Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Pain Before The Gain

As i lay on the delivery couch,
pain so intense, all i could do was scream.
It was the fourth hour into the labour for my second child

The doctor said i was almost there..
..all i had to do was push a little harder
And so i did as i was instructed!
I drew strength from the hope of the reward.

In another 30 minutes, i heard her cry!
I looked at the hairless bundle of life through teary eyes..
the pain that seemed unbearable just a while ago, was all gone.
All i could feel was an overwhelming sense of joy,
the taste of sweet triumph as i held my beautiful baby girl in my arms

Now i think back and i wonder how many opportunities i have passed up and what joys i havent had the privilege of tasting simply because i couldnt stand the stress or endure the hard work that preceded them.
sigh!


Next time the when the pain is worth the gain,
put on your fighting gloves and say 'bring it on'.

In the words of Cecil DeMille, "The person who makes a success of living is the one who sees his goal steadily and aims for it unswervingly. That is dedication."

-Novbe

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Giant In The Sun

A giant sitting in the sun....
Other people see him for what he is...a giant,
But he cant see himself fully...vision hindered by the rays of the sun,
His potentials unknown to him yet envied by those afar off.

Every one of us has something in us that makes us unique...
A talent, a gift, an act, a virtue, a blog page, ....(you fill in the blanks)
Something that others appreciate...silently or otherwise
Yet may not be seen fully by ourselves.

Would the giant arise?
See himself truly for what he is?
Then, indeed, can he take bold steps as befitting of a giant,
And occupy fully, the status ascribed him.

In one way or the other,
We may fit into the picture of the giant in the sun
But the time to 'arise' is NOW...as we reflect on this post
Lets discover our potentials..to love, to sing, to write, to act, even being out true selves..
Arise and put them to use in our own little or big way

Who knows, we could be making this world a more tolerable palce to live in!

Signing out,
Novbe.




Sunday, September 23, 2012

PERSISTENCE...THE KEY TO BREAKTHROUGH

First things first...sincere apologies to my readers and followers for being away for so long without notice.

As i put my hands to keyboard to write this post, i cant help but reflect on how life has been in the last 4years....quite some time! I have had my fair share of ups and downs but one thing i must say got me back here is persistence.

A wise man once said that "it is not the strength of water that makes it cut through a rock, but its persistensce". to that i say "word".

Many a times, things may not turn out the way we dreamed it to be...in marriage, kids, our jobs, etc. But at such times, when you feel like you should call it quits, stop and reflect on the reason you chose where you are or what you do, in the first place, and let this be the motivational fuel that propels you to the finish line.

You may never know what beauty awaits you on the other side, simply because you did not persevere in your pursuit.

Persist till you break through.




Tuesday, June 10, 2008

ENCOURAGING OTHERS.

A friend of mine once said that the best way to get pleasure is to give someone else same. In my opinion, same goes for joy, happiness, encouragement, etc. In these few days I have been a blogger, and participated in activities in blog communities, I have observed some things I would like to share in today’s post.

Many at times, we put lots of efforts into building our blog pages, getting people to read our posts or click on our advertised links and getting folks to review our pages. Sometimes, it gets so tight that I hardly have the time to check my mails. Then when I get so choked up, I decide to take a break so I do not become a slave to my blog. At such times, I do other things, like checking out other blog pages on blogpost. Sometimes I find real amazing blog pages and subsequently subscribe to the post or become friend with the author. More often than not, we end up exchanging links. Naturally, this steps up traffic to my blog page. Then it dawns on me that all I seek with the advertising, soliciting, etc can be gotten in one package and that is making lasting friends through giving others a little of my time.

Many bloggers want to start a new discussion, raise a new community or start a new discussion. The result, more often than not, is a trail of unanswered discussion topics, lonely communities and inactive groups. This is the case when the motive is self-centred. My bet is that the outcome will be different if we took time to respond to existing discussions (those relevant to us), give out reviews and comment on other authors’ blog post. Little wonder programs like Linkreferral use this method to increase web traffic. Here, you earn points, thus increasing traffic to your page, when you visit others and/or give them reviews. After all, what goes around, they say, comes around.

Keeping up with the fast lane of blogging can be demanding and at such times, a little word of encouragement (or constructive criticism, as the case may be), may be all the next person needs to go on and be successful. I have experienced this myself. An act of kindness shown to someone else is like a seed sown, it will grow and bear fruit in due time. An illustration of this goes thus: if you visit a neighbouring blog page to say hello, its only natural for that blogger to pay back with a visit, so that you have at least one visitor to your page for every visit you make to some one else’s. Since I learnt this, I try to take out time for “blog rounds”, and believe me, its beginning to pay off with increase traffic and all. Someone even signed up for an affiliate link I advertised, all because I took out time to give out some encouragement.

Now, if this whole encouragement and visiting stuff is not a familiar turf, you may want to try it out. If it works, which I know it will, please visit some other time to share your experience. However, for those who have been getting good results using this method, it will be my pleasure to have you leave a comment or two on this post. That way, others can be encouraged.

Note: Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our soul blossom.
-Novbe

Friday, May 30, 2008

PURPOSEFUL LIVING.

A great man once stated rightly that your future depends on many things but mostly on your defining purpose.”

Purpose can be defined as an intention; an aim or function of something; a reason for doing something. However, a second definition is that of “meaning; satisfaction; the ability to plan something and work effectively to achieve it; determination.” The latter holds a better explanation for today’s post.

My analysis of purpose, meaning or aim, is that of one big picture with smaller pictures stemming from the big picture. The big picture is defined with such questions as “why am I alive?”, “what do I hope to achieve at the end of my existence on earth?” Other smaller pictures that can be seen within this big picture will then include, what I hope to get from my present job, daily goals, what can be achieved from raising the kids using my current methods, etc.

No man wants to be reckoned with as being a failure, even in things termed “negative” going by societal norms and values. A man with purpose is more likely to have a plan, (together with the desire to see it through), and a man with a plan is more likely to succeed. Dr Rison Maden took stated it thus in his quote that “a man who succeeds has a programme.” But of course, without a plan or goal, I doubt if I would recognise success if it came stumbling down my path. It will just be seen as one of those things that happen, not an achievement per se.

Life can be quite a drab by the time it falls into a daily routine of “wake up- go through the day (work, sleep, food, etc) – end of day” if one does not have an aim or a mental picture of what is to be achieved by these activities. It becomes a boring and monotonous task.
When this is the case, the desire to quit living can take on an appealing look and may sometimes overpower the will to live. Then contemplation of suicide becomes a possibility. This mirrors a German quote that says, “What is the use of running, if you aren’t on the right road?” However, some people will run ahead regardless. Such grow old to find out they actually went through life without achieving anything… nothing to be remembered for!

Generally, one feels more zest and in a better position to take up challenges when one faces the day with purpose and a well mapped-out strategy to go with it. At least, this is what I have noticed in my few years of existence on this planet.

Where purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable. A life without purpose will be prone to unhealthy habits such as drugs, risky sexual practises and wrong eating habits.

The good news is that, it is never too late to seek out and redefine purpose. You can start NOW to re-evaluate your life then seek out something, a cause you will be willing to live for. The question “what do I want to be remembered for?” may be of help.

Some people once had purpose, and their life had meaning until they lost something or someone. I have come to discover that if the big picture is something indestructible, say a belief (like faith in God) or a cause, smaller sub- purposes will always be sustained. As Christians say, “build lasting treasures where moth and dust does not corrupt”. That way, despite temporal losses and set back, there will always be hope and something to live for. For example, an individual may decide to join in reaching out in volunteer work to HIV positive individuals after loosing a loved one to AIDS.

A purpose driven life is a life, beautiful to behold. It indeed is a life worth living. Go find purpose and the strength to succeed in all you do.

NOTE: The world stands aside to let one pass, who knows where he is going.
-David Jordan

-Novbe