Random Musings. . .by Kui Gathua

“ There is no life without humour. It can make the wonderful moments of life truly glorious, and it can make tragic moments bearable. ” ~Rufus Wainwright A study conducted in 1999 determined that the average 4-year old laughs 300 times a day, the average adult 17 times per day, and the average 40-year old 4 times per day! Shocking statistics right there. What happens to us as we grow up and especially as we climb to the 4 th floor? I have concluded that that researcher is wrong in my case. The older I get, the more I have realized that the Serenity prayer carries a load of wisdom. The serenity to accept the things I cannot change is wisdom second only to the ability to laugh in the face of life’s curve balls. Among the many benefits of laughter, it has been proved to be able to lower blood pressure, boost immunity and reduce stress by raising the level of endorphins. It has been called the best medicine for its lack of side effects. Caution, it is contagious! Cases of depressi...

  “ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words. My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise .” Psalm 119:147–148 ESV Dawn is the period just before sunrise as the sky gets brighter and the morning twilight heralds the beginning of a new day. The Jewish Talmund calculates dawn approximately as an hour before sunrise. This time is considered sacred in many religions, most of which require their adherents to offer the first prayers of the day at this time. So give or take, we’re talking about 4am to 6am. A lot of books have been written about the ‘5am club’ – generally a practice of starting your day before the rest of the world wakes up. I currently look at those hours as being valuable for self-care. In times past, those have been hours when I got assignments done, did research or read for exams. On days that I am hiking, I am usually out the door or even leaving town at that time. In all of those instances, it is very ea...

   “ I want to rethink ‘surrender’ as an active verb. ”~Brian Eno Every once in a while, I encounter a situation that rocks my foundation. Or, I encounter something that pushes me past my limits. It may be a sudden occurrence or a long term situation that gets me to the end of my coping strategies. Figuratively, and sometimes literally, this thing brings me to my knees. What happens when you get to the end of yourself; all your coping strategies exhausted? Surrender happens when you wake up to the realization that you don’t know what to do. You can’t see the way out. You don’t have the answers. You’re not in control. Your back is against the wall and there’s no way out, but surrender. The hardship is in the path to surrender. We are socialized to control everything in our surroundings. We have elaborate plans and strategies, plan A to Z and Aa if necessary! It is the reason we keep contacts even of people we have not spoken to in ages; you never know when they’ll com...

  “ There’s no pillow as soft as a clear conscience .” ~ Glenn Campbell Once upon a time in a small European town, lived a man who loved to tell stories about other people. He embellished the stories with little details he invented but reasoned that the gist of the stories was still truth, albeit flowery as it left him. One day he heard a rumour about a fellow businessman in town and the urge to tell it was almost suffocating him. He packaged it as usual and told two friends. These two told it to their friends, who told it to their wives, who told it to their neighbours and on and on until the whole town was talking about it. Soon enough, word got round to the subject of the story and by this time, the story was grossly distorted.  Let’s call the subject Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith upon hearing the story ran to his Rabbi in distress wailing and crying for help for he reckoned his reputation was now ruined! The good Rabbi calmed him down and told him to allow him to handle the ...