Choose your path...Now

I am Akinde...that statement holds importance only to me.

At the most basic level, I can say it all day long and it means absolutely nothing to anyone and rightfully so. This is a result of the sheer fact that the name Akinde or Quynton as some also know me, inclusive of any power and societal significance that they may bear is defined by no one else but me.

Everyone has a name, and oh how sweet the sound it carries when we hear it eloquently pronounced. Whenever sounded it calls us to attention even if we don't readily show it. We then become ready to act. When we come into this world we are given a name. We develop dreams. We create goals. We perceive desires. These dreams, goals and desires can be as elaborate as ruling the world or as unfortunate as having no personal vision of oneself bearing any participating role in society. It is this choice that determines our destiny. We are all bound by our choices.

Choice is defined as the power to choose something. This is a gift granted to us by the Universal Oversoul.  Ask me if I believe in this and I will say undoubtedly yes. Ask me if I know there is a God and I will say emphatically yes. I see God everyday in everyone...How do I see God? It's so because I choose to see God. When I look about my beautiful country I see God in everything and therein I am better able to find more love even when the negativity of life devours my strength. That's a choice I have to make daily. In every area of human life there is always choice. It can mean the achievemant of the highest ideals or a descent into the darkest, most decrepit areas of life.  So where does choice or rather the lack of positive choices create the problems. Allow me to digress slightly to see if we can make a few things clearer.

For the record I am no guru nor saint. I am a not doctor nor theologian. I'm just a normal man who loves music and people. All I do is pray, love and listen. I am not religious and for the sake of honesty I will state that I am capable of "sin" as much as anyone else, but again there is choice and trust me when I say I have made my fair share of wrong decisions. So what exactly is "sin"? As I stated I am not religious but I have been consciously practicing spirituality and personal growth for over 12 years and this is what I have discovered...I have come to recognize that sin is simply guilt, of both conscious and subconscious form, that prevents us from truly experiencing our best, most fulfilling life. That's what sin truly is, the guilt we choose to bring unto our lives. Forget what you may have learned about where you'll burn and all that. We experience that now. Joy or sorrow is now. Rich or poor is now. Heaven or hell is now.What's your name? Who are you now?

This guilt I speak of is not so much about blame but rather more of an error on the soul. It holds our awareness hostage and builds quiet victories over our very truth. We may also notice that by this definition, we can see that our progression in life is scalable with experiences equal and aligned with the choices we make. Hence the more "sin" we introduce into our lives is in direct correlation with the choices we make that are "not best aligned for us" and this very act of making erroneous choices promotes the greater development of a debilitating cycle of struggle.

This cycle is like a avalanche. If we don't pay fervent attention or stay present to the choices we make its easy for them to break loose and come crashing down, destroying our hopes and dreams, while we suffer ourselves deluded in stark bewilderment to the reality of events. Quite often we find our choices being made for us, I'll elaborate. As members of this great universe we often find ourselves living on auto mode, defining ourselves by the "norms" of society and acting in accordance with what the majority says we should conform to. Or rather con-forming. This can be easily identified as the proverbial rat race, in which most of us tend to find ourselves so busily hustling to get to no true destination, caught up in materialistic lifestyles handed down to us from generation to generation, and projected through media formats in this unsobering cycle of sin = unhappiness = struggle. As a result of this cycle of sin of rather conforming, we lose our way and devalue our glorious power as we trod day to day lost in the perpetual trends of confused thought and autopilot choices in our bid to best live up to society's definition of who we are and who we should be.

But what of your true choice?
Does society define who "your name goes here" should be or do you?
Who is really doing the decision making? You or society?
 
Promise that you'll think about it for a moment okay...I'll get back to with part two on this soon.

Love you

Remains of the Day

1:45AM_ Pain rips through my chest. Not even close to what I assume is the pain of a heart attack but one that cuts and scars much so deep. A hopeless pain. A desire lost. Flagrant. Emasculating. That's how it feels...emasculating. Stripped of all happiness, I can only speak of pain.

And it hurts

I have practiced love in as many ways that I can but some things demand far more attention than others...and when these things show up at your door, they literally suck every bit of energy dry. No hope. No positive charge...it's all gone. The flame is lost in a flurry of words, of uncompromising actions, of careless deeds. Just like yesterday and the weeks and the months almost onto the years that preceded it. A deceptive build up of despair upon callous detachment. And now crested, the pain lingers on....still, it's not over. When will it be over? How long must I endure this pain and inner torment?

But still....I live

One day soon it'll be alright. This I am certain of. For I know the sun shall rise tomorrow signalling the dawn of a new day...a new creation...the renewal of all things free from the remains of yesterday. In this I am confident that I too can conjure a new dawn within me, a new day to rise above the pain. To stand upright and say to the world in me "I AM!"

And this I know

No matter what the circumstance, I am victorious...always will be evermore. I have the power within me to arise above anything and everything. Cause and condition, people and place, and situations in an unforgiving life...to you I say I am. You are only part of my awareness. That is all. I am in control not you. If I give power unto these things then they rule me. If I continue to be in charge of my life then I am above them. This is so.

But still it hurts...yet there is wisdom

It seems so easy to let go to the pain and lose the battle. The very will to overcome the challenges of life must be kept alert, ready, ever vigilant. Becoming less than for the sake of solace is welcome but should never be a permanent state. Just like the tide of sea....in all things there is ebb and flow. The situations of life will never always be completely joyous good times and energy....it's approach we undertake and the reactions to the situations that truly matter. See, there must be duality. Good as to bad. Positive as to negative. Truth as to false, and so on. One aspect cannot exist without the other or the situations we encounter can never be truly felt, recognized and learned. So embrace them both equally. The pleasure and the pain...embrace them. The good and the not so good...embrace them. The things that we shun to avoid being hurt should also be free to exist, just as we allow the happiness and fleeting pleasures into our lives. This is the truth that builds us. One should never construct a lopsided, one dimensional house because in the wake of the storm it will fall flat. We should focus on understanding ourselves as we relate to the universe and not just frenetic grabbing for everyday pleasures, then our lives will be transformed with deeper meaning.

2:00AM_ My heart is pure...calm. It feels okay now. I find my sails once again. Now I can rest to arise tomorrow...refreshed and ready for what the dawn brings.

I love you.

Greatness (How to Heal the World in layman terms)

From the onset the title sounds like just too big a task. How can I possibly heal the world? After all, people are stubborn, set in their ways and much of what I share, do and say in an effort to make a difference goes practically unnoticed. We are frequently told, by the sages that things only “appear” that way, but sadly in our daily perception of reality, it often is. More so many of us may even think or believe that the concept of healing the world may all be a wonderful but unrealistic sentiment, but there is a clear path that is simple and true.

Since ancient days gone by it has been used in a variety of ways. Buddhas, saints, sages and yogis have found enlightenment through it. The genius identified in some of the world’s most gifted and accomplished persons has been honed along this path. Brilliant, highly successful business executives know it all to well. The simplest path is this…REPETITION.

Repetition when enabled with an application of constant, dedicated drive and deliberate focus creates a massive energy that cannot be denied. Whether academics, politics, business or society the influence is there: Nothing sticks in people’s minds unless it’s constantly repeated over and over and over again.

In layman terms (that is to say what this blog is about), that’s at least a total of 9 times for people to even take notice of a subject and about 21 times for them to commit the subject to memory.

So what does repetition have to do with it all?

Repetition in this case, is the key to fulfilling the greater purpose of healing the world but there’s a twist…. It’s NOT about repeating the specific actions that already goes unnoticed by people and society as a whole. That would be futile, as already noted, right.

It’s about repetition of the purest mental, emotional and physical attributes contained within us, the healers. It’s about daily repetition of the virtues of love, truth, compassion, forgiveness, kindness, gratitude, generosity and developing our individual footprints for expressing and radiating all the qualities that will sustain and support the best version of self…. The Greatness of Oneself…The true God-self within. This needs to be repeated:

Repeated enough that it becomes ingrained within our very being... our very soul. Repeated enough through daily practice…. through Prayer, Meditation and call to action.
Repeated enough that it gives clarity to our inner purpose and vision.
Repeated enough that we ourselves become true co-creators of that very vision and ideal.

This is the polishing of soul. It is through this very polishing that we can get our individual greatness to shine across the world regardless of our singular duty or purpose. Shine! Be Great! It’s that simple. Just be your true self!

Innately, the purpose of man is to create the ideal version of us made manifest. To live in harmony with the universe is the plural and outermost purpose of self. It is through the method of achieving personal greatness with the practice of repetition of virtues or the polishing of the soul that we can recall our interconnectedness with all things and thereby ultimately complete the wholesome unity of the innermost and outermost purpose and fulfill that, which already is.

Much like the pieces of a puzzle, each one of us then becomes an individual piece of a greater part, with absolute knowledge of who we are and where we fit on this board of life. Singular is one with the plural. Plural is the singular. No piece is greater than another. Not one. This is what is truly being asked of us. Each one of us. One by one let us build the puzzle…Heal the World.

What are you waiting for to be great?