A 'Golden' LIFE

When I got a message from my agent about doing a commercial for Toyota in Japan, it got me excited. This is one country I have not visited and so I was anxious to know more about the people and culture of this amazing nation. 

I know In the ancient times in Japan, when a bowl is broken, it's put together with cracks being filled with gold creating a beautiful lining. This is to emphasise that it was once broken. They believe when something has suffered damage and has a history it makes it more beautiful and this got me thinking about the ups and downs we experience in life.  I often say  I am entirely made of flaws, stitched together with good intentions by the Grace of God and I let my life represent my strengths not my weaknesses. This analogy of the broken bowl goes for human beings and it caused me to pause, think and reflect ... how possible is it to put 'pieces' of ourselves together so as anyone 'touching' us understands what happiness is.  When do we get tired of spinning round and round and stop chasing pretty rainbows and just allow it to be... wrap up all shattered and scattered dreams of our lives, put them all down and start putting them together, piece by piece filling the cracks with gold.
  

Everything that you have been through, everything that you are going through doesn't make and shouldn't make your life 'uglier' although it may seem that when we are going through it. It is up to us to choose to paint those struggles with gold and make it beautiful. You are not broken beyond repair, you can pick yourself up and learn from what has happened and become a better person from it because of the struggles that you have been through. You can wear your scars proudly as a badge of honour as if to say .. 'Hey, look what I have been through, it's made me who I am today and I can get through anything life throws at me now'. Sometimes I call it experience. 

Nobody has had a perfect life, and nobody ever will. It's only up to us, if we choose to paint broken pieces gold and make it beautiful. 

Don't be ashamed of what has happened to you. For everything that has happened to you is for a reason. The more we deny and the 

           

                                                                 

more we complain and don't accept what we have been through, then it doesn't become a lesson, and therefore it's not useful. I sometimes call it useless pain. The moment we accept and find what is useful in the struggles, then that's just like us painting the cracks in our broken pieces GOLD, turning something that could be ugly into something beautiful and inspiring. Yes, turning a negative into a positive. 

When you learn from what you have been through, then your 'golden cracks' are inspirational for others, and the struggle was all worth it, useful pain. So don't get stuck on how  life challenged or is challenging you. I once heard a quote that said,

"Every next level of your life will demand a new you." 

This empowers me greatly and sometimes it takes being broken in order to become that new version of yourself. Each new day is a blank page in the diary of your life and the hidden secret of success is in turning that diary into the best story you possibly can and thanking God all the way...So if you are going through hard times, I hope you can pause, take time to reflect and I hope these words can help you or someone you know and care for....

With every blessing xxxxxxxxxxxxx

International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

This day of observance was begun by the United Nations in 1992. It aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilise support for the dignity, rights and well being for persons with disabilities. It also seeks to increase awareness of gains to be derived from the integration of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. Very fine aims but what are the realities for the millions of people worldwide? Dismal if you are trying to live with a disability in a developing country where very often you are firmly placed at the very bottom of the society you aim to survive in. And what about here in the UK? Oh yes, we have accessible transport in most big towns and cities, and ramps into the majority of public buildings but we also have the disabled bearing the brunt of vicious cuts imposed by the current government, suffering the unfairness of Bedroom Tax, and others. Think on those things on this International Day of Persons with Disabilities. If you have to judge people living with disabilities, judge them based on what they can do, not on what they cannot. Judge them based on who they are, not who they aren't. Support their strengths and do not use their weakness to crush and destroy them to the bottom.  Otherwise, you are judging them based on your own shortcomings. 

 Africa has had enough of 'disability does not mean inability'. True inclusion of people labelled 'disabled' should involve more than just accessible toilets and ramps. People's attitudes need to change and start to recognise this group of people as full human beings. I totally agree with Emma Thompson that 'being labelled  'disabled' should not mean being disqualified from having access to EVERY aspect of life'. People who are differently abled such as myself have abilities too and this day should be about that, making sure that the society we live in is conducive to allow  these abilities to  blossom.  

No disability or dictionary out there is capable of clearly defining who we are as a person. It is only when we step out of that labelled box that our abilities begin to be fully recognised, giving us a much better definition of who we truly are as individuals. Today, I call upon every human race - Support us to break barriers, and to open doors, for an inclusive society for all. Let us take the dis out of disabled then we are able,take the cap away from handy and we are useful, take the label away and we are who we choose to become and dreams are turned into reality.