Anticipate Change

"Your ability to anticipate change is continuously being developed through Orisa Lifestyle. Professional diviners, devotees and clients all exercise varying degrees of prediction as a standard practice. That is, every time someone sits downto consult Ifa, they are invited to project themselves into the future and intuit what is on the horizon. 

There's a big difference between anticipation and wishful thinking and you need to know the difference. Anticipation is a science, in the sense that it is based upon a keen observation of the past and the present. Wishful thinking tends to idealize the past and present, sometimes to the point of delusion. People who are good hearted, generous, inclusive and nurturing by nature are particularly susceptible to wishful thinking. Because you are only doing good in the world you assume that others are doing the same. 

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This is misguided, however. Ifa teaches us this way:

Kindheartedness stops with water (i.e., One might be kindhearted up to a point)
Ones character cannot be better than the road 
Ifa's teaching to the roadside farmer 
Who will harvest yams 
And invite the public to come and eat with him
They said: why?
He said: Maybe if we do good on earth
We may meet good in heaven
Who knows the future?
He said: If we do bad
We might meet it in heaven 
Who knows the future? 
No one knows the future
Who knows the future? 
- Holy Odu OwonrinOgunda

The future is beyond recognition. But there are things you can do to increase your ability to anticipate what is to come. One of the most important practices is to narrow your focus. Limit the variables in your life. I advise people to focus on only two or three areas of interest and activity. For example, when I committed to Orisa Lifestyle twenty years ago, I limited my focus to 1. Family 2. Profession 3. Orisa. Anything and anyone outside that focus was either eliminated altogether or severely relegated. And because life unfolds in cycles and patterns, I was more capable of recognizing the signs and indicators. This makes it much easier to anticipate the range and then the specifics of human behaviors as well as events. Living the medicine means preparing yourself for the reality so that you can optimize your contribution in an ever-changing world. Learn more at www.ObafemiO.com."

Obafemi Origunwa, MA | www.ObafemiO.com