Take motivation speaker word with a pinch of salt

QUESTION: I overheard a motivational speaker say that having some time alone helps to battle mental illness. I don't know how this can work though.

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I have over the years wondered why some medical conditions attract military connotations, while others are benign or neutral by the estimate of lay descriptions. People with depression and cancer must do battles which they sometimes lose and must be buried.

Those with more honorable conditions such as diabetes do no such battles but must live with their conditions. Some of them also die, not after any battle but after living with the condition.

In the same way, I have often wondered what children with malaria or measles do with these conditions. Do they live or battle the conditions and if one or the other, who decides, the child or the parents?

The other matter that brings a smile to my face is that of the motivational speaker. Have you for example heard of any university degree on motivational speaking?

If there is, there are not so many because the profession of motivational speaker does not require any training and is mostly a self-declaratory position. I am because I say that I am and in time others say that I am.

This comes with several challenges, chief of which is the fact that the knowledge base of those who become motivational speakers is only known to them as there is no external or independent body to measure this knowledge base.

So, when a motivational speaker tells you that something is or is not true, you owe it to yourself to establish whether indeed the person can offer the advice they purport to be giving.

That you were told that time alone is a good thing is probably true if the author of those words goes on to explain that that is only desirable in some, not all cases. An extreme example of this point is that for the elderly for example, prolonged time alone can and does lead to untimely death.

So, what might be a good thing for a young mother who must take time off to do her nails and hair once a week, her father will if left with time alone die early in a manner like those who smoke, are obese or do not exercise.

In a sense, this is a case of too much or too little being bad for you, depending on factors that the motivational speaker may or may not have alluded to.

Motivational speakers are to be found in many places including schools, churches and others and have in common the fact that the speaker is chosen to inspire the audience to do a particular thing such as treat each other better, work hard, or hold the ways of their creator in more obvious and higher esteem.

To do this effectively, the speaker must do or be several things. For example, he must appear to believe in his own message. If a Christian for example he will usually begin by stating his credentials in this regard sometimes explaining in dramatic ways, the date and place he met salvation.

Many speak in a dramatic and in some cases eloquent manner, some going to the extent of assuming an accent that is clearly not theirs. Some of the best motivational speakers such as Churchill were compelling in the content of their message and were experts at reading and responding to the mood of their audience.

In other words, they knew when and where to start and stop, a skill perfected by Hitler who is said to have been a good motivational speaker. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech is often given as an example of an excellent motivational speech.

The late Tom Mboya is said by those who knew him to have been one of Kenya’s best motivational speakers who used this skill to motivate the labor movement in the 50s. Jomo Kenyatta used his deep voice to dramatically deliver his messages.

Kenya has more than a fair share of street motivational speakers.

From your question, we have looked at many aspects of our lives, including not only time alone, but have also looked at the importance and significance of the originator of the message but have also cautioned on the need to contextualise the message.