Think of nothing else.

It is so rare that I am so frenzied with the thoughts of an individual. When it so happens, as it did happen when I chanced on Eric Thomas, I throw my whole being into the understanding of the thoughts to the point that one can safely say that I am gripped.

Maybe it his electrifying message, delivered in a down to earth manner, or is it the fact that he climbed over the mountains of overwhelming odds. Maybe it is because of his insatiable desire to be better, or is it the fact that he gets hungrier and hungrier every time he touches success.

Maybe the attraction is in his 'representation of the merits of higher education, coupled with his knowledge of the pains of the street, that inspires young people to break bad habits and reach for new levels of personal and spiritual achievement'

Either way, Eric Thomas is a man who fuels individuals to live life to the fullest extent. Like the whispering stream that breaks into the deafening thunder of a dam, he eggs his fellow man out of complacency. He is a man whose casual appearance belies that rumble that roars in his heart.

It was thus with childish excitement that I sauntered into his stimulating world, where simple words resound with clarity and slam the heart with the echo of infinite possibility. Of all the words that he has shepherded, none speaks to me like these: When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breath, then you'll be successful.

From whichever angle I have chosen to look at the fore mentioned words, my heart has and continues to beat to the fresh pulsations of possibility. The words speak to me of the value of laser beam focus in whatever I surrender my passion to. The words speak of a world that is populated by seemingly ordinary people with Olympian drive. The kind of drive that just does not know how to give in.

The human spirit is an amazing animal. She becomes native when faced with an obstacle that threatens the very existence of her dream, desire, aspiration and longing. Like a bullet train, she will bring her full weight to bear and cause that obstacle to, as the Acoli say, go back into her mother's womb.

Regardless of your definition of success, you will only attain it if it means as much to you as your breathing does. You have to stake your whole existence in the pursuit of the objective of your hearts desire. Your mind has to be consumed by it. Your being must get into a state of frenzy, when you think of it. Your feet must twitch with excitement when the thought of attaining success wanders in your brain. 

Your obsession must be utterly complete. It must cause you to be as restless as that leaf at the onset of an African storm. It must cause you to regard sleep as a luxury you can ill afford; to regard sacrifice as the currency you must pay: patience as the rod that will strike gold; drive and determination as the tools with which to turn coal into diamond: blood, sweat and tears as the sweet combination that will unlock that unyielding door to success.

Is success in life that important? Nay, it is absolutely essential. What, pray tell, is the purpose of going through life and applying only a jot of the ocean of talent that lies in you? Why play small, when you can as well play huge? Why eat a tadpole when that gigantic frog is begging you to slay it?

Wrestle that demon on the way to your success. Exterminate that dragon on the path to your dreams. As you go about being that which you were ordained to be, may the proverb of the Spanish ring true in your heart:  If you would be pope, you must think of nothing else.

 

 

A slum was not born in us.

When campaigning to become the first black American president, Rev. Jessie Jackson articulated words that have since reverberated through the hearts of all those in circumstances that tug at their actual core and shake the very ground on which they stand, sit and walk.

In the middle of one of those ghettos that are the under belly of the world's only super power, Rev. Jessie Jackson looked deep into the eyes of his black, desperate, downtrodden and forsaken brothers. Like a sponge imbibing water, he absorbed all that negative vibe and pronounced; you were born in a slum, but a slum was not born in you!!!

Those words anchor all those whose ships are in agitated seas. All those, who are rudderless ships, wandering on the jagged seas, without direction and purpose, all those who seem to be lost and all alone.

That we are human beings, one and all, means that in the course of our lifetime we will be a witness to, a participant of, an originator of, or victim of circumstances that will test us beyond our tolerance level. Being as finite as the next person, we will be tempted to surrender.

As these words flash across your mind, it may be that you are not as financially able as you would prefer to be. Your surroundings do not even accord you the luxury of dreaming of a more exciting world.

It could be that you are, right now, a prisoner of your body. You cannot bring yourself to command and cause your body to exhibit its physical finesse. It could be that you are a captive of 'fine' food and as a result you have triggered body growth that causes you to be a liability to yourself.

It could be that you are out of a job, in spite of your obviously sparkling academic grades. It could be that you are blaming the government, the president, the economy or, dare I say, the mayor of some far-flung town in some far-flung country. It could be that you have elected to dress in the gab of victim hood to elicit pity from a world that would care less if you desire to take that inevitable journey to the west.

It could be a number of countless occurrences; it is imperative that we all wake up to the primary truth; we are the common denominator in all the circumstances that the stars have seen fit to place us in. Whatever happens, we are in control of the die. Regardless of the cards that may be stacked against us, we get to pick the hand to play.

Of course, it is much easier to dance to the intoxicating beat of the sufferer. It is much easier to say that our lives thus far are a prediction of the ages long gone. It is safer to say that what we are is a reflection of the lives that our parents lived; that we are the sighs of the curse on our generation.

It is safer, but not wise. To live such a life is to live in the confines of a straw safety net in the middle of shark infested waters.

When we are in the eye of the storm and our circumstances seem to be getting the upper hand, we must seek solace in the words of Rev. Jessie Jackson.

 Our circumstances draw power from the power that we give them. The occurrences in and around us are only as huge as we permit them to be. We are the molehills that look like mountains.

Regardless of what we are facing, we have, in our DNA, an inbuilt ability to turn each and any circumstance to our advantage. We may grovel in the mud today, but we can shine like that corrugated iron sheet under the African sun. We can ride the strongest wave that life has to offer, safe in the knowledge that it will come to pass.

Our circumstances are not a reflection of the life that we are meant to live. Our conditions cannot spell our future. Our situations are only a reflection of our thoughts thus far. We may be curtailed now, but we cannot be imprisoned forever. We may have been born in a slum, but a slum was not born in us.