Finding oneself: who are you?

Finding oneself, who you really are, is one of the hardest tasks in anyone’s life. There are several small voices that keep telling you how you aren’t enough. Voices that short-change the course of what you should be doing and where you should be. For the most, it is society. Society can be very cruel; telling you what you can do and what you can’t do emphatically:

society hardly looks out for your strengths, it strangles you, telling you how less important you are. It can get to your head and make you hate yourself and what you love doing, just to conform; it can make you beg for lighter shoulders.

Recently, I was telling a friend how I am dealing with impostor syndrome, I am at a point in life where I have lost confidence in myself in things that even society knows that I am really good, like writing. I am only lucky that I still have great admiration for reading. Writing has always been therapeutic for me, as is reading. In finding the meaning of life, I have had to walk so many journeys with writers I have never met whose words have become points of light, like Viktor Frankl.

I have read hundreds of books during the course of my life but one book stands out for me, man’s search for meaning, more than any other book I have interacted with, it helped appreciate life and everything that comes with it in ways I had never imagined, to see life clearly at its lows and highs: because, in earnest, that’s where we find the meaning of life.

“Everything can be taken from a man,” Frankl writes, “but one, the last of human freedoms, to choose one’s way in any given set of circumstances.” I have grown conscious of one thing, everything is temporary, some days will be dull, tough, unbecoming and you will feel like giving up but never ever think that is permanent, if you stick to hope and reach your wells of resilience, there is no doubt that you will see a better day: when it rains, expect it to shine again.

At the start of my teenage years’ favorite song, when I look at you, Miley Cyrus sings,

“Everybody needs inspiration; everybody needs a song, a beautiful melody when the night’s so long,”

this song comes in my mind every time I am under the bad weather. Even when I want to be a point of light to my fellow human siblings, this song rings home: towards what do I orient my life; inspire hope, and be a point of light through personhood and human decency.

I did an introspective, on what people say and know me for, I was left in awe. It is flattering that no one gave me a negative attribute but considering I know I am an imperfect messy glory, I said to myself, “these friends love me,” of course I don’t mind negative constructive feedback.

According to my friends, this is who I am many things: Grace is a great writer, selfless, speaks his mind unequivocally, real and hates hypocrites, loves his children, full of human touch and connection to the perils of human frailty, is an incurable romantic, loves women with natural hair, shy at first sight, avid reader, gentle, has self-love, father of twins, a great gardener and that I pay them in dollars and cut the bullshit.

As my friend David Brooks writes in the road to character,

“we are called at certain moments to comfort people who are enduring some trauma. Many of us don’t know how to react in such situations, but others do. In the first place, they just show up. They provide a presence. Next, they don’t compare. The sensitive person understands that each person’s ordeal is unique and shouldn’t be compared to anyone else’s,”

and that is accurate! We each have come a long way to get where we are today, crossed so many rivers, valleys and hills, we each owe ourselves and above all, God, gratitude: thus far the Lord has brought us.

As simple as it reads, the question, (who are you?), never gets an immediate right answer. I was recently watching a Christian movie, overcomer, I got teary as I did, but if my tears meant anything it is that the message in the movie sunk in: that surely the beauty in the broken.

Human beings are inherently selfish, all of us, our goodness is mostly clouded by this. In answering who we are, we parrot that which only serves our ego, and even without thinking through t, in retrospect, on our own, we are nothing. So, I am a child of God. And as I have written, God is the greatest; all the rest is background noise.

Finally, for anyone to find oneself and meaning in this world, in life, as much it is important to say yes, it is also prudent to note that no is an answer, too. As Sarah Knight so perfectly says,

“the first thing you have to do is to discard those things that don’t serve you, the things that annoy you, that do not bring you joy,”

she explains. “You have to be honest with yourself and you have to really sift through it all and go: why am I doing this? Why am I spending my time, energy and money on these things that I don’t want to do, with people I don’t like, with time I don’t have? After that, you organize life around whatever is left.” Life is for the living, as I have always written, medals aren’t given to the dead. Be your best self. Be authentically you.

Comments

We were eight Years in Power, a legacy adored.

When I wrote a piece for my role model , President Obama and his beautiful family, I thought I was saying bye with tears of joy and I wouldn’t be tempted to write anything again before I met him in person—well, I was so wrong, I have since written many pieces where his legendary name surfaces as a re-enforcer to my points [remember, as Mrs. Clinton said recently while delivering her acceptance speech , he is the ‘explainer in chief’]. The beautiful first family:Photo taken off the web What I have learned from this great man and his phenomenal wife, FLOTUS Michelle Obama, is absolutely beyond description: all I can say is that it makes me wake up each day with morale to work hard and one day inspire people like these two have inspired my person over the years. Yes, I have learned over the years that good deeds are contagious—we either do and write about them or live by them our entire lives.That maybe the greatest riddle of our time is the unforgettable question from the iconi...

Grab him by the ballot

Morality can be so interesting to watch when a very immoral person like Donald Trump is playing the morality police. It has been a turn of events since the last debate —when the Donald learned he was losing terribly, he resorted to the final deep end drive into the conquest for the bottom of the barrel—his campaign has been always about impure rhetoric but this time, he didn’t pretend for a second, what I don’t understand though is why a man would pride in being remembered for the creepiest things ever said for a man as old as 70 years. I have seen the very big hypocrites of the republican party ditch their party leader on the side of the road albeit I can’t fathom why and how they stood on his side this long—if there’s one sure thing, putting up with the stupidity that tags along being in the Donald’s cult is a twenty four-hour exercise equivalence, it’s a very tough place to be: full of vile utterances and always denying facts even understood by a five year old. This article ...

Hillary Clinton is Presidential

I want to begin with what Donald said about Hillary as he openly endorsed her for the job: “she is a fighter and she never quits, I admire that about her”. The last many three decades of the republican witch-hunt on the Clinton family have molded the incoming 45th of the United States, Hillary Clinton: she and her husband have been through the fire but have still soared so high, proof positive that nothing baffles the achemes of the enemy like a composed soul. Being a Clinton maybe hard but might as well be one of the most rewarding experiences in self-composure and self-discovery. As I said in the first debate commentary ; for those who had doubts, she mopped the floor with an ignorant bigot—she did it again and we are proud of her. The last couple of days have been filled with the most sickening news of the republican flag bearer’s advice; “Grab their p***y”; seeing many republicans un-endorse their nominee and billions of people around the world have the republican party for...

When they go low, we go high.

T his wallpaper and I almost fought a duel to point of death, to take over on my phone and laptop screen saver space, but I had to give up very easily because these beautiful words come from one of the most inspirational people in my life . President Obama you are a very blessed man, no wonder you immediately proudly tweeted: “ incredible speech by an incredible woman.Couldn't be more proud and our country has been blessed to have her as FLOTUS.I love you, Michelle ”. Michelle Obama stole the show, rather perfectly it turns out—and then there was Sen.Booker,they certainly had to be prime speakers, leave alone for Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders who never minces words when it comes to putting Donald Trump in his place. I have waited for this day, almost very impatiently, until it dawned—it was a very rewarding night for me here in Uganda after the continuous and disastrous bigotry from the Trump camp. I must say with pride that if there is anything ...

Hillary Clinton is certainly prepared to be President

President Obama & Sec Clinton having a chit-chat T he Question of whether she is the most qualified candidate America has ever had for a presidential candidate has never been so answered; for those who had doubts, she came to stage and spoke it with illustration(s), verve and swagger throughout the 90 minutes of the debate at Hofstra University. She eloquently made it clear to her opponent that not only did she prepare for the debate, that her opponent seemed to have been so yappy about; but also proved and lived to the hype of what was expected of her: she mopped the floor with the Donald, I have never laughed so loud, at an ignorant bigot being thumped by an intelligent woman. Hillary Clinton at the Debate.Source:Huffington Post The greatest riddle of this political time; the election time, is one: will Americans hand over the presidency to the man whose ignorance is covered under the avalanche of lies and delusion of grandeur—I attempted to draw a clea...

IN DEFENSE OF Dr. KIIZA BESIGYE: Andrew Mwenda, Lets PUT THIS TO BED, at ONCE!

In the TV Series, REVENGE, Chronicling the life of a Distraught Emily Thorne: SEASON 1, EPISODE 7 "Charade”, As Hamlet said to Ophelia, "God has given you one face and you make yourself another." The battle between these two halves of identity who we are and who we pretend to be is unwinnable. (This is referring to Shakespeare's famous tragedy Hamlet. These words are said to Ophelia, Hamlet's girlfriend, in anger and frustration). Just as there are two sides to every story, there are two sides to every person. One that we reveal to the world and another we keep hidden inside. A duality governed by the balance of light and darkness. Within each of us is the capacity for both good and evil. But those of us who are able to blur the moral dividing line hold the true power.

Barack . H. Obama, the Lasting Imprint.

I may never be the President of the United States or even my country, Uganda , but I am going to die one day and when I am no longer here, my son and those that read about my name should know that President Obama & Michelle have inspired my person, a lot. I was reading Christopher Hitchens book, Mortality, a while ago and reviews of his memoir, Hitchens 22 , these words really touched me a lot: “ I have more than once woken up feeling like death. But nothing prepared me for the early morning in June when I came to consciousness feeling as If I were shackled to my own corpse ”—he goes on to quote Saul Bellow : “ Death is the dark backing that a mirror needs if we are able to see anything ”. I told my surrogate mother, Tabitha Scaife , I would do this before I leave the face of the earth and she said, “ Do it sonny, I believe you are very well equipped ”. Ma, thanks for elevating my confidence . Love you, to Life!

ENVISIONING PRESIDENT HILLARY CLINTON: “THE BARACK-HILLARY LEGACY”

Photo source: daily dot I am deeply honored to be telling the vision that has since been on my mind for a while in the most possible way I have ever imagined. I have wracked my mind how best I would tell it; it was not until I was admiringly looking at Mrs. Clinton’s photos recently and I got the picture (above) that would best tell what I envision in the Presidency of the first female President of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton . As I have noted time and again, if there is anything that I admire about President Obama and Mrs. Clinton among the very many things, it’s their authentic selves—especially in the realm of political maturity , for purposes of this article. As I noted earlier in the road to President Hillary Clinton , her resilience is certainly a thing anyone in the world would admire, she is indeed is a fighter—“fighting for us, we are stronger together”, do those words ring a bell? By now they should be the words every sane American has subs...

Dear President Obama, thank you for being.

Dear President Obama, I greet you in the name above all names. I waited to write to you my second letter after your final SOTU (state of the union) address not as my last letter to you but as a letter of appreciation for the almost concluded two terms of office .Allow me to first express how so humbled to write to a man whose name has been engraved upon the marble of history. I have fortunately had a few days to prepare otherwise I would make very terrible sentences herein. Again, I am lucky to address a man whose kindred spirit is ingrained in equality and the pursuit of happiness. The last time I wrote to you, I critiqued you. Today, I have very deep gratitude for how fundamentally influential you are and will forever be to my Life and I pray to the life of my descendants. I remember well, in the 2007 democratic primaries that shaped the arc of history of the American Dream, I didn’t support you then.Actually,apart from the inescapable thing we have in common,blacknes...

Search This Blog