What causes us to change? Is it a charismatic charming leader who gives a powerful speech like Martin Luther King’s “I have been to the mountain top?” Or a great writing from a great thinker like Free to choose by Milton Friedman? Do guru figures like Jiddu Krishnamurti ring a bell of change?

The native children of South africa experienced hard times until a man’s discomfort made him rise to stand up and confront apartheid. The idea of a free spirit in many a people had risen and couldn’t be contained even by the walls of prison. I bet the walls of Jericho couldn’t have contained it either.

The aristocracy in Russia subjected people into a discomfort of lack of what to eat and where to plant what to eat. Lectures, op-eds of socialism and republicanism were outlawed but the discomfort in a people was only massaged by horny religious leaders. Rasputin was the massager in chief. It didn’t take long for the rise of the Bolsheviks led by the deep thinker Vladimir Lenin.

As an individual, I have never at one time changed because I listened to a preacher in my church give good counsel on being a better human. I have never at one time changed because a monk guided me on how to meditate. Not because I read a self help book or I had a special attachment to a Hercules Poirot in Christie Agatha’s thrillers.

Ultimately, change comes to you from the painfull discomfort and at the point in life we realize it’s been only you…alone. The point you realize you are sinking in a deep bottomless pit of despair and when you’re not holding out any hope of survival. When you stop listening to music but you start understanding the lyrics. The moment when a man with a purpose will speak his words to you and you feel like you are having a religious experience. The moment you read a book and the words have a rare air of attraction towards them.

A realization that life is fleeting. Meeting men who have ruled empires, telling you: “you’re just a soul carrying a corpse,” feeding you with a high nutritious diet of knowledge with king Solomonic wisdom. Telling you not to worry about external things like the future, the past, your body and anything outside of your control. Men who make you to dance to their words because they’re singing your life. You’ll listen to them not because they are informing you they have dreams, but because the foundation of change in you has set and is receiving a super structure of transgression. This is change: simple, revolutionary and purposeful.

It’s been a while, nearly 5 years since I was here. One time I thought about writing my opinions on every news item, but I realized that he who has an opinion on everything has a mind predicated on stupidity. I switched off my tv and put it on Jumia and jiji. And I decided not to write that.

I thought about writing my life with a person whose presence in my life aroused earthy desires buried in a place of my heart deeper than Mariana’s trench, but I realized passion is the thief of great thoughts and I decided not to write that.

I met great men and great women whose experiences, conversations and thoughts shape my unconventional life with beautiful and exquisitely bewitching stories that’ve made me travel from New York to California, from the American civil war to the American civil rights struggles, from the beginning of time to the period of ascension of Vladimir Lenin changing the course of Russian history, to those who’ve made understanding human nature a pertinent duty in life. The life that has made my contemporaries look at me like a stranger, that makes the new acquaintances view me as an oddity. Wasn’t it Frederick Nietzsche who spoke to us on leading a life free from conventions when he said “God is dead, and we have killed him?” After all these I decided to not write that.

I looked for what to write and a high blood pressure of thoughts came to mind. Should I write about my current north star? my moral compass and guidance? I attempted, I hesitated, I procrastinated and I guess out of some sort of thoughts, I decided to be sending messages to the man in the mirror deciphering when I could start and what to start putting here. Maybe I could start with the fact that I am already dead and any day that comes by is just a bonus. No, I can’t write these kind of truths here. Could my irrelevant past be of significance which William Wordsworth reminds us? When he said:

“Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not rather find strength in what remains behind.”

But my past is only in the mind and is irrelevant in this journey so I will not write that.

Amidst all these out of kilter thoughts, I decided to come back. I am here World, you’re welcome.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a leg for a leg. John Grisham has written a lot of legal thrillers, “A time to kill” is particularly one that justifies revenge is a dish best served cold. But, that masks other great lessons from that specific book.

Meanwhile, A time to kill sequel by the theme of “sycamore row” is a story of a man called Seth Hubbard who does suicide, I prefer not to say commits suicide because committing is breaking a law. Well that’s a debate for another day. Seth Hubbard is an old rich man, who kills himself. After his burial is the moment his revenge begins. Needless to say he makes everyone involved in his unhappiness when he was alive to pay for it. Must I mention that his own children and grand children had to pay too? Even his dead father had to pay for it.That is because he understood that revenge is a dish best served cold.

Initially, I naturally liked him for the type of revenge he made because for some reason, we don’t like villains in any story. In hindsight, I had a different opinion.

What would the world be, if we had a chance to revenge for all the destruction someone has done to us, but instead of choosing that path, we have mercy and forgive? what seeds would we sow? Every so often, people confuse revenge for justice. If you have a chance in your life to revenge, change the story and forgive, change the course and choose Justice.

Whenever you are presented by the chance to revenge, like the scripture, you need to let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. It is a time to kill revenge and let mercy ring. A time to kill revenge and let forgiveness ring. A time to kill an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and let LOVE rule.

What happens when your lungs are burning? The planet’s lungs are burning off. It provides 20% of oxygen to our planet. People are paying no heed to our lung’s predicament. Maybe some of us use oxygen and most of you do use Nitrogen . Rescue Amazon forest. Leave the usual our “thoughts and prayers” and let’s Take Action.

Every so often a camera cuts through the grim cacophony of war in Libya, Somalia, Syria and ‘shootings in some American schools.’

For an American school shooting, a comedian breaks down on late night, a cable network organises a town hall on gun violence, the right defends the gun lobby on another cable network.

What of the Somalia war? The Libya one or the Syria one? Well…it goes on.

What about a church in Europe catching fire? Money is poured in for renovation from different directions.

Have buildings trumped Humans? Or the importance of guns has transcended that of Humans? which can also be translated as ” guns don’t kill people. “

What has happened to the value of humanity?

#1. Physical exercise.

#2. Physical exercise

#3. Start Doing Physical Exercise.

I am no scientist who will write all about the hormones involved, which side of the brain is engaged and what amount of oxygen to breathe in whenever you start doing any physical activity. What I know for sure is, I started doing physical exercise in the tail end of 2017 AD, from then on, Any challenge (you can call it problem or stress) I encounter no longer affects me adversely.

Physical activity has a magical way of doing wonders. I exercise a minimum of three days a week and a maximum of five. I do a lot of body weight exercises, I run twice a week (with one being an endurance run) and when the gym is near I step in there.

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There’s days I have the vitality to do it and there’s days apathy Knocks my door… well it’s normal. The days of apathy are the ones we should learn most from and they define us.

If there’s anyone out there stressed by the overwhelming situations they encounter, or anything having stress in its description, physical exercise is the ultimate answer. Beginning is half done. Ooo Sorry, there could be other modes of stress management just like there many ways of killing a rat, including setting the whole house on fire.

WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat have killed the humans in us. This is illustrated by a story told by Brazil’s Iconic writer Paulo Coelho.

I used to avoid giving talks each time I would be approached by people. One man in particular never ceased asking me to. He kept on sending letters to my office in Catalonia, Barcelona to be exact, inviting me to give a lecture in the Hague, in Holland. For several years, and my office replied that my diary was full. He one time found out that I was gonna record a programme on a Dutch television channel. When I went downstairs to start filming, he was waiting for me in the hotel lobby. He introduced himself and asked if he could go with me saying he won’t take a no for an answer. I gave him impossible conditions for booking me and he looked at me hard, and concluded that ‘meetings, that was the mistake I made with you. Instead of just sending emails, I should have shown you that I’m made of flesh and blood. Once, when I failed to get a reply from a particular politician, I went and knocked on his door and he said to me: “if you want something, you need to look the other person in the eye.” Ever since then, that’s what I’ve done and I’ve had nothing but positive results.

Needless to say I accepted his proposal

People hardly meet nowadays, they mostly whatsApp, tweet, snapchat…etc.

You can have at your disposal all emojis, all social media platforms, all the strong WiFi networks (be it 4G or 5G), MTN, airtel, Halocel, Glo, satellites and telescopes, but nothing, absolutely nothing can replace looking someone in the eye. Believe me you, if you see someone in the eye, your words won’t be blue ticked, or seen( or viewed). Meet. Talk. Learn. Grow. And bring back the humans in us. Stop Tweeting, Start Meeting.

Pictures of travellers always thrilled me and still do. Every time I log on to Instagram, I see scenic mountain views, the wonders of the world, the white beaches of Zanzibar, the mountain gorillas of Rwanda, the green and exquisite Amazon forests, the Masai Mara and beautiful landscapes of East Africa, the dancing Masai, with captions reading along the line of “travelling, an antidote to ignorance” . I envision myself sandwiched between those travelers, I imagine myself standing on the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, at the highest point of Africa. I see myself pausing for photos in front the Eifel tower, I picture myself celebrating the new year at the Times square, sometimes I imagine me smiling all alone after returning from the Taj Mahal, going to a francophone country or a country where the language spoken is the one found in reggae tone music. Places where I can learn a different culture. Every time I eat food, I imagine it to be food made by hands of another ethnicity, the name I know not.

Early this year, I challenged myself and travelled with a friend to a place where one of the language I speak is spoken (according to the media/society). I made a stop in Dar-es-salaam to take a rest so I can leave for Zanzibar the next morning. That’s when lessons started flowing endlessly from the behaviour of people, to their beliefs, to the language spoken which was different from society’s supposed language, ex ce tra…

Reaching Zanzibar, everything was record high: the temperature, the prices of food, the number of people who came to propose at the white sandbanks, perhaps even the number of high people was record high, maybe even high blood pressure was high.

I for one don’t like reading books that many people read because it makes you think like everyone else. But this book of being in Zanzibar is a different book I was glad reading irrespective of the high number of people who read it.

However, I was disappointed for the fact that there’s a lot of fake stuff in that exquisite island. Elderly women who take advantage of the vulnerability of the young Masai boys (who I was told were equally not Masai) is one of them., I was equally disappointed by the fact that the place started showing itself to me as days of my vacation were running out. I came to know that many restaurants have two different menus. The fake one you’ll be given when you reach there (which contains other foods) and the REAL ZANZIBARI one which contains the food eaten by people of Zanzibar from ugali, karamali to so very many others.

Challenge yourself and go out of your comfort zone. Travel alone, travel with a friend, travel as a family, travel with your mind, travel when you have money, travel when you are broke, travel as you come to know travelling is an antidote to ignorance.

There moments when I sit to ponder and reflect about why some relationships exist. By the time we sign up to be friends, why would we hide other parts of ours? Why can’t we have benign relationships? Relationships where we laugh together, have holidays together, travel together, support each other during our friends’ low moments, encourage them when they give life up. Tell them that not all parts of the road are smooth, some have bad spots and its the bad roads that make the best drivers. Live together and continue to build a coherent friendship that stands the test of time.

African Union in all due respect doesn’t seem to have a direction which the founders in 1963 envisioned. What I see being the sole purpose of the Union through Africa’s Presidents ( though I prefer calling them Africa’s heads of state because presidents are elected) is endorsing dictators after “winning elections.” If African Union can’t exorcise its demons, this friendship will go to the dogs.

Why is it expensive to travel from one African country to another African country? Why cant the success of regional blocks be reflected in the mother union? Why can’t the peace in the south be reflected in the horn? Why can’t one currency substitute the unstable Ghana cedi, the depreciating shilling, the somehow good rand, the franc? If nothing is done to this friendship, it will go to the dogs.

The cyclone hit the south so bad that people lost lives, property and their future is blurred. Why are friends from the south, west, north and east paying no heed? If the status quo of this friendship stays without any change, it will go to the dogs!