Real 4thworld Husbands. Read on. (Article Courtesy Mr. P. Malata)

TYPES OF HUSBANDS

MR MONKEY  :  Mr Monkey is only married on paper but in reality he is still a bachelor. He married because of some family pressures, maybe impregnating the girl out of wedlock. Monkey is not responsible, he doesn't realize he is now a man and has a wife and child (ren) to look after. He still hangs around with his bachelor friends. They go out, braai, drink and be merry with young girls and his car pumps out loud music, it's actually a mobile disco. His house is like a lodge to him, he only comes home to sleep. He sleeps out once in a while and has his friends to testify to his wife that he slept at their place after drink or when the car had broken down. He is really a nuisance to the family.

MR LION :  He is very violent and is always boiling like acid and suffers from mood swings. His home is run through intimidation and dictatorship. There are strict rules and regulations for the wife and children and whoever breaks these is thoroughly beaten. His home is run like a high school. There are strict meal times and heavy padlocks at the gate. He takes pride in being in charge and behaves like a high school perfect. Half the time he is engaging in compensatory behaviour verbally and physically abusing his wife and children to compensate for his inadequacies elsewhere especially at the workplace.

MR GORILLA :  This one wants to be treated like a King. He treats his wife and children like his subjects. He wants the wife and children to perform some traditional respect gestures. He doesn't want to be called by his first name. The children found out his first name by mistake on a utility bill and they enjoy using this name when he is away and they are gossiping about him. When his food is served, the wife kneels and puts food in front of him and she retreats two metres and kneels again and announces that she has brought the food, as if he is not aware. He eats from plates that have lids. Only the wife knows what he is eating. The children don't. Gorilla has a strong rural background and has a number of beasts at his rural home/farm, where he goes almost every weekend. The cattle are his friends, they are more important than the wife and children for he spends most of his free time with them than with the family. The cattle are not sold to improve his life; he delights in seeing them multiply and enjoys the numbers. He's a very stingy man.

MR COCKEREL : He is that man who has a soft spot for women. They are his friends, just friends; he has no relationships with them. He is a husband for every women; he doesn't want to see a woman cry and is given to caring for these other women than his own wife. He gives these other women more than his wife in terms of his resources and time. At the work place, the women know him and they take advantage of him and take loans they never payback.

MR BABOON : He is very selfish, he thinks about himself first before the family. He is the best dressed in the family. His favourite word is 'my'. Everything is HIS - my car, my house, my wife, my children, my trees, my lizards (those that hang around his house). He is a very greedy man. He is heavily involved in what happens in the kitchen, even knows how may slices are in a sliced loaf of bread and how many oranges are on his oranges tree. He doesn't consider the emotions of the wife and the children. He is a dry man with no sense of humour and he rarely smiles and takes life too seriously.


MR FOX :  He is a very cunning man. He doesn't care much about the marriage. He is using his wife to solve his own personal and extended family problems. He knows his wife's weaknesses and capitalizes on these to use the wife for his personal gain. When he needs the wife to do something, he is friendly and 'loving' and when he gets what he wants he relapses to his usual dry self. His habits are very fast and his eyes swift, he won't look at you directly in the eye, speaks very fast as if he is reciting a poem. It's not clear what exactly he does for a living but he is always in town running from one corner to the other.

MR TICK :  Is a very lazy husband. He lives off his wife; he is literary hanging on his wife's skirt. He's stuck to the wife because of her money. He is dependant on the wife as much as the children. He is very loving in his own way - fond of calling the wife all sorts of little nothings, honey, sweetheart, sweety, lovely and all but will siphon money off the wife and spends it with other women. He has no initiative and has negated his role as a bread winner in the family.

MR PUPPY : This is a husband who is a cry baby, very childish and irresponsible. He is mummy's boy. Behaves as if he is married to his mother. He cannot make a decision without consulting his mother (and sisters). His mother and sisters run his home and family. He is always comparing his wife to his mother and expects the wife to behave like his mother. It is rumoured behind closed doors that maybe the mother bewitched him to make him 'loyal' to her. His sisters are busy trying to get him girlfriends from among their friends so that they will even spend more time with him through frustrating his wife. A very useless husband.

MR PYTHON : There is the visiting husband. Mr Python, a rare species. His house is a lodge. He only comes to sleep. Leaves home when the children are still sleeping and comes back when they are in bed. He is always at work or making 'deals' to make money but unfortunately he has no time for his family. He does provide materially for his family but he is always absent.


MR ELEPHANT : Finally there is Mr Elephant, the man who is caring and loving and provides for his family. He will not allow anything to come between him and his family and will fight tooth and nail to protect his family. He tries his best to fend for his family but only through honest means. He spends most of his spare time with the family and guides his family spiritually as well. A very responsible man who treats his wife as a partner and cares for the welfare of his in-laws. He values the children as God given gifts to be cherished, with no gender bias. - and I know that all husbands who read this column are Elephants. A perfect example of this kind of guy is actually the man who provided this information, Mr. Malata.

Tribute to Mr. Malata

If there is one human being I would really and truly call a Christian, its this man.  I have been priviledged to have him know me from when I was a very little girl.  I look back at all those years and Mr. Malata has been more than a big brother to me.  In fact, he is one of my heroes and I totally and absolutely trust and respect this man.  That trust and respect, he has earned again and again with deeds too numerous to mention.  Mr. Malata, I salute you.

Little Steps and Small Smiles

For one thing that you give time to, another is sacrificed. I am basically finishing the year by keeping the same hours I started with.  Today, I was at my desk in the office at five in the morning.  Yesterday I left the office at 10.00pm.  That is what happens when you work at something you love.  Time simply flies.  I have much to learn!  Its like my mind had been closed up and now, I am re-discovering this entire amazing world.  My sincere regret is that this week, I have not spent an hour with the twins but what I am doing is imperative for their future.  

Why I have gone on at this tangent is to bring out a sad but true fact about our lives, we the people in the fourthworld.  If we try something and it goes terribly wrong with the result of no riches untold, but huge debts both material and in kindness, its easier for us to go back to the drawing board and even come up with another plan.  The problem arises from implementing the second or third or fourth attempt.  Each is done with less zeal than the last and most people give up before they begin the attempt, that is why it would be easier and better to believe witchcraft stories, rivalries and to blame other people for our failure.  Success lies beyond the greatest failure, ask Abraham Lincoln (if you can find him) or any other people who tried hundreds of times and did not get it right but finally did in the end.  We ordinary people in the fourthworld need to harness the ability to try, try, and try again and make it a part of our everyday lives.  It is in the simple things that we fail first and it is also in the very same simple things that success is to be found.  For most, success is a build up of the small things, multiplied a hundred fold but the secret is in finding what works and implementing and perfecting that.   

A great place to start is to look at situations in your life which do not require money to resolve.  Why not sort out one of those situations and see what it feels like.  Before you know it, you will be doing a lot more of that and the more you do that, the more your mind opens up to the possibilities we simply pass by day in and out. Of course, it could also be that the black eye from my witchcraft research helped open wide my mind and renewed not only my zest for work, but for life as well but we cannot all have black eyes to enable us to open each other's minds  Another open secret to success is consistency.  There is no fee for coming up with your own simplified success recipe.  My version is going something like this

Effort = Outcome

Outcome + Analysis = Progress.

Progress + More Effort = Results  

Results + Analysis = Pattern.

Pattern   + Analysis = Problem.  

Problem   +  Analysis = Solution.  

Problem   +  Solution = Success.  

Beyond the Fear (And IF - with help from Judy Belmont)

This is a wonderful place to be.  Its where anything goes because you are prepared to deal with anything and everything.  Not prepared as in saying it, but being emotionally, physically and psychologically prepared to chart and stick to your plan for a way forward, as in end of the year, review, revise, refocus, reforecast etcetera.

Of course its not yet December but I am copying the Japanese this year.  They take time to plan, that is why most of their technological gadgets are successful.  Surely my life deserves more time and effort to plan for what should and must or may happen in the next twelve month beginning January.  This year I just cannot leave this to a last minute Facebook or Twitter entry for other people to 'like' and thats that!  Detail.  Minute, hour, day, week, month - some logical progression!  People, I am doing this for a reason.  Read the following article from Judy Belmont (reproduced with her permission) to find out why.  I first read this article  on life optimiser.

“IF ONLY …. I had taken the other job.”

“IF ONLY …. I had chosen another college.”

“IF ONLY …. I had gone to college!”

“IF ONLY …. I never broke up with her.”

“IF ONLY…… I never moved here.”

“IF ONLY …. I encouraged my kids to stick with music lessons.”

“IF ONLY …… I hadn’t said that!”

The list goes on and on. No one goes through life without some “if onlys.”

However, some people make the land of “IF ONLYS” a place they live in, not just visit. Too many people think that if only they chose a different path in life they would be much happier, and spend too much time kicking themselves for what seems obvious in retrospect.

Here are seven tips to help you move through the Land of “If Only” to the Land of Today!

1. Use your broken dreams, disappointments and “what ifs” as stepping stones towards a better future. If you regard what you learned as lessons to pave a better foundation moving forward, you can see any setbacks from the past as laying the necessary stability for a better tomorrow. Make the most out of today rather than reworking yesterday!

2. Those who are stuck in the “woulda, coulda, shoulda’s” often have a hard time forgiving themselves for not knowing better or not doing any better, which seems so obvious in hindsight. Self-forgiveness is vital for moving ahead in life rather than spending time living with a constant pull from the past. Forgive yourself for not knowing everything when you were five!

3. Remind yourself that you do not know what would have happened if you chose the other path – it could have been worse! By thinking of how things could have been worse, we can put things into perspective. All too often, we think how things could have been better rather than focus on what could have been worse! And believe me, they could have!

4. Refuse to play the “Blame Game.” Often people stay stuck in “what ifs” because they can not let themselves “off the hook.” They see even their present difficulties such as misbehaved children or being suddenly unemployed as further evidence that they are to blame for all their misfortunes! They think “If only I had……then this would not have happened.” As the bestselling book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” by Harold Kushner emphasizes, the world is not always fair and sometimes really good people get real bad breaks just because life is not often fair, not because you deserve it.

5. Realize that to be steeped in “if onlys” is to be stuck with unproductive regret. Regrets can be productive if you learn and grow from them. Differentiate between productive and unproductive regret. Unproductive regret keeps you focused on how the past would have been better, and productive regret helps you make better decisions and choices now as you immerse yourself in the present and look towards the future.

6. Allow yourself to grieve. There are five stages of grieving according to Grief Pioneer Dr. Kubler-Ross. They are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. All are necessary to give up past expectations and make new dreams today. So do not get worried if you experience anger, feel very sad, and at times try to make deals with yourself, others and even God. Recognize that they are all stages of the grieving process and are necessary to the the final end stage of the grief process, which is acceptance. Acceptance helps you make peace with “what is” rather than what “should have been.”

7. Embrace “The Swiss Cheese Theory of Life!” Accept the fact that life is not smooth and predictable like American or Cream Cheese. Rather, it is more like Swiss with all its characteristic holes. Interestingly enough, it is a fact that the bigger the holes in the Swiss, the more flavorful, sweeter and more distinctive the cheese. Using this as an analogy to our lives, we have the opportunity of getting stronger and developing more character when we get through large life “holes” and obstacles.’ So, with the notion of The Swiss Cheese Theory Of Life, you can feel more positive no matter what comes your way, and will be able to “SMILE AND SAY CHEESE!”

Judy Belmont, M.S.
JABelmont@theswisscheesetheoryoflife.com
www.theswisscheesetheoryoflife.com
1259 South Cedar Crest Boulevard
Allentown, PA 18103
(610) 437-6151

Judy Belmont answers her mail!

Agnes :  " Hello Judy, Thank you for a great article. I am going to, with your kind permission, reproduce the takeaway section on my blog, and put a link to your own website because I think people in my neck of the woods need this information."

Judy:  "Hi Agnes - Thanks for your interest - I would be happy for you to post it. You also might like this one also - http://www.lifeoptimizer.org/2011/11/14/tips-for-moving-through-if-only/
Regards, Judy"

This was before I had done any background information check on Judy.  First, here are work Testimonials about Judy.   

I am a member of PMPI who attended the luncheon yesterday and was completely thrilled by Judy's presentation on the multigenerational work force. I am a baby boomer who is all too aware of the paradigm shift in our society but I could not quite analyze it so astutely. Thank you for making it clear the need to understand things from a different point of view. Marilyn Matthews,  Washington DC Accommodations

Judy Belmont and her skills in managing workplace dynamics is our hidden resource. Judy has assisted us managing the people imperfections effectively, with absolute dignity and to the mutual benefit of both company and employee. With Judy's assistance, we have provided the third dimension for our Human Resource. William Buss Manager, Labor Relations Mack Trucks, Inc.

Judy Belmont's programs have been outstanding and I have been very impressed by the quality and delivery of her presentations. Her excellent performance has been communicated to me by various employees that have participated in the programs.   She possesses a strong knowledge base and passion for mental fitness and developing life skills. Her reliability and sincere dedication to her craft is very apparent.
Aldo Cipriotti  Program Manager  StayWell Health Management

It has become quite evident that Judy is a leader in her field. Clients request her to conduct their training and the students consistently rate her at the highest levels. She has a unique ability to engage her audience and deliver authentic instruction applicable to their workplace.
Pam Klass  Penn State Corporate Training Bethlehem, PA

Judy's style of presentation easily generated a spirit of pleasant interaction among the attendees, many of whom did not know each other, and her humor and insight made us wish she could continue the topic well beyond her allotted timeframe. Judy is an excellent speaker, and I hope to attend another of her outstanding seminars very soon.
Patricia E. Infanti, PP, PLS  NALS Secretary/Treasurer

Judy has been conducting training workshops for Penn State for several years. Workshops have been for audiences in government, industry and education. Judy is extremely diligent and thoroughly organized . All programs are well developed and delivered in a superb manner.Attendee evaluations of the programs have always awarded Judy the highest accolades.

Lothar Gumberich  Management Development Coordinator  PENN STATE UNIVERSITY - Lehigh Valley, PA

Judy's brief resume.

Judy Belmont, MS, LPC, is a licensed psychotherapist and wellness speaker with over 30 years of experience. She has spoken nationally on a variety of mental health and wellness topics, and is a member of The National Speakers Association. With her insights about the common issues and challenges that people face as a foundation, she has spoken extensively on topics including resiliency, positive thinking, communication and managing stress effectively. 

In my neck of the woods, most people do not bother to answer mail.    Judy is not just anyone, but someone with 30 years experience, and someone who is good at what she does.  If she were in my world, where most women do not even accomplish a tenth of what she has done, it would be retirement, that is if they have not migrated to go and become someone's maid or driver in the first world. Services, education etcetera work most of the time in the firstworld because of people like Judy.  They are a source of the best information no textbook can ever hand down, a combination of the book knowledge and real life experience, experience which thankfully, they put down on paper for others to utilise.

Now, I have to do a typical fourthworld action, meet today, beg tomorrow! (sorry Judy!) I am going to request Judy to mention this blog to her friends. Why, so that they tell their friends and hopefully, some day soon, those people will in turn tell their people at home about this blog and the information on this blog will start getting to the intended recipients.  We are brilliant in having to channel most things through the first world in order to sort out our own backyards, like the numerous liberation wars, education, hunger alleviation, medical research!  Even getting one of our own to wake us up to the possibility of everything being possible had to pass through the first world, talk about Mahatma Gandhi, and lately, our shining beacon of the power of possibility, the very President of the United States of America, Mr. Obama.  How beautiful if would be, if one day, the fourthworld said "thank you" to the rest of the world and 'we do not need any more donations'.  This said, not because of political pride or misconstrued actions, but because we have turned all the begging bowls into something sustainable and livelihood supporting.  To me, we are living in the century of possibility.  We have the opportunity to change our minds and change our lives but for that to happen, we should be prepared to work and work hard.  I  surf the web and research personal development blogs which really help change lives. I take that information and apply it to my own life, and as I see changes, I recommend what works for everyday common people's lives, like mine! That is how I came across Judy Belmont.

Thank you Judy. 

Self Made Millionaires - what it takes

Catherine L. Hughes  :  Age: 64  Occupation: Founder and chairperson, Radio One

Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Sometimes the ones who love you the most will give you the worst business advice."   By conventional standards, Hughes wasn't destined to build a successful multimillion-dollar media company. She was a teen mom by 16 and a high-school dropout. However, she later completed high school, followed by brief stints at area universities in her hometown of Omaha, Neb.

Those early years were rough. Hughes, who was divorced by then, slept with her son on the floor of her radio station because she couldn't afford to live anywhere else. "My mother tried her best to talk me out of the radio business because of that," Hughes recalls. It's for this reason that she advises young entrepreneurs to be wary about who they divulge their challenges to -- even family. "If I had listened [to my mother], I would be a government employee right now and there would be no Radio One."

Bert Jacobs    Age: 46  Occupation: Co-Founder and CEO, Life is good

Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Try to shoot for a timeless business."

You've probably seen the beret-wearing, smiling face of "Jake," the Life is good logo, on the company's tee shirts and products. Co-founders Bert Jacobs and his brother, John Jacobs, 43, started peddling their tee shirts on the streets of Boston -- going door-to-door at college dorms and sleeping in their van to save money -- in 1989. It would take nearly six years, however, before their shirts finally caught on with consumers, thanks to "Jake."

"In the beginning, we made every business mistake in the book," says Bert. The brothers didn't have a business plan or growth strategy -- a formula for disaster, if you go by what's taught in business school.

Ali Brown  Age: 40   Occupation: Entrepreneur, business consultant and publisher, AliBrown.com

Advice to young entrepreneurs: "It's important you seek out other business owners for information, advice, support and resources." Fed up with her dead-end job at a New York City ad agency, Brown decided to quit in 1998. Armed with her brother's hand-me-down computer, she launched her first marketing agency, AKB Communications, from her kitchen table.

While having her own business was exciting, the uncertainty of self-employment had its challenges. Brown remembers all too well maxing out credit cards and draining her bank account to stay afloat in the early days. One night in particular, she tried to withdraw $20 from an ATM but was denied because her balance was only $18.56.   When it comes down to deciding if entrepreneurship is the right move for you, Brown says, "Entrepreneurship is for those who are willing to take the leap of faith.

Jill Blashack Strahan  Age: 52  Occupation: Founder and CEO, Tastefully Simple

Advice to young entrepreneurs: "Having goals is absolutely critical."

For Strahan, starting her multimillion-dollar company, Tastefully Simple, a direct sales retailer of specialty food products, began with "a dream and a shoestring." She grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota and later started selling gourmet food baskets, which inspired her business.

In the beginning, the entrepreneur fed her fledgling company with $6,000 of her own savings and some loans from a friend and the Small Business Administration. Strahan's first headquarters was a 1,200-square-foot space with a concrete floor and no running water. Early orders were packed on a pool table. Today, the Tastefully Simple offices take up nearly 200,000 square feet on a 79-acre lot.

So, basically, any one of us in this, my fourthworld, is on the right track for a million.    

Click here to see entire story from Yahoo Finance:  

Eureka!!

I will tell you why.  This post is a milestone.  When I started blogging here three months ago, I was not sure that I would be able to keep at it.  Not only have I done that, but today, I have exceeded the twenty-two posts which have been my best for a month so far.  What do I say,  Eureka!!

In fact, here is what Steven Pressfield said in one of his posts:-  "Gravity, like habit, can be a mighty ally because it leads ineluctably to another Newtonian phenomenon: momentum.

Our Little Prince planet, we discover, possesses not only mass but motion. It’s moving through space. Our energy, our intent, our attention are powering it. Now what?

Keep it moving.

Don’t stop. Don’t second-guess. Don’t look down. Take courage from how far you’ve come already. From a speck to a blob to your own tiny planet. Now keep going.

Don’t worry, you won’t fall off. You’ve got gravity working for you."

For me, keeping the course and keeping at this is an immense source of satisfaction, especially considering that I had to come up with what to write each day from scratch.  Now for adding value and monetising this blog. Why?  Multiple income streams have made people in the first world rich.  Not just that, the money makes itself while they sleep, that is why they take three to four holidays each year when the average in my neck of the woods is none in a lifetime.   One of the saddest things that I still think of is that Esther flew for the one and only time in her 30 year of life - as cargo.  There is a whole huge wonderful world full of delightful places to see, exotic foods to taste and amazing places to stay that was made as much for people in this, my fourthworld as any in the first.  I have every intention for me and my loved ones to see, savour and enjoy that world. 

Different schools of thought, great results

One leading self development life coach says keep nose to the grind and work sixteen hours a day in order to succeed.  Another says, don't push intellectual work into factory work because it will send you to the bottom. This is typical of people in the first world.  They cannot decide on one method that works so they come up with all manner of explanations, courses, theories, experiments,  religions even a political system, which, because no one can agree on anything,  they then call democracy.  People, the craziest thing about this is that this works.  If it did not, we would be having the millionaires and billionaires here, in this fourthworld, instead of so many in the first.  So, maybe what we need to do, is learn to listen to each other no matter how different our opinions on anything are.  From listening to divergent views we need to respect each other's view, so much so that we incorporate that which we do not want to, but have to, in order to succeed.   

I think having open minded people around one, people with a common purpose and determination to succeed invariably produces the desired result.  The beautiful example is one of Mahatma Gandhi when he first said that a few people with total belief and faith in what they want to do can change the world.  The fact that he said it, and then went on to do it is not amazing, but just a beacon along illuminating the way for everyone else in the fourthworld to go for their dreams, and achieve them, and not only achieve them, but enjoy their success.  

Mind Matters

Changing a way of thinking is about one of the toughest things one can train oneself to do.  Go on and try it, tell your mind that the wall in front of you is red, and not white.  Maybe, it is easier to say, the wall in front of me can be red, and not white.  Take for example, something really good happens to you and you are always expecting something bad to happen.  What do you do?  Catapult in the office, dance, smile, shout for joy and say eureka? Or expect the same crazy nonsense that may have happened at some particular moment or period in your life to continue happening?  The paradox is, the more stressful and hopeless the situation you may have encountered, the more you expect the worst from every situation and invariably, that is what actually happens.  Then you feel sorry for yourself, start self doubts, you are vulnerable and as a result, you believe all manner of rubbish.  That is why so many, and I mean so many people in this, my fourthworld will never ever be free from poverty, because the poverty is ingrained in the mind.  It is true about spending time with positive looking people, where others see doom, they see challenges, where others see traits of things that have formed a downward pattern, they see traits of situations that were let out of hand and can be reversed. Negative ways of thinking have a way of inducing panic and when panic sets in, all rational reasoning goes out through the window.  Coincidences and innuendoes become facts, because, in your mind, one plus one adds to eleven.       

Children & Toys

I had a terrific laugh today.  Someone has been going all out to try and get information to me and today they succeeded!   They are driving.  Big news.  They have an office.  Wonderful news.  Maybe they even have a few more toys and gadgets that they have amassed since I last saw them - terrific.  I am totally happy for them and I wish them all the best. The reason why I laughed was why on earth its such a big deal for that someone to let me know. The second reason and sorry .. this will hurt   .... this is so typical of the mentality I constantly talk about.  Some people cannot grow up, or do things for themselves or maybe for their families or better still, for their loved ones.  Those are the people one should work hard to impress,  not some associates or friends or work mates or colleagues or people you just happen to have associated with along the way.  I always gave an example of someone going all out thinking they are making an impression on one end while on the other end, people are laughing at you.  Like someone who bought a whole box of chocolates to impress a woman and all those chocolates were distributed to strangers.  Or a man texting intimate messages  on the phone from one country which are being replied to by another man and everyone who has access to that phone is laughing at the poor man.  My advice is, if you get a gadget, or a toy  - enjoy it and keep to your circle.  The people you think may be impressed or otherwise might actually laugh at you,  and that would hurt.  The lesson here being enjoy your success and share it with people who value it the same way you do.           

Separate Fact From Fiction - Judy Belmont

Many thoughts we treat as facts are really interpretations

 Many interpretations are so automatic we do not know they’re not fact

 Examine your thought habits so that you are aware of what is your “default” way of thinking – only then can you change them.

 As you can discern facts from your take on things, you will feel more positive and empowered

 Realize when you are just telling yourself stories!  Nothing is wrong with being a story teller – just know when you are!

 Stop upsetting yourself with nonsense that you believe to be true

 Stop over-catastrophizing and making mountains out of molehills

 Refuse to feel like a victim and feel more like a victor

 Be more solution focused and not problem focused

Activity for Your Separating Fact From fiction

Take a magnifying glass to remind you to be “thought detective” to look behind what you are thinking and identify distorted thinking that is fiction rather than fact. Remind yourself that when we interpret, we are telling ourselves stories.  There is nothing wrong with stories – but just know that they are not real or true!

Remember, when you can not separate fact from fiction, one plus one does not equal 2, and not even 11, but numbers that don;t make sense, like 145!  And the more irrational you live in the land of fiction, the higher the numbers go up!

So take your magnifying glass and identity your thought habits – and make sure you can distinguish between the stories you tell yourself and the actual facts at hand!

Witchcraft

Findings:-

There are two types of witchcraft - inherited witchcraft, passed down from generation to generation through family members and another type bought mostly for use to amass wealth.

The people who practice inherited witchcraft can also heal, and are sometimes called witchdoctors but, they also can make concortions to kill.  The basic requirement is that one should have wronged one in some way and if that is so, then it is some sort of justice.  On the other hand, some of these people have groups or memberships where they then go on flesh eating orgies, mostly of the dearly departed humans' flesh.  In order for them to partake, it should be a family member fast forwarded to meet the Creator for purposes of creating food.  This is where family members pay with lives of fellow family members and the rounds are supposed to be once in every three to four years, depending on the group concerned.  What basically happens is that in each 'member's household, a  relative, son, daughter, spouse etc dies once every four years and that ensures that each year there is a supply of 'food'.  Certain rituals have to be performed before, during and after the deaths and this can continue within a family for its entire lifetime if someone does not do spiritual intervention and 'fight' this evil to break the bond.  If this happens, then real 'war' breaks out and things happen and  so on until one side wins.

The second type of witchcraft, anyone walks into a curandeira or witchdoctor's 'apartment' and says they are not doing as well as they should be doing in the world.  They are asked what they are willing to sacrifice for what they want to happen and normally, it involves the death of a child or children, women being made to have intercourse with snakes or other stranger things and  human beings killed for body parts,  or being turned into goblins, then concoctions are made and voila, someone's business thrives overnight.  The handicap with this second type is that the blood sacrifice has to be done consistently until even the perpetrator is fed up, then their problems really begin because whatever goblins they would have been given are non returnable or refundable. 

The tragedy for both is that they use unsuspecting family members and when some find out, they go to extremes and perform crimes of passion so very much a part of people in this, my fourthworld.  When I asked why some people, who have been doing this continue to do so when they know what havoc they are wrecking on other people's lives, the answer was fear.  It emerged that once you are a member, always a member, you try to get out, you are wasted.  The practice is related to when people in my world used to worship pagan gods. Getting all this information firsthand is tricky, especially if you do not have journalistic or other credentials which give you the right to probe.  Now, I hope you understand my black eye.

Most of the people who have seen me with the black eye think its a male being who did this to me.  Wrong, it was a woman! The shop assistants at the shop where I went to pick up a few groceries today were over-courteous, all the way to the till point.   No one asked me anything!  Two women said 'forgive him dear!". I refused to wear an eye patch or a cap and the eye is quite a sight.  Someone said "I hope they arrest the bastard who did that to you!"  Frankly, I think people have been watching too much television!

About the Police, I could go if I wanted to but I wont because in a round-about way, I did prode.  I could have easily found out all this on the internet but I wanted to hear what people in my own neck of the woods had to say about this.  

Paper Paper Everywhere

For someone who purports to be computer and internet savvy, I have, over the past ten months, used an inordinate amount of paper.  Lots of trees cried over my waste and while I know that in some places there are useful and working recycling arrangements in place, here in my fourthworld, very few people make conservation or environmental awareness any of their concern.  The finger points to those who have huge factories, those who have money, those who live lives in the spotlight where it is the correct thing to do.

Is it not a bit scary that this, our home, our planet, our mother earth, has so few people who actively do something to protect and nurture and nourish it.  We mine and do not bother to refill, not gold and emeralds like the big guns but sand and other small everyday use pits that we just dig without thinking of what one is doing to mother earth.  We litter and soil, use paper and dispose of it and lots of plastic shopping bags without stopping to think for a minute what all that junk will mean to the next generation.  Of course this is the fourthworld and I am busy trying to make a living for myself, how can you expect me to bother about pollution and paper waste and tree cutting and all that!  How beautiful and responsible it would be if just one in five people in my world stopped for a minute and did something small for mother earth every day.    

Friday, 18th November, 2011

Today a young man barely twenty two years old prayed for me.  He believes in miracles.  He is passionate about preaching.  He listens to you when you talk and he genuinely cares for what he does. I looked at this young man and he saw I was cynical.  I told him point blank that somewhere, somehow, someone had told me that his was a Satanic church, that people say they see flying snakes and other untold drearies when they go to worship in his church.  He took me on a tour of his church, all the way to the altar where the snake is supposed to be. He then told me that when everyone else was praying, I was not to close my eyes, but to open them, so that if there was a snake, I could see it, and not only that, he then showed me the exits so that in need, I could take a hurried exit.   

I did not see any snake. Of course the church is large but the point is, in my world, people believe all manner of things without verifying facts.  Some of the stories are so gory that even the tabloids harp on them and this frankly, just makes people confused, afraid and unwilling to find out the truth for themselves.  As a result, I notice that what should be faith in most of the people going to church in my part of the world is actually fear. Fear of what other people say, confusion over one's belief in the first place and a mixture of tradition, religion and other further handicaps.  If only people understood the one single fact holding them back is fear.  No matter how much education a person gets, no matter now much factual evidence one is presented with, that ability to separate issues, to call a spade a spade and to call laziness, that and nothing else, greed, that and nothing else, bad judgment that and nothing else exists in very few people.  A person convinces you that his is the church to go to and several weeks later, they tell you they are also getting consultations from some other quarter, to get a second opinion.  This is not an operation.  This is belief.  How can you believe anything when you need a second opinion from someone practicing the exact opposite of what someone else was preaching to you,  and this is done in one day!

Mahatma Gandhi said a small group of people who have absolute and unwavering  faith in what they are doing can change the world - and he went on to do just that.  After I wrote the witchcraft post, I heard so many stories of every other person's mother, uncle, brother etcetera being a witch and or wizard, including my own, but people, people people, while I have no way of ascertaining any of these stories for truth and for authenticity, the fact remains that even if I have also seen some strange things, I still hold the prerogative to believe what I want. I thank everyone who shared their story with me and I cannot judge what decisions anyone else has made throughout their lives but I can safely say that if you have the wrong set of beliefs and or if you cannot change them, you are not ever likely to succeed in life. That is a fact.  The witchcraft that has been tried and tested over centuries, by different gurus, is called work - and that works.  Lotteries are lost and won by those who play, just like progress is made by those who set out to actually accomplish something.

The highlight of  my witchcraft research was a black eye, which I got for telling someone facts, facts it turns out, they did not want to hear.  Its a good thing I saw the damage when I got to a mirror because when I went raging back, the culprit had the good sense to run away - I was that livid!   Still, I am enjoying the black eye because its the first one ever for me in my entire life.  Lesson, leave investigative stuff to the morons called journalists.  After this, I totally respect those people and my advice if you have witches and wizard bothering you day in and out, anyone or anything that cannot confront you direct is a coward!  Of course you run the risk or a black eye but .....  

One million

The twin counted faultlessly to one hundred.  Then to show off, he continued to one hundred and nine.  Perfect. After one hundred and nine, next figure was one million.  Finish. There was the little pensive face expecting excellent and well done!  But we know that after one hundred and nine there is one hundred and ten.  Yet there was my little brave soldier expecting adoration and congratulations for a job which was not well done, but reasonably done, till the last minute.  

Brought to mind the number of women I see tending fields and planting.  The rainy season is upon us in my area. These women bend all the way down and they have to remain in that position till they straighten to take a break. Why no one has bothered to make a kinder and longer hoe for them beats me.   Second is the way the fields are made - one design suit all.  Then comes crop choice, and seed variety - neighbour is expert just because you think so.  Same mistake, year in and out.  No soil test, no information on what crop is best for the soil, just the desire to produce the staple and feed oneself. No wonder why agriculture is going to the dogs in most parts of my world.  How one can expect the same soil to produce the same quality and quantity of food after decades of use of the same chemicals and or fertiliser beats me, especially where there is not even any crop rotation practiced.  These people, by the way, go to school, and read books, and go on Facebook, then they do exactly the same thing their great grand parents have been doing the same way and expect the same result.  Amazing, just amazing.  Another million for hunger relief food.   

Mirror on the Wall

here we go again, through my rise and fall, you've been my only friend.  They told me that they can't understand the man I am, so why are we, talking to each other again?   Lil Wayne and the other fellow.  I'm told that is how you relate to a big star and then talk about the other 'star' on the same song.  Suppose it depends on whether you are Lil Wayne's fan, or the other fellow's fan.  Ha, ha, ha, ha.

So, why do some people like blues, getting so moody the entire world turns blue!  Don't they have better things to do than drag everyone else into their dumpy moods?  I hate it, I hate it,  I hate it!  That is why I do not like depressing or depressed people around me.   And we all know who is getting the depression this week, dont we?  People with calendars of depression, selecting particular days of life - to waste.  Why? Let me say this today, say it again tomorrow and keep saying it - life is too short and too precious to waste!  

Speaking of which I  caught a drama on Elizabeth the first the other day.  Gruesome, the way she dealt with her enemies, beheading them and putting the heads on spikes to make examples for all  to see.  Just had me wondering, could this beautiful and crazy woman have had anything to do with the current dictators who rule quite a bit of this, our fourthworld?  And was the cold war really born when she had the French queen assassinated by one of her envoys?  Interesting. 

Pre and Post Scheduling Posts

Technology is nice.  Let me rephrase that.  Technology is fantastic, beautiful, convenient and powerful.  I have been experimenting with pre scheduling and post scheduling blog posts.  Pre-schedules are better.  Why, if you think of something better to write, you can just shift posts.  Live publishing is terrific but you get typos and repeat words and  and whereas, post scheduling has the danger of talking of events on the wrong dates.  Take the example of the American guy who was stranded in was it Estonia or Latvia, ... you know my habit of not checking out every single little detail, yes.  Anyway, the point is, I wanted to write about that guy on the blog, then realised that since I wanted to continue in sequenced dating order, it would be very strange for that story to have appeared on the blog before it appeared on the news site where I read it.  Its fortunate that my brain was in thinking order because,  you know people from my neck of the woods, we act then think ... sometimes.   Please dont get me wrong here, my purpose is not to say bad things about life in my world, rather, the opposite.  I know that is not the impression I have given so far but that is purely out of anger.  So many degreed people going to do menial jobs elsewhere in the world because we cannot get our act right in our own neck of the woods.  You think people in my world do not contribute to all these technological advances?  Of course they do, but who gets the credit - Steve Jobs.   No diss meant here, just stating facts.  Now if Steve Jobs had come from this, my fourthworld, our entire world would be getting the credit.  Remember how overnight, we were all related to Mr. Obama, especially the day he became the president-elect of the United States of America?  Cool.  

22 March, 2005 ...

is the day I opened my hotmail email account.  Not that I remember doing so, no, its the computer which reminds one when and if one forgets.  Like your account password, date of birth, how often you have or have not visited Facebook and Twitter, etcetera.  If you think of this one account, then take another and think that you are cheating the computer, and another, sure, you get away with it .... for a while.  The unfortunate thing about humans is that they forget, not the machine.  Not once, not ever!  IP address, same date of birth, maybe same password and before you know it, the machine tallies all possible identities with the same information, then zeroes in on location and Google earth does the rest.  Scary!

Link that to human-less drones and robots, my people, we in the fourthworld, had better not start a war - not just yet anyway.  What we are failing to just imagine or dream of, others have already made reality.  I am always saying our poverty is such a huge deal because it is not only in material terms, but in imagination.  The ability to want, wish for and accomplish that which is beyond the scope of billions of people, within one's lifetime, that is something! Yesterday it struck me just how minute and limited one's life really is.  Then I laughed when I realised that so many people in my world cannot and do not want to harness that time.  They would rather squander their lives doing nothing or mundane things which, if each of us could change and focus, could become great things.  Its not so much accomplishing the impossible, but being an accomplisher of something that matters - starting with the little or small things  and they do not necessarily have to  involve money.    

Shaggy & Tessanne Chin - Never Let Me Go

Once in a while a song comes along that makes you just want to keep keeping on the dance floor.  For hours on end.  Not that it has any particular significance in your life, but that you just play it, and it feels right and next thing, you have your new national anthem for the day.  I do that, with music.  Listen to something, not necessarily new, but probably introduced to me by my son (yes yes - young man is in loooooooooove! so we are really listening to all the soapy tunes.)  I like the Shaggy/Tessane song because its easy on the ears, even when you play it loud, which I sometimes like doing!  Not that I will ever get to sing along this song, you check out the lyrics and try them yourself!!  Go on, take a tune, pick any that makes you happy and dance.  In my world, you dont need an excuse to do most things.  They see you smiling and happy and they look at you like someone from Mars!  Think I am joking, try laughing out loud, that natural God given, I am enjoying myself laughter and see how many people look at you and shake their heads, some in disbelief, others in disgust!!!  Strange people. Enjoy Shaggy and Tessane. 

Do you believe in witchcraft?

  

Is Harry Potter a story about witchcraft or just the imagination of madam J.K. Rowling? (Photos courtesy Google search). I read some place that Mr. Bush Jnr (As in the former United States President) refused to put J.K. Rowling on the list of people who were due to receive awards for doing something either to do with distinctive service or literature, I cannot remember which but the point is, what if what madam Rowling wrote about was or is actually true?

   

Or Pirates of the Carribean (photos courtesy Google search).  My favourite line was "Do you believe in ghost stories madam, you should because you are in one!..."  Something to that effect and the moon luminates this skeleton with beer going down the skeletal frame and no skin and bones! I have stomached most things in the Pirates movies except Dvey Jones oooooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuch!!!!

So, do witches exist or are they just a figment of one's imagination?  If they do, and you learn that, not just someone or other person you know, but someone very close to you actually dabbles in such, what would you do and or not do?

I ask not in jest about this because in my fourtworld, there is so much belief in such that many a business idea, concept, programme and plenty of good opportunities have been lost to this belief.  What is of particular interest to me is that when everything is going smoothly, no credit is openly given, except maybe by the religious and when things go awry, it reverts to the root of one's beliefs and faith is cast aside for a while, while people retrogress or progress as the case may be, to what they traditionally believe in, only to find it does not or does work and further confuse beliefs.  

If you have trouble understanding this post, its what I call one of my muddled ones, not in the writing per se, but in not actually coming out with one valid point but rather several, like the work in progress that this posting is.  Check for updates on this topic.