Beauty and value from pain

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The story of the pearl is quite an interesting one. Pearls are formed from a defense action (adaptive
immune system like function) to a potentially threatening irritant such as a parasite inside the shell or an attack that injures the tissue of a shelled mollusk. The mollusk then creates a pearl sac to seal off the irritant and the membrane deposits or secretes layers of calcium carbonate over the irritant. This process is repeated many times until a pearl is produced and this happens over a couple of years. Perfectly round pearls are rare to find and so are fine quality natural pearls, which are deemed rare jewels whose values are determined in the same way as precious gems subject to size, colour, shape, quality, surface, orient and luster. What is the point to the story of the pearl? Life is not much different from the story of a pearl. Not every high flying successful person has had it easy sailing to be where they are. Most have grown through life by creating counter measures, defense mechanisms and immune systems to irritating situations, some even painful and

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threatening. Every difficulty and challenge is an irritant that needs to be covered in a pearl sac with secretions of positive words and encouragement until it is totally covered up and a pearl comes out after a while. There are business empires founded on difficulty and irritant issues on someone's personal life or on society in general. It is how we look at things that determines our destiny. If an irritant is something we cannot get over, it can pull us down, but if we can get over it and cover it with our zeal and passion for life and overcome it, we will rise and create something of more value. How do you overcome irritants, get the right input into your difficult situation, especially the positive kind. Get the right speech on your tongue and you will rise above it. Remain confident that you will overcome and believe in yourself and you will become a highly prized pearl after you have engulfed that irritant. When people see the result of your private fight against odds, adversity, difficulty and battles you face in life, they will only admire the value they see without knowing the struggles you have been through and the time it has taken for that value creation process. Nothing of sustainable value happens overnight, black gold (oil) develops over years, diamonds are a result of rock, carbon extreme heat and pressure and the pearl is a result of years of fighting an irritant. Keep calm and create value for yourself.

Contentment: Case of the dripping tap 2

Oprah Winfrey once said "Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough”. After an insatiable episode of human nature, there is contentment that also pervades the way we live. I have met people who have never left their village, town, city or country and have come to understand it as normal. They have always stayed where they were born and never really felt the need to see anything outside that. They are content with their life as it is. I have spoken to people who do not have a passport, travel is not their plan. Does it mean this person is not as goal oriented as one who has traveled? I do not think so. Within that space of contentment in the little, one will find goals thriving within such a person. They are pursuing their dreams within contentment. Being insatiable does not necessarily mean one is not content for there are areas of contentment and in-satiation within one person  (#human complexity). Contentment to one is in-satiation to another and vice versa. I further look at a water tap, I think to myself, yes a tap can drip, but it doesn't mean that is all it can give. It can give more. Also, the tap can be tightly shut but it does not mean it is now disconnected from its source, it still is connected and can at any time pour out water. All it takes is a trigger, a hand to open that tap and water starts to flow again. If I was the dripping tap, what would I be thinking. I would probably be thinking that yes I am releasing small drops of water now, but I am connected to the source and so I can release more at any time when needed. We all need triggers to get our taps running, but sometimes we are content with who we are and what we have achieved, and it does not take away from the massive source of whatever we have and can do for ourselves or for others whether around us, or far from us. The tap can be opened and we can start once again pursuing something. Our lives are punctuated by contentment in a start - stop - continue manner, where the tap closes and opens when the right moments and triggers come about. We all have reservoirs that we are connected to, in form of experiences, mental capacity, talents, gifts and our passion centers. While we get content in certain areas and during certain times, our reservoirs are continuously there to supply as needed when the triggers come around and we start pursuits of something else, Be it starting a business, philanthropic endeavors, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, or other personal exploits, once the trigger goes off, we move into our destiny. Find part one of this article here

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