In the last stanza of the the song 'Paint the sky with stars', Enya urges us to:
Place a name upon the night
One to set your heart alight
And to make the darkness bright
Paint the sky with stars.
I am sure that your mind is racing to find an appropriate interpretation to this stanza. Well, here is mine. One should set a goal that enlivens the heart.It should be one that will spread joy in and around an individual and cause that person to be a source of inspiration.
The decision to ride my bicycle to Zirobwe and back was a goal that scared and excited me at the same time. The round trip was 102.01 km. and it took me 6 hours 11 minutes and 34 seconds.
Of course, I did not know from the get go that it would be that far and it would take me that long. Maybe I would have summoned the negative committee to spell out all the pit falls of attempting such a journey that had no obvious reward. The streets would not be lined with a cheering crowd. Cheering the seeming lunacy of one man who could easily have jumped onto a vehicle and gotten to Zirobwe without sweat.
All I knew, in the depths of my heart was that this was a goal that had to be attempted. From the time I set my mind to do it, I had that palpable desire and heart throbbing fear of a virgin. There would be pain. There would be pleasure.
So on Thursday 20/06/13, my bicycle and I set out on a mind blowing journey. A journey that was set to test me to the limit. To test my fitness and endurance level. To test both my external and internal motivation.
It was arduous. It was treacherous. It was hilly.The fresh air and the lush green vegetation provided me with a very welcome diversion from the constant vibration and the speed humps along the way.
The unforgiving bicycle seat revealed to me bones on my rear end. Bones that my mommy forgot to tell me about. With every turn of the wheel at the 60km mark, the bones were aflame with the heat from another world. I choose to ignore that sensation by focussing on the pure joy of unadulterated air filling my lungs. I think it worked.
I got back home unscathed...o.k, my muscles spoke a language that was alien to me. My feet were sore from all that endless and seemingly mindless peddling. My shoulders were arching. My fingers, in spite of the full finger gloves, went through an incredible cycle of numbness. My thighs were vibrating to music that only they were aware of.
But I was happy. Happy that I had set and achieved a goal that excited me. That set my heart aflame. That lit my world with a thousand stars.
There are stories of "insane"people who cycle from Cape Town to Cairo. Well, I have an idea of what drives them. I have partaken of that substance that infuses them with a madness that fills them with zest. It fills one with an obsession to be all that one can be.
There are two lines in the poem 'The road not taken' that go:
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
Zirobwe has lit the path for me,
Hence forth there is no turning back,
I found and conquered my Zirobwe
Find and conquer yours.
Your life is in your hands
Thursday, 20 June 2013
Friday, 14 June 2013
$1,000,000 worth.
To paraphrase Jane Austin, it is a universally acknowledged truth that human beings are paid according to their worth.
So on the 17th of this month the Peres Academic Center, in Israel, is going to pay former President Bill Clinton half a million dollars to make a 45-minute speech at a gala dinner.
That is a ridiculous amount of money by any standard. It is so ridiculous and heart warming at the same time. There is that disorienting, alarming, but exciting rush of blood that does make me wish I was a one Bill Clinton.
For each second that puffs of air will escape Bill Clinton's mouth, he will be paid about $185,000. That is still impressive, especially when you convert it to the currency of a country that is best known to me.
So, what is it that makes Bill Clinton such a magnet for that amount of money?
What has he done so dramatically in his previous life that people would be willing to pay him top dollar for 45 minutes?
All I know is that he was once the most powerful man on earth and that must count for something. There must be something that President Clinton is bringing to the table that rich men want to devour.
Or better still, there is something that sports women and men bring to the table that accords them the fantastic financial reward that they attract.
We are all paid according to what we are worth and what we are worth depends on what we invest in ourselves.
We can invest in our fitness. Our mental capacities. Our social strengths. Our religiousness.
Our fitness level should be world class level. We should not settle for village level fitness...village level fitness will only work within the confines of the village. Once you step out of the village, you will be drowned in a sea of unfitness.
We should engage ourselves,daily in a fitness regime that will enhance our ability to fight off all the associates of a life clouded with unfitness. We should be an embodiment of the phrase, a healthy mind lives in a healthy body.
In order to sharpen our mental capacities, methinks we need to invest in invigorating literature. The literature that makes you question your motives,question your desires and ponder on your actions, is the kind of literature that will set you on the path of mental sharpness.
Books that only trigger base human emotions, should be avoided. They drive us into erotic zones that do little to galvanize the imagination that we need to think thoughts that attract fantabulous amounts of money.
The people we relate to does matter a lot. When we surround ourselves with negativity, we suffocate our own ability to function positively and powerfully. We should encapsulate ourselves with positive, confident and warm people so as to infuse ourselves with that surge of energy that will sustain us on cloud nine.
I do not know what religious belief you hold dear, but whatever it is, practice it daily. The daily interaction with a supreme being calms the soul. It enriches and enlivens the soul. It makes you complete in a way nothing else can. A complete person can compete in any arena that the world has to offer.
Having written all this, I think that President Clinton deserves what is coming his way. Clearly, he has set himself up as an individual with an experience worth $500,000. As a cream on his cherry cake, he is slated to receive the President's Award from Peres on June 19.
Let us all prepare ourselves. That day will surely come. When, because of our abilities, we shall also write a bill for $1,000,000 for a 45minute speech.
Your life is in your hands
So on the 17th of this month the Peres Academic Center, in Israel, is going to pay former President Bill Clinton half a million dollars to make a 45-minute speech at a gala dinner.
That is a ridiculous amount of money by any standard. It is so ridiculous and heart warming at the same time. There is that disorienting, alarming, but exciting rush of blood that does make me wish I was a one Bill Clinton.
For each second that puffs of air will escape Bill Clinton's mouth, he will be paid about $185,000. That is still impressive, especially when you convert it to the currency of a country that is best known to me.
So, what is it that makes Bill Clinton such a magnet for that amount of money?
What has he done so dramatically in his previous life that people would be willing to pay him top dollar for 45 minutes?
All I know is that he was once the most powerful man on earth and that must count for something. There must be something that President Clinton is bringing to the table that rich men want to devour.
Or better still, there is something that sports women and men bring to the table that accords them the fantastic financial reward that they attract.
We are all paid according to what we are worth and what we are worth depends on what we invest in ourselves.
We can invest in our fitness. Our mental capacities. Our social strengths. Our religiousness.
Our fitness level should be world class level. We should not settle for village level fitness...village level fitness will only work within the confines of the village. Once you step out of the village, you will be drowned in a sea of unfitness.
We should engage ourselves,daily in a fitness regime that will enhance our ability to fight off all the associates of a life clouded with unfitness. We should be an embodiment of the phrase, a healthy mind lives in a healthy body.
In order to sharpen our mental capacities, methinks we need to invest in invigorating literature. The literature that makes you question your motives,question your desires and ponder on your actions, is the kind of literature that will set you on the path of mental sharpness.
Books that only trigger base human emotions, should be avoided. They drive us into erotic zones that do little to galvanize the imagination that we need to think thoughts that attract fantabulous amounts of money.
The people we relate to does matter a lot. When we surround ourselves with negativity, we suffocate our own ability to function positively and powerfully. We should encapsulate ourselves with positive, confident and warm people so as to infuse ourselves with that surge of energy that will sustain us on cloud nine.
I do not know what religious belief you hold dear, but whatever it is, practice it daily. The daily interaction with a supreme being calms the soul. It enriches and enlivens the soul. It makes you complete in a way nothing else can. A complete person can compete in any arena that the world has to offer.
Having written all this, I think that President Clinton deserves what is coming his way. Clearly, he has set himself up as an individual with an experience worth $500,000. As a cream on his cherry cake, he is slated to receive the President's Award from Peres on June 19.
Let us all prepare ourselves. That day will surely come. When, because of our abilities, we shall also write a bill for $1,000,000 for a 45minute speech.
Your life is in your hands
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
CLAIM YOUR BIRTH RIGHT.
On the 9th of June 1931, Jebidayo Opii Bitek and Lacwa Cerina gave birth to a baby boy. They named the boy Jekeri Okot.
He grew up to be a versatile man. The kind of man that would make any father proud. The kind that would make a mother blush with the excitement that only a mother can muster.
He grew up to be a man of many talents. He exploited each of them to their full potential. He was a engaging footballer. An engrossing dancer. An enthusiastic singer. A consummate performer. A sociologist and anthropologist of world standing.An ecstatic essayist. A poet whose very sweat dripped of rhythm and rhyme. A legal mind. An atheist.
A father. A husband. A champion of Acoli oral literature. And many other things that are too mind pulsating to mention here. He also grew up to be known as Okot P' Bitek. ( Okot son of Bitek)
When Okot P' Bitek made that journey that we all must make, David Rubadiri described it as the splitting of the African drum. An African drum had indeed been severed.
Since then, there has not been that throbbing sound of the African drum that Gabriel Okara refers to as " urgent and raw" in his poem 'Piano and Drums".
Since then, there is a loud silence in this part of Africa as concerns the things that make us as African as Lawino symbolizes in the iconic 'Song of Lawino'
So why am I going on and on about this Ugandan soul? Well,his bithdate is the 9th of June and he would have celebrated eighty two years of existence, delighting the world with palpitating ideas. I am also highly favored that his blood flows in my veins, but most importantly because he lived a life that, in my view, should be emulated.
It is clear from all this that man was not designed to be cocooned in one set of circumstances. We were meant to know a lot about many things as opposed to knowing a lot about one particular thing. We are all able and capable of being as versatile as we permit ourselves to be.
Our education system sets out to compartmentalize us. As a result we grow up living one dimensional lives.
Society holds us to known measurements to the extent that if we choose to deviate from the norm, we are referred to as social misfits.
You should not permit yourself to live a mediocre life. Moving around in smallness as if your life is of no consequence.
Hovering in a maze of singleness and denying your potential, is only evidence of a lazy mind. A mind, that directs the individual to use a spoon to scope from the ocean of infinite possibilities.
Live your life with boldness. Demand the very best of life, in all the facets that life has to offer and life will graciously deliver it to you.
It is your right. Nay, it is your birth right.
Claim it.
Your life is in your hands
He grew up to be a versatile man. The kind of man that would make any father proud. The kind that would make a mother blush with the excitement that only a mother can muster.
He grew up to be a man of many talents. He exploited each of them to their full potential. He was a engaging footballer. An engrossing dancer. An enthusiastic singer. A consummate performer. A sociologist and anthropologist of world standing.An ecstatic essayist. A poet whose very sweat dripped of rhythm and rhyme. A legal mind. An atheist.
A father. A husband. A champion of Acoli oral literature. And many other things that are too mind pulsating to mention here. He also grew up to be known as Okot P' Bitek. ( Okot son of Bitek)
When Okot P' Bitek made that journey that we all must make, David Rubadiri described it as the splitting of the African drum. An African drum had indeed been severed.
Since then, there has not been that throbbing sound of the African drum that Gabriel Okara refers to as " urgent and raw" in his poem 'Piano and Drums".
Since then, there is a loud silence in this part of Africa as concerns the things that make us as African as Lawino symbolizes in the iconic 'Song of Lawino'
So why am I going on and on about this Ugandan soul? Well,his bithdate is the 9th of June and he would have celebrated eighty two years of existence, delighting the world with palpitating ideas. I am also highly favored that his blood flows in my veins, but most importantly because he lived a life that, in my view, should be emulated.
It is clear from all this that man was not designed to be cocooned in one set of circumstances. We were meant to know a lot about many things as opposed to knowing a lot about one particular thing. We are all able and capable of being as versatile as we permit ourselves to be.
Our education system sets out to compartmentalize us. As a result we grow up living one dimensional lives.
Society holds us to known measurements to the extent that if we choose to deviate from the norm, we are referred to as social misfits.
You should not permit yourself to live a mediocre life. Moving around in smallness as if your life is of no consequence.
Hovering in a maze of singleness and denying your potential, is only evidence of a lazy mind. A mind, that directs the individual to use a spoon to scope from the ocean of infinite possibilities.
Live your life with boldness. Demand the very best of life, in all the facets that life has to offer and life will graciously deliver it to you.
It is your right. Nay, it is your birth right.
Claim it.
Your life is in your hands
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Both my grandfathers were men of the soil. One was a sugar cane farmer of repute in the village of Mican in Gulu town. The other was a household name in Koc Goma. They were men who lived true to the dictate that man will live off his sweat.
One of them spoke to me words that will forever echo over me. "Oloya, he said, do not permit your body to overwhelm you,"
O.K he never said it in English. The Acoli version is too rich to be poured out on this blog post.
Spoken from the vantage point of over 90 years on earth, those words carry weight. The kind of weight that percolated through every sinew of my body and keeps triggering me to be as fit as fit can be. It kept me on the search for the fastest means to be fit.
Well, I chanced on the ultimate solution. The penultimate fat incinerating answer.
HIIT; High Intense Interval Training.
From my search on the web, HIIT involves alternating high-intensity intervals with recovery intervals. After a five- to 10-minute warmup consisting of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise, you begin your intervals. You start with a high-intensity interval that lasts 30 seconds to one minute. You work so hard that by the end of your interval, you feel you cannot go any longer.
Next, you do a recovery interval that lasts as long as your high-intensity interval. If needed, your recovery interval can last up to three times the length of your high-intensity interval.You finish the workout with a five- to 10-minute cool-down period where you gradually bring your heart rate back down to its pre-workout level.
Well, I engaged a group of fitness junkies over the weekend. It was exciting. It was blood pumping and heart racing. We sprinted on the track. We performed jumping jacks, push ups,squats and mountain climbing. All at sizzling paces.
Then we worked the stairs. That is when the definition of high intensity hit home. Our hearts palpitated to a rhythm that was alien to our bodies. Suddenly, long silent muscles were called to action. Like molten lava, blood coursed through our veins. lactic acid burned through. The body sought all ways to rebel, but the heart did its thing.
At the end of the one hour session, we were a giddy lot of people. We all looked back at what we had done. Our innocence had been raptured. We had tasted orgasmic pleasure. Our endorphin level had reached fever pitch.
I have since discovered that HIIT results in dramatic fitness improvements. Exercisers who chose HIIT doubled their cardiovascular endurance in just two weeks, while exercisers who did not do HIIT did not improve their endurance at all. HIIT also greatly increases the rate at which you lose weight, especially the rate at which you burn fat. Finally, by interspersing the recovery intervals, you are able to do more high-intensity activity than you could if you tried to maintain a high-intensity level consecutively.
Thank God for wisdom.
Thank God for HIIT
Go. Engage in HIIT.
Witness a pure transformation.
Your life is in your hands
One of them spoke to me words that will forever echo over me. "Oloya, he said, do not permit your body to overwhelm you,"
O.K he never said it in English. The Acoli version is too rich to be poured out on this blog post.
Spoken from the vantage point of over 90 years on earth, those words carry weight. The kind of weight that percolated through every sinew of my body and keeps triggering me to be as fit as fit can be. It kept me on the search for the fastest means to be fit.
Well, I chanced on the ultimate solution. The penultimate fat incinerating answer.
HIIT; High Intense Interval Training.
From my search on the web, HIIT involves alternating high-intensity intervals with recovery intervals. After a five- to 10-minute warmup consisting of moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise, you begin your intervals. You start with a high-intensity interval that lasts 30 seconds to one minute. You work so hard that by the end of your interval, you feel you cannot go any longer.
Next, you do a recovery interval that lasts as long as your high-intensity interval. If needed, your recovery interval can last up to three times the length of your high-intensity interval.You finish the workout with a five- to 10-minute cool-down period where you gradually bring your heart rate back down to its pre-workout level.
Well, I engaged a group of fitness junkies over the weekend. It was exciting. It was blood pumping and heart racing. We sprinted on the track. We performed jumping jacks, push ups,squats and mountain climbing. All at sizzling paces.
Then we worked the stairs. That is when the definition of high intensity hit home. Our hearts palpitated to a rhythm that was alien to our bodies. Suddenly, long silent muscles were called to action. Like molten lava, blood coursed through our veins. lactic acid burned through. The body sought all ways to rebel, but the heart did its thing.
At the end of the one hour session, we were a giddy lot of people. We all looked back at what we had done. Our innocence had been raptured. We had tasted orgasmic pleasure. Our endorphin level had reached fever pitch.
I have since discovered that HIIT results in dramatic fitness improvements. Exercisers who chose HIIT doubled their cardiovascular endurance in just two weeks, while exercisers who did not do HIIT did not improve their endurance at all. HIIT also greatly increases the rate at which you lose weight, especially the rate at which you burn fat. Finally, by interspersing the recovery intervals, you are able to do more high-intensity activity than you could if you tried to maintain a high-intensity level consecutively.
Thank God for wisdom.
Thank God for HIIT
Go. Engage in HIIT.
Witness a pure transformation.
Your life is in your hands
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