Mini-Celebration for 1000th visitor to my blog

Right people I have some exciting news to share, I have met a mini-milestone and have had 1000th visitor to my blog.

Sometime in the night after Tuesday 1st February my blog had its 1000th visitor.  Admittedly it is a small fry in the grand scheme of things but pretty epic achievement in my view.  I never really expect to measure this success in anyway other than noticing on the Tuesday in the evening that I had 992 visitors which then caught my attention thus prompted me to share this news with you, so the fact that over 1000 people somehow found their way to my blog is cool.

My blog was born on 25th October 2010 and it has been a little over 3 months till date and I have noticed that this blog has started to gain momentum.  I have not done justice to my blog and have somewhat fallen short in writing content as much as I would like too – but I believe the hardest part has been achieved by reaching this milestone; the only ingredients left now is to build up its reputation and credibility.

So for that 1000th person and all the people who have added to the count and visited this blog a BIG THANK YOU.  I hope you continue to visit, engage and share your views with me and other readers.

Dead Poets Society – Take The Road Less Travelled On

Inspiration is a wonderful experience and we hold close to heart the things from which we receive inspiration from.  I have watched for the first time ‘Dead Poets Society’ and I have truly been touched.  It was produced in 1989 and is almost as old as me but the lessons taught in this movie can most definitely be applied today.

Here is the official trailer:

My personal belief is that one’s body, mind, spirituality and emotions needs to be ready to receive inspiration, and inspiration can be drawn from anything as long as you are ready to accept it.  Had I watched Dead Poets Society years ago I probably wouldn’t have appreciated it as I have done now – why because my mind and spirituality is ready to accept inspiration but may not have been years ago.  Some have trouble understanding how to define the word ‘inspiration’, for me its simple – it’s a combination of vision, determination, courage and to be different.  This is what inspiration means to me.

What really makes this movie special is how the teacher (who is part of an established system but has challenged it before) encourages its students to think differently from what was known to be normal, to be free from the system they enrolled to and to rise to a new level beyond the level that was expected, to explore their fears to become fearless.  This is not a review of the movie by any means – but I would like to touch upon few words that were said in the movie – words which sends shivers down your spine – especially if you’re prepared to understand the real meaning behind them.

Once again, the words used are magical and really do challenge the system – something which we can apply today.  Check out the video below of just one example of brilliance:

Notice how the students (casual people) are amazed when something different or out of the ordinary happens (the teacher walks out whistling) – how the confusion of the masses occurs.  The confusion continues when they are asked to follow (come out to the hall way by the teacher) or do something that is not normal to the system.  In the end the students still seem to be confused but unsure.  This for me is how our society is today confused in masses.

I have watched this movie twice in as many weeks and hope to watch it again some point this week – it is that good, I just don’t feel that I have been able to absorb all of what is given from this movie.

Another fine example of a touching moment is when the teacher takes the students out to a court yard, and encourages them to engage in an activity, the following is said:

“Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular. Even though the heard may go ” That’s bad.” Robert Frost said, ” Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I, I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” I want you to find your own walk right now, your own way of striding, pacing: any direction, anything you want. Whether it’s proud or silly. Anything. Gentlemen, the courtyard is yours. You don’t have to perform. Just make it for yourself…”

This moment in the movie (for me) is when the students have been prepared to start thinking different, to do what the society least expects or scared to do.  It’s about making a difference and that difference is what changes the world.

This post on the Dead Poets society is by no means concluded, as I will no doubt want to add to this later, as I continue to watch the movie again and again.

My advice to you is ‘it’s a must’ and I’ll go as far as saying buy it and add to your DVD collection – you never know when you might need to draw more inspiration, vision, determination and courage out of it.
It’s basically a master piece.

2011 – It’s about Relationships

Firstly – I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Healthy Successful New Year and I hope you all take full advantage of the New Year, as the New Year is like a blank canvas for a new start.

Secondly – The New Year is an opportunity for everyone to improve.  Improvements can be made in all aspects of life – some may put a limit on the amount of alcohol intake, some may control they spending and for some it maybe to improve their fitness, a friend of mine has a New Year resolution for collecting different types of glass bottles – don’t ask me why – whatever the improvement the New Year is the best time.

December for me has been a month for reflection and realisation.  Something which I’ve got into a habit of doing every year.  It’s a period where I gather some thoughts on how the current year has gone by and what I can do the improve going into the New Year.  It’s time to make a new resolution for the New Year.

My Resolution for the New Year is to work on RELATIONSHIPS – which includes friends, family, work colleagues, neighbours or anyone who I have engagement with.  We know how important relationships are in our lives.  Relationships is definitely a topic which we are going to see more off this year, and this year we will need our relationships to be stronger than they have ever been before.

The previous years I have made some promising changes as part of my resolutions and I’m happy to report that I have kept to these resolutions despite at time facing huge difficulties in maintaining them – 2010 was a year to improve my fitness, saying that my fitness has always been good but not consistent but by introducing different activities on a weekly basis has improved my health physically and mentally.  2009 was a year to take better control of my finances and to make my money work better for me, by introducing simple saving methods and reinvesting the money intelligently has brought forward its fruit.

So this New Year is going to be all about Relationships, improving and making stronger existing ones and making new relationships.  I fall into a trap of taking relationships as granted and an illusion that they will always be there.  What I fail to recognise is that relationships are a gift for me, each one is different to the other, each one has its highs and lows but they all make us what we are.

So by taking a new fresh look at the relationships I have – I will hope to make them stronger by putting more of my energy into them.  By doing just that little bit extra can make a big difference and can create a new level of relationship – a simple unexpected call to find out how someone is can increase your attachment, a call instead of sending a text message to someone can increase your attachment, and so on.

One social activity which I was well known for while I was a student was to invite friends once a month for a meal which I would cook, and the next month invite different friends and so on.  I guess this is something which I can reintroduce and manage going forward.

So this is what I will be introducing and doing in the New Year.  So what are you going to change for the new year?

Christmas – A time for Appreciation

Awakening Tempest Merry Christmas

It’s now Christmas Eve, or at least it was when I started to write this (around 11:47pm).  I promise I am not waiting for Santa.  Tomorrow is the big day and an exciting one for those who celebrate Christmas.  Getting to open those presents and watching everyone enjoy the festive season must be memorable.

For those who celebrate Christmas I’d like to wish you a Very Merry Christmas – for those who don’t (including me) I’d like to wish you a Very Happy festive day.

I personally enjoy this time of the year, the time when majority of people around me begin to wind down for the year.  It appears people’s moods, emotions and general attitude becomes allot better and towards each other – the energy generated is noticeable and the whole environment is uplifted.

Childhood memories are brought back into life, with the site of glittering lights almost everywhere the rush of people getting their shopping done and the movies and programmes that are shown on T.V.

Admittedly, Christmas has now turned commercial and the focus has shifted to money and affordability.  It’s only natural for industry to commercialise Christmas to generate more cash, to make us believe that buying your gifts from them is the right thing to do.  We have become blind in recognising the true value of Christmas and the blessings is should bring.

I have noticed a trend with people.  We put all our effort in choosing the right gift for someone but forget about the emotional attachment to that person.  We are quick to travel and search for the right gift but slow in appreciating that person.  The true blessings of this festive season have been devalued.

We should really take a step back and think for a moment – the little blessings that make up our lives day to day.  The children we have – the cute hugs we have before bedtime and how we wake up to them in the morning, the random text message your wife or husband sends which say’s ‘Love You’, the jobs we have and the comfortable environment we have been blessed with, the list just goes on.  Tomorrow while the day is celebrated, take a moment and look around you – look at the people in your life and all that surrounds you and think for a moment what if you didn’t have all this – how would your life then be?

With that last thought, I’d like to once again wish everyone a very Merry Time.  I guess I will need to write another post concluding this 2010 year – highlighting some highs and lows.

Until then – Have a good one 😉

My First – So Be Gentle

Hello and Welcome,

So here we have my first ever post on my first ever blog. Well in truth it’s my second blog and the first was a controversial and notorious blog which I had throughout University and hosted at the campus.  Much like a new assignment, dissertation or a project report it’s always hard to find the open sentences or paragraphs – here too I’m finding it a little tricky in writing my opening post for my new blog – Awakening Tempest.  So I’ve decided to write the open post in three phases:

Past: If you want to know the basics about me, you can read my ‘About’ page at the top.  As mentioned earlier this is really my second blog as I was an author of a blog at a University while I was a student, where I graduated with a degree then a Masters.  The blog had its fans and regular readers (mostly students) and it had its critiques and haters (mainly lecturers, teachers and University staff).

Looking back now I’m impressed to have kept the blog running and alive for the length of my stay – my fear had always been that either I would be excluded/expelled or forced to shut down and delete my blog due to the political nature and critique views I had, although having very very close encounters neither happened.  So now I live to tell the tale so to speak.  If you have been a student you would know exactly what I mean, since living at the University Campus you get drawn into all types of organisations and thinking styles which you just can’t avoid – it’s another method in developing your character and building your mind so you can form your own opinion.

Present: Coming back to the present, I intend to make Awakening Tempest another platform to voice my views and opinion on a much larger scale which I’ve never tempted before.  Honestly I’m a little nervous and unsure as to what the outcome will be – but such nervousness makes me more eager to explore this territory.   It’s been a little over 3 years since I put a farewell post on my University blog after my Masters Graduation ceremony.  There were those who couldn’t wish for anything better than to see the back of me and an end to my controversial blog – then there were those who truly were saddened that I was going and more saddened that a blog which had earned a reputation (in some cases not all good) was to be put down – closed – finished – the end.  I didn’t think I would ever need to blog again, despite being exposed to renewed pressure (mostly from students now ex students), this has now changed.

Much has happened during this time, and after graduation I literally secured a decent job the next day in the banking industry, and I’ve been there ever since climbing up the ladder slowly but surely.  In the real world (after Graduation) life becomes a war, where you fight a battle of some sort almost daily, they refer to it as ‘pressure’ but I find the word ‘battle’ describes the experience better.  In the three years after my departure from the University those people who have continued to stay in touch have often put me under pressure for me to continue blogging, well finally after much resistance I have caved in and made my decision to start blogging again.

Awakening Tempest is where I intend to talk about many things that affect me, in the hope that the same topics have an impact on your life too and we can share our experiences, views and opinions.  As a student the fuel for me to produce content often which was viewed as controversial and notorious was simply unlimited amounts of ‘Red Bull’ until my budget ran out without which I was unable to find my wings.  Now, that has been substituted with ‘Coffee’ and plenty of it.

Future: Unlike other bloggers, who limit themselves and their blogs to particular topics – I have no limits as I intend to cover topics that interest me and affect me, and believe me if I used ‘All Topics’ as two words to explain areas of my interests I wouldn’t be exaggerating.  Don’t get me wrong but other bloggers who restrict themselves do provide valuable content and detail insight which differs in their beliefs from mainstream media, but most times I find that they want you to tag along their thinking and go along their lines – anything that doesn’t fit is not often welcomed and or deleted.

With me, I want readers and contributors with free minds, minds which can think and form their own opinions, minds that have no fear, minds which agree with me and disagree with me.  I welcome and want everyone to contribute and keep the debate of life ongoing.

Since the closing of my previous blog (at University) some three years ago to the creation of this blog, my intention to share my views on all subject matters that affect me has not changed, this is a path which we are all on, a path which is different for everyone but yet the objective is the same.  This intention has not changed and if anything has increased dramatically.  During this three year break I have been somewhat off-line in many ways – both in real life and on the internet.  I do now have plans to continue sharing my struggles with my dear readers.  Admittedly such experiences are sometimes hard to understand, hard to explain and hard to write about – but I shall embrace this challenge and make this a source of communication to you.

Touching up a little more on the types of topics I intend to write about are not limited at all, I have keen interest in British and Global politics, in politicians who think we (general public) do not possess a brain and continue making life harder for us all, I have interests in globalisation, fighting wars that do not benefit us but only the elite, Middle East and how it affects us all.  I intend to write about my struggles in life and in my profession, science, natural disasters, mind control, illuminati, secret societies, and also provide content which would help build our characters in many ways.  If you are already thinking ‘What random topics’ then just carry on visiting and you will be amazed.  There is something here for everyone and you all are welcome.

During the coming weeks, as a reader you may see and notice changes taking place with the design of this blog as I will constantly try to improve this blog in many ways.  I also have another mission which is to bring back up to standard my writing ability that brings out thought provoking questions, I have somewhat missed doing this since University.

Finally: Blogging will be a good challenge once again along with everything else I do, time management will be key as finding time to write in an already busy lifestyle is a challenge for me in its self.  So I hope you can help me in this blog by engaging with your thoughts, rambles, views, opinions and frustrations.  Think for yourself and have no fear in letting the world know.