Having delivered and attended workshops in different cities, I have worked with great minds who are progressive, and others who disregard their potential. Everyone I’ve worked with harboured a great mind. Indiscriminately, we all harbour a great mind. Some reach a point whereby they begin to explore its capabilities, while others are limited either by resources or various other constraints.

In an ideal society, we would all have equal resources and hence equal chances to grow. However, with the existential inequalities, it is essential to help cater for these distinct inequalities and slowly work towards a more balanced world.

Yes, it is easier said than done. But you’ve got to start somewhere. Sometimes the fact that it is difficult to alleviate issues works as a stumbling block; we’ve got to look past it, and try work on small ground issues and slowly tackle larger ones.

Reflecting on the quote above, I have found it to be very accurate on many levels. Attaining knowledge in all respects increases wisdom. As you become wiser, your command and abilities become more distinct. Sometimes you begin to explore new talents, and focus on new potentials that you hadn’t witnessed before. Knowledge doesn’t have to be specific to secular; all knowledge can be useful knowledge.

In society, secular knowledge is regarded as a dominating asset. It often determines employment, entrepreneurial skills and various other roles.

For this reason, I personally feel education to be a pivotal means for an individual to succeed. However, a good education system requires resources to enable steady upward growth. While resources are available online and in libraries in the UK, some developing countries across the globe lack resources. This often constrains their growth and chances of improvement.

As a newly formed charity, Mount Elimu aims to address this issue in developing countries. If we’ve got resources to nurture our talent, so should everyone else. Our long term aims are to promote resource allocation in East Africa (to start off with), by delivering workshops on global poverty, whereby we hope to educate people on a local level, in order to educate people on a global level.

With manageable strategies to start off with, we hope to grow and help empower as many individuals as possible.

While this is our story, we believe we should help improve their story.

(Please get in contact with me if you’d like to help in any way.)

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Having heard this phrase on numerous occasions, it applies each time, in a different, yet powerful way.

As I was walking down a busy University street, I became observant to the different languages people spoke, as well as the different tones that complemented each language and dialect. It was phenomenal to see the impact each individual had. There was difference, yet each had a distinct expression which was personal and gave them an aspect of individualism.

Taking a different stance on my observation, and the impact of speech and language; speaking and ones way of speech says a great amount about ones character. When you speak with a foul tongue, you give off an entirely different impression to a calm and controlled speech.

In a sense, your speech works as an ambassador of your character. Through reflection, I learned it was important to control ones speech. I learned the importance of having valuable things to say, and not worthless remarks which might just fill up silence.

A common reason why people choose to speak, and let out unnecessary remarks is to fill in for silence, because silence appears to be the death of ‘entertainment’. Without conversation, some feel that there’s a significant element absent.

But what is wrong with silence, I think to myself. Isn’t silence a spectacular chance to just reflect, and just be conscious of oneself. Sometimes, without moments of enjoyed silence, we get overly absorbed in the thought process which conversation requires, rendering ourselves unable to reflect on our pursuits and lifestyles.

I have found that implementing moments of silence each day to be a useful means of remaining calm, and being in full control of myself. Plus, my mind isn’t constantly preoccupied with a timetable, and instead it enjoys being. Without silence, I feel, we might even risk limiting our successes; we find it hard to spare any time analysing our achievements, and how we could improve what we’re undertaking.

Try sparing a moment each day, just for silence, if you don’t already, and realise the beauty of this surreal moment. Observe it, and enjoy it.

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What is a life, where all you seek is material?

Funny, it is. There are the individuals who deal with it well, while others find themselves a new, more daunting job; taking care of what they’ve earned.

During my travels to less developed nations, I was clearly exposed to both extremes. The opulent, who surprisingly happened to be less content, and on the other extreme, the less well off, who were happy with their position. They had a deeper purpose to life, and enjoyed the fruits of what they’d earned, instead of constantly seeking more.

Material wealth can be an important instrument, while on the other hand if governed incorrectly leads to an inevitable destruction. When our life goal becomes solely focussed on it, we become enslaved by it. While its initial purpose was to enable a comfortable lifestyle, we slowly falter away from it, and live for it.

Sometimes the driving force behind our pursuit is society, and the dogma that we’ve got to keep up with the Joneses’. Our life becomes a mere competition. We forget our real God/higher being, and become subordinates of this material goal.

While it is essential to keep with our times, and remain within the bracket of modern, we need to realise what we believe to be our ‘real’ purpose, and continuously strive towards it, instead of being distracted by anything lesser.

As we try and find security and a healthy well-being in wealth, let it remain our instrument towards the essential goal, and not the actual goal.

I remain unclear when stating the word ‘goal’, as ones goal in life is subjective. Once determined, it’s important we don’t cave to the more trivial, less worthy ones.

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Amidst the whole electoral hysteria, we’ve constantly referred to the principle of trust before electing a new leader. We do this in an attempt to gain security in our decisions. Trust seems, in this case, to be the basis of our decision.

To gain trust, people ought to display characters which underlie trust i.e. honesty, selflessness and general decency.

Although a limited definition of trust would end there, and assume that once you’ve established trust in society, you’ve achieved your goal. However, there’s more to trust, and it digs deeper within oneself.

It may seem slightly far stretched, but it’s often a forgotten subject when we evaluate trust. We’ve got to build trust in ourselves. We’ve got to have faith in our ability to excel. It strikes me, particularly at a time when students are preoccupied with revision for exams. We lose faith in ourselves; we find ourselves ‘unable’ to arrive at an understanding of subjects.

With the faculties each individual has been designed with, we all have a capacity to grow and develop to unprecedented levels.  If material taught is intelligible, it ‘can’ for certain be understood. As an individual who has been victim to the ‘cannot’ mind-set, I’ve realised how I constantly limited my capacity by assuming anything is impossible. A new approach, which works, is to conquer each subject, irrespective of the level of difficulty, to see how our human capacity is extraordinary and unlimited.

As well as losing faith in our ability to understand things, we feel we won’t follow through on D-Day (exam day). Once we’ve covered all we can in the maximum depth, we’ve got to have confidence in ourselves to achieve excellence.

When we realise that the word ‘cannot’ just inhibits our progress, we will reach the pinnacle of our potential.

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It’s Presence – a curious thing no? If you have it, you will know what I am describing. When you walk into a room and heads turn. Not because of some ostentatious undignified display or a sound out of the ordinary that causes heads to turn your way, but rather your presence. You feel their piercing eyes penetrating your body like dozens of needles syringing adrenaline into your blood stream, yet it’s not something you have done but something you have. If you need to prove that you have it – you just don’t have it.

The well known phrase of a whisper is louder than a shout epitomizes the idea of presence. It is not something you buy, learn or teach – you are just blessed with it like the colour of your eyes or the size of your hands. This concept is echoed throughout the greatest leaders. Obama was earlier recognized for his gate in which he approached a stage before delivering his speeches or Churchill in the way he stood with his chest out. When the new Con-Lib give their press conferences, notice the presence of Nick Clegg will shine through the Prime Minister’s.

Do you have it? Well, difficult to tell. Presence is not something you notice when looking in the mirror or can add to your look with adolescent display, it’s just there. Not too long ago a car company caught this idea and adopted it for their adverts which is played below.

Mercedes Presence Advert

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It is that time of year, well known as any other. April creeps upon us as we complain in shock at how swiftly February and March have passed. The sun teases us with its pleasure of warmth and we crave for more, but the prayers of the plants, trees and grass are answered as

the rain falls. It is also that time of year where society does not permit us to see the colourful blossoms appear, nor smell the morning dew after a night of drizzle, rather the exam period of this month locks us indoors like prisoners, only peering at outside, anxiously waiting for that last exam to perish.

We moan, we moan even though we know this time of year is inevitable. We regret that we started too late or that we didn’t attend enough lectures. We groan at our timetable, even though everyone else has the same timetable. We pity ourselves, in hope that someone else gives us pardon and create excuses to prepare for failure but then burn the midnight candle to avoid it. Funny how we function isn’t it?

One useful tool of the past is history. It is recorded, like a textbook, for us to learn, to avoid its mistakes and grow. Yet every year we promise ourselves that next year will be different and that we will work harder, longer hours and waste less time. In the back of our mind, we know these aren’t true, but mere consolations to the struggles we resist. And then, that day arrives, more exciting than our own birthday, the day when the sun retires its clouds and we smile, releasing all the hormones that we have been longing for – that day of freedom. We return to our desk with a recycle haven of notes and scribbles that were our worst enemies and yet our best friends. Nothing now becomes an activity, we lay down staring at the ceiling with a sensation of relief that the worst is behind me and the best is yet to come.

As we repeat these years from GCSE to A-Level, then University to PhD, the system that we had learned to hate for so long now becomes our friend. It acts as a proof that yes, you are clever, yes you are worth something and gives us a place in society. We are no longer lost with no social proof but work harder and harder for that higher grade, that title after our name to be better than the person next to me applying for that same job. That eagerness for that higher salary, higher golden handshake and we smile when we see it in our account. All this excitement for what? Money? Do we extend the corners of our minds at university for a paycheck? American history shows the death of the salesman but European history has shown the death of the Renaissance man, if you don’t know what that is, you aren’t a Renaissance man.

When you ask a 17 year old what they want to be, they will give you an uneducated answer, if you ask them what their passion is, their answer will be educated because it comes from their heart. Too many people study because of their career choice and not because of their passion and their career choice is fueled by the ideology of money not of self pleasure. So think to yourself, am I really doing what I dreamt about, slept to thoughts of it and awake with excitement to see the sunrise, if you answer is a no then ponder at what you do want – then it’s only up to you to go and find it.

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An element which frequents most lives and characters on a regular basis, often met with oblivion, and if not, then mere justification. It’s a concept we either categorically declare as wrong, or justify its impact to be essentially positive. Pride.

From a moral standpoint, it’s often regarded as ‘wrong’, because of each individual’s essential equal state. From a theistic perspective, we’re all created equally in the eyes of God, and were made in an absolute manner. Hence, by allowing pride to overcome us, we are subordinating ourselves to our ego, and assuming a rank in society that challenges the fundamentals of creation.

Why is it that our ego gets the best of us? Sometimes we feel as though society is below us; we feel our position of power or authority grants us the right to claim and maintain a status. Sometimes we feel that our knowledge entitles us to power and a higher rank in society. The question of legitimacy then arises; what enables us to authorise and dictate our own status? If we’re able to assume a rank in society, surely every other individual is entitled to the same. We must challenge our ego, when it strikes us, and tries to conquer us.

One of the most common reasons people assume superiority over is wealth. Society over the ages has always been divided into classes, each grouped by their monetary value. This form of divide has had and still has several negative connotations attached to it. These divides stem of pride and arrogance. They lead to discrimination and hatred between classes. In a world of negative press, we try being heroic by striving to bring change, but forget the problems’ governing factors; our tendencies and inclination towards arrogance and superiority.

We must ask ourselves; are we solely driven by materialistic gain? Is our purpose purely to attain power and superiority? If not, pride and arrogance is a characteristic of the supposedly powerful.

Although it may sound idealistic, and one might question its practicality, one of the key steps towards order is challenging our current traits.

Essentially, by assuming superiority over society, we are allowing our ego to gain superiority over us, and hence destroying any aspect of authority completely.

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As I lay there wondering at how the stars seemed a million light years away from me,

And as the moon travelled away from its origin in a specified time frame,

I saw integrity. I saw purpose.

I brought myself back to planet earth,

And wondered at my use of time,

A term so commonly used in our colloquy,

Do I use it effectively,

Or do I extravagantly squander the supposedly ample supply…

When each day nears completion,

I ponder on the days achievements,

The days worth.

Most the time, it’s a silent thought which retrieves very little worth…

The stars were still positioned in perfect order,

The radiant beauty complementing the serenity of the wondrous night,

And back again to my pondering state,

I eagerly await an epiphany…

I quest for an answer to my distress.

The quest seemed to gather endless possibilities,

Of reform. Of potential…

The moment was surreal,

In darkness there was light,

The night seemed like day.

I was energised. Motivated. Rejuvenated.

I must seek to maximise my potential in the days ahead…

The night grew fonder of my persistence,

Of my unwillingness to devote its hours towards the customary role;

The sleep it was well acquainted with…

From my moments worth of contemplation,

I learned something.

Do everything you do to the best of your ability, and be confident in your own work.

‘Cause your confidence brings out the best in you.

As our time on earth is a finite resource,

Let’s capitalise on it…

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Chivalry is dead. People’s traditions and icons evolve over time. Before it was accepted to bury alive new born girls but now you would not dream to see it. Before it was accepted to smoke a cigarette whilst reading the paper in a cafe but now you would not see it. Women were considered as lower than the man yet now we see equality observed in the developed societies.

One concept that hasn’t changed, evolved or been distorted is the mannerisms of a gentleman. As the generation of hip-hop spread faster than cancer over the pop and rock culture, the gentleman was branded as an outcast. It was no longer noticed to dress well, to groom or even offer the basic respect to the fellow man and these homophobic labels took over, causing the gentleman to retreat. Now, as society has grown intellectually, they have realised the grave mistake at allowing such a laxed culture to wade in. The need for a return of the smart, crisp gentleman was desperate.

When one imagines this gentleman, one immediately thinks of a man in a suit holding doors for women and paying the bill at the end of dinner. But this is trivial, in fact completely unrelated to what the gentleman is all about. Holding a door for a woman was seen as sexist by the feminists as they are equally strong to open their own doors but true etiquette opens the door regardless of gender. Opening the door does not give anyone the right to claim the characteristics of a gentleman but rather the code of the gentleman has to be understood.

The gentleman is not a man who stands out of the crowd, nor is he a man who is noticed. He does not wear clothes that align him to a peacock nor does he wear sequins – he knows not what sequins is. He has a beard, strong, like a bull – but intact. Control over his emotions but passionate in his beliefs.

The lack of the gentleman is noticeable. Little nobility in people today, few with honour to defend what they believe in, even if it does result in a mess. If you saw someone mistreating another person in a public place would you come to their rescue? If you saw the tumours we call yobs robbing someone on the bus, would you stand there and watch? You wouldn’t repeat their actions, so why let it happen? To me, the onlooker that does nothing is just as guilty as the criminal in any situation.

So if I have just described your personality then portray yourself as such more in day to day life. Stand up for what you think is right even if you are alone in what you think. I truly believe chivalry is not dead and true gentleman do exist and now is more a time than ever that our society need them to set examples on the code of conduct.

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