EPIPHANIES OF A LEADER

Good morning everyone! I wish you all a blessed and peaceful day ahead of you. Please find below all the epiphanies in one document. I invite you to read them in one go. And evidently, I stand ready to receive your comments, questions, and impressions, if any.

Opening EPIPHANY:

“Work-life balance?! I would rather have work-life fusion.” Sometimes one part takes precedence over the other, and that is totally normal. I always remind myself that it is one life that I live, one cohesive life. No need for me to feel stretched over those two those elements. It is enough what life poses as daily tests. ?No need to overstretch oneself. However, keeping a lucid mind and a focused approach are essential especially over what takes priority at any one point in time. Experience, responsibility, and most importantly a clear vision on how one ought to lead their life are fundamental to properly approach the work-life enigma.

EPIPHANY 1:

I had my ups in as much as I had my downs. It is okay!, I am fallible, I am a human being!

EPIPHANY 2:

I cannot alter the past. But I can surely learn from the scars it left on my face.

EPIPHANY 3:

I make no mistake and I have no delusion; my intentions should be to live in the present, NOW, and not later.

EPIPHANY 4:

For the future, I would still exert all possible efforts to build it on my current actualities with hopes of constructing meaningful foundations of what could possibly come along.

EPIPHANY 5:

But if I would fail, then I would submit to the Divine’s ordainment for certain happenings are simply uncontrollable by humans.

EPIPHANY 6:

If ever I get knocked down, I would quickly stand up on my feet and move on. To lament will not help me out when I am down, rather standing up and moving which will get me away from my fall and allow me to see the horizon in wide angle perspective.

EPIPHANY 7:

If ever my heart gets broken, I would fervently pray that one day the shattered pieces would get glued with the passage of time and a mild outcome would only be manifested to only bear witness of my past fractured heart.

EPIPHANY 8:

I would successfully continue to surmount my melancholy by boxing it in a vault that would hold the sadness after the loss of my loved ones.?

EPIPHANY 9:

With time, I learnt how to curb my ego, subdue my whims, let my ‘Nafs’ (self) kneel as I became humbler while carefully listening and positively accepting criticism from others.

EPIPHANY 10:

I accustomed myself to listen more than to talk, to embrace others opinion if it benefited the collective and only when it was in line with my ethical disposition and the organization’s core belief and values system.

EPIPHANY 11:

I would focus that my workforce and I would share a common vision gathered around transcendence and embracement of altruism.

EPIPHANY 12:

I would surround myself with brighter and wiser people than me, irrespective of their age, their belief system, their background, or their ethnicity.?

EPIPHANY 13:

I learnt that wisdom would come with experience and that it was forged under the pressure of life and its myriad challenges.

EPIPHANY 14:?

It also became quite obvious that maturity and age were instrumental in comprehending the beauty of life and how it was a blessing that ought to be wholeheartedly embraced and cherished come what may. I do neither need to waste precious time in ephemeral issues of really no consequential implication nor should I feel the need to entertain platonic debates that could potentially yield amertume to everyone involved. I humbly believe that positively engaging in life, embracing with great happiness one's surroundings, accept people the way they are, come close to the ones that share with me my life's vision and politely take leave from the ones who constantly criticize for the sake of criticism.

I believe that with maturity and age, I need to come to settlement that not everything could be changed, or its course could be altered. What really matters is to try, and keep on trying ardently and with commitment while opening one's heart to let the Nafs (Self) fly, fly high, while leaving behind the material entrapment one constantly lament about.

I know I will be told; it is easier said than done! My answer will be simple: Please start trying! If you fail, continue trying. If you fail again, try again, and again, and again… Then, look behind you. You will see a trail of trials (successes and failures) that left an imprint, a path and this is an achievement in itself. You left behind a trail, a beacon that charted your life. You learn from it, are reminded by it, and are able to altruistically share it with others to learn from it as well.

I always remind myself with this tiny drop of water falling on a piece of white marble sitting on mud. After years of non-stop dropping on the same surface, same area, the marble finally crakes, and a beautiful white jasmine comes out from a seed buried in the mud. That tiny seed was sitting idle for years waiting for someone to come and water it to grow and bring its scent and beauty to the world around it.

And if in my life time I was neither able to see nor smell the scent of this jasmine, my successor will hopefully see and smell it. And this what matters. It is this continuum that one’s ought to really think about. This is the Journey in life, this is the legacy left behind. This is the kind of epiphany that comes with maturity and age, or at least this is what I believe in!

EPIPHANY 15:?

Often I asked myself, have I made everybody accept me, appreciate me and/or even like me? Well, I am not sure. I cannot be assertive of what I have no control on, but at least in my humble opinion, I have tried my best!

EPIPHANY 16:

I always strived to be respected with my actions and hopefully understood for my reactions especially when confronted with life’s multiple and often times unexpected events and unstoppable challenges.

EPIPHANY 17:

I always attach great value to all beings and to all life elements while approving great respect and affirming profound esteem to my friends, my fellow colleagues and society at large.?I don’t pass any judgement on anyone. I try to understand the others position and never deal in a condescending manner. I try to share my experiences, knowledge, and life’s teachings with everyone without leaving behind a feeling of arrogance or ‘I know it all!’, or worse ‘I am always right!’. My purpose, my calling in life, whilst my Nafs (Self) is being entrusted to my body, is to wholeheartedly serve, passionately assist, ardently share, while continuously propagating a sense of serenity and peacefulness. Life is short, and for that one ought to deeply think what is one’s raison d’être in this life and truly act upon it in haste.

EPIPHANY 18:

The only verity I can emphatically assert is that I am of passage in this life; I am not immortal. Whatever I do, I reflect upon, and I do strongly take into consideration the ramifications of my actions and honestly ask myself what I want to accomplish and drive with such actions, why, and more importantly what will my actions speak about me when I move on with my Nafs (self)? What will people remember me with?

EPIPHANY 19:

I will not take with me in my place of interim rest, during the interregnum between temporal and spiritual existence,any worldly possessions. Degenerate characteristics such as arrogance and ego will be suffocating chains around one’s neck. An embraced carnal behavior during one’s lifetime and without any approved remorse or alteration of attitude or change of a course of action will be haunting. It will act as a dead weight wrapped around one's waist that would drag one’s Nafs (self) in an abyss of melancholic reprehension, but without the potentiality of a turning back, or the opportunity of rectification!

Honestly, I often remind myself that where one will ultimately go, one should neither be carrying the burden of a life characterized by debauched feelings of superiority, bad character, too much of materialism or be entrapped in blinding carnal desires. It is really not worth it. There is no single reason to risk the afterlife!

And for that, here comes the beauty of repentance and supplications!

EPIPHANY 20:

Every morning when one wakes-up, one ought to be reminded of the necessity to appreciate the ?moment starting when one opens up one’s eyes and how grateful one ought to feel for having been given the chance to enjoy the beauty of life one more day with its many blessings bestowed upon by the Divine: I am referring here to the breath of fresh air filling one’s lungs, to the melodic chirping of the birds that we listen to, to the gentle sound of the breeze heeded when it caresses the growing leaves on the trees, and the welcoming smiles of everyone we could be dealing with during our day as a gentle reaction to our ?humility and the approval of care and empathy given to our fellow human beings. With every day spent living on earth, from my humble perspective, I truly try to convince everyone that I deal with to feel the joy one ought to sense by giving back even if it is an infinitesimal monetary amount. In fact, I dare to even say that giving back should not be restricted to money but rather it could transcend the material world. It easily could be by ?embracing a nice smile, approving a nice gesture, undertaking a kind action, acting with a helpful assistance, favoring an act of altruism, interacting with justice, or even spiritually and emotionally supporting someone who appears to be in need, or looking as having a bad day or going through a destressing challenging period. ?Life is precious; life is not eternal; life has to be enjoyed; life needs to be shared; life is a blessing. Let us all try to make the best out of it for ourselves, for our families, for our friends, for our colleagues, for our society, for all living beings and most importantly nurture spiritually our Nafs (self). I stress on “SPIRITUALITY,” and on “NAFS, (SELF).”

EPIPHANY 21:

As a final note in the epiphanies that I shared with you over the course of more than 3 weeks, I would like to state that in my humble opinion a legacy is the resultant of a life made of sweat and tears, relentless long hours of work and a hard rock dedication, wrapped in an unbreakable resilience with a zoomed in focus, but most importantly, it is a legacy made of the interwoven strands of unbreakable belief, integrity, rectitude, clarity, and honor.

A legacy has an unwavering conviction in a better tomorrow. A legacy has a DNA that dictates that everyone is equal, everyone is included, and everyone should be cared for, listened to, and consulted with.

A Legacy is the outcome of virtue and the product of trust in the self but above all in the unshaken faith in the Creator.

A legacy is passed on to a generation that is born appreciative of everything that happened in the past to enjoy what exists in the present, whilst be entrusted with the carving of a future armed with a similar care and attention of the predecessors.

The generation I am referring to is the one that is formed to believe in the importance of virtuous characteristics such as love and empathy; authenticity and truthfulness; harmony and humility; will and wisdom; integrity and reverence; trust and hope; justice and hard work. Truthfully, materialism is a societal exigence, yet of equal importance, spirituality becomes a beacon that lights the darkness of life’s unescapable challenges and unexpected tests yet with such concomitance continuity is achieved, and the baton is passed on…

Thank you all for your kindness in reading my daily epiphanies. I was honored and privileged to receive your reactions and impressions. Tomorrow, I will amalgamate the 21 epiphanies and share them with you with hopes that it would form the whole puzzle that was in the making over the course of more than 21 days.

I leave you with the grace of the creator and with the warmth of His eternal love. May peace, serenity and ease of mind chaperon your life.

Moustapha Sarhank

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