We cannot find the future
By gazing into the past
Neither will we find refuge.

It is in the past that we find our reference points that provide the framework for our daily lives; the compass points if you will.

It is the summation, this aggregation of all of history, that gives us our identity, that wondrous certainty of knowing who one is. Of knowing enough about where one comes from to approach the future with the confidence, sure that one can add positively to that heritage. The baselessness of uncertainty that afflicts so many is a deep sickness in our society. When it becomes necessary to defend one’s heritage which, after all, is something shared by all of humankind, then our society has become desperately unhealthy.

Each of us has the power to share, to be and to breed, and to encourage, in the confidence of knowing that we will create a better future, shared by all.

Be bold for boldness is the first step toward the future you dream of.

Boldness is not the absence of fear and trepidation
It is also not mindless arrogance or insensitive superiority
Boldness is about seeking your dreams
It is about consciously deciding to follow your dream.

Boldness is not about being selfish and self-indulgent
It is about making the very best use of all your talents for the benefit of those you care about; those who depend upon you.

Indeed for all of humankind.

Boldness is about recognizing your fears
It is also about embracing those fears and making them your friends; using them to energise your life’s journey.

Boldness means stepping forward in all humility to offer yourself and your talents to make our world a much better place for all.

Pilansberg YLF 6 20 May 2010

Life comes slowly but early to the wilderness
It comes after the darkest hours
Often times of despair, tension and sadness.

It is the birds that signal the start of a new day
A new day that heralds new challenges
New opportunities
A brand new and fresh era
It brings hope.

The birds also announce with their increasing clamour
Another new dawn.

It is a good reminder that no matter how tough and dark life is
New dawns always follow the darkest nights
The tiny, stringy tentacles of the early sun
Reach out to signal these new openings
The windows of opportunity
The time to think about the future
To focus on what is to come and not the night past
It is the time when the animals begin to stir
Stirred by the fingers of warmth sent by the sun
A vibrant time of energy
A time of life!

A time of deep reflection

A time to find your soul!

The beauty of the time in the wilderness is the space and place it gives you in which to reference your past, but, more importantly to contemplate your future. Your own future and the future of those around you.

It is not the contemplation that is difficult – it is how to implement what you decide that is the real challenge.

This takes more than fortitude, much more than merely a great and compelling vision. It takes strength of character to stand for what you believe in; to communicate in such a way that others want to join your dream; to lead in such a way that the fans begin to make your dream their own; it will take steel-like courage to ignore the criticism, to keep one’s eyes firmly on the dream and to keep walking toward it.

The wilderness will provide the energy and a renewed, strengthened picture of the future. The silence will enrich, the wind will whisper in its ideas, the trees will calm, the animals will focus your mind and the sun will always raise a new dawn of hope – again and again and again!

Emzingo Group 07 August 2010

We cannot find the future
By gazing into the past
Neither will we find refuge.

It is in the past that we find our reference points that provide the framework for our daily lives; the compass points if you will.

It is the summation, this aggregation of all of history, that gives us our identity, that wondrous certainty of knowing who one is. Of knowing enough about where one comes from to approach the future with the confidence, sure that one can add positively to that heritage. The baselessness of uncertainty that afflicts so many is a deep sickness in our society. When it becomes necessary to defend one’s heritage which, after all, is something shared by all of humankind, then our society has become desperately unhealthy.

Each of us has the power to share, to be and to breed, and to encourage, in the confidence of knowing that we will create a better future, shared by all.

Be bold for boldness is the first step toward the future you dream of.

Boldness is not the absence of fear and trepidation
It is also not mindless arrogance or insensitive superiority
Boldness is about seeking your dreams
It is about consciously deciding to follow your dream.

Boldness is not about being selfish and self-indulgent
It is about making the very best use of all your talents for the benefit of those you care about; those who depend upon you.

Indeed for all of humankind.

Boldness is about recognizing your fears
It is also about embracing those fears and making them your friends; using them to energise your life’s journey.

Boldness means stepping forward in all humility to offer yourself and your talents to make our world a much better place for all.

Pilansberg YLF 6 20 May 2010

When one is younger one focuses on what one wants. As one matures one realizes that often need is a more compelling driver than want or desire.

Want has been the ying and yang of this Planet. It has driven economic growth and generated amazing innovation and, yet, about 40% of the world’s population starves.

We won’t take want away, but, maybe we can modify it enough to allow the Planet to recover robust health, and for people to enjoy a good quality of life.
This is the macro issue.

The real question, though, is what can each of us do at the micro level? What can we do at home, at school, at university, at work?
It all begins with each of one of us.

It begins with our orientation to our fellow beings, to those near and dear to us, to our neighbours, our workmates. It begins with an understanding, an internalisation, a commitment to each. It requires that we see and accept those in our domain as team-mates in the Big Game of Life. Team-mates look out for each other, care for each other, support each other, protect each other against attack. Most importantly, though, team-mates do all in their power to make their team-mates feel good about themselves, to be the very best that they can be, so that we can all be the very best that we can be together.

Do we do this?

Always?

Essent Executive 13 August 2010

There is no shame in being frightened.

Courage is certainly not the absence of fear. Rather it is the recognizing, confronting, understanding and knowing that fear; even making it your friend that is the essence of courage.

Once you recognize, know and befriend it, you can begin to use the energy it will provide.

As Mandela said,”Often our greatest fear is the fear of unleashing our full potential that prevents us from being the best that we can be”.

One really needs to get to know oneself, to appreciate and recognize one’s talent to begin to be able to summon the courage to use this energy; to use one’s talent for all to see and experience.

It takes courage to risk this exposure, the possibility of its rejection, and then to try, and try, and try again.

Scaling the peaks of one’s own Mount Everest, emotionally and physically is arguably one of life’s most exciting, most exhilarating journeys!

DAWN YLF 1 22 October 2008

Restlessness is a state of mind
And one that is not always kind
To its owner
But from restlessness comes innovation
That jump-starts a new creation
For its owner
Life would be so boring
Without a lifelong journey of continual learning
By its owner
The thrill of seeking the limits of one’s potential
Can create personal growth quite substantial
For its owner
But this should not be a self-indulgent quest
Rather one that adds a positive social gift with zest
From its owner
It is, though, no easy, simple task
But a complex, difficult one, a big ask
Of its owner
Seen through positive eyes this becomes an exciting dream
One that provides to Life’s meal, the cream
For its owner
The critical issue is the first step
That needs to be taken, either small step or big leap
By its owner
The first step sets the group on its way
More than words can say
For much more than just the owner! 

YLF 8  Pilanesberg 16 to 19 August 2010

We don’t start any journey without an end in mind. Without the destination in mind the journey is somewhat meaningless
The destiny, the vision, the big dream, creates meaning, a sense of motivation, momentum; motivation to actually arrive, and to reach the goal.
Keeping the dream secret, keeping to oneself, keeping it close does not help the team.  The best one can do is to share the dream, communicate it so that future, the destination becomes a compelling, exciting place to aspire to.  
It is true that the moment we imagine the goal we have already taken the first step towards it.

Real leaders take this dream and start to verbalise it, even in the imperfect form to those who look to them for leadership. They do this consciously and use it as an invitation to those who listen to join the dream, to add to it, to provide new energy and ideas to the process and to the journey. Once the dream is crystallized, once it is shared it begins to take on a form, a life and energy of its own.
The job of the leader, then, is to feed the dream and to turn this inspiration into a compelling and exciting aspiration for all.

Dawn Kitchen Fittings Directors Pilanesberg
22 – 25 September 2010

It was in the dead of night
No moon, a cloudy evening, no light
I was lonely and a little afraid
The sounds around me made me even more scared
In the corner of my eye I saw a gentle glow
It caught my eye in the darkest corner, down low
My heart caught what my eye had seen
And started to beat and my eye to gleam
I realised that there may be a chance
Much more than I had seen at first glance
Neither I nor the ember would survive
Unless there was something to make us much more active
We would need fuel and air to drive our innate energy
It would be difficult in the darkest dark
But working together we could build that extra spark
We would turn the little red coal into a burning flame
That would be our collective aim
We added tinder and grass to the glowing ember
And then started to blow until it gradually began to recover
We know, my heart, my eye and I, there would be no instant success
It would require work, support, we could not guess.
The flame of life started to burn bright
With this burning came brand new light
A broader understanding of our potential
Something real, not just existential
We realised that working together
We would burn bright, big, forever

YLF 9 11 – 14 October 2010 inspired by Nosipho Mfokazi

It is not everyone who has the opportunity
To walk with the wild
It is not a time to close your mind
It is a time to open your eyes
To open your brain
Listen carefully to the sounds of the bush
Let them talk to the deepest parts of your soul
Listen to the entire history of the world
Allow yourself to feel this history
Feel the aura of everything around you
The plants, the trees, the birds and the animals
Listen to them all
Allow them to help you to really hear the people around you
Feel their auras
Feel the sound of those intuitive messages
Hear the things they can't or won't say.

Hear the reverberations of all your history
And the story of our great and glorious planet
In all of this
Rediscover your soul.

Find the energy of the real world
There are no lies in the wild
For here we find the mountain
And it will tell you of your past and your future
Listen carefully to whispers of your soul
You will find it in the voices of the wind.

Listen carefully

We allow negative programming to dominate our lives to the extent that we allow nothing positive to intrude. All the major media feed us negative stories as if this is the only reality worth telling us about.
The true reality, though, is that if we seek out the positive, the positive begins to flow to us like lightning to a lightning conductor.
It is very like the morning sun.
It always comes after the darkest part of the night; the part that always seems to take the longest to pass. Who hasn’t lain awake, trying to sleep, in those early morning hours?
When the first light comes, it comes so stealthily as almost to be untrue. You look away, look back, and there it is!
In all its glory.
The flooding light of day is upon us.
It floods us with hope, with relief.
We realise that the morning sun is our symbol of eternal hope.
It is our sign of all things good in the world; 
it represents the spreading arms of peace; 
it is our connection with yesterday, and our metaphor for the promise of tomorrow.
It is Life itself.