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Through My Eyes

Through My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2022-12-20

"Living a mindful life takes time and practice and it is a choice we make every day. Thankfully, we have been blessed with free will and can make this choice. It is very much the same as learning how to ride a bicycle, you will lose control and fall, but you can always choose to get back up and ride again until you have mastered the skill. You will be challenged and accidents are bound to happen, but soon you will know the feeling of going fast with confidence, only conscious of the wind in your hair. Embrace those moments of total freedom that being present brings" by Christo Barnard (new addition to the editorial content of The Bugle, read Christo?s introduction on page 6)And so this is Christmas.

Like most South Africans, we are not planning anything big. Just a few loving family members, a modest Christmas lunch, which will include a Berry Pavlova, the recipe for which I share with you in this publication.As this is my second attempt at this column (the previous one got wiped out by load shedding and computer hardware which has been pushed to its manufacturing limits by the erratic power supply we're enjoying), I have the possibility to change my narrative and so I will. I take a deep breath - Changing our narrative is a conscious thing.

Yes, we all want to complain and share our misfortunes and pretend that our words will somehow achieve superpower status and materialise in some shape or form. Well its not going to happen. Our feeble complaints and moans will only exacerbate the already difficult situation.We are all pushed to the limits, no one needs to confirm this position, and we are in it together. The load shedding is breaking us apart, one appliance at a time, one piece of computer hardware, bit by bit our country's infrastructures are crumbling. It's a slow process of destruction of which we have no choice but to accept that nothing is as it should be and yet everything is as it's suppose to be.

While we might not be able to live up to all the expectations that are associated with Christmas cheer, we can acknowledge that the mere fact that we are breathing at the moment is a true miracle, because so many of us did not make it this far at all.So before we open our mouths to complain and lament everything that's gone to the dogs, lets just take a moment to reflect on the good and just and righteous. We are alive and we are getting stronger and stronger. We live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet and its not really that bad, is it?

If you are like me, an eternal optimist - stop that right now! No Eskom is not going to get their act together anytime soon. My informant for this piece of information comes from a very reliable source, and the worst is still to come. So lets not pretend that we don't need that app that tells us when our electricity will go off. Let us not pretend that we are ok with the nine hours a day blackout, let us just be realistic and admit that we have to make some changes in how we go about our daily lives.We might not be able to change the way our appointed leaders are steering our country but we can adapt our lives to the challenges that we are facing. Small changes at first, like an inverter that will power up our essentials. Lifestyle changes will follow as soon as we realise that we no longer can support our old patterns.We are facing a global transformation. We have no choice but to conform to the natural progression.

However you view the world we find ourselves in today, the choice is yours about how to proceed living our best life in the present chaos.Christmas is upon us. For some this is a painful time of the year, lets be kind to everyone we come in contact with. Let's be gentle with our bitching and moans. Lets embrace each other for all that we have and all that we have not. We are all a science project that has gone slightly awry, not because of our bad judgement, but a much bigger global cause. Keep counting your blessings.

Merry Christmas everyone! I wish you a beautiful Festive Season wherever you are.