MOTIVATION - Coming Alive

MOTIVATION – Coming Alive


By Nikki Viljoen of N Viljoen Consulting CC – May 2009

Today’s words come from Howard Thurman who says “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what make you come alive and then go and do that.  Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I am often fascinated by people.  Sometimes I can be found at the end of a meal or a cup of tea in a mall, just sitting and watching the people go by.

The expressions on their faces really intrigue me and I often wonder about whether some of them are actually alive.  Their faces are devoid of any expression and they are totally ‘blank’.  What goes through the mind of these people, or are they so damaged that they have retreated, so  far inside of themselves that they are lost?

Then there are others who walk past who are clearly in love with life and all that it has to offer them.  Their eyes sparkle and their faces light up at the mere thought of where they are going, who they are going to see or what they will encounter.

Their energy cackles all around them and draws everyone in.  Everywhere around them people look to see what is happening or hope to engage in conversation with them or at the very least, make eye contact.

They walk on engrossed in their own thoughts, in love with life and totally oblivious to the stir that they have created.

But wait . . . .  there out of the corner of my eye, I see movement, a glimmer of recognition, a faint memory of what was, or what might have been – on the face of someone, who moments ago wore a face devoid of any emotion, and I sit back and watch to see what happens next.

The face that was devoid of any expression moments ago, avidly watches the face in love with life.  Slowly a hint of hope appears in the expression on the face that was devoid of any emotion, as the recollection of life and the memory of all it had to offer reaches the surface of the mind and miraculously, like the opening of the petals on a rose bud, so too does the wonderment of life and all of it’s possibilities, reflect on what was once the face devoid of any emotion.

Coming alive has taken place and the world is indeed a better place for it.

Are you one who is alive or do you need to experience the reformation that ‘coming alive’ brings with it?

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za