"A different time" - by Rustum Kozain

We invert time
after love fallasleep as the muezzin calls
the diligent to daybreak prayers.
Night fails. Dawn comes
in strides.Guinea-fowl skirl and caw
into another day
from which we turn.
A curtain billows over us,
like a chimney vents
sweat and our sighs to the world.
Wind, candid with light rain,
falters onto our skins.
Then someone’s 5 p.m.
angle-grinder dredges up our morning.
We straddle time, the bed.
Like starfish, beached
in the sulphur of sunset
you said.

What motivates me...

Motivation can be defined as the activation of goal-oriented behaviour.

The task at hand will determine the amount of motivation a person has for it. If it is a task people enjoy doing, they won't need as much motivation to do it. If it is a task that people generally don't like doing, they try and put it off as they are not motivated to do it.

I, myself, hate studying. When it comes to tests, I want to smack the lecturer that gave it to us. Nothing could be more boring than studying hours on end just to get to class in as a nervous stress-ball.
Assignments are also not high on the list when it comes to being motivated. But I generally like to start them early so that I don't stress as much and can breathe at the end of it. Not having that extra stress of the-night-before motivates me to start the assignments early.

What motivates me to get out of bed in the morning is coffee and a nice bowl of yummy oats,syrup and cinnamon. Tastes like a donut...YUM.

When it comes to doing my workouts, what motivates me is having my "ME" time. When I do my workout and go for my walk, I forget about everything around me and just clear my mind. It helps to destress to.

Each and everyone is different, therefore some may need more motivation to do a task than others.

Personal Autonomy - How far does it extend?

Personal autonomy is our right to be self-determining, and to choose how we want to live our lives.
Being human, we have a need for personal autonomy. We want to be the person who chooses how we live our lives and not to be controlled by others.The reality is in our current world we are living in it is impossible for someone to grow up being a truly autonomous person. Most of us, at an early age, lose contact with who we are. We then develop our ego, which we believe is who we are.

We all know how we should act and behave, but in the end it is really up to us whether we act and behave in an appropriate manner. In life, we need to choose how we want to live, whether it be the correct way or not.

In school and the working environment, you is restricted when personal autonomy is concerned. We have to abide by the rules or "laws" of that organisation. If we don't, we get punished. What we do in our own time is up to us.

I Don't Need...

Recently a friend of mine asked me how do I get over break-ups so quickly and gracefully. The truth is when I go through break-ups I am a complete mess inside, but somehow I hide it well on the outside.

We go through stages of depression and feeling lonely, but recently I decided I would do things differently and instead of moping, I would put more effort into friendships that I hadn't before and adopt a positive attitude.

This decision to be positive and to spend more time with friends having a good time has really helped the healing process. I recommend everyone tries it!

I also turn to poetry that people have written for inspiration.
I recently stumbled apon a poem that reminded me of a friend that is going through what I did.
It is titled "I Don't Need" by Niketa Jones:

I don't need a man
To happy me
I don't need a man
To make my life Complete
All I need Is to be loved by someone
Who really cares
There are feelings I have
Inside but they just
Won't go away so until then
I don't need a man
To make me happy
I don't need a man to
Make my life complete

“Bunch of Animals” is one comment on the CPUT strike on campus. What is yours?

Striking is not the issue here. The issue here is that certain individuals think it is OK to go around stealing, trashing and damaging property that is not their own. This, in my opinion, shows that they have no respect for the institution or their fellow students. As the SRC they are suppose to be representing all the students, not just a select few.

Time and time again they always see the need to resort to such measures. Why not inform the rest students on campus about the issue and then we can all stand together instead of it turning violent. A thousand students "downing tools" is more effective than a couple of hundred students wrecking the place.

There are many other ways to express anger. Putting lecturers and students at risk is not the way to solve things! If they want to behave like animals, they must go back to the bush.
People living in urban areas are supposed to be civilised.

The average person on the street loses respect for those individuals who behave in this manor. We would respect those who take a stand without resorting to violence.

But I do understand that sometimes talking about the issue is just not enough. If top management actually spoke about the issue (and informed students before deciding) and took them seriously then maybe these sorts of incidents wouldn't happen.

10 most unexpected consequences of being online...

1. I met my ex boyfriend online, and we dated for almost 2 years (Big shocker!);
2. I was able to find and get in contact with family overseas that I either haven't seen in a very, very long time, or have never met before;
3. I am able to write this blog, sitting in a bar, in very hot and humid Thailand;
4. Being totally addicted to finding cute, romantic sayings using Google;
5. Your photos are available to anyone and everyone, anywhere and everywhere;
6. You get in contact with people you went to school with years ago;
7. Being able to check my uni results while sitting by the beach, in Thailand, whilst sipping on an ice-cold Coke Zero, after a very long day of walking around the many tiny streets, shopping till we're literally dropping;
8. You are able to book flights and accommodation without having to set foot in a travel agency;
9. Communicating with friends and family overseas is easier and cheaper;
10. People sharing their thoughts and opinions, on various subjects,from every corner of the earth.

Every day is a good day

"Every day is a good day" is a quote from a Zen koan, spoken by Zen Master Yun Men, who lived and taught in 10th century China. (Jeff Brooks: 2008)

What he meant by these words is:

To have the conviction that every day is a good day means that we are really living our own lives. If we discriminate based on our own feelings of happiness or unhappiness and say: "I wonder if today will be good," or "Today I am happy so it is a good day," or "Today I am unhappy so today is a bad day," or "If something nice happens to me today I will have the opinion that today is a good day," then we lose our lives. That kind of attitude means we are living passively, as if life is just something that happens to us. If we live this way we have given up the direction of our own lives and we will inevitably decline. (Jeff Brooks: 2008)

To understand that every day is a good day takes courage. Because on some days we will suffer. Then, when that is necessary, when that is the reality of our lives, it is our day to suffer. That reality shifts, as we all have experienced, from day to day, even from moment to moment. It shifts as a result of our intention, as a result of our karma. Some days we will be happy. Then it will be a good day to be happy. Some days we will have to struggle. Then it will be a good day to struggle. Some day we will need to fight. Then it will be a good day to fight. Some day it will be our day to die. (Jeff Brooks: 2008)

There is a lot of truth in these words. We have control of whether we are going to have a good day or not. If you are alive and healthy, then it is a good day regardless of what is going on around us. We are too quick to base our days on what has happened to us, and not on the notion of living another day.

If you wake up in the morning, you are having a good day. We cannot judge a day by our attitudes. If we continue to do this, we are not really living. We are choosing to allow the negativity to affect how we live.

Every day you have been blessed with is a good day, SO LIVE IT!