I’m missing out on a lot of news.
I am not a newsmonger for starters, but between Donald Trump, Covid-19 and the revelation that underneath the “all ah we is one family” blanket, we as a people in Trinidad & Tobago have a closet full of race hatred, I have completely stopped looking at any of the local and International news channels.
On social media, I might recognize that more than 5 people are talking about something but still need to ask exactly what they are referring to.
It means I completely missed that there was a huge hurricane heading to Texas, where my bestie temporarily resides and only became aware when she sent me a text saying
“By the way I am fine. Hurricane did not hit here. Thanks for asking BESTIE!!”
I also missed the video circulating showing Jacob Blake being shot by police and as I sat to write this piece on locusts – that in January millions of locusts were wreaking havoc in Rajasthan and Gujarat, the worst locust attack seen in almost three decades.
I have only read about locusts but got curious to actually see them in action when I saw this –
According to the UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the locust attack poses a threat to food security of the affected countries as an adult locust can eat a quantity equal to its weight of about 2 grams every single day. A single square kilometre of the swarm can contain somewhere between 4 to 8 crore adult locusts. Every single day, if they cover 130-150 km, they can eat the food consumed by as many as 35,000 people, it said.
And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten.
JOEL 2:25
Lost years could never be restored. We all live with regret. “Shoulds” we ought to have taken care of years ago. We watched time pass us by. The fruits of wasted years – the potential of what could be.
No amount of dwelling in the past, simmering in unforgiveness will restore what we lost.
The only place we can change anything is NOW – in this present moment. And we need to be mindful of the thoughts we think – “those locusts devouring our hopes and dreams.”
I remember Joel Osteen talking about this man who kept reliving the tragic death of his wife, by looking at the newspaper clippings of the tragedy daily. He lived in pain and torment bringing it into each new day.
You may have experienced unhappiness in a past relationship. Is it still making you unhappy?
You have a choice.
Will you continue to harbor feelings of resentment, of loss, thinking it was a complete waste of time? Will you let the years that this “relationship locust” ate continue to torment you and cause you unnecessary suffering now?
Or will you choose to learn from it and grow? To be wiser, perhaps more discerning? To understand your own shortcomings and perhaps chart a way forward for self-improvement?
The only way to change anything is to give new meaning to the experience. And as you augment the meaning to serve you favorably, your emotional state will also shift positively.
Change your past by changing your attitude towards it and watch as years lost to the “locusts of your mind” are restored unto you.
Get clear about marketing! 