What to do when there's no ah huh moment..!

Anybody who has ever watched the Oprah Winfrey Show will know what the ah huh moment is. Its that light bulb moment when you realise what you should be doing (your purpose), how you should be living or simply an epiphany about something in life you would normally be wondering about.

Sometimes in life, there are no ah huh moments and we become afraid that the choices we've made might actually not be the greatest idea. This could be leaving a job you had to go for something better, leaving a marriage after 50 years or just changing your whole life because that's what you think you should do.

So, what do you do when there's no ah huh moment? Do you just go with  your gut? Do you guess and take a risk that could potentially change the way your life turns out?

I don't have the answer, although i really wish i did. I think sometimes we have to jump and hope there's a soft landing. If we fall, then i guess we get up, dust ourselves off and start all over again.

How hard is it to follow instructions?

Sometimes you’ll be surprised at just how hard it is to stick to instructions.

 I’m sure many of the ladies reading this blog have experienced the, “I know what I’m doing” syndrome by men. Example: You buy a piece of furniture that has to be assembled and comes with a manual that explains exactly what must be used and where it must be put together. Man with ego says, “I don’t need a manual, I know what I’m doing.” You take a drive to some place you’ve never been before with a map and GPS in hand but the man drives his own way mumbling, “I know where I’m going.” The television set breaks and needs to be fixed. The man in your house says he’ll fix it himself and when smoke starts coming out of the TV and it starts making groaning noises, he still says, “I know what I’m doing.”

This is not a feminist blog, but my goodness…. How hard is

it to follow instructions? I’ve even been in a situation where a sign in the road showed us exactly where we should go but because this man believed he knew where we should go, he followed the opposite path. Needless to say we got lost and drove around in circles for an hour, but he still knew what he was doing or rather where he was going?

The point is that instructions are there for a reason. Use it.

BRANDY TASTING 101

I’m no expert or brandy connoisseur but I have learnt a few things about brandy over the past year. If you don’t particularly like brandy or you’re not much of a drinker, keep reading. You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

If you’re not a drinker, you may taste and spit out. So, first you’ll need a really good brandy and they don’t come cheap. I would suggest Klipdrift Gold or van Ryn’s 15 year old. Please see the tasting guide below.

Step 1: Colour

Tilt the glass away from you (against a white background). Darker colour suggests age, style and wood maturation.

Step 2: Do not swirl

Pour into a sniffer or balloon glass, allowing aroma’s to concentrate. Keep glass stable to avoid losing volatile and precious flavours.

Step 3: Nose

First sniff the top of the glass to acclimatize to the alcohol, then the subtle, top notes, and richer, more complex flavours.

Step 4: Taste

Evaluate the smoothness on the palate. Elegant, older brandies exhibit sweeter flavours, younger brandies tend to be harsher and grassier.

Step 5: Overall

The colour, nose and taste of the brandy allows you to appreciate its age, wood maturation and full complexity of flavours.

South Africa has some of the best brandies in the world. They’ve won numerous awards and keep doing so. Try one.

Andy Warhol said, “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” You can’t choose you fifteen minutes but why would you be world famous?

Andy Warhol, an American painter, filmmaker, publisher, actor and major figure in the pop art movement mad this statement. He later said, “I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is, "In fifteen minutes everybody will be famous."

What will make you world famous for fifteen minutes or make you famous in fifteen minutes? Do you sing really well or play an instrument. Can you play a sport really well or do you want to be a movie star? Will you be part of a reality TV show or will you be famous for another reason?

I don’t know why I would be famous for fifteen minutes yet but I know that there are endless possibilities. It might not be singing or dancing or making a number one hit song. It might not be saving the world or finding a cure for a disease, but I’m sure that I’ll do something to make people sit up and take note. Now just to see what that thing will be.

What will make you famous for fifteen minutes?

What makes a good person?

We contribute 67 minutes or so to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We give a slice of bread or a R2 to the man who begs on the street or knocks on our door. We go to church or pray for our family, friends and ourselves. We are good people right?

We look down on the man in prison because he has done wrong. We judge our neighbour’s and gossip about them when they aren’t near. We think we are better than the man on the street and wonder what bad things he has done to end up there. We are good people right?

We are human and we make mistakes. We do and say bad things and hurt each other. Are we still good people? I think so. I think that there are no bad people only people who do bad things. Try to make your “bad” less each day by thinking about the bad things you do each day and turning it into a good thing. It may be something simple like spending time with your mother or paying the old lady across the road a visit because she’s lonely.

I tried this today and will hopefully do it again tomorrow, the next day and the day after that.

A skill set called leadership

Leadership can be defined as, "the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task."

Some very inspiring leaders  have lived and are still living in our times. My favourite would obviously have to be ex-president Nelson Mandela. Not only for the things he has done for South Africa, but also for his leadership style. The best kind of leader is one who leads by example and he has done exactly that.

Leadership to me can also be defined as the process of using ones own skills to inspire the people around you to follow. Often, the leader isn't the person who outright gives orders to the rest of the group according to what they think should be done within the group. We see this almost every week on 'Survivor'. The person who acts like this is voted out very soon in the game. Its the person who uses their physical and mental skills to get further in the game that eventually survives. This is a leader according to me. If everyone followed this one person, they'd also be surviving for quite a while.

In the end the skills set called leadership can be defined differently by each person, mostly because most people are leaders, but just don't see that they can be.

Fruit to make you feel good

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If life hands you lemons, make lemonade...

Almost every aspect in life can be compared to a fruit. Think of getting to know someone new. It reminds me of slowly peeling a banana. Romance reminds me of chocolate and strawberries. Some people remind me of a pineapple. Rough around the edges and sour inside. Or an orange. full of goodness but comes with a little bit of a bite.

If you think about it, people's personalities or moods can even be compared to fruit. I'd have to say though, i'd love to be a grape. Tasty when young, but full of possibilities as i age into a fine wine.

Just a little fruit to make you feel good. :-)

"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't talk for people who can't read"

This statement was made by musician, Frank Zappa in 1977 during an interview with a staff writer for the Toronto Star newspaper named Bruce Kirkland.

This witty comment by Zappa, meant to tell off the journalist is a surprise to me. A rock star saying bad things about someone who writes about him, rock stars in general and their fans? mmmm.

Is it witty or just plain silly for him to say this? For me it paints a picture of someone who is a little small-minded and sees someone as illiterate just because they like a certain kind of music. He might've meant it differently, but that's just how i see it.

People often generalise like Zappa has done and never realise that they are doing it. We might say that a certain culture, race, gender or group of people act a certain way because that's what we've seen. This doesn't mean that everyone in that group acts that way.

The comment will be interpreted differently by different people but this is just my point of view. Feel free to let me know how you've interpreted the comment.

List your top 200 achievements

“Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.” This is how author, Karen Ravn explained the method to achieving what you want.

As a 21 year old, I haven’t achieved all that much in life. Have I? I haven’t saved the world, created a cure for a disease or software that’s earned me billions of dollars.

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg, born May 14, 1984 is best known for creating the social networking site, Facebook. Zuckerberg created Facebook when he was 20 years old. At 21 years old, I have no Facebook type of creation to be proud about, yet I’ve still achieved so much.

Personally  - I’ve grown up quite a bit and have learnt a few things over the few short years that I’ve lived. One of them is to be patient. There’s so many more that I will learn, but I’ve still come quite a long way.

Academically – I’ve reached my B-Tech year, which may not be all that impressive to Mark Zuckerberg, but the fact that I’m finally year means the world to me.

Spiritually – While I haven’t been on my Eat, pray, love journey yet, I have become a little more inclined to look at everyday things from a spiritual view. I still need to go a long way with this one though and learn a lot more about how I see religion.

Emotionally – So I’m told that I’m cold and a little bit emotionless. BLEH. Haven’t achieved that much here, other than I now give peck kisses on the cheek (GASP), and hugs (but only to older people and babies). I also say “I LOVE YOU” or “I MISS YOU” on Christmas, New Years and Birthdays. J I joke…. Lol. I might not be as emotional as most women, but it’s there. You can’t see it, but it’s definitely there.

So I don’t have 200 achievements, but the ones that I do have, I’m so awfully proud about.