Joybringer's Thoughts
Ideas curator, philosopher-artist (E5w4), INFP, human be-ing...
Monday, September 21, 2015
Redefining the weekend
Thursday, October 31, 2013
The reluctant celebrity
He came in like a tsunami. He didn't have an entourage, but the energy he emanated could easily have come from 10 people. He was that charismatic. Naturally people noticed him - who wouldn't - and he lept at the chance to mix with adoring fans. He was like a cat that had just discovered a large bowl of milk - he lapped up the adulation. It was clear he was enjoying this, that this was what he lived for.
His partner, on the other hand, snuck into the departure lounge. I and my colleague wouldn't have noticed him had he not made a beeline for the bench we were sitting on, which was conveniently set apart from the other benches in the lounge. It was clear Don Jazzy thought exactly like Femi and I, though our professions couldn't be more different; we were consultants coming from a site visit to a client's factory, he was a musician cum music producer flying back home the day after a concert in another soon-to-be-forgotten city
Professions aside, Don Jazzy was clearly like us, personality wise. His partner was anything but. I watched Dbanj as he practically went from one person to the next, shaking hands, cracking jokes, laughing out loud, and enjoying being the centre of attention. Just watching him tired me. Looking back now, I can see how he managed to get Kanye interested in signing him up to his record label, when their paths crossed at the Dubai airport. I guess you could say Dbanj has a way with people at airports, and probably anywhere else, for that matter.
Don Jazzy's airport manner was more cautious, more introverted. He didn't speak with us or make eye contact, much less acknowledge our presence. He watched Dbanj work the crowd, and looked at a device in his hand every now and then. The contrast between the two celebrities couldn't have been starker. Femi and I didn't know what to make of it, so I did what I thought was the sensible thing - I tried to strike up a conversation with Don Jazzy. "Don Jazzy, you no go greet us?" I heard myself say. He looked up and let out a tired "Bros, I hail o," and went back to his device. That was as much as we were going to get from him. Meanwhile, the self acclaimed "Koko Master" was still dishing out love.
To be continued...
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Defining moments of leadership failure - The case of General George S. Patton.
From Nicholson, Nigel. "The I of Leadership: Strategies for Seeing, Being and Doing" (Kindle Location 368 - 383). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
From Generation X, To Generations Y and Z
Much is expected”
It’s an old saying
The kind of wisdom nugget
That used to get handed down
From father to son
Mother to daughter
Headmaster to student
Master to apprentice
It would not surprise us
If you’d never heard it
It’s too simple to trend on Twitter
Too basic for Facebook conversations
And given your desire for independence
Coupled with society’s growing disdain
For things religious and non-rational
As well as traditional relationship structures
It’s unlikely you are an apprentice
Or a student in awe of their headmaster
And no
We won’t talk about your child-parent relationships!
Dear Ys and Zs
You have been given much
Much more than you seem to realise
For example
Universal suffrage, regardless of
Gender, race, land ownership
Keep in mind
Women couldn't vote in Liechtenstein
(One of the richest countries in the world)
Till as recently as 1984
You have the internet
And its multitude of social media channels
You live in an increasingly global world
That allows you to experience
Different cultures
And work in different countries
You have tools to influence your governments
From leaking stories on government excesses
To taking to the streets to ask for change
We your parents could only dream of these!
You have received much
And we have expected much from you
And in some cases, you have delivered
But there is so much left to do...
You tell your personal stories
On Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus
But you refuse to truly listen to others’
And think you know all about them
Even before they speak
You build barriers between yourselves
It seems any excuse would do
Class, race, economic background
It's the human way, you say
But somehow, we thought you would
You could, find ways around that
Because we know
And you know
That you know more, much more
About the sciences
Physical and social
Than we ever did
So be wiser than us
Don’t make the mistakes we made
Like starting wars and arms races
That whoever won
Would eventually end up losing
In other ways
Dear Ys and Zs
These are just some observations
On how you
And all your “friends” and “followers”
Can do much better
There are a myriad other ways
But you’re smarter than us
We’ll leave it to you to figure them out!
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
In memory of Fatai "Rolling Dollar" Olagunju
There's no fighting left
I’m sinking to rise no more
Searching for that open door”
“And every road that I've taken
Led to my regret
And I don't know if I'm going to make it
Nothing to do but lift my head”
There's no fighting left
I’m sinking to rise no more
Searching for that open door”
In memory of Fatai “Rolling Dollar” Olagunju (and Whitney Houston and Steve Jobs).
PS. For those that have not heard the song "I Look to You," find below the video (from YouTube):
Friday, June 07, 2013
Letter to a friend
You took my questions too literally.
I was trying to hint to you that long-term results come from little steps, repeated over and over.
So you are as tall as you are for several reasons, some being that you have been breathing continuously all this time (which has kept you alive), you've been eating food and drinking water almost daily, and also getting rest (through sleep) most days.
Once you decide where you want to end up, the trick is to do things on a daily basis that will get you there. Make it such that these things become habits. Build your life around them. And surely, one day, you will find yourself where you sought to be.
I hope you understand.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
When love becomes a crutch...
It occurred to me tonight that the almighty three-word-phrase, when said and meant, should really be a statement of two related parts:
1. I love me through you - that is, being with you makes me feel very good, because of certain things about you (things you do, things you say, how you look, etc);
2. I will do my best to help you love you through me - you also deserve to feel good by being with me, so I will do my best to make that happen by saying things you like to hear, doing things you like, looking good, etc.
When one looks at things this way, it seems business like, transactional, and very unromantic (full disclosure: I have never being accused of being the romantic type). But bear with me as I develop this train of thought.
I was recently thinking about a very young friend that I care a great deal about. As I thought about him, a smile came to my face. Then the logical side of me asked - "What causes this? Why do I always seem to experience these emotions when I think about this friend?" So I began pondering.
I'll spare you the details and go right to the conclusions I came to: I feel this way about this friend because being with him makes me feel good. Not exactly rocket science, but let me explain. The nature of our relationship is such that when we spend time together, we both end up feeling good about ourselves. We like how we feel, so we seek to repeat the experience. As we do this we build bonds and develop a shared history, which makes it easier to feel good when we spend time together. This goes on and on, until it doesn't (life happens, distances lead to communication gaps, etc).
Sounds obvious, doesn't it? What is less obvious is why so many of us (myself included) seem to believe we need intermediaries through which to love ourselves. Why do we find it so hard to love ourselves directly? Why do we set up the game so we need others to trigger the biochemical processes in us that make us feel that sense of being loved? After all, it is not like my young friend sticks his hand in my brain and triggers whatever mechanism gives me the "love feeling." All the work happens inside of me, but he acts as the trigger. Why can't I reduce my dependence on him (and others) and learn to generate this feeling by myself?
The way we've presently set this game up, love becomes a crutch for many of us. Is it really love if we are too scared to bear the thought of losing those we say we love? If we get jealous and possessive, if we stifle their freedom out of fear of getting hurt? What if what will make the friend or lover feel good, will make us feel bad? What do we do then?
So to avoid love becoming a crutch, I propose adding a caveat to the two elements we started with, and it goes thus:
The name of the game is self-love, independence, and inter-dependence. If each of us loves himself/herself directly, then what others bring to relationships are extras that we can enjoy, for as long as those relationships last. There's no need to grasp and fear loss. We grieve if/when relationships end, but we do not mourn because we have lost love, but only because we have lost a lens through which to experience it.
That is the ideal state, and many of us will never reach it. But in striving to develop self-love, we may at least manage to live with fewer self-imposed restrictions.
Love yourself, and share that love with others.