What It Really Means to S.H.I.N.E. [Part 1]

“We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”

–Maryanne Williamson

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So I have been talking a lot lately about Shining. That shining is a choice. That it is an option. That you can either shrink in life or you can shine your light in the surrounding darkness.

I tell you, there is so much darkness around the world that there is no shortage of heartbreaking stories day in and out.

It’s a Choice

But in all these things, the worst that can really happen is when a soul allows the present darkness to dim the fire of our passion and purpose on what matters to us.

The better choice for life is of course to shine.

When you come to the crossroads of life, to shine

When the options around you are just two, to shine

With every waking day, if not dead you know you have to shine

When hope held for long seems to let you down, to shine

When the tremors of fear encompass you round, to shine

You see, it is a conscious choice and it’s alright to shine.

But what does it really mean to shine?

Shining comes after Rising up:

It is a realization, a self discovery of your light. You cannot shine without light can you? So the important question to ask would be: What is your light?

I think this is the most important question that we need to answer if we are going to shine in life. Notice the question is as personal as it gets.

What is your light? Are you able to answer this question eloquently and with so much passion that it can recruit others?

Each individual, every last one of us has a light that is supposed to shine in their world and ultimately the world. I think this is one of the most under looked statements in the entire universe.

How do I know that?

Simple: we have systems and cycles of life that are predictably guiding everyone towards the same outcome: Make yourself employable, find employment, pay bills, have kids and pass over the baton.

That is the summary of many lives around the globe. This system has billions of casualties over the years. For the most part, using this system, people really never get to shine. They just go through this system never rising up to stop the traffic and ask: Is that all there is to life?

What is Your Light? How do you know it?

The starting point of your shining has to be a single theme that can either be focused on for the entire year or for the entire life.

You see, it is either that, or it is a life subscription to the systems and cycles that I have talked about. What is your light?

What is this theme?

• It is something that brings the greatest thrill to you while you are in action deploying yourself. You know what, God put it in there because he fashioned you to do exactly what it is you are doing. Consequently, it is something that is fueled by this great passion and love. When you are engaged, time just flies. There is no struggle in it, and if a struggle was there, it makes you miserable until you get the passion back. For example, there millions of people who would shrink from an opportunity to speak before an audience and motivate them. For me, it is not just like fish in water, but it is like a starved man who finally finds abundance of food. Total ravenous glee!
• It is something that is realized with heartbreak. Let me explain. If you really care about the girl child for example, it will break your heart to pieces when a girl of 11 years is forcibly married off to a 58 year old pot bellied riff raff for a crate of bear and a goat. Now, that statement can go unnoticed to many people but to those whose hearts beat for the good of the girl child, it will stir something in them.
• It is something inherent inside every soul. That is why every person has unique gifting, abilities, talents, experiences, heart and so on. What I care about is not necessarily what everybody else cares about. Therefore, it is realized as you document your strengths and passions and pursuits, outside of the systems and cycles that I mentioned earlier. For example, when I see a group of people sitting and waiting to listen, something just gets…I feel some inspiration rising from deep within my gut to talk and motivate such people.
• It is something that stems from a desire to see the best possible outcome. For example, my heart goes out to every single soul that has been thrown out of the systems and cycles of life and labeled as ‘failures’. Their lights have been dimmed and they have been reduced to shrinking from exploiting their God-given potential.
• It is something that can be seen in the other end of your anger. For example, sometime back in 2014, there were incidences in Kenya where some air headed men would strip naked some women in public, allegedly for under-dressing. Others would capture the drama on their phones and upload it to social media. I remember shaking with anger as I walked home from work, teeth gritted, shaking my head every 2 minutes. I was angry! Now, not every man can describe what I just did, so that should tell us something about my anger. It was an emotion expressed involuntarily because the ‘weak’ were being molested and seemed helpless.
• It is something that is activated by your love of giving. If you really wanted to find your light, you need to look at what you love to give to people. Pretty simple huh? Because you cannot give what you do not have. And so the more you give, the more you get. The cycle keeps repeating itself.

In conclusion the very first step of shining in life is to find out what your light is. There is you, there are others, there is their needs and then there is your light. This is the greatest equation you can ever solve in your entire life.

Arise and Shine, for your light has come!