1.

Generally, the set up with names in Zimbabwe (for some people) is to have one Shona name and one English name. With this following sibling however, she has two Shona names whose meanings hold a very dear place in my personal ethos. Kundai means to be “victorious, to win or to overcome”. I wrote a blog about being victorious a while back because this word is synonymous with my tribal totem, the Lion.

I grew up with an understanding that I am intrinsically built to overcome bullshit, and honestly in most of my trials, it was made manifest. As for her other name Rudo, it means “Love”. One may argue that most, if not all, of my blogs are steeped in that word. I most certainly come from a place of Love whenever I am writing. The truth is, I make it a point to be aware of how much I am loved which is an affirmation in itself. So, breathe and repeat after me: I am aware of how much I am loved. I say this to myself because I have had to understand that though there are several identity markers that I wear each day, LOVE supersedes them all. That makes me feel victorious, I live victoriously and embody Victory as well as Love in all things.

Let’s start with victory then. “Quiet” victories are my favorite kind. Typically, nobody knows about them until they see or hear about them, about how you’ve won in life. It’s an energy that’s exuded once we are seated completely in our divinity, it is exquisite quite honestly. It is my favorite kind of victory because it usually requires that we be anchored in something other than the ego.So, there is the victory born of the ego (which has its place) and then victory born of God. I have had blissful realizations of the moments I experienced victory that is born of the ego. Where I willed myself back into a fight that I wanted to give up on, where I walked towards or away from a fight because I chose to.

2.

God created opportunities for me to succeed, and I walked right into them with jittery gusto! Winning in life feels so good when your will is kicked into full gear. Even more gratifying is choosing what kind of warrior you want to be. Managing my egoic experience of my victories has been a mess but a blast.

As for Love, I have been enveloped in that word all my life. In one of the biblical epistles namely the book of Corinthians, it states that Love, Hope and Faith are important. That amongst these three if you had to choose, you should pick Love – period. As I grew older, I understood that it was because I am Love and one of my favorite expressions of love is the “stranger or random-person love”.

3.

I worked as a barista/server once upon a time. During my exchanges with customers, I had the great fortune of holding spaces for people who were joyful or grieving, fearful or hopeful, apathetic or enthusiastic. I enjoyed tapping into the gift of love even more during these moments because the energetic deliciousness would ripple over into the next moment or into the next day, week or month. It was truly magical. I have had those kinds of exchanges for as long as I can remember. Love of this kind is grounding in its own way. It is a kind of love that is at the core of our being as humans, I really believe that is how we are wired.

We live now in a world that keeps searching for reasons to justify our beingness, to defend our loving natures and to become paranoid about expressing Love out loud. What people call “random acts of kindness” are in fact our core nature (love) in action. Love and Victory are a part of my core as a human and it is a joy anytime I am able to live them out loud. It tickles me each time I come present to a moment and can feel myself experiencing these two words and sharing the energy with others. It fills me with so much gratitude to feel my way through them, I hope you too are tapped into the magic of it all. Stay victoriously and lovingly unbowed!