Maniac Mondays: What's with My Johari Window Already?!

Maniac Mondays is back this week after all blogs were suspended due to a death in the family. As a result my vegan journey is now put off to March and the festival of Shiv on UCP is only running for 3/4 of Feb instead of all Feb long!

But the beat marches on...so it is...so it is...perhaps the impending death was the feeling I was feeling all through the first week in Jan but couldn't put a finger on it! But here I am starting at it again...

And what a place...my Johari Window?!

The first problem I have with this Johari window business well to be honest is its squareness...why a square?! I felt so restricted why did I have to put things in one box and then another box here...after all I am me! I am a whole full circle really! I'm not dissected into four and certainly not squared! I just wanted to burst through those Johari window panes and be the full energy flow that I am! :)

After all remember my primary and sub-primary theme songs! :) Shall I cue them? :)And I'm always: 'To thine ownself be true'

I like the circle because to me we are all in a transition and a cyclic doing and then reflecting and then doing again...being born...then dying then being born again...it's always a circle...something hidden today is revealed tomorrow...something revealed today can again be hidden tomorrow...you can figure you know this today but upon reflection in two weeks you think you are wrong again...we're all just spinning around and around and trying not to drop the ball while racing on and on but going no where on each of our very own hamster wheel! :)

So STOP! And when the spinning wheel comes to a stand still just get off! Realise that you are just this big burst of energy and you can burst through any square Johari window and if your beam of light is so strong...it will impinge on the edges of your Johari window pane till it will become circular too! And then as your beam grows brighter and brighter and larger and larger it will burst the whole house open and you will be seen simply as love and its pure clear light! :)

PS: Check out the Festival of Shiv on UCP for more talk about shapes and light! :)

To Be A Leader?-My Primary and Sub-Primary Theme Songs! :)

As the 5th Summit of the Americas unfold here on the island i.e. in Port of Spain, Trinidad. I've been having a ball looking at the whole buzz around the summit, the speeches and antics of some of the most flamboyant, radical and controversial Latin American leaders out there-Hugo Chavez with his wingmen Evo Morales and Daniel Ortega. All under the auspices of Barack Obama as in my perception he looks over them like a grand judge! :)

Now I’m not much for blogging about politics on this blog as I more think of politics and politicians in comedic and entertainment roles perhaps it is the Trini in me that is accustomed with the legacy to quote the old calypso “Them only kicksin (joking) in parliament”. But really seeing characters like Hugo Chavez highlighted locally it has made me wonder really what does it take to make a leader? Not what it takes to make a good leader cause to me and I will have to quote my favourite Shakespeare’s Hamlet again:


“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

So perhaps then I am inspired by the same Hamlet cause I am pondering:

To Be or Not to Be...A Leader

So many great quotes in Hamlet it seems cause my favourite quote is from it too...

"...To Thine Ownself Be True..."

So I won’t go into what is a good or bad leader but just what it takes to make a leader. And really it doesn’t take much to me really…as complicated as most people make it sound to me we are all leaders and daily lead in our own right. If we remind ourselves of this more often or look within and realize this more often each day and then step up to the plate and do the right thing and so lead in our own way each and every day for sure the world would be a better place.

We all need to make our way…and we all have our unique purpose here on earth. And so it made me want to sing a song I call my sub-primary theme song…'Wonder' by Natalie Merchant cause I’ve always associated with this song but really not in a “I think I’m so great way” but in a way that really it just made sense to me how I felt about myself and I connected with it. My primary theme song being 'I am the One and Only' by Chesny Hawks which I’ve shared on this blog already but will share again.

So really the quotes:

“Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country” -JFK

“The Power of One” –which really it seems, can be linked back to this South Africa/Australian novel’s title and these Irish and South African campaigns to save electricity.

And at the 5th Summit of the Americas yesterday here in Trinidad come to mind:

"It's important to remind my fellow leaders. It's not just the United States that has to change. All of us have responsibilities to look toward the future…''- Barack Obama

So let’s all be Leaders...let’s all be that change we want to see...

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” –Mahatma Gandhi

So I leave you with my primary and sub-primary theme songs as inspirations to myself to be reminded to do so...and perhaps for you too but really be your own leader and find your own theme song to listen to...of course cool if you really associate with mines and want to share it too...after all music is for the people!

Words to my sub-primary theme song by Natalie Merchant-

"Doctors have come from distant cities
Just to see me
Stand over my bed
Disbelieving what they're seeing

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of god's own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation

Newspapers ask intimate questions
Want confessions
They reach into my head
To steal the glory of my story

They say I must be one of the wonders
Of god's own creation
And as far as they can see they can offer
No explanation

O, I believe
Fate smiled and destiny
Laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She'll make her way

People see me
I'm a challenge to your balance
I'm over your heads
How I confound you and astound you
To know I must be one of the wonders
Of god's own creation
And as far as you can see you can offer me
No explanation

O, I believe
Fate smiled and destiny
Laughed as she came to my cradle
Know this child will be able
Laughed as she came to my mother
Know this child will not suffer
Laughed as my body she lifted
Know this child will be gifted
With love, with patience and with faith
She'll make her way "