Is this world a crazy mental asylum?

WARNING THIS GETS DARK, READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.

Don’t believe me? Well, if you had encountered the following, maybe you would reconsider your opinion. Don’t worry I won’t leave you in the dark. I will share with you a solution, should you wish to employ it. My promise to you is that in my world there is always light at the end of the tunnel.

This world is crazy, like mental crazy.

Hear me out. We are facing pressing times.

We often encounter junctures in our lives where we fall into a lonely, cold and dark world. Akin to an abandoned amusement park once filled with life, laughter and joy- now succumb to the fate of a barren land filled with rusted metal, lonely rides and shattered hope. Corporate vultures seeking to prey on the weak, business sharks taking bites out of the fallen, sexual predators preying on the innocent and naive, hyena tyrants teaming up on the vulnerable and rising to power. Unrecognised parental/ generational trauma carried over into our innocent children’s psyches. Indigenous communities are being decimated and spiritually castrated by reductionist materialist ideologies. Millions of people are sacrificing their gift of life to fight unjust business fuelled wars. Natural Psychedelics are still illegal. It seems a massive portion of our economies and communities are built upon the blood of our innocent brothers and sisters. Homelessness is on the rise.

Now tell me this, how is it a person can be homeless in the 21st century, the supposed era of greatness and humanities greatest technological achievements. Dead dreams and broken hearts shape our cultures roadmap, and the list goes on.

It gets darker. But there’s hope. Wait for it. Be patient. If you’re feeling sad or frustrated just imagine that feeling is akin to when your barista is taking too long to produce you your daily caffein hit.

I've seen shit! Perhaps you have also?

I’ve seen more and more friendships dissolve in the past year than ever,

I’ve seen best friends loose each other over-vaccination opinions,

I’ve seen families banish family members due to perspectives clashes,

I’ve seen infidelity,

I’ve seen sisters punch up over cigarettes,

I’ve seen communities fragment, homes shattered, business’s destroyed, couples separate,

I’ve seen blood, tears and broken dreams.

Look I don’t mean to bring you down, but actually I do. How are we going to create a solution if we don’t address the problem?

Listen, we are more divided than ever, through our races, sexuality, class, creed, religion and all the limiting labels the matrix boxes us into.

A SOLUTION

So what am I going to do about this chaotic world we live in?

Sit around a fire and sing kumbaya, hoping for a saviour to rescue me?

or perhaps sit on m

y maroon Kashmir rug and write a blog about the affairs of the world whilst enjoying the atmosphere of my ambient temperature studio, puffing on my tobacco pipe, sipping hibiscus rose botanically infused kefir water?

I'll choose the second option. So here you are.

Look into the mirror and ask yourself this, (insert your name ) do you have any “FRIENDS”?

If the answer is yes, I’d suggest to stop reading now. If you’re on the fence with the answer don’t worry Hams got you!

Authoritarian power figures aren’t going to hold your hand through the rocky roads ahead, honestly, I don’t think they are even equipped to, they are more interested in separating, dividing and stripping you of your greatness. Let’s leave them at what they are good at doing, maybe building roads or, I don’t know, taxing and swindling you for your precious time.

I’ll tell you who will be there for you… A friend will be there for you.

One of my proposed solutions to deal with these dark and transitory times is simply to make a “FRIEND”.

Yep, it’s that simple. Not any friend though. A trusted companion to navigate through this earthly plane. A brother, a sister. Someone who has your back through thick and thin, You need someone bulletproof. Someone reliable- perhaps a human version of a Toyota Landcruiser.

You see we need more real friends, friends lighten up our path, bring joy and clarity into our lives.

Actually, what is a friend? And how do we find this “Friend”? Everyone has a definition of what a friend is and how a “friend” should conduct themselves to classify as a friend? You're entitled to your definition of what a friend is and I'll respect it, let me know your view in the comments, I’m interested.

My version of what a friend is, and how to find this “Friend”;

1) A friend is someone that allows you to be unconditionally you. One that assists you to liberate from limiting ideas of who you think you need to be to gain acceptance and love. The "you can’t sit with us" mentality needs to be shot somewhere faraway, like Jupiter, then to be defecated on by Poseidon.

2) A friend is someone you want to slap but you don’t, because it may hurt their feelings.

3) Distance doesn’t matter to friends just like two entangled particles. Guilt fuels the clingy need of obsessively checking up on friends so you can score in their good books is something that needs to be buried. We all get busy with life and responsibilities, all that matters to me is when time permits us to link up, we pick up exactly where we left off, even if its been a week, a month or even a year ….. ahhh a year’s pushing it, drop a quick voice message you sly minx ;) check in with them, it won’t cost you anything.

4) A friend is someone you pick up for an spontaneous unplanned cruise around your city, pumping some of your favourite evergreen classic sound frequencies, windows down, seat heaters on.. not a word uttered by each other, no awkwardness, no need to make conversation, the presence of their being will suffice. Cruising down the freeway- nowhere to go, nowhere to be. The suns sets, darkness swallows the streets, the moon casts it’s light onto the surface of the asphalt, the canopy of the buildings soar into the heavens, both appreciating the matrix for its grand design.

Out of nowhere your favourite car cruises past you (what’s your fav car?). For me it would have to be a black on black murdered out range rover vogue long-wheelbase whaaafting past us as ghetto gospel by Tupac thumps through your 16 speakers Harmon kardon Soundsystem. You and your friend at that moment look at each other, both lock eyes and a simple nod a simple body movement speaks the taste of a million lifetimes.

5) A friendship is learning how to face challenges together without losing sight of what’s truly valuable, the friendship. A friend holds or is learning to hold a degree of unaverred emotional maturity, one that recognises that others have their own ideas and beliefs on reality and respects you regardless. Ideas and beliefs come and go, real friends come around once. If you are grounded in yourself you don’t need to change anyone to suit your needs. Should you wish to challenge your friends ideas, do it, duel them.

Be the master of space, create a safe environment where you can challenge each other’s ideas from the intention of respect and curiosity rather than control and manipulation, and through challenging each other you grow, emotional literacy levels up, linguistic articulation levels up, awareness levels up, social skills level up. Often when our ideas are challenged one can slip up into heavy triggered reactive emotions and that’s fine your human, so long as you follow the breadcrumbs and recognise that your friend is playing the role of a mirror to you perhaps you need to integrate and take reasonability for your emotions and communicate that in a healthy space, from there you build each other up rather than taking each other down. When you take responsibility for your own emotions, you can navigate social circles with grace and ease, you can see people for their uniqueness and accept them as they are.

6) A friend is a fishing buddy someone you kick a ball with, ride with, compose with, enjoy music with, explore with, confide with, laugh with, eat with, chill with, watch movies with, cry with. A friend is so much more than I can describe in this limited language. Like plant a strong friendship must be cultivated, nourished watered and weeded.

So how do we find this “friend”

I’ve been a lonely person for the best part of my life, not saying that I never had any friends. I’ve had heaps, actually so many friends it was overwhelming. Like an out of control house party, random people in my life… wait whose that guy? I didn’t invite him, I’ve never seen them before? Or at least that part of their face. Questioning all the people in my life and their purpose.

I isolated myself from humans, and went inwards, I turned into a hideous slimy cave bat hiding from the world, believing that all humans are disgusting. Of course that was a projection of my self and a limiting belief system, disguised in the fear of opening my heart to people.

So I had the option, do I want to stay living in this precious human experience as a slimly cave bat or do I want to experience what it is to be human?

Finally, I took my mask off and faced my darkness, my past, my anger, my shame, my guilt, my grief, my spirituality, my denied emotions and thoughts. I found who I was looking for. The one person I’ll spend most of my life with, MYSELF, I made a deal with this gentlemen, to understand him, to accept him- unconditionally, to feel his emotions. This pursuit allowed me find my own best friend, ME! And to come to the realisation that there was no darkness, it was all just unacknowledged light.

Perhaps until we learn to make friends with ourselves, our past, our perceived wrongs, our fears, our pain, we won’t know how to be real friends to others, to see them and hear them. How can you give something you don’t have? How can you be someone you don’t know? If we truly want to step into the light we must learn to voyage into the darkness and feel the totality of our being and realise that doing so will make you a better friend, in return attracting quality friends.

You are unbreakable. You are love and you are that slimy cave bat.

A key

So how do we become aware of our darkness, don’t take darkness as negative I only use that word as it implies aspects where the light of our awareness doesn’t touch.

Step one is to recognise the following;

Do you get triggered when a friend/associate holds opposing beliefs to you?

Do you always try to control the situation in your favour?

Do you force your ideas and beliefs onto others?

Can you emotionally handle being challenged by others without personalising it?

Can you wholeheartedly listen to others without condemning them?

Can you respect and appreciate a friend for exactly where they are in their journey?

Well, if you can’t, no need to worry, you are still amazing. Perhaps, you need to recognize that “part” of you. The part that finds trouble with accepting others as they are. Maybe, just maybe, this is just a projection of your inability to accept yourself. If you’re comfortable I want you to psychologically swallow that darkness and turn it into light and integrate it into your being. It’s only a very small aspect of yourself, far from the totality of your infinite being.

The tree can only reach into the heavens so long as its roots dig deep into hell.

The war isn’t out there it's in us.

Time for me to eat carrot cake now.

Yours faithfully, your friend Hammad,

Aka ham

Aka ham sandwich

(Side note let me know if you want a blog on how to integrate your darkness, comment below)

Check out my Mind explorer coaching-program designed to help you break the matrix of your mind.

MIND EXPLORER