Blog luuurve: Jon Jorgenson and The Anima Series

I love reading. Anybody that spends any amount of time with me will know this. I just love it. At times I read to a point my head hurts and at other times I get overwhelmed by the amount of information I am exposed to daily. But then comes along a writer that just hits me like a gust of wind … whoosh. Just knocks me out of my seat. I want to gobble everything they've ever written and devour it. It consumes me. I want to tell everybody about it. The first time this happened to me was 16 years ago 1998. The Book, “7 Habit of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey”. I think this was one of the times that my mum started to wonder about me. I didn't just read this book; I took notes, summarized it and carried it with me everywhere.  I have been blessed to have read a number of books. I beg borrow buy but never steal. Some books are just crap and it’s like yuck, others are ……magic. However, as difficult as it is to admit, Books can be expensive. Now, they have to go on my budget, go through my approval process before the funds are allocated and then I search online for the books. Then I order and wait and wait. When it finally arrives I smell it, look at it, caress it…… Yes. All this reminiscing has me salivating ….. generating thoughts. Book clubs, book swaps…. Anyone out there!!

My current book wish list: Mandela, Oprah and Ofili.. simple and short.

But this isn't about Books… I digressed. This is about Blogs or rather one blog in particular… Jon Jorgenson’s blog and the Anima Series.

I first heard about the Anima Series from a colleague.Almost like I have been living under a rock. Shame on me. The first videos I watched was "I Am Awesome" for women , "The Wall" and "Not Qualified" and I was hooked. I wanted to know who did this. Who are these people? Cue in Google, And that’s when I stumbled upon Jon Jorgenson and his message of creativity. Inspiring and bringing hope to this generation in a clear concise and interesting medium. Beautiful, Brilliant….

Alan Bennett says it perfectly. These best moments are not only in reading any longer, in watching, in listening even in tasting. 

Here are a few of his quotes that just tipped me over …

"Creative people are not any smarter than the average person, but they’re ten times more curious. They aren’t afraid to ask questions, to ponder ridiculous solutions, and to risk looking silly. Creative people don’t have to be naturally gifted; they just have to drop their inhibitions. "       Jon Jorgenson

"Art is a work produced by human creative skill and imagination. 
The memo that changed the way your company does business…art.
The fundraiser organized by the twelve-year-old to support cancer research…art.
The mother who holds a Wednesday afternoon “book club” in order to make her kid’s mandatory summer reading more fun…art."   Jon Jorgenson

"In this life, needles come at us in the form of challenges, trials, and setbacks. These challenges constantly poke at us to see what we’re really made of, to see if we’re puffed up on our own knowledge, or if we’re building what we have on love. Knowledge is a powerful tool, and it can puff up some pretty impressive balloons. But without love, knowledge will never be anything more. If our identity is found in what we know, or what we’ve achieved, then we’ll never create anything of lasting significance."  Jon Jorgenson

"What no one tells you about achieving your dreams is that it's hard.
What no one tells you about achieving your dreams is that it takes 99.9% work for .1% celebration." Jon Jorgenson

You only need to read a few of his posts to know that you can create, you have to create, you need to create and that you are not alone in this journey of life.

What books, Music,Videos, Blogs are currently inspiring you? Please share…. 

Love Zansi

Please feel free to explore Jon Jorgenson’s blog here and the Anima series videos here… and watch out for my own spoken word series soon *winks 

The Adventures of T-Boy Series 1

Bonjour a tous! Yes I can speak a little French. Well not a little just Bonjour and Ca Va. My mum speaks French and she taught me that. I know she wants me to be bi-lingual. I know this just as I know it’s 7am because Mummy Joy just walked in to wake me up for school. Just like clockwork. Mommy and Mama Joy don’t miss this 7am wake up. Initially I thought they’ll get tired and leave me to wake up at twelve noon like my Aunty encourages me to but these women mean business. They don’t play. I guess getting me to school on time is very important to them. A lot of things are important to my mum. Like school work, I noticed she asks every day, “How was school today Tee?”, and she asks this same question everyday then we do my homework together no matter how tired she is after work or how distracted I am. So I know school and homework is important to my mum.

But I digress this is more about what I’ve been up to lately. You see, I am a very curious boy like most boys my age and luckily my mum listens to me. Like I know how the water goes down the drain in the sink into the pipe and into the gutter. I know this because I asked my mom over and over again and she didn’t get tired of explaining it to me.

I also have a new friend, his name is Dami. He’s five years old. I’m going to be four years old soon. We have loads of fun running around after school. Dami lives in the next building and we go to the same school but we are not in the same class. We play a lot but we also quarrel a lot. Honestly, I don’t know why. It usually starts out as playing but somehow escalates into fists. Yesterday I scratched Dami on his face. It was a mistake. We were playing rough. Mommy was furious. I thought she would give me a smack but she made me go to Dami’s house and apologise. I didn’t mind so much because Dami and I are friends again. Well when I woke up this morning I noticed mommy had clipped my finger nails so short they almost hurt. She clipped my toe nails as well…. Like I can scratch with that… Wow!

My mum worries a little too much about what I eat, what I wear, who I play with, homework… I wish I could just tell her to chill and read the book of Mathew 6: 25 – 34. I try to hug her often just so she knows everything will be alright.

I know she cares about me a lot. She tells me over and over that I’m a superhero. I told my mum yesterday that she wasn’t my friend anymore because she asked me to eat my dinner before playing with a yoyo I just got. Surprisingly, she didn’t care about that!

T-Boy, My superhero... watch out!

*The adventures of T-boy is just me trying to get into the head of a 3 year old boy. I don’t think I can ever achieve that but I think I can try… watch out for more because boys are always in motion.

Love Zansi

Much ado about Lupita Nyong'o

Quite a lot has been said about Lupita Nyong'o, from her flawless skin to her striking red carpet choices and her bold lip colours. Lupita is a hot topic. You only need to google Lupita Nyong'o to realise she is Hollywood's It girl. Now don’t get me wrong I think Lupita is stunning and I can’t get enough of her but for something else. Every time I see Lupita step out on the red carpet what strikes me the most is her self-confidence and poise. Lupita is not a fluke. This lady works hard. It is quite obvious that Lupita has been preparing for this moment for a while.

I heard a message once while I was in Uni and it has stuck with me since. The speaker said unlocking your success is like the padlock with the grooved key. You know the keys that have different groove marks along the stem and to unlock the padlock you have to do a series of turns like turn a little to the left and then turn it round and so on. And he asked if it is the first turn or the last turn that unlocks the padlock that rather it is the series of our life experiences. Both the good and the not-so-good. All of these experiences sum up together in one way or another to unlock our talent and passion.

I remember watching Lupita on Shuga a couple of years ago and it took a while for me to figure out that she’s the same person in 12 years a slave. From her background, to furthering her studies it is pretty obvious  that Lupita has been honing her craft preparing for this moment.

So like the duck don’t stop working on that dream. Go the extra mile. Burn the midnight oil. Do what you have to do. It's not going to be easy. Don’t stop honing your craft. Don’t stop opening yourself up to life experiences. Because the sum of all these experiences is the key to unlocking your passion. 

Love Zansi