A "Black Swan Event" is when the unexpected occurs, causing a huge mindshift and change in how the world works. People never imagined that Black Swans existed, until the discovery of the first Black Swan... (as per book "The Black Swan", by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2007, that sold over 3 million copies)

Is a perception change the next Black Swan Event? Consider that by changing perception we might change the world. Look at everyday things from different angles. Find beauty in the unexpected...
Change our thinking, change our actions, change our world!

See that all people are part of God's puzzle and have something to give. Black swans do exist. The ugly duckling was actually a swan who needed to discover himself and where he fitted and be who he was meant to be. To the last, the lost and the least, you are beautiful as you are.
May all who visit this page feel God's touch and experience His blessing...

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Ode To The San (Bushmen)

He stands quietly, erect, framed by a burgeoning, golden glow, the sun a new orb on the night sky. Guinea fowl cluck a sudden strident call in an early morning song, then silence. His hunting bow whispers as he draws the arrow smoothly backwards, the bow string taut in his brown, wrinkled hand. He sights along the quivering shaft of the arrow, and then releases it to flight. His empty bow dips, and swings loosely from his hand. Twang! His target jumps sideways, up, momentarily surprised, then collapses into the softly swaying, knee-length grass, heads ripe with seed. He gives a small dance of delight, then rushes forward to claim his prey, the springbuck a warm, limp carcass on the evening-cool, red Kalahari sands. He talks softly to himself in the melodic clicking tongue of the San language as he works on the carcass. His creased face crumples into a smile as he thinks of how happy his family will be tonight, when they dance and rejoice around the communal fire in anticipation of a coming feast, hard to come by in this arid environment.

The San people, often also known as Bushmen, once used to live widely over Southern Africa. San rock art sketches are testimony to this people’s once widespread habitation. San artwork can be found in caves in the Drakensberg Mountains, that great Barrier of Spears rising majestically in the Natal Midlands, South Africa, or the Cederberg Mountains in the Western Cape Province, South Africa, a rugged, arid, mountainous region of craggy cliffs and enormous boulders. San people are no longer found in the Drakensberg. Remnants of the San people remain in the Cederberg Mountains, and many of these people earn a living from the attention of tourists, for example, at Kagga Kamma Private Game Reserve. A few San grass huts can sometimes be found on the side of the road leading to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, a wildlife park in the very northern tip of South Africa, which lies in the rolling red sand dunes and arid plains of the Kalahari Desert, and is adjoined with a game reserve on the Botswana side of the border. These grass huts are mostly a shell to provide some shelter whilst attracting the attention of tourists, perhaps to buy San artefacts.

Is There A Formula For Happiness?

To me happiness is a sense of satisfaction that all is right with our worlds; a sense of contentment that we have equilibrium and are safe; that our basic needs are satisfied; that we have a support network of friends and family; that we are making a positive contribution to the world; that we are relatively healthy. But is it possible to be happy when some of these elements are missing? I believe the answer is "yes". Why do I say that? Because I believe in many cases happiness is due to acceptance of ourselves and our circumstances, and knowing ourselves and what is important to us, and believing that things can change.

Sunday 25 December 2011

Learning From The Fear That's Motivation For Discrimination

Have you watched little children play? They display no race or culture discrimination on the playground. Little girls will run up to little boys they do not know and play tag. Children will invite friends home, and parents are sometimes taken aback when the friend turns out to be someone from a different racial group, or someone in a wheelchair. So what causes us to discriminate against people who are different from us when we get older? The main ingredient I believe is learnt fear. And your fear may not be my fear! An emotion that comes from fear is hatred, as well as hurt. Imagine what a different place the world would be if we accepted others we presently fear. Is this possible?

Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 2): Empower People To Help Themselves

This article follows on from Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 1): Running Charities As Businesses, which contained thoughts on running charities according to business efficiency principles.

I believe that a key component of eradicating generational poverty is ensuring that people are empowered and able to manage their own worlds. People in poverty must first have basic needs met, and then they must be provided with skill sets for jobs and education to help themselves. If others are always providing all their needs, they will not learn how to provide for their own needs. There must be a handover point once skills have been built up for all previously impoverished people to go it alone, but not to leave them totally in the lurch, and to ensure they are able to access advice in future again should they need this.

Friday 23 December 2011

Perception Of Christian Values

What does it mean to be a Christian? Perception versus reality of what the Christian faith means may be vastly different. Our beliefs are our own, but I believe there are some universal truths and values that all Christians share, irrespective of denomination, as shown and given by Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus left the world such a wonderful legacy, and I believe that if we all follow Jesus’ teachings we will experience breathtaking transformation in this world we live in, regardless of whether or not each of us believes in God.


Ideas On Eradicating Poverty (Part 1): Running Charities As Businesses

I recently gave a few comments to a TED conversation about ways to eradicate poverty other than increasing income, and thought this concept would make a great blog series.

I believe there are ways we can make a big difference to eradicating poverty by changing what we currently do, how we do it, and doing it better. The main way I believe we can do this in a short space of time is to run charities along business efficiency principles, by getting rid of duplication, centralising and streamlining. Imagine having global charities that stand together, work together, collaborate.

Everyone Has Purpose

I believe that this blog is for everyone out there, a prayer of hope for all. All of the ordinary, average people, as well as the people that are spread along both sides of life’s up and down curve. People with problems. People without. People that are considered beautiful. People that are not. Intellectual scholars. Artists. Dancers. Writers. Sports people. Dreamers. All people. Each of us is unique, wonderful. All of us have something to give to the world. Don’t let the world stop you from giving and being yourself. We are all part of this great big wonderful place. We all have our own talents to give. Don't hide your talents, use them.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Some Thoughts On Love

Are our thoughts on love universal?
How do I perceive love? How do you perceive love?
These are a few of my thoughts...

Friday 16 December 2011

Why "Perceptions's Black Swan"?

Who is this blog for? Why did I start the blog? What's in a name? All three of these questions can be answered separately, and all are interlinked. I can give simple answers or I can make the answers a bit complex with some hidden meaning. It's all in the way we see things, our individual viewpoints, and perception. That's the point, and that's life! I'll try answer the questions below.

Turn! Turn! Turn! To Everything There Is A Season

There are some things that are universal in their truth, that withstand society's changing perception of beauty, that live on through the passage of time. To me the song "Turn! Turn! Turn!" is an example. Did you know the lyrics to the song were taken from verses in the Bible, with only minor changes? I love the words. These are the verses:

"1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

Ecclesiastes 3 (The Bible, King James Version)

Wednesday 14 December 2011

What Makes Me "Me" and You "You? Thoughts On Identity

Have you ever wondered at the uniqueness that is each one of us? What makes me "me" and you "you"? Our identity is the heart of who we are and that which makes us unique. Are our beliefs and what we value randomly influenced by what we encounter growing up, or is our make up largely in place and unlocked by the encounters we have, especially in childhood?

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Rediscovering Me

Introduction


My own story adds context to much of what I write, perhaps helping others understand that change can happen in ways I write about, that all I speak about is learnt in my own searching for identity and purpose. I did not include those parts of my story where this meshed with other people’s lives, as I did not want them to be affected by the telling.
I am a mother married to a good-hearted, patient, creative husband and we have two wonderful children (moms usually think their children are wonderful!). I am a Christian and proud of my faith. I love God, and I love going to church and being part of communal praise and worship, and hearing opinion expressed in sermon. I marvel at nature and wildlife, and enjoy travelling to see new places. Photography is a hobby I have enjoyed for the past twenty years, though ironically, with the advent of digital photography, I am spending less time taking images than I used to.
I consider myself an average person, who makes a lot of mistakes in this journey called life, but I try to pick myself up again, and I have hope in the future. I believe that the main purpose of life is ongoing personal growth, and I believe we can all make a difference to this world in some way. I feel one of the best ways to do this is by celebrating differences in all the various aspects of who we are, and by accepting others for who they are.
I am an African, a white African. I once told someone I am a South African, from Africa. She asked me, “Where are you really from: England? America? Where?”. I said, “No, I am from Africa. My parents were born there. Most of my grandparents were born there. Some of my ancestors did arrive by boat from England, Scotland, Europe, or perhaps elsewhere.” She stared at me a bit strangely, and gave a small smile as she walked away, saying with raised eyebrows, “Oh, so you really are from Africa”, as if she did not believe me. What am I, other than African, when I claim a varied ancestry comprising English, Scottish, Jewish, Dutch, Afrikaans and other ancestry, and have always been a citizen of Africa? I believe colour can no longer define nationality, not in this global village where people traverse the globe. How can I be a native of the United Kingdom or Europe when my heart beats with an African heartbeat? Know your identity. Be proud of your heritage. Africa will always be my first home, the land that gave me birth. I love Africa. Her people, her wildlife, her savannahs and vistas—Africa is a country with startling possibility.

(The rest of this post has been deleted and can be found in my book.)

Friday 9 December 2011

Thoughts On Healing In Action

Don't wait until you are perfect to start taking action. Perfection means different things to different people, and perfection may never come. You can make a difference right now. Everyone has something to give. You can write through your tears, you can give a coin to charity, you can smile at the elderly person walking slowly along as you move on by. By helping others you will help heal yourself.

Thursday 8 December 2011

Seeing The Purpose Of Raisins (Dried Grapes)

I have always just accepted raisins, and never seen much special about them. The lesson showed that there are opportunities all around us to look with fresh eyes at the things we take for granted, including everyday objects like raisins.

Have you ever held a number of raisins in your hand? Hold some in your hand sometime and try this. Smell them. Raisins have a distinctive smell and one knows they are raisins. Unless one has never smelt a raisin before! Savour the moment. Isn’t it amazing to consider that raisins come from drying grapes?

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Collaboration Wins Over Competition


The answers to all the world's problems have probably been in front of us all along, we just keep missing them and misinterpreting them. Perhaps collaboration would help us to gain a better understanding of what is needed to solve the myriad of problems we face on all levels. Imagine a world where we learn from each other to reach the next level, instead of competing against each other to see who reaches the best answer first. Imagine the progress the world would make by groups working together, seeing multiple sides to a situation, brainstorming and coming up with collective agreements, and then implementing these as solutions.