Humility. Integrity. Simplicity

 Humility. Integrity. Simplicity Dr Wanjiru Kamau 



A friend sent me a You Tube Video of Dr Kamau. She was being interviewed about feminism and modernity in Kenya. Her words caught me. I usually scroll through the videos, if its more than 5 minutes, I am ready to roll.  Confessions - I have indeed been sucked into the instant generation that watch short videos and clips. Get to the point and fast!

The interview was almost an hour long. Oh dear! I started looking at it and just as I was about ready to scroll and roll, Dr Kamau started talking about how we view ourselves determine not only how we show up in the world but also how we make decisions. She talked about being careful how we swallow beliefs and concepts that are not of us and for us. She talked about knowing fully and fundamentally who we are without comparing ourselves to others for the sake of fitting in. She talked about knowing our history and learning to balance the old and the modern.

There are so many decisions in my life that I have made to "fit in" to be seen as "amenable" to "not rock the boat" why? is it because I believed that being authentically myself would lead to rejection, not fitting in not being able to survive and thrive and I have concluded that the answer is yes, all of the above. I was not at that time feeling secure in who I was to show up in its entirety..

Coming from a country that was colonized by the British, we were sublimely taught that we were better when we spoke the Queen's English rather than our own dialect, we were measured by how we sounded, dressing a certain way to not disrupt, etiquette and  presence were all based on a country far away that some of us have never seen, visited or cared to. Yet those were the standards and yes, there are advantages of learning, of experiencing new, keeping an open mind. The challenge is that lies in how we view ourselves when we cannot speak a certain way, go to a certain school and live that type of lie - the playing field is not level

Dr  Kamau said know who you are and live your life with humility, integrity and simplicity. Just like that! Infuse your life with those core values and knowing you you are. From that space there will be no need to pretend and live a lie.

Sometimes it really is just the simple things that matter

Peace and Blessings

Peace and Blessings

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