness. I couldn’t remember where I was coming from or where I was going.

I was static but not in a bad way.

I knew I still had a body but didn’t feel any urge to check what I looked like. I felt a tingle on my toes and the sun shone so bright my eyelids almost hurt. I wanted to reach out and touch it, naturally, I wanted to stay there forever. I heard soft murmurings from afar and gradually, it developed into a chorus of some kind. My eyes flickered to the sunflowers again, the soft chorus emanating from the distance further heightened my sense of euphoria.

I watched and waited for what seemed like years. In the distant, I saw a hill covered in flowers I couldn’t possibly describe. It was an awesome experience. And then, I woke up and saw the worried faces of my sisters…

You can read more on this story here: https://seyisandradavid.org/2012/11/14/death-and-the-angels-of-mercy/

I’ve read and heard countless debates about life after death, my position is simple enough. I’m a firm believer in life after death. The universe and everything in it didn’t happen because of some flimsy big bang theory. It’s more than that.

The events described above were real. I had that strange experience after my heart stopped on the operating table several years ago. I didn’t see any angels but I totally experienced a brief taste of heaven and believe me, it was as real as my fingers punching away on the laptop.

We live in a wonderful world, however, there are worlds beyond our human comprehension, beauty beyond any language known to man. I think that’s why I write more about the supernatural, I’ve experienced it so many times, I know God is real and He loves us so much.

I’ll stop here and hope all my friends would enjoy the rest of their week!

Much love, always! 🙂

The Hope Journey

Mar3

(Photo credit: wingmac)

Ann-Marie glared at the result in her hand, and her heart skipped a bit. That wasn’t what she was expecting. How could I beat cancer and then find out that I have coronary heart disease? she thought in despair as her eyes clouded with tears, she ground her teeth, determined to beat the new monster in her body.

‘I’m so sorry,’ the doctor said and watched her ambled out of his office…

*****

Sharon rushed through traffic, her face beaming with pleasure. At long last, after years of trying, the doctor had finally confirmed her suspicion; she was three weeks pregnant. Countless IVFs couldn’t do the trick, she got pregnant when she least expected…

*****

Roman walked through the park, lost in thought. He was still trying to cope with the death of Jake, his best friend. Jake had jumped from the sixth floor of his hotel. It was sad that he was with him a day before the tragedy; yet Roman saw nothing amiss. If only I could rewind time, he thought aloud as his eyes brimmed with tears. Then he remembered the lost look in the eyes of Jake’s mother, and his feet seemed to have a life of their own as they pushed him forward. He could still save another life…

*****

Nathan could hardly believe his ears. He is finally free, there was no more cancer. As he took out his phone, his eyes involuntarily seek out a nurse, pushing a girl in a wheel chair down the hospital hall; she was roughly the same age as his 10-year-old daughter and by the looks of things, she’s having chemo…

NP: although some of these stories are just figments of my imagination; there are elements of reality there. I’ve had friends who had gone through cancer, life – changing situations but one thing stood out: they never gave up hope, and most of them emerged victorious in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems. In the words of Emily Dickinson, the American poet, I quote:

‘Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.’

So, never give up hope… 🙂

Have a pleasant week my friends!

Much love, always!

🙂

Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Years!

Feb28

(Photo credit: Flickr)

”I hope everyone that is reading this is having a really good day. And if you are not, just know that in every new minute that passes you have an opportunity to change that.”

Gillian Anderson

This is perhaps the longest post title I’ve written since I started this blog. I believe we have the will power to do something about how we’re feeling. It’s up to us really, to see the beauty of creation; or war! But before I stop and close my laptop, I remember a C.S Lewis’s quote that I stumble upon a few years ago, it goes like this:

”It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.”

(Photo credit: Flickr)

These two quotes means different things. I wonder what you think of each one. How do you think it applies to you and me?

Ruminate on it this weekend and do let me know your thoughts! 🙂

Also, a blogger friend plastered my shy face on his blog a couple of hours ago, please do me a favour and hop over to read it. Chris Graham has a heart of gold (we all do! 🙂 ) And he did this out of the goodness of his heart. Please like and share it! 🙂

http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/2014/02/28/guest-author-seyi-david/comment-page-1/#comment-7790

I sincerely wish you all a beautiful, restful, and joyful weekend! 🙂 ( too many ‘ful’ 🙂 )

Much love, always!

🙂

Lift…

Jan2

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard

I watched an advert today by OXFAM titled LIFT, though they wanted donations for their charity; I connected with their vision. Most times in life, we need people to lift us up, either from a failed project, a failed marriage, a failed relationship or business.

However, there are times when we don’t need anyone to rectify the errors of our past, we only need to LIFT ourselves up mentally and make a fresh start. That was why I chose Carl’s quote; we can’t undo the mistakes of our past (except for writers who can re- edit their manuscripts and release an updated version of their works) but we can surely learn from the past and have a happy ending.

This is my first post this year, and I truly hope, life would be good to us but we can be good to life too!

How? You may ask, by being agents of hope in people’s lives. My last year at university was memorable; I once had a friend who made me sad every time we were together, she was so good at pointing out my obvious flaws and making me look stupid, even though I wasn’t anywhere near stupid. I was a bright, brilliant student. A few months before our graduation, I intentionally stopped that toxic relationship, and that was when I had peace with myself.

This new year, you can start from where you are and make the best of your life. I don’t want this post to be long, but if you’d read thus far, please take this words to heart: This year, decide to love yourself first, then you would be able to love others and make the necessary changes in your life.

My love to you all, wherever you are in the world and a word of warning: Don’t get into trouble! 🙂

Don’t be afraid to stand for what you believe in, even if that means standing alone.. – Unknown

Enjoy the rest of this week and have a fun filled 2014!

🙂

Life’s 3rd Edition…

Jun24

(Photo credit: Fred Fokkelman)

Strange blog post you might say but how good would it be if one can have different editions of one’s life! As a writer, I can edit and re edit scenes, but that’s different about life! You can not rewind or re-edit things you don’t like. Most books have first, second and third editions. Life is not like that, we can’t have any editions, we’ve only got one shot! One edition…

Everyone who has been my friend on this blog knows I believe in God and the supernatural, I also believe in the good will and love of people and I really need a few prayers thrown my way today for a family friend (she’s more like my sister really) I’m going to call her SA.

SA is going to have open heart operation (she’s got holes in her heart) this Wednesday at one of the best heart hospitals in the world, St Bartholomew hospital in London and I must confess that sometimes I’m scared, sometimes I have faith and sometimes I wonder what the future hold for my dear SA. But I believe in the prayers and love of people. I would be there, holding her hand as she’s wheeled into the theatre and I’m sure things would work out fine.

Please pray for my sister SA, she needs it. It’s a massive, life changing operation…

I wish you love and peace wherever you are in the world. Live well dear friends.

Much love, always.

I Whisper A Prayer…

Dec14

English: Peak of Bear Mountain (Connecticut). Taken with digital camera in June, 2005 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My heart bleeds for the pointless killings of innocent children in Connecticut… My heart bleeds and I whisper a prayer of comfort to those hurting parents and children. The deaths are unimaginable, the pain unbearable.

Hopes dashed, dreams quashed, the pain indescribable.

Destroy all these guns, arrest this evil monster, this happens too many times. Beautiful, innocent children, they’ve got no sin, no stain yet cut down so early. My heart bleeds, my prayers to the parents affected. Words fail me!

When shall these killings stop? When shall the insane heal? This happens too often, something must be done. Children must be protected, nobody deserves to die, least of all children.

As a parent, I offer my prayers, my tears fall and I hope for a miracle.

My fingers are numb, my eyes are heavy, my heart is….

Looking for answers.

Why kill?

I have no answer, I just whisper a prayer.

Please pray with me…

The Watchman

Nov15

Watchman (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The angel fell down with a thud and grabbed hold of Arianna, she spurned round and screamed, her eyes turned red and her mother shook her so she could come back to reality.

”You’re safe now, it was all a dream,” she whispered stroking her hair and singing softly until she slept again, her head in her mother’s arms.

Arianna’s mom gently laid her on the bed and pulled the duvet up to her chin and silently tiptoed out of the room but before she closed the door, her daughter whispered,

”He is with me mom, I am no longer afraid.”

A light shone above her head while a huge mysterious man sat by the window pane, watching her sleep. The night was quiet but Arianna’s snoring was like a slow ballad in a quiet night. The man watching sleep smiled and waited, he would stay with her until dawn and for the rest of her life.

Her mother smiled and closed the door, but she lingered outside her daughter’s door, listening for any sound but she heard nothing and then she walked to her own room, safe in the knowledge that Arianna’s sleep will no longer be punctuated with nightmares.

But is Arianna safe?

This is just a short illustration intended for this post.

Like Arianna, we live in a world fraught with dangers but we need to have an anchor, someone we can trust, somebody to run to when the going gets tough, someone to sing with in time of jubilee, and someone to talk to in our moment of fear.

We cannot leave our lives to chance, blown about by every wind of doctrine, we need a watchman, someone to care for our soul, to give us a reason for living.

I believe nobody was born as a mistake, there is purpose to every life, a reason for our existence.

I have found mine, have you found yours?

Men, Brawls And… Nothingness.

Nov13

Sunday Prayers (Photo credit: Steven Leith)

This unfortunate incident happened late last year and anytime I think about it, tears usually welled up in my eyes.

It was a Sunday morning, we were sleeping soundly when I heard a loud banging at the door, still in my sleepy state I leapt up from the bed but before dashing downstairs my husband caught the tip of my dressing gown.

”Where on earth do you think you’re going,” he asked with a frown before standing up, then he released my dressing gown.

”I heard a loud banging and I decided to check who was at the door,” I explained with a yawn and that was when we checked the wall clock. It was a few minutes after six in the morning. I crawled back into bed, grateful for a strong man in the house but some days were just horrible.

Seconds later, I heard a man talking rather loudly downstairs but my husband was trying to pacify the caller. It was obvious my beautiful sleep had been abruptly terminated for the day so I decided to check who the unreasonable caller was.

I slipped into my slippers and padded downstairs and then I saw him. He was fuming and gesticulating with his hands, the only words I heard was this,

”I have sent her packing out of my house,”

I hissed and went back to my room shaking with what I surmised must have happened and my heart went out to my friend and I could just picture her tear-stained face. Her beautiful, clear skin marred with mud and blood, her finger nails cracked, her heart-broken into a million fragments. And I offered a prayer for her safety.

The caller was a violent egocentric maniac whose wife was a very good friend of mine. She was very secretive, evasive about the bruises, when I asked she never could explain why she kept falling on the stairs every week, was she blind? And the babies? The miscarriages, the constant admissions, scans, the endless sorrow but she is free at last, safe from the beast in human form, safe from the fear, safe from the heat and the fury.

He is empty, worthless than a speck, and he is in a prison of his own madness.

What can I say? My friend is free from the brawls, and from that emptiness of a marriage. I believe in everlasting love, a love without fear, without sorrow…