Happiness

Happiness is the real beauty...

NOBODY KNOWS!

When people see me, they wouldn't know I have drank water from a stream using cocoa and cocoyam leaf. Have you done that before? I bet you haven't. When some see me reading they wouldn't know my primary school foundation was a public L-shaped village school, where the only thing we do from 9am to 1pm was to peel 'egusi' for 'teacher' and most time sell 'pufpuf' from primary 1A to primary 6D in the L-shaped primary school and at the end of the day I write a very big O on my slate with green colored chalk and the teacher will mark it with red colored chalk, signing 'very good' and every Friday we go to the school garden to clear the farm. We would rub charcoal on our faces to scare the 'gbomo gbomo' on the bush part because we hear a lot of kidnapped children. We even heard 'Old Soldier', the most wicked teacher we had then who do take us to the garden, was kidnapped one day but he begged the kidnappers to release him that he would bring 20 students for them. Pupils with rumour shaaaa. Most of the times we would go to 'teacher's house' at the camp to work for them and they would give us 'ice cream' and cold water. The only book I read then was 'Macmillan Primary English book 6'. We called it 'reader' and it was mostly used in playing picture games. You wouldn't understand what I'm saying if you've not done it before. I remember the day we were to write common entrance exam in that village school; my mom cooked the best of food as if I was going for a function. She packaged it well in a warmer (though we were not that rich but she did her best). When I got to school that morning it was as if we were doing food competition. Different kinds of food all because we were sitting for common entrance. My white shirt and blue trouser was well washed and ironed with a charcoal iron by my elder sister. That was the first time I wore 'shoe' in my life. The shoe was for my elder brother who has very long feet and my feet were short so i had to pad it with a lot of clothes to make them fit. The name of that school is Eramhe Primary School, Afokpella, Okpella, in Edo state. Try to find that out. Nobody knows I have trekked over 50km going to farm as at when i was 7yrs old. Wow... have you done that before? As at age 10 I already own a plot of land where I do my farming activities. (I was a bit lazy then though). Nobody knows I've gone three days without food, not for fasting but because no food. Nobody knows the history of education, nobody knows how I managed to pass exams, nobody knows how I stopped going to school for years because there was no school fee. I was termed "onigbese" meaning debtor in secondary school. NOBODY KNOWS but today the story has changed. Nobody knows that my first encounter with a computer was in 2006. That was the first time in my life I ever touched a mouse. Thanks to ACTIVE FINGERS GLOBAL NETWORK in collaboration with PURE COMPUTER INSTITUTE who gave me scholarship to study desktop publishing. I worked for it anyway. I came 1st in the scholarship exam. I am not planning to live a small life. So when you see me living BIG tomorrow don't get jealous. Just know that I have been through a lot of hard times. If you want to know me get close and ask questions. Don't judge from afar.

Do not prescribe drugs to the disease you know nothing about!

So many atimes we beat about the bush trying to figure out the solution to certain issues of life. Most people get frustrated and throw in the towel along the line. The issue with most of us is that we are so impatient. All we want is to find solutions without really knowing the cause of the problem.

Get to know the cause of a problem before finding solution to it. Finding solution to the problem you did not know the source is like prescribing drugs to the disease you know nothing about.

If you want to find a lasting solution, do not tackle the issue; tackle the source and cause of the problem. For instance, you can't find the solution to Examination malpractice without knowing the cause of it. One of the major cause of Examination malpractice is "Fear of Failure". The person finding such solutions must help the student to overcome fear and encourage him/her to study. Arresting such student will not find the solution. It will only create an uproar. That is why I said "you cannot prescribe drug for the disease you know nothing about. The drug for Examination Malpractice disease is not Sanction but Orientation. Make the student understand what he needs to know.

Conclusively, get to know the cause of a problem before finding solution to it.

CHANGE

Change is very difficult but IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE!. Determine to make a difference wherever you are and whatever you do. It pays to be Different. If you decide to follow the world who will then follow you? Make a Difference today.

PRIORITY OF CHARACTER IN LEADERSHIP

INTRODUCTION:

Leadership determines everything. Jesus said “…If the blind leads the blind…” Jesus believes that a leader can be blind. Because somebody is in leadership does not mean they can see. If the blind leads the blind they both fall into the ditch. So go the leader so go the organization. An organization can never rise above its leader. If you want to improve an organization, improve the leader. When the leader grows, the organization is growing. When a leader expands his knowledge base, the organization has expanded its knowledgebase. When a leader reads a book, the organization has benefited from its content. If a leader is blind, ignorant, in the dark, the organization is ignorant. Reading this is not just for your benefit but for your entire ministry and wherever you may find yourself. You cannot give what you don’t have. You can only lead people as far as you’ve gone yourself. You must constantly explore new territory, new information, and new experiences. You cannot lead from behind.

The word “Leadership” implies going to the place you’ve never been. You as a leader, your job is to move the people from where they are to where you have been. Where have you been? VISION. That is why leadership is impossible without a vision. You cannot exist as a leader without a vision. Vision qualifies you for leadership.  It makes your leading legitimate. It is illegal to lead people to no-where. You must have a clear vision. So clear to be documented on the paper and communicated to the people which is the new territory you have been and is taking the people. Managers maintain but leaders innovate. Leaders determine everything. You are exactly where someone led you. Everybody is. The leaders you follow will determine your destination. That is why it is important to associate yourself and to submit yourself to leadership that is progressive, innovative, CHALLENGING AND BREAKING NEW TERRITORY.

What is leadership?

“Leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, generated by a passion, motivated by a vision, produced by a conviction, birth by a purpose.”  The definition above took Myles twenty eight (28) years to discover. The definition is long and comprehensive. It contains everything that makes you a leader. If you want to become an effective leader, take the definition from bottom to top. “Birth by a purpose, produced by a conviction, motivated by a purpose, generated by a passion”.

Purpose is the reason you were born. You must discover your reason for being born. You must have an encounter with God to discover this. Purpose produces a Conviction. A conviction is a belief that you were born to do something. Leaders believe in their own conviction. Their conviction becomes their life. You will never become a great leader until you discover a conviction that is important than life. A conviction produces a passion. Passion is a product of conviction and purpose. Passion is a desire that is stronger than opposition and death. Without passion, you will never be an effective leader. Passion is a desire that makes an alarm clock unnecessary. A person with passion doesn’t need an alarm clock to wake him up in the morning, passion does that. A true leader has passion. Passion is not finding something to live for but finding something to die for. Have you find something to die for? Jesus said if you want to make a difference in life, do not seek to save your life. Seek to lose it and you will gain it on planet earth. Passion produces Inspiration. This is very important. Most of the people we call leaders are not leaders but professional manipulators. True leaders do not manipulate. They inspire. If you can inspire people, they will submit their energies to your dream. If you can inspire people, they will submit their gifts to your vision. If you can inspire people, they will commit their time to your dream without waiting for money. The key to leadership is inspiration. If you cannot inspire, you will manipulate and the moment you start to manipulate, you cease to be a leader. That’s why true leaders have no gimmicks. They inspire.

HOW DO YOU INSPIRE PEOPLE?

It is very simple but yet important. It is PASSION. People are inspired by your willingness to die for a dream. If you are not willing to die for your ministry people will not be inspired by you. Nelson Mandela inspires all of us. He had no degree in leadership course. He found something to die for. Mother Teresa was four feet high, 98 pounds and she spoke to United Nations. She inspires the world even beyond her death. Why? Passion! She found something to die for. True leaders never seek followers. They are too busy following purpose. Followers seek true leaders. Find something to die for.  Where there is no purpose, there is no passion, where there is no passion, there is no inspiration. Where there is no inspiration, there is manipulation. When you inspire people, they allow you to influence them. True leaders do not manipulate people, they inspire them. True leaders are willing to go alone! True leaders are still leaders even when no one follows them because they found something more important than people. They found an assignment from God. Jesus asked His disciples when they suddenly grew from 12 to 70 “Why do you follow me?”.  You can only ask that question when you are secured.  There are people who are with you but not for you. They come for your gift and not for you. Jesus said to the 70 if you want to be a part of my company, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. What does He mean? Don’t follow me for fish and bread; follow me for my own self. Pursue the dream I am carrying. A leader must be willing to go alone. If you need people to validate your assignment, you are not a true leader. People should come after you because God validated your assignment. Have you found something that you are willing to do for even when no one follows? Every true Vision only has one believer at first. God will never show you what is not possible. People may come, people may go, but you should stay.

A visionary must stay. What makes him stay? He has developed character. The number one priority of any leader is not power, gifting, talent, skill, techniques, education, influence, or anointing. The number one ingredient is Character. The number one disgrace in the body of Christ the world over is lack of character.

Character means:

1.      Fixed

2.      Predictable

3.      Statue

The alphabets are called characters because they never change. The numbers are called characters because they never change. The world need you to be leaders with character; fixed, predictable and statue.

Your character is developed in your most challenges, tests, and difficulties and you feel pieces falling off. They are not destroying you, they are making you.

Great leaders are not gifts; great leaders are results. Can you be trusted in the dark? Character! Character is what you will do when no one watches. If you are going to become a leader sitting on a throne and influencing people, you must develop character.

THINGS I SAW THAT BROUGHT ME DOWN TO TEARS PT 3

THINGS I SAW THAT BROUGHT ME DOWN TO TEARS(3) BY EROMONSELE MITCHELL

Probably, many of us can still recollect those times when we would be scolded for laughing at people's conditions. It was the same for me. And it was my mum who had the unpleasant duty of having to smack me back into line. As a little child back then, laughing at things one had never set eyes on before was some kind of sport. But such childhood jests always came with its own pains: a sudden smack on the head, the back, buttocks or wrist! And that was exactly what I got from mum the day I saw a very bow-legged man walking down the road. Incredible, I thought. It was actually my first time of setting my eyes on such a sight. I was still very young then. I couldn't help but laugh at the man. A childish and hysterical laughter. It was funny to me. Amusing. But not to the man. I could see the sad look on his face as he walked pass us. That day, mum gave it to me without any warning. I didn't just see it coming. A sudden smack on my back, and it wasn't so funny anymore. Through out the rest of the walk, I must have been walking bow-legged.

For another one week, I kept seeing the bow-legged man in my dreams. But after saying sorry to the man when I saw him again a week after, my dreams of running through the finish line as the winner in my school's inter-house sports came back again. And it wasn't like I run so well. Perhaps, it was the race of life.

When you live in a city, it's not unusual to experience things that would make you wonder. It's not different in Port Harcourt. But I hear it's crazier in Lagos! I had one of such experiences on the 15th day in the month of March. I was on errands for my mum, one of which included going to the supermarket to get to some household items. After waiting for a cab for what seemed like eternity, I eventually decided to trek. The fuel scarcity was still eating into the lives of many, and the transport sector was the worse for it. But life must go on. Thee hustle and bustle in Port Harcourt city was still being fuelled by the sheer sweats and tears of people's resilience and sufferings. You could see such resilience in the eyes of the businessmen with shops brimming with goods here and there, just as the suffering settled on the faces of the Almajiri children that had become scavengers in the street.

The Almajiris with their outstretched bowls and impoverished faces were the symbol of begging in the street. They looked so ragged, dirty and unkempt. But with no roof over their poor heads, and no parental care, who would blame them. They are the symptoms of a deeper societal disease. Just as I was deep in thoughts over their conditions and helplessness, someone was pulling my right hand to get my attention.

"Aunty, abeg give me something for mouth" begged a young female voice, as she lifted her hand to her mouth.

Sadly, I wasn't with any extra note. But she held on to my hand. She had soft hands, and I was a bit baffled by this. With the hot weather and poor conditions, I'd always imagined hard palms. I really wonder why their parents keep procreating when they can't take care of the ones they laureate have.

There was a pretty lady who was now also walking along my way. She was now beside me. On seeing the way one of the almajiri beggars held my hand, she was filled with nausea. Aunty Nneka, as I later learnt her name to be, was simply disgusted.

"Na wao! See as you allow this pig girl they hold this your yori yori body! You no see as dem be? These ugly and wretched children. See as this one head be; See as dem dey smell sef! Abeg send this one comot for my side!" She had a serious frown on her face gleaming with make-ups in the hot weather. With flung her hand dismissing the beggars as though she just saw a huge mold of dung.

"Aunty, ahan take am easy now. You no say dem be human being too." I tried to say in a respectful manner.

"Which kain human being! No be the one wey God make be these ones. These ones wey u see so na devil make them. See as dem black like goat shit! Abeg jare!" She hissed, and dipped her hand into her bag. It was not money she brought out, but a piece of mirror to check her make-up.

I don't know if one of the almajiri children heard all the words I had heard come out of her mouth. But before she could say one more word, one of the almajiri children who had his right hand scratching seriously God-knows-what in his ass, and the left hand scratching his dusty hair with mucus flowing from his nose suddenly came to her as she bent to pick her key that had just fallen down. His two hands were almost glued to her face:

"Aunty, abeg give me money", he begged, as his whole body rubbed against hers as though in a big bug. She was horrified. She flung the boy away with one hand. But the harm had been done. I believe over 1001 bacteria must have been glued to her. Her once pretty make-ups seemed messed up. I felt pity for her but found myself bursting into a loud laughter. On seeing the hateful stare she gave me, I took off still laughing out loud! After all, no smacks from mum this time!

Now, let's look at this situation. The lady had bad-mouthed the poor beggars even when they were not close to her. I think she got what she deserved (laughing). IF YOU THINK IT SERVES HER RIGHT, HIT THE LIKE BUTTON! DROP A COMMENT.

WORDS YOU SHOULD LIVE BY...

? Who you follow determines what follows you

? The company you keep determines your accomplishment

? Leadership is not what you wish or pray for; it is what you are born into and what you grow into

? Leadership is a process and the process of leadership begins with a VISION

? Leadership is not the position you occupy. Leadership is you taking the lead.

? You cannot feature in the future you did not picture

? What God gives you first is not His best; it is a test to see if you will give thanks

? Without a plan life will remain plain and if you don’t follow pattern you will be battered.

? You cannot truly have vision and maintain a slow lane

? Readers are leaders

? Schooling only makes you literate; it is your investment in literature that guarantees your actual future.

? The way your friend dresses is the way you will be addressed.

? Being POOR is a mentality. POOR is an acronym which stands for Passing Over Opportunities Repeatedly.

? Opportunity does not come on a platter of gold; it sometimes dresses in overall and looks like work.

? There is no FEAR anywhere. FEAR is an acronym which stands for Fake Evidences Appearing Real.

? Your potential is right within you.

? If you want to become a giant you must eat what giants eat

? It is not where you go that matters but what you catch from where you go

? If you do what great people do you will have the same result great people have.

? It is not great places that make great people but great information.

? What makes an excellent man is doing the little things that everybody thinks are not necessary.