Siddeeq Shabazz
CFL.ca
As we wrap up a season that fell short of our expectations as a team by just a few plays, while proving to be a great success and learning experience in many ways for me personally and for our organization, I look to wrap up my first endeavor as a blogger with Lesson 8 from my fourth blog entitled “Lessons Learned”.
- Lesson 8 – If you don’t plant seeds you will continually reap weeds.
This is a saying my brother Day always uses and though it sounds funny, it makes a lot of sense to me. In a garden if you don’t plant anything, weeds will normally take it over, but if you nurture the soil and plant seeds you can be part of the creation of a beautiful arrangement of roses, a vegetable garden, or even an apple orchard. This is part of the idea of being mindful of what you let seep into your consciousness by what you watch on TV, what you read, what you focus your conversations on, etc.
I like to be in tune with what’s going on around me through the news, but I seldom watch it, because the majority of news can be quite depressing. All the other stuff I used to enjoy like MTV and the Real World, and all the reality shows seem to over sensationalize the physical and materialism, which I know is a weed that spreads quickly especially in my profession.
Those are the weeds I struggled to overcome in getting away from ego and toward a more balanced sense of self, and now by being intentional about what I ingest I have a better chance of not losing sight of what’s really important in my life. Basically by making more conscious decisions about what you let into your space, or let affect you, you become more responsible for the results created in your life, rather than being a victim of circumstance, you grab the reigns and create the life you want. It’s with this same regard that I approach my football career, and learned to overcome criticism, peer-pressure, and any of the mental, emotional, or physical challenges that tend to affect athletic performance.
So, it’s with this milieu that I approach my life, and my career. The things that give me strength in my relationship at home tend to be the same things that give me strength in relating to this game I love so much. In finding my own personal power to create the outcomes I desire in my life, I have awoken my inspiration and devoted my life to helping others find ways to do the same in their life. Even though it is so much easier for my views to be received in the environment we created at YourDay etc, where I see myself thriving and impacting people for the rest of my life, I enjoy the challenges of bringing it to a setting that really hasn’t been receptive to higher levels of consciousness or intention.
With the great success and history of both the CFL and NFL over the years, why would they look to change an institution that continually creates billions of dollars of revenue and at times draws the largest viewership in sport? Well, anyone who keeps up with history and politics knows that any establishment that was too successful or proud to see the benefits of change, usually fall victim to that which they resisted. With the election of the United States’ first black president in a race that could have also seen its first female in office, it is blaringly obvious that this is a pivotal age we are living in, and I look forward to being instrumental in bringing a new level of consciousness wherever my journey leads me.
I have enjoyed sharing the makings of my perspective on life, and I look forward to giving my view on some of the current issues we face as a team and as a league in general down the road, and until then God bless and best wishes.
Siddeeq Shabazz is a second-year linebacker with the Edmonton Eskimos. He led the team in defensive tackles as a rookie in 2007. He is also a lifestyle coach for www.yourdayetc.com.
