Just One Story? The Pavement Bookworm

‘Books are a very important part of my life. Books are my wealth and pay my bills. Books have a magic that keeps me going through hard times.’

[Philani Dladla, The Pavement Bookworm, opening line]

Meet Philani Dladla.

You may have seen glimpses of his story that went viral a while back as a young man on a street corner selling book reviews to people. But yesterday morning i got to meet him.

The Greatest Birthday Gift

What a birthday!

Started with breakfast with tbV [aka the beautiful Val, my lovely wife] and our former housemates from Oakland, California, Aaron and Sarah at Martin’s, a local bakery/restaurant just down the road from us.

It finished with

Meet my new friend, Mapula Diale

There is a vicious rumour going around that you can’t meet people on the internet. That is completely true and some of my best friends at the moment are people i have engaged with online and never [or only recently – hi Trevor Black!] met in real life… Sindile, Linde, Felicity and so many more of you can attest to that – while real life is better by far, until you get there, it is possible to have real and meaningful conversations, challenges, shared insights and more.

Which brings me to the place of introducing Mapula

Happy Birthday to me: What I Want!

On Wednesday it is my birthday.

i am turning 42 which, according to ‘The Hitchkhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s Douglas Adams is the answer to the question, ‘What is the Meaning of Life?’ That’s right, i am literally going to be The Meaning of Life… years old. 

A Sparrow by any other name…

It has been a heart-breaking day…

i’ve known Sindile for close to a year and a half now i think. Known as in i’ve never met him in real life [yet – hopefully remedy that in the next ten days!] but he has guest posted on my blog a number of times and he has this way of blogging within his Facebook status which inspires and challenge and calls to action and pauses and so much more on so many occasions. 

What Matters Most?

As we hit the ground running in 2016 it can be so easy to simply be caught up in all the responsibilities, habits and routines that characterised 2015.

I WANT TO INVITE YOU TO STOP FOR TWO MINUTES

To Be Still.

And Know.

A couple of years ago, tbV [the beautiful Val] and i were part of a book study working through a book called ‘Free’ by our friend Mark Scandrette. The subtitle of the book is, ‘Spending your Time and Money on What Matters Most’.

Which contains the underlying assumption that you have an idea of what matters most.

And so before you go screaming haphazardly into this new year, let me invite you again to just stop.

Create a space and time when you can honestly answer this question for yourself: WHAT MATTERS MOST TO YOU?

Then look around at how you are living your life, especially in terms of how you are spending your time, money, energy and resources. And also in terms of the people you are surrounding yourself with or giving time, focus and attention to.

If you have not taken time to figure out and express in some way what matters most to you, then how will you ever be able to give it your attention?

Can you articulate it? What is one of the things that matters most to you? Leave a comment sharing just one of those things with the rest of us. 

[Also tbV and i are keen to lead another book study on this in Cape Town starting some time after Feb and so if you’re interested in finding out more, send an email to brettfish@hotmail.com and we can chat]

Carpe Momentum: Seize the Moments

What a powerful end to 2015!

At the end of most normal years, if there is such a thing, i imagine tbV and i would have tried to find a few days off to just chill and recover from what has been a busy, crazy, challenging, great and difficult year. But this year we decided to finish strong. And that has made all the difference.