Mo Ma, did you see the musical reference? I got you man! The weird salts aside, I got you! The final trilogy in the Mo Ma meme. I am anxiously awaiting the results of you folks doing the meme so please get to it.
8 Things I Say a Lot
1) I laugh a lot
2) No…but
3) Yup, aha
4) Ummmmmm (As I listen and try to process what you just said 10 seconds ago, when I wasn’t listening)
5) Close the door! (People keep opening the door to where I work without closing it)
6) Sema? (Sheng for what’s up?)
7) The blog did this/ This happened at the blog today etc etc etc
8) You should……(anytime I hear a problem it’s kinda automatic)
To be honest I don’t really hear myself talk that often but this list feels about right and so we move on to……….
8 Books I Have Read Recently
As I have said in the past, I am at a stage where I physically can’t read a book because anytime I pick up literature, my mind rejects it by telling me:
You have enough information do something with it
For that reason, this won’t be a list of books I have read recently but rather books, reports and audio resources (all information, right?) that have really affected me:
1) Harry Potter series:
Though I haven’t read the last book because of my aversion to literature, I loved this book. J.K. is an absolute MENSA genius when it comes to creating fictitious worlds in the minds of readers. I always read them in one seating (which was sometimes interrupted by trivial things like sleep, school, class etc etc). Once I picked it up the latest volume, the bolt-headed kid was all I wanted to read until I knew what was going on between Harry and He-who-must-not-be-named-but-is-really-called-Voldermont….oh no, I said his name. I’m melting, I’m melting, I’m melting………….
2) Understanding Power by Noam Chomsky:
Oddly enough the most profound thing I picked up from this book wasn’t even from its content but rather the way it was written. This book taught me how I best learn….from hearing interactive conversations. I am one of those people who may not be able to tell you the statistics and facts delivered in a lecture but will be able to tell you the emotional tempo I detected in the way he spoke and in the room that day.
This huge volume was an absolute genius (genius in the sense of he had taken time and really narrowed in on a topic area and understood it, namely geopolitics of the US and the West) talking, just talking. No attempts at creating a Pulitzer prize winning piece of literature. Just talking in an intelligent, insightful way and that’s why I love Podcasts one of them being:
3) All in the Mind: If you love Psychology as much as I do, go to Itunes, type in All in the mind together with the initials ABC into the Itunes store and subscribe to All in the mind. I cleaned the bricks that built the house I am currently living in. For those of you who don’t know what that means, when a house is demolished, you take the bricks that are still whole and healthy, seperate them from the mortar and cement that bound them to other bricks and build a brand new habitat from that. It took me about 3 weeks of working 8 hour days and while I sat there in the sun, a couple of resources absolutely rocked my Ipod (well not really an ipod, I was broke at the time, let’s call it my portable mp3 player):
a) All in the mind podcast
b) Martin Luther King and Malcolm X’s speeches: If you have never heard MLK on an ipod while you sit somewhere quietly do it. That man is a brilliant orator.
c) Lectures on food stability, geopolitics, Roman history etc etc from radio4all.net conducted by other geniuses that I highly recommend such as Vandana Shiva and Michael Parenti.
d) Preachers like Erwin Mcmanus of Mosaic (find him on the Itunes store by searching for Mosaic, Mcmanus).
4) Strategy of Preeminence by Jay Abraham: I think I have also spoken about this before but in brief, Jay’s whole philosophy to business goes a little something like this:
You should sleep like a baby at night knowing that because you entered the market place, the world is a better place. You should strive to find clients you care about and be a confidante, a friend and an advisor who will make their lives better.
He made business seem like something other than institutionalized greed ( this isn’t empty rhetoric by the way, check out the definition of greed and the definition of profit and tell me that both don’t have remarkably similar definitions especially as pertains to the constant pursuit of excess) and that together with his ideas on upside leverage (use what you already have to make profit rather than going to build new assetts) made huge impacts on the way I think about the dollar.
5) and 6) Four Hour Work Week and Blog Profits Blueprint: I thought I would throw these two together because over the course of this blog, you have heard about them and will continue to hear about them so need to go into much depth. Absolutely awesome resources………
7) Get the Edge:
The 7 day audio course by Anthony Robbins combined with an interview he did on Larry King, were the catalysts behind my going to a wonderful life of semi-homelessness (no lie, it was a true growth stage it was) in Sydney. If you feel stuck in a rut and want to kick your life into high gear, listen and apply the teachings of Tony Robbins. He’ll help you get to your peak experience.
8) The Bible: I haven’t read the Bible in years now BUT I would be lying if I didn’t say that this book has affected me, does affect me and will continue to do so until the day that I die. This book is the foundation for how I understand morality and good vs evil and a lot of my favourite thinkers reference this book. It’s the best selling book ever for a reason, make sure you at least read it. We are having a little debate about it over on this post.
Hmmm, not enough fiction in this list so I will throw one work of fiction into the mix:
9) FAMBO/Fimbo or whatever it was called, the oral story told by Wallah bin Wallah: As Mo will probably be able to tell you, Bwana Wallah bin Wallah was universally known as two things: a man NOT to be messed with and one of the greatest gifts to the language of Kiswahili. He actually, off the top of his head, orated a suspense novel to our class over the course of a month or so. To say we were on the edge of our seats would be an understatement. He reminded me that once upon a time Africans did all communication orally AND to this day, no one can tell a story quite like an African.
8 Movies I Have Seen Eight Times
I want go into too much detail on those…so I say before I begin typing…..first of all there are almost no movies that I have seen more than once, actually now that I think about it, I wrote an article on this, my 7 Movie Classics article, I’ll just add one to the mix to make it 8.
1) The Game Plan:
The Rock + heart warming story + cloyingly sweet fun = A good day at the movies for Mwangi and his younger siblings.
Well Mo, I hope I did your meme justice. I know I butchered it, changed it and tweaked it but I hope I made it look good. Thanks also to intricately me for tagging me. If you enjoyed this meme and feel like memeing me too, then just create a meme, contact me about it and I should be good to do it (make it something other folks can get some use from though).
Anyway, you know where the RSS and email are to subscribe.
Enjoy,
Mwangi
Mwangi: It’s interesting that you have opened up on how you never read the bible but now …To come to the point I have read the bible my entire life and at one point was a born again christian. But as time went by decided that that life was not so for me because i wanted to explore. But that never affected the way i felt about God and spiritual matters. Interestingly enought i continued with the quest of seeking/flinding God until finally i came about the buk ‘new earth’ by Eckhart Tolle…Just bought the ‘seat of the soul’ by Gary Zukav….and ‘the value in the valley’ by Iyanla Vanzant…i have also read many other buks that touches on how we can live according to the universal order or the here and now. Therefore my understanding of the bible is very strong from this pespective. I thought that the bible was too restrictive and rigid but am surprised to learn the deeper meaning of all what Jesus was saying in his parables. I believe it’s because of reading these buks and having a different approach to this message …anyways i’ve gained more insight and have became more open minded.
@njeri: I think you’re not alone in being one of the many Africans who are finding ways to blend Eastern philosophy and religion with understanding of Christianity. Any huge conflicts so far?
If you look at the post I did on “Erwin Mcmanus” you see just how much I loved the parable of the talents and the alternative interpretation that Erwin put on it, so I also love understanding the parables.
My journey is much more shallow than yours. The main thing that kept me away from Christianity in my teenage years was because I wanted to be liked by the cool people and because I wanted to get laid. So, from a young age, I was constantly looking for reasons to justify what I perceived to be my eternal damnation.
Of course that led to me finding out about all the “biblical difficulties”, the existence of 1500 denominations, not to mention cults that all spoke to the fact that there wasn’t one Universal way to understand and reach God.
At some point however, I made a decision that if when it’s all said and done there is a hell, there will be a corner for me there, but that won’t stop me for being thankful for all the Lord has blessed and will continue to bless me with or trying to do work that’s in alignment with his Kingdom. I think my steps are leading closer and closer to being saved as opposed to further as I get older.
Mwangi: Yeah me too… been there done that !! but still with the consciousness of wanting to know and do better. Oftentime the conflict is quite raw since one is trapped in christian teachings which advocates for nirvana or salvation/heaven later on and the present teachings which advocates for the here and now. I am inclined to believe in the here and now more since logically its all we have as human beings. I believe that we all are spirit or energy and are more connected than we are separated. I am in the course of learning/ experiencing more. But from this junction am really fascinated by what am reading…quite interesting. Mwangi pls read the ‘Power of Now and Here’ if ya haven’t and if you have pls reflect on the message without feeling any guilt….after all we humans have options and choices.
correction: Power of Here and Now by Eckhart Tolle
@njeri: Have you read the Da Vinci code? An interesting idea proposed by that book is that a lot of the Agnostic books spoke of “divinity being in us” and other philosophies that are very shall we say Eastern.
I have heard of the book, “the Power of the Now” and you’ll never believe it but the first place I heard about that book was from the pick up artist community as a great guide to staying in the moment when approaching women. Personally, the book never had great appeal to me because I have experienced “being in the moment” and “being spontaneous” and “flow” many times in my life and I don’t think I am deficient in it, but it’s definitely one of those books that’s been recommended a lot of times by quite a few sources so I think eventually I’ll have to pick it up and give it a read.
yup…message taken…have to do meme. It’s tough stuff.
Ok this in NOW getting spooky! Everywhere I go, I here of Eckhart Tolly and the power of now…I must say I’m enjoying “A New Earth” immensely.
I still have to finish listening to the Ferriss book…I keep on writing everything he says down…the new rich rules are fabulous…but they go against what we’ve been indoctrinated with…I think thats why it’s taking me so long to finish it..I literally have to “take down the house, clean the bricks and build the house again” 🙂
Those PUA’s get their stuff from the best teachers…I found out about “Think Grow Rich” and Anthony Robbins from one of the master PUA’s.
where can I see the time at which you post your articles?
@gal africana: Yes, me and Mo can’t get left out in the cold like this, we need more folks to join our meme movement.
Tim does challenge normal conventions and that’s one of the reasons I love him. When I first heard about Tim and the 4h workweek it just seemed like Internet marketing hype. What’s surprised me is how empirical and scientific he is about what he does…anyway I can rave on and on and on about Tim, I listen to his podcasts at least 3-4 times a week. Actually while we are on the topic of Ferriss, I may as well apologize prematurely to you, from some time this week or next week for a month or so I want to do video posts, hence very little written word, about me walking through the Four Hour Workweek book because I really want to test out Tim’s brilliant ideas.
As for the Power of Now, I would probably wait a couple of months, I am just not at the stage in life where I need someone like Tolle, I’ll probably read his book together with other books that come highly recommended, Slow Burn, Egoscue Method, books by David Deida etc etc once I have finished trying out Tim’s ideas and stuff in the exercise, health and wellness field. I haven’t had an existential crisis or yearning in years and don’t see myself having one soon.
Meme is done! dude! lol
No worries about the podcasts…I might miss you enough so I actually listen to them 😉 Do your thing!
I think we all know what’s right for us…Eckhart says things in one way…there are other ways to relay the message that are different but the same…we all just have to find our cups of tea.
Do you really post your articles so the time adds up to 7?
@gal africana: Come over to the audio visual side gal….come on over…I enjoy writing but the process of editing writing is…..shall we say, challenging. I like the editing process in sound and video much better hence my proclivity towards them when I can help it.
Yup, every single post I write I usually finish a day or two, sometimes even up to 9 days in advance and when I put it in the scheduler I always release it in a time that adds up to 7, my favourite being 3:04 a.m. Check out the time that posts come out, you’ll notice it’ll almost always be 2:05 a.m. or 3:04 a.m. or 4:03 a.m. ( GMT + 10h) including today’s which will be released at 3:04a.m.