I arrived at Heathrow airport on 7 March 1996 on a grey, drizzly and chilly morning.  I remember looking out the South African Airways Boeing window thinking ‘Wow, I never knew it would be so green!’

Since then I’ve visited 27 countries and lived in London, Edinburgh, the USA (Boston and Kansas City), the middle East (UAE), Australia (Sydney and Melbourne), South Africa (Cape Town) and Amsterdam – yet somehow the UK always seemed home.  Every time I flew back from somewhere and was met by a grumpy cabbie complaining about the weather, traffic and politics I couldn’t help smiling and feeling welcomed.

Because I spent so much time out of the country I did not meet the requirements for permanent residency and my application was denied twice.  Then when I almost qualified the waiting period was extended from 4 to 5 years.  There were times when I was disappointed, times when I was angry at ‘the system’ and thought of leaving the country and times when I was in total apathy and just could not be bothered.

Yet, for some reason I persisted.

I changed jobs so I could travel less and be home more.  I waited until I met the requirements and applied again. Maybe because this felt like home, maybe because my Dad encouraged me to stick it out, maybe just because it felt like the right thing to do.

A few weeks ago I received a letter from the UK Border Agency saying that I had been granted British Citizenship and so this morning I drove to the beautiful Weybridge Registry Office in Surrey to attend my ‘ceremony’.

I noticed the same grey and drizzly weather of that Thursday over 14 years ago although at 20 degrees today was a lot warmer than that March morning in ’96.  I was met with the cheer and joy of a wedding party (I do love weddings) before it was my turn.  The short, respectful and professional ceremony touched me more than I could have imagined.  In all honesty it started out as just something else to do in a very busy day, but hearing the words I realised what an honour it is to be bestowed the citizenship of a country.

With all it’s woes and budget deficit and weather (just as well I like rain) I love living in this country and I’m hugely grateful for the privilege to live in a place where I feel safe to be who I am.

I know that some people hate living here and they only do so to get away from where they’re from.  Thankfully I love the land, the people, the diversity, the opportunities, the technology, and yes, even the weather.  It’s not perfect for sure, but then nowhere is – whilst we have expectations of how things ‘should be’, disappointment always follows.

I look forward to continue contributing to this country that has finally and officially opened it doors on me and bestowed on me the rights and responsibilities of a British Citizen.

And this is where I cannot resist but say ‘And God save the Queen!’

Bennie Naudé
www.deepliving.com
bennie@deepliving.com

JAIME REGAN MUSIC GIVEAWAY

It turns out that some of you really enjoyed Jaime’s music; he’s offered to give away an electronic version of his EP True North with 5 beautiful songs.  To be entered into the draw, email me on bennie@deepliving.com before 29 Aug 2010.

When Kristian started as my assistant earlier this year I bought him a new laptop.  I noticed that it had a newer version of Windows than my own laptop and that the keyboard layout was different.  I used it once or twice and decided that I didn’t like it – I much preferred my older laptop, thank you very much!

As Kristian stopped working with me recently I told him to keep the laptop until I needed it – I could after all only use one laptop at a time and I was very happy with mine.

About the same time I realised that I’d had enough of running out of hard drive space on my laptop and spent a good few hours investigating the best and quickest bigger hard drive I could find.  Then it was time to find the best deal, have it delivered to me and finding a technician who could install it.  I took a day out, took it to him to replace and then spent about 20 hours over a weekend to re-install everything.

It was great for a few days and then I noticed the laptop fan that had been getting louder and louder and that, truth be told, I’d been ignoring for a while, hoping that it would get better by itself.  So I spent some time researching my options on the internet (which ranged from replacing it to using compressed air to blow out accumulated dust!)

Windows then started crashing from time to time – I blamed software I’d installed – and then late one evening I also managed to drop the laptop.  Now if you know how tall I am you’ll know that that was no short fall!  To my amazement my laptop booted up again, seemed to work ok at first, but crashed more frequently.

Again, I lived it with it for a few days ignoring the problem and hoping that it will fix itself (as laptops are known to do, of course!)  Then, when it seriously stared affecting the quality of my work I finally decided to get expert advice.

I called my friend Robert King from http://problemswithmypc.co.uk/ whom I’ve known for years.

That one call changed everything.

You see I started off asking Robert how I could fix my laptop.  We talked about having the hard drive taken out, checked and possibly replaced again, restoring to an old backup taken when everything was working ok, then restoring my most recent data again.  It would involve buying a new fan – knowing that I may not find the right model anymore.  It would involve (lots) more time, more money and more risk.

Up to that point getting my laptop fixed was the only thing I had in mind and I’d been totally focused on how to do it.  If I did consider using the almost brand new, unused laptop it was fleetingly and I casually dismissed it because I wanted to stay with what I knew.

In talking things through with Robert he helped me to see that it really wasn’t worth it, especially since I had another (almost new) laptop in fully functional order, pretty much ready to go.  I threw up all the resistance I could muster, from ‘I don’t like the keyboard and Windows 7’ to ‘But I just like my laptop’ and ‘I’m sure my laptop is faster’.  Robert, having heard all of that before, let me work through my own ‘stuff’ and come to the right conclusion!

I realised that I’d been so attached to my 3 year old laptop and the way I’ve been doing things that I simply did not even want to consider other, newer and unfamiliar options.

I realised that it was time to let go so that I could move forward.

When I actually checked the new laptop I found that not only did it have twice the amount of memory but also the exact size hard drive that I’d just upgraded my old one too and a faster processor.  With Robert’s help I was able to configure Windows 7 in a way that works for me and (don’t tell my old laptop this) the new keyboard is actually pretty cool.

Now as you read this I know that you know that I’m not telling you to go buy a new laptop; this story really doesn’t have anything to do with a laptop, does it?

It has to do with life.

Ask yourself where in your life you may be holding on to something that is preventing you from moving on; old relationships, old technology or old beliefs – sometimes we give them the power to hold us back because we don’t even consider that there may be something else out there or because we’re so familiar and comfortable even with that that no longer works for us.

Since change scare most people, is it really that strange that we so easily go into denial and procrastination and think that the problem will go away by itself or they’ll deal with it one day, some day (which typically never comes)?

When we take the plunge and ask for help we often find that it was much easier than we thought; even if it turns out to be as painful and horrible as we expected it to be, it still opens up possibilities that before we only dreamt of.  But you know that already from your own experience, don’t you?

Thanks to Robert’s advice I was able to remedy my situation and rescue my data before it was too late; my old laptop is now, officially, unserviceable.  As a bonus, I now have a laptop that’s newer, faster and quieter and honestly, I’ve not missed the old one much!

I’d love to hear from you – what are you holding on that you know it’s time to let go of and more importantly, how will that let you to move forward?

Bennie Naude
www.deepliving.com
bennie@deepliving.com

Think you can count?  Try this out for fun:

Now just think:  what are you focussed on right now, in your life, in relationships, health and wellbeing and business?

Is it what you want to be focussing on, now knowing that by focussing on that you’re missing out on other things that may be more important?

What we focus on expands for sure; recently I started dusting and you know what, I suddenly started noticing dust in places that I’d been walking past every day for weeks without noticing.  The minute I started focussing on ‘dust’, I saw it everywhere and ended up cleaning for a couple for hours!

Similarly, I have already decided what my next car is going to be (including the model, make and colour) and guess what, I see that car everywhere as I go about town.  It’s not that there are suddenly more of those cars out there but that I’m noticing it more now that I’m looking out for them.

Put your focus on where you want to be going (as opposed to where you don’t want to be going) and you’ll exponentially increase your chances of getting there; you’ll open the doors to see and attract opportunities and possibilities that simply did not exist before.  Or maybe they did … you just never noticed them before!

Bennie Naude
www.deepliving.com
bennie@deepliving.com