Don't waste the mind...

The mind by definition is the ability for rational thought, and the mind is a process of the brain, and I believe every normal human being is born with a brain, but amazingly and perhaps amusingly, we still see normal people doing abnormal things.

Well, I am not an expert in the field of psychology and I am not pretending to be one, but I know for a fact that no matter how extraordinary your mind is, if enslaved, fettered or made useful in an inferior capacity, it will create nothing but ordinary and mostly irrational thoughts, just like an unfettered ordinary mind can create extraordinary thoughts.

This is why when someone says something that's logically sound or behaves in a way that's not contradictory or otherwise absurd even in difficult circumstances, we say the person's indeed shown presence of mind.

The mind is expected to be our central force in thought, and therefore expected to communicate inspiration to the will, and to direct what we say or do.

In other words, the mind should control our emotions and behaviours. If there's an imbalance, we'll tend to do things that are without logical rationale, because our misguided instincts, guts and inclinations would've taken over.

The weaker you're in the control of your mind, the more vulnerable you're to the artificial induction of things and believes that you should or would otherwise have rejected; a weakness exploited by certain religious and political institutions.

Granted, the ultimate permission of overstanding is God's, but God Himself wants us to use our common sense in search of that overstanding, hence He said in the gracious Qur'an: "Surely the worst of beasts in God's sight are those that are deaf and dumb and do not reason." (8:22) "And He lays abomination upon those who do not reason." (10:100)

You're not that important...

Even if you're the very embodiment of renown or importance, it's only decent to appreciate the fact that not everything people say or write about including this one can be about you.

Or even if it is almost certainly about you, I can confirm from experience that the less you assume, the lesser the urge to respond and the more peaceful your life becomes.

There is no perfect relationship.

Just in case you think yours sucks, I can confirm that I have lived longer than most of my friends and I have never seen a perfect couple - at least not yet. By “perfect” I mean one that is free of complications in the romantic aspirations, or one without fights, and ups and downs.

However, in the face of their imperfections, “ideal” couples remain honest to one another, and that’s why they keep going. If they have a beef, they judge each other by who they’re as beings that are bound to err, and not by those Valentine's Day dinner or box of chocolates relationships that are portrayed on ‘tell-lie-vision’.

If you want to have a happy relationship and do not want to ever violate the Seventh and the Tenth of the Ten Commandments, you need to start accepting the fact that there are no “perfect” relationships. Do not make those seemingly perfect relationships that are about as real as the age of most Under-17 soccer players your point of reference.

You can't have it all...

Trying to gain advantage from everything and in everything is equivalent in selfishness to greediness.  This is why many times selfless people could go out, do things and gain BIG, but they wouldn't, knowing that not every window of opportunity is a ‘capitalise-able’ opportunity. That which extinguishes their regard for themselves above others' well-being is not impossibility but morality.

Someone’s bliss can be another man’s misery…

As I am writing this piece, I know someone somewhere is thrilled to bits that it's still raining, that he or she's going to have the benefit of a needed sleep, under the fragrance of the finest 'goweh' available.

Meanwhile, someone somewhere cannot wait for the rain to take a break, so that he or she can dry off and clean the effects of the flood caused by his or her roof’s many eyeholes.

Sometimes you want to ask: do we all have a fair shake of the whip - is it truly a fair fight? But I'm sure that's why having a deep awareness of the struggles of others, coupled with the sincere wish to relieve it through voluntary acts of giving is considered a pillar of the faith that l believe in.

63% of today's friendly relationships will not last a lifetime...

Once upon a time, having people and friends by your side was never anchored in what you have. Ours was such that having friends or being a people's person was more preferable than having an abundance of wealth.

But that was then. Now unfortunately, nothing has the power to spice up goodness in friendship and of friendliness than affluence or affluence's allied advantages.

In fact according to this claim that I'm yet to have empirical evidence for, 63% of today's friendly relationships will not last a lifetime, and that's because the average favourable conditions in which they're anchored won't last because they don't last.

I do lose network sometimes, we all do.

Some days you greet me like: "Good morning Mr. Touray, how are you doing today?" I'm good Ma'am, you're full of radiance this morning - it must be a good one?

On a typical day: "Yo Mike! Nakam, yangi cool?" Yeah man, mangi straight star, lou bakh? "Munj, santa ak moitu rek bro." Wow maneh, fofula deh.

On a day that I want to keep myself to myself, and I get out of my room against my will, and you’re like: "Omar" ounhh! "Yangi okay?" Wa-yeh! "Hehe, teye mom jinneh'em ya nyow."

Awma ben jinneh, neither am I unreliable. I may be unpredictable perhaps; but then man must not live on the same old 'nyambay, nyebbeh, fry' all the time. Even  4G networks do lose network sometimes.