Nyakio: I Speak it as it is!!
Last month I went to visit my budda. He is well into his seventies and is as bright any person forty years his junior… hold on! he is sharper than most men I know forty years his junior… anyway.. while sitting around drinking endless cups of HOT HOT chai on his freezing veranda, Budda mentioned that his BF, Best Friend (also senior and of perceptive mind) was up in the City taking computer classes. Whoa!! I was so very impressed that BF took it upon himself to learn the ins and outs of the www at 70+!!
I can hear your mind whispering, that old man is mad! Secret, That is simply you trying to put yourself in his shoes when you get to 70+.. I think he has more spirit and courage than a pack of wild hyenas circling an injured elephant. Man wakes up and drives himself into a place that is out of his known universe, out of his comfort zone, and into an alien college world where the students are probably younger than his youngest grandchild, speak an unknown language (sheng) and in all probability tease him as he strides down corridors to his Computer Class Room. But why is he pushing himself beyond normal limits?
All in order to learn something new, maybe to get to pay bills online, or to chat with his kids and grandkids abroad, or to receive the latest financial News online…. whatever, but the point is, constant renewal, be it education, instruction, and trying out fabulous new ideas thrown your way by your God should never end. I applaud anyone who dares to do something slightly differently, challenging the mind and discovering new hidden talents whether mental or physical. Plus it keeps many many people out there away from huge holes, craters and depressing mud-pits…
FYI, the male species are generally more agitated and restless than their females, blame it on the testosterone, and they get madly uninterested when they are forced to do the same thing over and over again… many jobs in Nairobi will turn you insane in a day, and if your job or boss doesn’t drive you nuts, the traffic will…. so, when they feel that they are ‘going mad’ (and justly so), trying to get different results from the same old equation… look around you and add up the number of bored men you can count… and which highway-to-disaster do you think they will take while trying to get away from their boring insane, mad lives?
Which highway are you on?
A friend of mine in Nai changes the furniture around in her house every six months or so.. when I first witnessed this, I asked her why? I thought she was mad, but she replied:it keeps things fresh and new.. I also learnt that in many regions around the world, home-makers change the curtains and bed covers every season. In Coastal areas there are those who refurbish their houses every single year.. giving their living spaces a new, fresh, look. When I first researched this phenomena, I used to think such cultures were totally inane. But we women have the prerogative on changing our minds … now I think it’s simply wonderful!
What is the definition of Insanity and Insane? It is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…which makes 99% of all humans insane because we are all guilty of the same equation. In fact, very few people are sane and most prefer to do the same thing over and over again, never changing or exploring new ideas but sticking with what they know has worked for the past 200 years or so. Meanwhile they call the adventurous person ‘insane’, ‘mad’, ‘crazy as a coconut’ or some other mundane terminology for leaving the wide smooth road to do something unusual or untried on a narrow twisty rutted track. Artists, writers, singers, designers and entrepreneurs get hit by these insults at least once a month - ‘you’re nuts! that will never work!’ or ‘Nyakio, where do you come up with such crazy ideas?’.
It is a pity that the word Insane has been twisted because honestly, the sane person is the one who turns away from the crowded valley to climb the hills for a better view and clean air, or goes swimming upstream against the tide of popular culture..
The Word of God also calls upon us to constantly RENEW our Spirits. We’re challenged as Christians and Children of God to constantly challenge ourselves so that we may grow. Sadly, many don’t listen. They get to a platform on their way up but once on their high perch, get stuck there for an endless time..
Question: Is it fear that keeps us away from the unknown, or is it getting ourselves into a comfortable niche and refusing to move away from it? Sometimes it’s also settling onto an uncomfortable platform or stage (which is another word for platform) full of misery, but giving thanks to God anyway because you have your OWN platform plus an avid audience? Fans, Friends and Supporters of those who want to remain in those painful stressful stages of life hand out snippets of proverbs to their terrified friends – Stay there!! ‘better the devil you know than the one you don’t!’ or ‘New levels, New Devils!’ How many people do we know who will not venture into new ideas or take on new suggestions but cling like gecko’s, grey and terrified, to their worn out platforms and insist on doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results…
Pure Insanity!
Married couples who are deeply unhappy, grown children who cannot talk to their parents, parents who regard their own offspring like they were Hitler, sibling rivalry... Are you, or have you ever been on such a Stage show? Nasty. Stuck in the same drama; over and over and over again repeating endlessly, continuously, same-o, same-o, same-o, until you felt you were, or are, going NUTS????
And however hard you prayed, fasted and keshaad, you still found yourself on the same platform?
Start a journal.
When you read it back, it’s the only true way that you will find out if you are insane or sane (lol), because if you’re doing the same thing over and over again, you will surely continue to suffer. Mind you, often the way out is so easy and simple but because we have black shades on or are simply too stubborn, we don’t want to change our ways, physically, spiritually or mentally.
Ah ha! Let’s tackle the spiritual bit… Sometimes I think Christ was, and still is, one very frustrated Superior Being. We pray to Him, Kesha, do antics for Him, Fast…. so that He can answer our prayers and get us out of our monotonous, dreary, boring stages… when He responds and asks us to do something differently, we baulk, dig our heels in, discuss the issue with our friends and come to the conclusion that the answer is not from Christ but from the Devil. ‘Ati what?? Do what?? but I’ve always done things this way….uh uh! No!’
Sound familiar??
Now because you and I are not insane, let’s consider this line from a psalm here:
Renew a steadfast spirit within me!
Whatever our needs, one thing I know is that we must always BEGIN or GENESIS with a RENEWAL, a change, a FRESH start. Throw out the old.
2 weeks ago I wrote that we have a marvellous script-writer, The Holy Spirit. He is amazing with Words and The Word of God! He teaches me how to pray, gives me fabulous words with which I can praise My Lord. But. When The Lord renews our spirit, you and I have an alternative. To either respond and do things in a different way.. or stay in the same old boring stage drama. Frankly I think that when you feel The Lord’s touch on you there is no way on God’s Good Earth that you will get a new spirit and keep doing the same things over and over again.. and if you do, you’re insane.
A new spirit is new courage, new strength…. and when it’s a special DHL package from the Lord, all things are possible!
Renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Put on your binoculars and watch those people who constantly engage in different and fresh lines of thought, generating new ideas, suggestions, plots and plans every so often, pushing themselves to the limit, failing, then trying out another new idea. It could be a sizzling new financial plan, or a physical thing, maybe just waking up earlier, or skipping before breakfast, or learning how to play a new instrument, or taking classes in Salsa, or cooking something different for dinner…. And when you catch up with them for a long overdue cup of hot coffee (seriously, it’s too cold for juice or soda) their conversations are sprinkled with amusing tales and exciting narratives about their very un-tedious lifestyles and you hold an agitated conversation in your mind, like: ’wow! sounds like it is such fun’ and ‘but - they are craaazzy! that is something I could never do!’
They say it’s hard for old dogs to learn new tricks... It may also be hard to move from your comfort zone to try out something new in your battle with (whatever). But before you shoot down with your AK47 those pearls of wisdom that Christ has whispered in your ear or before you dare think that anyone is crazy or insane ever again for taking off from the norm, think hard about what it is you are doing. You just might be the insane one.
Psalm 51: 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
I speak it as it is * by nyakio munyinyi, june 2010
