Survival, in itself, is not the problem. We all have to survive. The problem is when all our ambition and aspiration in life is to survive. The real danger is to get stuck in survival.
01Survival · Bimbo
Stuck in the next problem
Bimbo did not have the luxury of asking herself what she wanted from life. A single mother with a visibly autistic child, most mornings began with calculation: school fees, food, transport, rent, the next hospital bill.
She had become so occupied with surviving the next problem that she had stopped directing her own life. So she began with the only thing she could control: her mind. Then her mouth. Then her body and her material life.
Nothing changed overnight. But Bimbo changed. And eventually, the life around her had no choice but to change with her.
02Self-Mastery · Rhoda
Reacting is not directing
Rhoda was a student, and like many students, she had become very good at pretending she was fine. Then she returned to her room and worried about money. The worst part was not being broke. It was feeling powerless.
One evening she realised she spent more time reacting to her life than directing it. So she started paying attention to herself. She controlled what entered her mind, became careful with what came out of her mouth, and began to take her material life seriously.
Rhoda had discovered that her life did not have to happen to her. She could make it happen.
03Sovereignty · Demola
Impressive is not free
Demola was thirty-two, Yale and Harvard, Branch Manager of the bank's most prestigious branch. The pay was good. The incentives were better. And yet, every morning, he woke up feeling he was running from something. He had spent years becoming impressive. He had never stopped to ask whether he was becoming free.
So he began with his mind — questioning ambitions he had inherited. Then his mouth — refusing yeses bought with approval. Then his material life — money, time and attention behind things he actually believed in.
Demola was no longer maintaining a life someone else could admire. He was beginning to own one. That is sovereignty: mastering yourself enough to move beyond survival.
