With the awesome rugby tournament happening at the moment, I have started to wonder. Why is it that we get so passionate about sport? Why are there huge celebrations when our team succeeds, and sometimes riots when they fail? What is it that connects so well with our inner person that happens when we get involved in a simple game? Well as this blog is called "My Thoughts as Words," I will put those thoughts down for you to read.
I personally do buy hugely into sports, especially rugby. Some sports don't seem to make sense to me, some seem completely stupid. But with each major sport in the world, there are fans that sometimes reach the point of fanaticism with their team. I love my local rugby team, and my national rugby team, the mighty ABs (WHOOOOOOH!!) I get excited when they do well, when they win, I'm ecstatic; when they lose, sometimes I have to work hard to make it so i don't get majorly depressed.
I think the reason we are so involved in sports as part of our culture is that we want something greater than ourselves to align ourselves with. We have emotions, and we want to connect those emotions with something that makes us feel. When we get fully involved in supporting a sports team, we have similar emotions to those on the field or in the arena. We love being champions, and they give us a chance to be champions alongside them. When they lose and we see it effect them emotionally, we feel those emotions too. When we see a decision go against them unfairly, we ourselves feel slighted. When they win a huge struggle, and we see all their hard work pay off, we want to dance and cry and celebrate with them.
We all feel like we need a champion, and we need have something great along with ourselves. This is why I love sports. GO YOU MIGHTY ALL BLACKS! GO YOU GOOD THING!
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Sunday, September 4, 2011
The Paradox
I believe there are different kinds of friends. Different types, different levels if you will. I'm not saying any particular level is bad or anything, but just your level of comfort and trust. I want to say a few words on the closest level of friendship I know.
This is the type of friend who happens to show up when you need them. When you need to have that chat, or have a hug at just the right moment, or randomly says something positive that's connected to the thing you've been thinking/stressing about just moments before.
This type of friend is the type that is closer than a brother. Somehow they're spiritually or emotionally connected enough to instinctively be the right thing at the right time for you. In my experience this crosses genders, musical interest, cultural background, life background, inexplicable, but just is. They don't even know what you need, but it just happens.
I love this type of friend. This is the type of friend that at the end of the conversation, you feel all talked out, all emptied out, but yet strangely full. You feel completed somehow in a way that you perhaps haven't in a long time. So here's to friends.
There's a wise proverb that I love. It says this: "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin; but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."
When all is said and done, when cliches are at an end, when death or his friends visit your door, when you need a moment to laugh or cry, one thing remains. Love. So, here is to a friend. When you're done talking to them, you feel empty of all the bad, and filled up with the good. To the ultimate paradox.
This is the type of friend who happens to show up when you need them. When you need to have that chat, or have a hug at just the right moment, or randomly says something positive that's connected to the thing you've been thinking/stressing about just moments before.
This type of friend is the type that is closer than a brother. Somehow they're spiritually or emotionally connected enough to instinctively be the right thing at the right time for you. In my experience this crosses genders, musical interest, cultural background, life background, inexplicable, but just is. They don't even know what you need, but it just happens.
I love this type of friend. This is the type of friend that at the end of the conversation, you feel all talked out, all emptied out, but yet strangely full. You feel completed somehow in a way that you perhaps haven't in a long time. So here's to friends.
There's a wise proverb that I love. It says this: "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin; but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother."
When all is said and done, when cliches are at an end, when death or his friends visit your door, when you need a moment to laugh or cry, one thing remains. Love. So, here is to a friend. When you're done talking to them, you feel empty of all the bad, and filled up with the good. To the ultimate paradox.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
What color do you wear?
What happens when someone is positive? What happens to a person when all they've believed is negativity about them? Do words actually affect us that much?
Do words actually have the power to change someone's thoughts and life? I realize I'm asking a lot of questions here. So now i'm going to answer them how I think.
It is amazing to me how one's feelings are affected by other's words. If something you truly believe in gets attacked by others, even if you completely believe in it, it leaves you feeling somehow betrayed. The well known cliche'd saying "stabbed in the back" is something that actually feels real. Somehow, you end up feeling betrayed by this.
On the other side of this coin, (i'm not ashamed at all to use a few cliched statements) when someone is positive, something happens in that person's self belief. No matter what it is, if you show interest in what they're passionate about, it adds value to that person's opinion and belief and thus to themselves.
In conclusion on this random collection of my thoughts, I believe that optimism and positivity are incredibly underrated. Either underrated or misunderstood. One can never be too positive. The worst that can happen is something different happens, but then something positive can still be found out of that situation.
So, keep positive in everything. Look for the positive in anything. Wear those rose colored glasses with pride and don't let anyone's negativity trump how awesome you see the world.
Do words actually have the power to change someone's thoughts and life? I realize I'm asking a lot of questions here. So now i'm going to answer them how I think.
It is amazing to me how one's feelings are affected by other's words. If something you truly believe in gets attacked by others, even if you completely believe in it, it leaves you feeling somehow betrayed. The well known cliche'd saying "stabbed in the back" is something that actually feels real. Somehow, you end up feeling betrayed by this.
On the other side of this coin, (i'm not ashamed at all to use a few cliched statements) when someone is positive, something happens in that person's self belief. No matter what it is, if you show interest in what they're passionate about, it adds value to that person's opinion and belief and thus to themselves.
In conclusion on this random collection of my thoughts, I believe that optimism and positivity are incredibly underrated. Either underrated or misunderstood. One can never be too positive. The worst that can happen is something different happens, but then something positive can still be found out of that situation.
So, keep positive in everything. Look for the positive in anything. Wear those rose colored glasses with pride and don't let anyone's negativity trump how awesome you see the world.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
This is Sparta
I'm reminded every day in life, to be alone is to fail; to die. One must have fellows, comrades, buddies, bros to keep one stepping out in life. If you have no one to back you up, you die so easily. If you have no one to challenge you on how you act, you will become one sorry lonely old bad dude. If you have no one to share amazing moments with you, you soon get depressed and lonely.
In the movie 300, it was literally their comradeship that saved them. If they didn't have good men to back them up, they would have been singled out and destroyed. Their entire battle strategy was dependent on that.
King Leonidas himself says this: "In the end, a Spartan's true strength is the warrior next to him. So give respect and honor to him, and it will be returned to you."
When your life is on the line, that is when you know you need your fellow comrade. This is common sense. To know you need him before that point, that is great wisdom.
In the end, I would have my friends, my comrades be able to share the same sentiment as King Leonidas and one of his men.
(With arrows penetrating his body) Stelios: It's an honor to die at your side.
King Leonidas: It's an honor to have lived at yours.
This is not Sparta. This is life
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Things I learned from Godfather
Having just watched Godfather for the first time recently, I realized some things from the movie that relate to my life. Here goes:
Family should always come before business. If it's the other way round, both get messed up.
Be honest and loyal. If you don't, you will probably get wacked. You may get killed too if you're honest, but it won't be as bad.
If you're buying fruit, make sure someone has your back covered. Or just in general, have someone to watch your back. Otherwise you will probably get wacked.
Be faithful to one woman. If you end up going and ditching your current girlfriend and getting married in a different country, the girl you marry will probably die in a car bombing, and you'll end up marrying the first girl anyway. Way way too much drama.
Show respect. Whether your father is the Godfather or not, show respect to others and they'll show respect to you. Otherwise the Godfather will have you wacked.
Be wise and strong. Don't let anyone push you around, but choose which fights to fight. And when you fight, go about it smart.
Life is unexpected. You may not want in the family business and then end up as the Godfather. Just chill out and take it as it comes.
Oh and have as much fun as you can
Family should always come before business. If it's the other way round, both get messed up.
Be honest and loyal. If you don't, you will probably get wacked. You may get killed too if you're honest, but it won't be as bad.
If you're buying fruit, make sure someone has your back covered. Or just in general, have someone to watch your back. Otherwise you will probably get wacked.
Be faithful to one woman. If you end up going and ditching your current girlfriend and getting married in a different country, the girl you marry will probably die in a car bombing, and you'll end up marrying the first girl anyway. Way way too much drama.
Show respect. Whether your father is the Godfather or not, show respect to others and they'll show respect to you. Otherwise the Godfather will have you wacked.
Be wise and strong. Don't let anyone push you around, but choose which fights to fight. And when you fight, go about it smart.
Life is unexpected. You may not want in the family business and then end up as the Godfather. Just chill out and take it as it comes.
Oh and have as much fun as you can
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Just one piece of rubbish can change your world
It amazes me sometimes, when I bother to notice, how much people can ignore. I guess that's the first sign that something's wrong, that I only notice when it's convenient for me. These days one can walk down the road and see so much wrong with the world just in that small glimpse of our lives. You notice the rubbish lying in the gutter when there is a rubbish bin with the iconic "be a tidy kiwi" not 5 meters away. You notice the group of young teams aimlessly wandering around causing nothing but havoc and trouble. You notice the mother with 5 young children and obvious signs that the father is no longer involved in raising those precious ones of the next generation. You notice the young mother lighting up a cigarrette with her friend even while she nurses her 3 month old baby.
I ask myself, what is wrong with this picture? Is it ignorance?
I think not, for the reason that we are bombarded every day by government messages that tell us these things are wrong, if for no other reason than the fact that they could and have been sued by people willing to give a damn for their own profit.
No, I think what's wrong with this world is apathy. People know what's going on, they just don't care anymore. They don't have a reason to change where they're at. They don't have any hope anymore
I think all this to myself as I walk down the road.
Then I realize, I'm the one who has the hope inside of me, and I'm not doing anything about it. A very wise man once said, "Take the log out of your own eye before trying to dig the speck out of your neighbor's." In other words, get your own self doing something instead of spending all your energy yelling at everyone else to do something.
If I started to give a damn, and actually did something, I wouldn't be as frustrated with everyone else not doing anything. I would be actually living for something greater.
So I challenge myself, tell someone you love them, live a life worth following, and bend over and pick up one bit of rubbish.
If all of us picked up one piece of rubbish, how different would our world look; let alone if we started living like the person next to us was as important as ourselves.
I ask myself, what is wrong with this picture? Is it ignorance?
I think not, for the reason that we are bombarded every day by government messages that tell us these things are wrong, if for no other reason than the fact that they could and have been sued by people willing to give a damn for their own profit.
No, I think what's wrong with this world is apathy. People know what's going on, they just don't care anymore. They don't have a reason to change where they're at. They don't have any hope anymore
I think all this to myself as I walk down the road.
Then I realize, I'm the one who has the hope inside of me, and I'm not doing anything about it. A very wise man once said, "Take the log out of your own eye before trying to dig the speck out of your neighbor's." In other words, get your own self doing something instead of spending all your energy yelling at everyone else to do something.
If I started to give a damn, and actually did something, I wouldn't be as frustrated with everyone else not doing anything. I would be actually living for something greater.
So I challenge myself, tell someone you love them, live a life worth following, and bend over and pick up one bit of rubbish.
If all of us picked up one piece of rubbish, how different would our world look; let alone if we started living like the person next to us was as important as ourselves.
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