New challenge

It has been a while since I last posted anything on this blog. I recently submitted my thesis and I'm so glad it's over and done with. I'm now ready to move to the next challenge.

I believe this is the right time for me to venture in business since I'm about to finish my Masters. Not only did I register a new company (MeqiDale Investments cc) but I also managed to scout for the right suppliers in the country. I did all this while busy with my thesis so I feel a bit proud of myself :-)

Anyways, I am absolutely committed to my business idea and I strongly believe that MeqiDale will make a difference in my country and Africa at large. The current unemployed period I am going through might just be what I needed. Who knows, maybe I won't need a job after all.

Good luck to all of us walking new paths in our lives and remember, it's never a problem always a challenge.

Cheers.

If I go too long without...

If I go too long without exercise, it feels like rain could wash my muscles off my bones.

If I go too long without working on anything challenging, I start seeing things and hearing voices. 

If I go too long without reading or writing, my nightmares begins, sometimes during the day too. 

If I go too long without connecting to animals or nature, I begin treating humans as species and turn people around me into specimens in my life's little experiments.

I live inside my brain, a huge part of my life is inside my head, imagination is all I have and my thoughts are my journey through life. 

Without exercise, work, books and an occasional stroll in natural landscapes, my brain literally begins playing tricks on me. Please bare with me when I go through withdrawal symptoms of isolation, silence, insomnia, bulimia, weird conversations, blank stares or dancing without music.

Just some of the articles I featured in

1. http://birdwatching.com.na/wp-content/uploads/pdf/newsletters/2012/np-nnf-newsletter-no_09-may-2012.pdf

2. http://birdwatching.com.na/wp-content/uploads/pdf/newsletters/2013/np-nnf-newsletter-no11-mar-2013.pdf

3. http://weavers.adu.org.za/newstable.php?id=242

4. http://republikein.com.na.81-169-128-186.nmhhost.com/politiek-en-nasionale/pryse-om-van-te-kus-en-keur.79987.php  

5. http://birdwatching.com.na/wp-content/uploads/pdf/newsletters/2013/np-nnf_newsletter_no%2012_Oct%202013.pdf

6. http://www.sapp.co.zw/docs/Impact%20of%20Sociable%20Weaveron%20Powerlines.pdf

Learn, Think, Create

Most of us do not entirely think about what we learn and create new concepts from the new knowledge. We are so busy focused on learning and trying to learn more and more, that we leave no room to actually think and make sense of what we learn. This diminishes creativity. As E.O. Wilson puts it: “we are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”

More specifically I highly recommend that you watch this TEDx talk on Youtube "Forget what you know- Jacob Barnett at TEDxTeen". The boy is brilliant and I can actually relate. There are no limits to what you can think of. There is so much information in the world that the odds of matching thoughts with someone else are slight, as long as you “think like there is no box”. Turn Learn, Think, Create into a mantra and your life will never be the same again.

Last but not least, COPYRIGHT! It is important to protect your intellectual property. Once you created something new or you came up with a new idea, it is important to prototype it and then apply for copyright or patent it. Actually the mantra should be "Learn, Think, Create, Patent/Copyright".

Good luck!

I'm happiest when

I'm out there in the wilderness.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

This year went by so fast. Personally I wouldn't ask for a better year. It feels so good at this point to have achieved most of my year's resolutions. I am grateful for the support and motivation I got from everyone both in South Africa and Namibia, the people I met this year and amazing colleagues at work.

I am looking forward to new challenges in 2014 and I wish only the best for all of us this coming year. 

 Marry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I don’t belong - Wishing to become a time traveller

I am pretty sure there are other people like me out there who feel like they don’t fit it in wherever they are. Be it is at work, school or whatever environment or circumstances it could be. For most parts of my life I felt like I don’t belong; that perhaps no one really understand me and I feel judged. Actually not even my own mother understands me. She questions every other move I make although not so much in a negative way. My whole being is literally lost, I don’t know what I can identify with. My home and birthplace are so strange to me. I don’t hate the place, I just don’t understand it. I don’t know What makes me feel How, who I am or why I do what I do. Basically my soul is confused.

The reason I get to love and appreciate tremendous diversity as such in big cities like London is because everything is possible and that means there's less judgement for a small person like me. You get so much freedom that way. I grew up in a small village so you can forget about such freedom. Why would one person be tied down to one personality? Why can't I be different people in one lifetime and do different things? Why can't I experience everything there is to experience?*

Good example is the fact that I like spending time with people who like being alone. They give me a good combination of company and silence all at the same time. I'm really curious of what's outside my comfort zone, outside my personality, outside my country, outside my universe until there is no outside anymore. I dream of being in big cities or out alone in the wilderness. Places where I can be insignificant. Places where I'm unknown. Where I can just wonder around observing and be different things at once. Somebody please free my soul! 

*For the level of intelligence and emotional development at which we are as a species, our life cycle and life expectancy are way too short for us to explore maximally.

EGO

My experience over the past two months has been absolutely humbling. I have been working so much and traveling between Namibia and South Africa back and forth, I had an opportunity to work with kids from my previous school and now I have a new outlook on life.

As ordinary humans, sometimes we feel that we need to defend ourselves from the world and everything in life. We have the need to be praised or at least for our efforts to be rewarded. We feel uncomfortable when our peers are doing better than us. We feel that in life we have to be our competitive selves in areas of expertise. I am not going to lie, I have felt like this over a couple of instances in my life; it is human nature.

After the humbling experience, however, I have never felt free in my life. My heart became clear of any ego or alter egos. I finally felt like I became the person I was supposed to be and found my purpose in life. My heart is full of nothing but love. The love for all. I realised that all I wish for everyone is the best. I feel like I need to help people. I felt no need for me to be better than anyone else. I felt the need to not judge but rather understand people. I felt like everyone could be my friend and there is really no need to be hateful or resentful.

I want to talk to people. I want to find out what's going on in their heads. I want to know what they know, I want to learn from them and work with them towards something bigger than each one of us individually.

If you ever found me being boastful or egoistic, tarnishing someone or trying to diminish them, I give you the right to slap me in the face as hard as you can. I am certain that I have fallen in love with life.     

You better work

Every single time I sit down and do my work (MSc research, NamPower project, my business, F.L.I.C.C Foundation), I realize that I can always do more. Here I am doing my assignment from the Social Modelling class and I realized that immediately after my Masters, I would like to start with my PhD. I talked to a lot of people about this and we all agree that I at least need to work and gain experience, and then do my PhD.

Today I thought of it again and changed my mind. How about I work and do my PhD part-time? Hopefully I will have a project or at least a research idea by the end of my Masters.

Staying busy is good. It keeps me out of unnecessary thoughts or situation. I mean I have to stop at some point and just relax, perhaps get married and have kids, but that will only be in 10-15 years from now. 

Science and Religion

As we all know, Science and Religion are contradictory at many instances, and we have extreme believers on both sides. After a long time of trying to understand who is "God"(quotation marks because different religions call HIM different names), I did a little bit of research and came to my own conclusions. Being a science student puts me a position of believing that "God" is non-existent but when I was growing up I was introduced to Religion first and only got to understand Science as I grew older.

You have to admit that whichever way you go, Science or Religion, there will be questions left unanswered and they are both here to stay. In fact, within Religion, there are contradictions between different Religious beliefs. And the same is true in Science. Personally, I don’t care about different Religious or Scientific views. I care about understanding who "God" is, and trying to find either Religious or Scientific ways of explaining "His" existence.

As shown in the display that I made for myself below, I believe "God" is a concept beyond energy (or possibly 2,3, 100, million levels above energy). "GOD" EXISTS. I believe "He" is the one who created energy, the energy that Science uses to explain nature and its existence. Hard core Science failed to accept/prove "His" existence because current Science does not explain anything further beyond Energy. My question for scientists is: If "God" does not exist, where did energy come from? Where did the tiniest particles of matter come from if not "God"?

Although  I have no doubt that nature can possibly be created in flash of an eye (since "God" goes beyond Energy and Power), Religion somehow fail to accept the fact that everything in the Universe is made up of tiny particles that assembles together to make the physical entities as we know them. Hard core Religion should understand that these physical entities go through change over a period of time, depending on their source material  and their environment (Evolution).

Therefore, personally I believe it is important for us to believe in "God" and truly honour "Him" than any Religious or Scientific views, because "He" is real and powerful beyond what we all could imagine. 

What do I really want

I recently received a Facebook inbox from a friend who is a couple of years older than me. She was worried about her age, she felt like people of her age are married, and have houses and kids; and that she cannot even maintain herself. This is how I replied:

SWEETY, IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START. YOU WILL BE ABSOLUTELY FINE IF YOU WORK HARD FROM NOW ONWARDS. WHAT I CAN TELL YOU IS TO AVOID PEOPLE WHO MAKE YOU FEEL INFERIOR. IN FACT, AVOID ANY PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO SOMETHING OR SOMEONE WHO IS BAD FOR YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. YES, YOUR PEERS ARE MARRIED, WITH HOUSES AND KIDS BUT DOES THAT NECESSARILY MEAN IT’S THE BEST THING FOR THEM RIGHT NOW? I HARDLY EVER GO WITH PEOPLE’S DEFINITION OF WHAT IS RIGHT; I DO WHATEVER MAKES ME HAPPY. SO SHUT OUT ALL THE NOISE FROM THE WORLD, DIG DEEP INTO WHAT REALLY MAKES YOU HAPPY AND RATHER FOCUS ON THAT. SOMETIMES YOU DON’T HAVE TO LISTEN TO EVEN YOUR OWN MOTHER, FRIENDS OR BOYFRIEND; HAPPINESS IS A VERY PERSONAL THING TO FIGURE OUT. OFTEN YOU ARE ONLY AS HAPPY AS THOSE AROUND YOU, BUT LET’S FACE IT, ONLY FEW PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD KNOW WHAT TRUE AND GENUINE HAPPINESS IS. THEREFORE DO NOT COMPROMISE YOUR HAPPINESS, YOU MIGHT GROW INTO A BITTER PERSON AS TIME GOES BY, AND YOU WILL ALWAYS TRY TO FIND SOMEONE/SOMETHING TO BLAME (E.G. YOUR CHILDHOOD, THE ECONOMY). WHEN THE SO-CALLED “MID-AGE LIFE CRISIS” APPROACHES, IT WOULD LEAVE YOU RELATIVELY LESS DEVASTATED IF YOU CONSTRUCTED YOUR LIFE’S FOUNDATION BY YOUR OWN DEFINITIONS OF WHAT IS HAPPINESS, LOVE AND SUCCESS. AND BY THE WAY, RUSHED AND/OR UNINFORMED DECISIONS RARELY END WELL.

Sports, the best reality TV

Today I found myself alternating between a couple of sports channel and E!. I am a girl of course I would enjoy some drama. The fact that I will never leak a sex tape for fame or work my butt off in the gym or get arrested for drunken driving, plastic surgery or so many other things for fame, makes me feel so much better off. I would watch entertainment channels all day, untill I have seen all there is to make myself feel good about my big forehead, flat nose, ugly feet etc etc.

As much as reality TV sounds like it can actually do me some good, I am a self-confessed Sports junky. I simply can’t live without soccer, the most beautiful game in the whole white world! I am a huge Manchester United fan, although I have some respect for Chelsea and Liverpool as well. I love strength and speed, big-shoulder people with helmets who walk like they just saved a hero, so nothing keeps me away from Rugby games. And when I feel a little girly, when I need to make myself believe I can rule the world in a little cheerleader skirt and a tank top, and when I want to believe that I can do it all by myself, I watch women Tennis. And of course there are those that only take a couple of seconds to show you who boss – Short distance male sprinting that is!

Oh how I wish I could compete within my passion for outdoor activities: mountain cycling, car racing, horse riding, or anything to do with the ocean –the surface, bottom, or the beach. Oh wait, is there sport in hiking, mountain climbing and dancing? There should be  ;-D

Hi everyone

So I sit here trying to work on my Honours project and I just realized I cant do this anymore. I have been a nerd my whole entire life, I once came third in National Examinations and got a letter addressed to me from our then Education Minister.

I am currently under a three years contract with the biggest electricity producing company in my country, doing a project for them alone.

This is it, I am going to try new things. First, with this blog, I will take you through my journey of how I got where I am today. Apparently my friends and family are proud of me, but no, I feel like this is not what I was supposed to do for life.

So please be patient for more of Julia Amukwa's past and current challenges.

I hope you can relate to and enjoy my story :-)