Yeah. Are you anxious stressed mind racing. Do you have trouble sleeping? Are you looking for secrets to peace and a happier life joints be way jefferson certified mindfulness practitioner and lawyer dedicated to helping you learn to apply mindfulness meditation to the personal and professional challenges of everyday life, harness the power of mindfulness meditation to live and work to your highest and best purpose. Starting with just five minutes a day. Yeah. Happy father's day. Yeah. All right. Hi and welcome to Mindful in five where we learn how to apply mindfulness and meditation to the challenges of everyday life in bite sized episodes for people with no time. Just like you, you're my name is Spera Jefferson and today we celebrate dad's the world over.

Yeah. Yeah. Mm If you are a dad or serve as a father figure to others, we celebrate you bless you for all you do if you have a dad, I hope you are in a position to take a moment to celebrate your dad. Let me share with you a bit about my dad. My father was born in a smallish town in Zimbabwe many years ago. His parents named him Henry Vuoso Mariana. He had two biological Children, my younger sister and me but he had many other Children in our family because in my culture we take the adage seriously about the village raising the Children so much so that in my native tongue which is called Tiana, we don't have a word for cousin because my cousins are considered my siblings.

So now that I and my siblings are scattered across the diaspora to capture our relationships when we describe them to people. We call each other sister and brother cousins. My dad taught his kids by instruction, but even more by example, he taught us integrity in the way he walked through this life, He taught us industry in the way he worked, he taught us love in the way he took care of all of us. And speaking of industry, let's talk about that. So I can give you some examples. He received not one but 4° from Columbia University in New York, one of the finest educational institutions in the world. He started his career as a history professor at Lincoln University in pennsylvania. In addition to doing his day job as a college professor, university professor, President of higher education institutions in the US and in Zimbabwe, he co wrote the high school textbooks that I used in school in Zimbabwe and that are still used across Zimbabwe today.

After working for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education, he was appointed Zimbabwean Ambassador to Egypt after which he retired to run several farms and businesses at home. What I didn't appreciate until long into adulthood was that so much of what my father did was to provide for his Children and leave a legacy for us. Not just a legacy of material things, but a legacy of how to be a productive, useful person in the world who would always strive to leave every space better than when we found it. My dad passed away in April 2008. He woke up one day saying he wasn't feeling well. There was obviously something different about that day because he told one of his employees, he didn't think he would be with us the following day with death at the doorstep. He didn't panic, he didn't run to the clinic next door, begging for help.

Instead he took his will from the safe and addressed it to my sister and me and he organized his things in preparation for his departure just as come as he could be in a matter of hours. He had a heart attack and passed away. There were so many lessons that we took away not only from the way he lived his life, but also from the way he departed from it. So on this day I celebrate my father dr Henry Vuoso Mariana. Every child has a story of their father, whether he was there and present like mine or whether he was there and unpleasant or whether he was not there at all. If the story of your father is not warm and fuzzy and even my dad and I had our rocky systemic longstanding issues, spend time in mindfulness, meditation, acknowledging those hurts, forgive those hurts and no, it's not easy and this I know from experience, really work on letting go of the things that hurt you and visualize a path forward where you get to choose how you are going to be as a parent because you don't have to repeat the negative behaviors of your parents.

God lovers remember that your earthly father was supposed to be an example and conduit of the love that your heavenly father has for you. If your earthly father failed, then lean on your heavenly father and know that he is perfect. If you simply cannot envision a perfect heavenly father figure because of the follies of your earthly father, then lean on your heavenly parent as the divine mother who will always and forever love you and whose love you can never outrun no matter what. So in closing Happy Father's day again, If you need help getting started on your meditation path, sign up for the emails at mindful in 5.com and immediately download your proven five step how to kit and receive new guided meditations. You can practice at home each month.

Also search for my name on Youtube for mindful and five videos on a range of topics including dealing with grief, which a lot of people are dealing with these days to help you along your way until next time. This is be us saying be mindful and be well. Thank you for listening to mindful in five, join the mindful in five community at www dot mindful in five dot com to sign up for the weekly companion emails to this podcast which include a new guided meditation each month and five day, five minute meditations to supercharge your journey towards inner peace and success, visit the instagram page at Mindful in five or the facebook page at speedway Publications until next time. Be mindful and be well.