The other day, I was invited to meet a senior military man. I expected a stuck-up person with poor social graces. ‘Tick a box and return to your comfortable civilian existence,’ I told myself.
As a young boy, I attended
a military school and interacted with the children of military personnel.
Military folk are warm when order prevails. Not so when they
are dealing with chaos and discord. And I always felt a thin veneer of order
kept them in check. For that reason, I always wearingly handled them.
Yet from the moment I met this old man, he was the warmest,
most joyful person I could imagine. He had a story to tell, one that needed my
full attention. I sat down by his side and listened. It was one of pain and
loss, one filled with deep emotional disturbances and healing.
As I listened to him, I wondered how many stories are told truthfully
and how many are delusions. Almost all the stories in the first account carry
the teller's assumptions, perceptions, and beliefs.
This is why we accept the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John. They somehow coalesce into one story told from different 1st
accounts of individuals interacting with Jesus. Do you know that witness
accounts are adversely affected by memory decay? We forget close to 90% of what
we see within a day. Unconscious fabrication and external suggestions affect
our stories greatly.
Seasons and Hope?
And then we have seasons. The earth goes around the sun, and
the sun goes around a black hole in the center of our galaxy. So far, the sun has
made 20 lapses around this black hole, making it 20 galactic years old. And
before you consider Earth a young adult, a galactic year is 225 million years.
There are seasons within seasons. The most consequential for
you and me are the yearly seasons of winter, spring, summer, and autumn in the north
and south, and for us on the equator, the wet, hot, and dry seasons.
Furthermore, there is a season of planting, a season to
harvest, a season to celebrate, a season of waiting and patience, a season of
testing and stretching, a season of isolation, a season of mourning, a season
of scatter. And seasons go.
To make the best out of life we need to know which season we
are in.
There was a time in my life when things seemed at their end
when all my efforts felt futile. I strived so hard, and nothing budged. I
labored, toiled, and grew more frustrated. It got worse before it got better.
But I still kept going. My resolute nature was sheer madness
to some people. And I wondered many times why I never gave up. Many years later,
I discovered why, when I did the VIA Character Survey. My top
strength was HOPE.
Hope is
an optimistic state of mind based on an expectation of positive outcomes concerning
events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. To hope is “to
expect with confidence" or "to cherish a desire with
anticipation".
Earth can be very chaotic and brutal. This extends to the things happening in our minds and hearts. Being able to have hope creates a light where others see darkness.
How then do you sell hope?
Hope is sold through stories. But it all depends on how a
story is told. Be it stories of past, present, and future. Of a different life,
of a different existence, separate from what we have seen and felt. But in them,
the tension between adversity and breaking through is critical.
The idea of a better future is what we all desire, and what
we want retold to us. This hope is sold in so many ways. It's in the brands we
buy, the places we go to, the celebrities we follow, and the things we do.
For the hope of freedom, we take a trip to another location
or country. Some countries even sell a dream of a future better than what we
have right now, and for that people sacrifice everything here, to get to live their
dream, there.
The sacrifices people make can be both heart-wrenching and downright
macabre. Yet it is human nature. And so, the cycle goes, beauty products that
promise you to look more beautiful, and more alluring for you to get your dream
partner and access to the material things you dream of. The better this story
is sold to you, the more willing you are to buy into it.
Please observe blockbuster movies that have made billions of
dollars. Most have a story, that is fiction in several magnitudes. But, again, it
has human beings or a semblance of us overcoming despair, hardship, and adversity.
There is always an enemy to battle and vanquish. And we are always rooting for
the protagonist to win.
The story is even juicier when the odds are stacked
impossibly high against our hero. Then we observe and hope to learn from his courage,
fortitude, and failures. We love our hero an underdog going against a larger
malevolent and powerful antagonist.
We seek these stories and apply them in our more mundane
lives, shining a light on our daily difficulties.
I love ‘The Avatar.’ In
the movie, a human is crippled and unable to function.
He is given a superior body that makes him powerful altering
his persona into a fatherly loving figure. He protects and fights for the
people he loves. Becoming the leader of the resistance against the occupiers
whose only desire is greed.
I can confirm, there is no single human being who doesn’t have
a history in their life, or through a past generation where they were not
exploited or vanquished. Some have seen slavery or oppression.
Seasons allow us to make sense of our travails. A change in
season is like a momentary pause, something that our minds need. It is the
reason why you feel different when you come from a rainy Nairobi, and find
yourself in a hot Diani beach (that is more of my desire right now).
When people don’t respect or honor seasons what tends to
happen is anarchy, and malevolence follows.
Let's study this from two perspectives.
Firstly, some people have learned to ‘tame’ nature which
could destroy other cultures. Japan is situated along the Ring of Fire. A place
prone to natural disasters with earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions.
Yet they continue to thrive because they have learned to coexist with nature
and honor seasons reverently.
Secondly, let us travel to Easter Island, where the remnants
of an ancient civilization are monumental statues, left behind after a
population collapse brought about by overexploitation of the land and destruction
of the flora and fauna. This second outlook can be seen in cities of antiquity where
centuries ago millions roamed their paved streets. Today these cities lie in
ruin, covered in fine dust, and sadly forgotten.
Old Baghdad and Chang’an in their prime, were formidable and
unconquerable. Yet as seasons and time went by, they withered and fell.
We must respect seasons, and celebrate our mortality. With
that, we become malleable, like water. Co-existing with nature and seasons. This
allows a civilization, a nation, a clan, a people, a family, and a person to
live for generations and leave behind a lasting legacy. The ancient Egyptians embody
this in how they thrived for 31 centuries.
Some families have thrived beyond a generation in wealth,
control, and power. And they do it very intentionally through the stories they
curate. Constantly retold to their children as they grow, and as they take the
reins of their empire. The stories are in their family crests, family trusts, long-term
planning, and their ideology on wealth creation and preservation.
To keep a wealthy clan united you have to sell them a
convincing story that together is better than self-interest.
There is a lot to learn from old money on preserving wealth.
Some of them gained it at the altar of sacrifice of human lives, in soulless
exploits. For self-preservation, they built institutions, and systems that
would help others, while rehabilitating their image, to preserve their seed and
power.
There is a reason why we invented vampires, who suck blood
at night and hide during the day in coffins. Who use human beings as food. This
equates in our minds to old money and those forces we assume to control world
systems.
The Rockefellers, Carnegies, Vanderbilts, and their generational
prestige. Their contributions stand as testaments of immense influence. Their patriarchs
through curated stories rehabilitated their initial fortune creation. These
were men steeped in subterfuge, murder, and abhorrent behavior. They used
monopolistic behavior to consolidate, amalgamate, and preserve their wealth. Eventually,
their public image was so well rehabilitated they became saints. Keeping the hordes
at bay.
I encourage the discovery of the Sassoons, Kadoories, and
Rothchilds. Rarely mentioned, but just as powerful. These Jewish families of old
served European royalty, as their bankers and lenders, while trying not to be
exterminated in pogroms. A delicate balance.
To thrive through seasons of war, anarchy, and instability
they adhered to these five values, which I ask you to consider carefully.
Academic achievement, financial discipline, work
participation, family loyalty, and civic duty. These principles give
you success in and out of season, allowing for wealth and value created to pass
from one generation to another, lasting hundreds of years, with a resurgence despite
the changes in the political climate, wars, pestilence, and competition.
Let's now bring this home to you and me.
Our reality has many challenges. We face many issues daily.
How can we be grounded and driven, despite the prevailing season changes?
Our power starts when we are first intentional in our
actions. We must measure what we are thinking, and feeling, and know how our
actions build or destroy us.
Become more self-aware. Self-awareness is critical in moving
through seasons.
Our habits orient us towards an outcome we desire despite
what is happening around us.
We must habitually seek to grow. We must habitually look to
our environment to find opportunities to exploit, with a mind free from mental
slavery. We must discover our strengths and weaknesses.
This we must do daily, and even weekly as a habit. Aiming to
be better, in how we socialize, build relationships, and walk through life.
This is how seasons will come and go, but we can transition
through them, holding to principles that apply universally, while living responsibly.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog! I'm Edwin Moindi, a Life and Habit Coach dedicated to helping people understand their habits, navigate their emotions, and cultivate emotional intelligence for a happier, more balanced life. I'd love to hear your thoughts—feel free to reach out and share your insights or questions!
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