Grounded African

Life’s mysteries

According to the Oxford dictionary, a mystery is ‘the quality of being difficult to understand or to explain’. With that definition in mind, I have spent the day trying to think of something that I definitely no explanation for. I cane up with a few like my ghostly experience in Egypt. You can read about that here. That was definitely mysterious!

Then there was my ex boyfriend who, according to a medium, was an Egyptian somebody in a past life and he has 2 Anubis looking dudes that watch over him. (Strange about that Egyptian connection here too. 🤔)I wouldn’t have believed it but there were times when I would wake up in the middle of the night and sense a strong presence next to our bed. I didn’t feel threatened by it but I was aware it was there. We only found out about his apparent guardians when we broke up so maybe there is some truth to the story…🤷🏽‍♀️

But the greatest mystery of all in my book is how the heck do I end up with so many odd socks!!! I mean, it’s just my son and I at home. I do the washing. I take off two matching socks and put them in the washing basket and somehow, ever so often, only one finds it’s way out of the wash. Where does the other one go??? But wait, it gets better! At one point I had bought a pack of 5 pairs of socks. I wore pairs 1 to 4 on consecutive days and when I got to the 5th pair, (Chang Chang Chaaaang!) there was only one! 😱😱😱 How??? There were 2 of them the day before! I kid you not! Where did it go??? Since that episode, I firmly believe in sock elves. It’s the only explanation! How else do you explain that missing sock? It didn’t even make it to the laundry basket! 🥺

So there you have, there are definitely some mysteries out there that we may never solve and thank goodness for that too. I believe it adds so spice to life🤪. What mysteries have you encountered??

So Many Books. So Little Time.

That heading sums up the story of my life. Books have been my best friend ever since I can remember. I loved curling up in my bed with a good book. I also sucked my thumb until I was 18 so my book plus my thumb…well…clearly I was in heaven. 😂 And yes, at 18 cigarettes replaced my thumb and thankfully now it’s me and my book. 😊

I have just completed ‘Life Visioning’ by Michael Bernard Beckwith. I watched his interview with Oprah in about 2019 and wanted to know more about his process. I don’t think i was ready at the time to fully understand it so I couldn’t get into the book. I decided to give it a try again about 2 weeks ago and have just completed it. It was what I needed to get me started this year. I always wanted to understand the difference between Visioning and Visualisation and how to utilise both. This book explains it all in a very easy to understand way. I would highly recommend it if your are on a spiritual growth journey.

Currently I have 3 books open. Actually, according to Goodreads I have way more than that open. I was mortified when I first saw how many books I had not gotten around to finishing yet. It’s ok though, as with Life Visioning, I will complete them when I am ready for them. So what are those 3 books you ask?

Let’s talk Money: You’ve Worked hard for it Now Make it Work For You by Monika Halan – My finances are in a mess at the moment so I figured it is time to make some changes. If I find her system difficult to work with then I will go back to Suze Orman’s way which worked for me in the past. I have no idea why I stopped using it actually.
The Art and Business of Online Writing: How to Beat the Game by Nicolas Cole – I used to follow him on Quora and probably on Medium too. I really enjoyed his writing and he seems to be making a decent sum of money from it. Why not learn from someone who has already forged a path I figured. Besides, I need a side hustle to help me out of my financial mess.
Personal – Jack Reacher #19 by Lee Child – I love, love, loooove Jack Reacher! He oozes testosterone but he has a heart and I love that he is so authentic. This is my escapism novel. A woman has to have a little fun too 😁
Oh wait there is a 4th as well. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins – I signed up for an informal reading challenge by one of the members on Tony Robbins Facebook group. I think we are reading 6 books this year and this is the first one for the year.

The next book/s on my list which will probably keep me busy until the end of March are:

The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham – If it’s made Warren Buffet the great investor he is today, I figure I can learn a thing or 2 from it as well. As you can, this also feeds into my financial journey. I need to do things differently this time around.
Principles by Ray Dalio – I was just drawn to this book. I will find out why when I read it. There is something it that I need to know to help me on my journey. I can’t wait to find out what it is.
The Mistress of Justice by Jeffery Deaver – I love, love, love Jeffery Deaver’s work. I don’t think it is ever possible to guess who did it because he takes you on such a roller coaster ride that it’s just not possible to figure it out until he tells you. He is the master of the twist in the tale!
Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill (book 2 for the reading challenge) – I read this years ago and am looking forward to rereading it.

If you have read any of these or have any recommendations for me, I would love to hear from you. I have set myself a goal of reading 50 books this year so any all recommendations are welcome.

Let me get back to my book! Bye for now🌷

Quotes To Live By: Caroline Leaf

“We are not victims of our biology. We are co-creators of our destiny alongside God. God leads, but we have to choose to let God lead.”
Caroline Leaf

My Dream Superpower- Let There be Light!

If you could have a superpower, what would it be? What a question! I thought through all the Marvel characters and the Disney characters that I know of and none seemed to have any that worked for me. I must admit that I am attracted to Elastigirl’s ability to shield her family from outside forces but that’s the mom in me talking especially with my son starting high school today. I would definitely love to shield him from the dangers of the world out there. By the way, she really deserves to be called ElastiWoman as that is what she is.

But that was not the superpower that really resonated with me. What I really really wish I could do is turn on the light for those who are lost or living in darkness in the lives. I believe that it would be so awesome if we could light a flame within them by touching their hearts so that they can see the next step on their path. I don’t believe that I should light up their entire way because, there would no fun in that for them. The journey is where it’s at and not the destination.

Perhaps I read too many Disney books when I was small because the picture i have in my head is of a fairy godmother figure that taps her wand on your heart and provides this little ball of light, like your heart is a taper. It helps you see enough to take another step forward with confidence until you reach a better lit place in your life. Even better, as you move along your path, your light grows brighter allowing you to use your light to create a spark for others that need it.

“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
Marianne Williamson (Extract from ‘Our Deepest Fear’)

I guess councellors and spiritual healers and the like probably do have this superpower already if I think about it but just imagine how cool it would be if all it took was just the tap of a wand to lift your depression enough so that you can see a way out of it.

I probably sound a bit crazy with that idea but that is definitely a superpower I would love to have.

Let there be more light in this world!

Empowering others

I am passionate about a lot of society’s causes like Animal Anti-cruelty and Recycling and I do my bit at every opportunity. My overarching passion though is education. I believe in the ability of education to empower others so I spend a lot of time educating myself. It doesn’t stop there though. I educate myself so that I can empower others by passing on the knowledge I have acquired.

I am not a formal teacher or educator. I do most of my work at work empowering the newbies in the team. It gives me a lot of energy to see people thrive in their roles with the help of the tools that I can give them.

As a skin care product developer, product claims creator and consumer insights person, I find great joy in listening to people’s issues in order to identify their pain points and then guiding our product developers to create awesome solutions to relieve these pains for our consumers. It is a wondeful to see people post pictures of the results they have achieved from using our products and to know that those products have had a positive impact on their lives by giving them greater confidence to show up and make their contribution to the world.

I believe it is fair to say that if we take a closer look, whatever it is that gives us energy, is likely to be something that makes society a better place in some shape or form. It doesn’t matter if you do it through a formal charity or you do it through your job, what matters is that you do and you it with love.

Your job is you. My job is me.

The most valuable life lesson that I learned over the past 3 years, is that my job is me and your job is you. It’s a hard lesson to learn as someone who is always trying to ‘rescue’ people.

It goes hand in hand with lesson that people will only change when they are ready to. And some are never ready to and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

Just over 3 years ago I found myself in a situation when a person that I loved dearly just cut me off without any explanation. I could not wrap my head around it and everyone put pressure on me to mend the relationship but they had made it clear that they did not want to communicate with me. I was eventually advised to let it go as this person’s soul has chosen to walk a certain path. There was a lesson that they needed to learn which required them to walk a different path on this leg of their journey. This actually gave me a bit of peace and helped re-inforce the lesson I had already learnt which was that my job was me. I have no control over the decisions that others made for themselves but I do have control over the decisions that I make for my son and myself. I do not have control over the lens through which people chose to view me or my actions. All I can do is put my best foot forward every day and trust that I will have a postive impact on the right people at the right time. I don’t have control over the outcome, as that is in God’s hands but I do get to choose the direction I would like to take in life and the same applies to you.

I will keep it short and sweet today for a change. What’s the most valuable life lesson you have learnt is. Let me know in the comments.

Quotes To Live By: James Allen

“A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
James Allen (As a Man Thinketh)

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