#YourBetterSelf

  On the morning of Friday 02 July 2021, my wife and I attended separate funerals. She attended the funeral of her former school-mate. He was quite well-established. He owned a number of mining business ventures including investments in Democratic Republic of Congo, among others. On the other hand, I attended a funeral of our church member, a twenty-one year old young beautiful lady who was well into developing her own career from her studies at the University. Sadly in both the above cases, the deceased had ended their own lives. In our training as Coaches, we are urged to be reflective in our professional practice. So the Coach in me has been reflecting on the above incidences, with lots of questions, trying to understand what could have led to the two persons ending their lives suddenly. By social standards, one would say that the gentle-man and the young lady were successful. The biggest question I have is: could there have been an alternative resolution to the i...

  Today, 01 July marks the beginning of the second half of the year 2021. What a tumultuous first half of the year that many of us have experienced. In some cases, the traces of pain are still existing. We have witnessed, or heard of, families that have lost their loved ones in a matter of hours or within days and weeks. In some cases, a whole family is lost, especially due to COVID. As a COVID survivor, and having lost my mother to COVID, each story that I have encountered has made me re-live my own experience of fear, pain, horror, and loss. I sympathize and empathize. But for some reason, I have also come to realize that one can still find courage and hope amidst all the bad things that may be happening around one’s life. Living in South Africa makes me appreciate more and more about Mandela’s stance on courage and fear. One day he said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but h...