“Love is patient; love is kind … It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful” – 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Last week we once again celebrated the birth of Christ. We reunited with friends and family, we engaged in culinary delights, we imbibed many a beverage and we exchanged gifts, cards and greetings. In Trinidad, there is a seamless transition from Christmas cheers into another season manifested by an explosion of colour, music, revelry, and creativity -Trinidad Carnival. Many Barbadians and others will join the Trinis as Carnival peaks on March 3rd and 4th and ends abruptly to make way for Ash Wednesday, March 5th, which signals the advent of the Lenten season. Notwithstanding, the prospect for gay abandon, euphoria and the stunning spectacle of one of the greatest shows on Earth, Trinidadians and the rest of us must still focus on what we want to achieve in 2014.
May I therefore begin by expressing wishes of holistic prosperity to all. The Internet will give many synonyms for “prosperity” which include: wealth, success, profitability, affluence, riches, opulence, the good life, good fortune, plenty, comfort, security, well-being, luxury, milk and honey and a bed of roses. I feel the need to qualify prosperity with “holistic” because it is not only my wish that there should be enough material wealth to be shared but also that the body, mind and soul should be nurtured in a balanced way so that we should all be happy. Holistic includes spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health and may you all have it in abundance. My New Year’s resolution is therefore to “embrace spiritual abundance”, to see the Divine in all things and to encourage you to do the same.
As I intimated in one of my recent weekly columns, one of my daily affirmations is that “My life is filled with abundance”. I was challenged by a colleague to explain what I meant. I found this to be a very soul searching and rewarding exercise. I now share some of this experience which will be my driving force in 2014.
As I go about my daily life, I: Think success, am thankful for my formal education, take advantage of whatever opportunities come my way, build on my experience, exude positive vibes, radiate love and accept love in return, dream and be patient until the dreams come true, aim to be always calm and relaxed, recognise that everything consists of energy and information, always remember that if I am – I can and therefore I will, believe that money always turns up to meet my basic needs, believe that my potential is limitless, do not pursue what I can attract, eat a balanced diet, diligently stay on prescribed medication and otherwise practice preventive health, manage my time well, exercise regularly, recognise the importance of touch, practise peace of mind, am passionate about what I do, have a high adversity quotient, am ambitious, aim to maintain good relationships, seek the idyllic – serene – tranquil environment of my spiritual blanket where I listen to the whispers from heaven, am self confident, love my work and never tire, surround myself with human security nets, share my vocational knowledge with others, participate in community service projects, practise unity is strength (when there is teamwork and collaboration wonderful things can be achieved), leverage my international connections, stay in contact with the youth and stay young at heart, recognise the importance of shepherding (which has a life coaching component and a management of business systems component) to business success in whatever field of endeavour. This is what spiritual abundance means to me!
I mentioned in a recent column that “I watched the movie Invictus which tells the inspiring true story of Nelson Mandela, as South Africa’s newly elected president, uniting the post-apartheid nation as it prepares to host the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The movie held my interest throughout and it was a revealing example of how those in positions of power, with vision, can mobilise the divergent forces within a nation and assemble them in a unifying force to foster growth from depths of despair. It is a wonderful motivational film from which Caribbean leaders could well learn as they face the challenge of growing the region’s economy”.
It was reported in www.espncricinfo.com that Dwayne Bravo, WI One Day International cricket captain, in preparing for the current series against New Zealand, said: “We sat down yesterday morning, Christmas morning, and watched Invictus the movie with Morgan Freeman acting as Nelson Mandela. That inspired us. It showed the importance of sport. We are fortunate to represent our nation. We are the few players to do that. It hurts our fans when we do not win cricket games, and not only losing, but the way we lose at times”. May the WI cricket team embrace spiritual abundance in the year ahead, witness a successful turnaround in performance and motivate its many supporters along the way.
The Caribbean is a unique region in the world. It is a diverse multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-religious, multi-culinary, multi-genre (musical) and multi-lingual region officially made up of an archipelago of islands and selected mainland emerging territories strategically positioned between North and South America, Central America in the West and the Atlantic Ocean in the East, in and bordering on the Caribbean Sea. If we bond with love and embrace spiritual abundance this region will be a force to be reckoned with in the world.