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

HELP! I AM HAVING A BLOGGERS' BLOCK

Bloggers, block! If indeed there is a phrase like that, seems the best I can use in describing what I am experiencing today. It happens from time to time.It is like this: An idea comes to mind, I start off, scribbling the raw draft, and then it happens…suddenly! A feeling of having just been wiped clean of every thought process, and then blank …blank …and more blankness… The right words all seem eons away! An interesting phenomenon, it has no stereotyped pattern, it readily occurs at any point it deems fit, sometimes right after writing the title for the day's post.

Gosh! What do I do? One solution that readily comes to my mind is to take a break. I totally take my mind off writing and go do something else. Something not related to writing, even remotely. Most times, it works. Just as suddenly as they left, the right ideas and words start coming back to me.

Will I be wrong to assume I am not alone in this dilemma? I guess not! So if you feel me on this, please leave me a comment or send me a mail about your experiences and your unique way of overcoming it. Your reply will be featured in a subsequent post, along with your blog name and blog page link. That way, we get to help each other be better bloggers. You can also send this to your blog friends so they too can be part of it.

Thanks, Novbe.

MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL…..

My mirror tells me I am too fat.
My mirror tells me I will need a face-lift because the wrinkles are beginning to show;
My mirror tells me my skin colour is not favoured.
My mirror tells me the dress does not fit right.
My mirror! Oh my mirror! A million and one reasons to tear you off my wall, and
smash you into a million pieces!

Indeed! A million and one reasons to throw that lifeless piece of furniture out of the window and out of your life.

If the mirror could speak, maybe its words would have sounded thus:

“I stand as a lifeless object; I rely on you to give me life, I do not have the power to create, so what I do is this. I simply look at you through the eyes of your mind. There I see an image you have made of yourself and I reflect it back to you. What I am saying in essence is this; whatever you say it is I am telling you, is actually what you have told yourself at one point or the other of your life. I see what you see of yourself and tell you what you are telling yourself.”

The Oxford Advanced Learner’s dictionary defines a mirror as “a piece of special flat glass that reflects images, so that you can see yourself when you look at it.” The glass reflects, it is actually then left for me to do the perception and the seeing. My interpretation of what the mirror shows is actually that of an image I have formed in my mind.

Ken Keys Jnr was he who said, “To be upset over what you don’t have, is to waste what you do have.” Many a times, I become a slave to the desire of things I cannot have and continually long to be what I am not. I allow others to dictate what I ought to look like, what I ought to wear, even how I ought to talk. This usually marks first step in the formation of wrong images in my mind. Images I tag with unpleasant words such as ugly, fat, ill- shaped, thin, old, you name it! These are words formed when I compare myself to an “ideal.”

However, I have come to realise that the first step in the appreciation of who I am is to see myself as the “ideal”. Allow me to suggest that it is the image you project of yourself that others, including the mirror, will perceive. A re-conditioning of the mind becomes necessary if one must get good “reviews” from the looking glass. See yourself as beautiful, the best. You have every reason to. Even the bible declares it in Psalms 139 vs 14 that “I am fearfully and wonderfully made...” This way it becomes easier to love yourself, and who you are!

The moment we start to see ourselves through the eyes of love, unique and beautiful, and start to confess same, the mirror will have no option than to see us that way. Since I learnt this, thanks to motivational books and talks, I no longer have to avoid standing in front of my mirror. You too can enjoy standing at your mirror and hearing those beautiful words, “you are the finest of them all”. The choice is yours, really!

Note: The writer does not claim to be an authority in the field of psychology, or related fields.

DREAMS

I picked up my favourite notepad, a birthday gift from my best friend, with the intention of drafting a blog post, and I came across the inscription on the cover page. It read, “Some men see things that are and say “why?” Others dream of things that never were and say “why not?” Dare to dream!”

Truly, great inventions in the history of the world started out as dreams appearing first as a flicker in the seemingly dark tunnels of searching minds. A mind seeking solutions to identified needs. I try to imagine the first aeroplane taking off in the hearts of the Wright brothers; Michael Faraday’ s heart glowing with the dream of the first electric lit bulb; the first antibiotic, Penincillin being birthed in the pregnant minds of the Fleming duo... you fill in the gaps, because, really, the list could go on and on. What great minds these were, that dared to dream! Their dreams were probably scoffed at that time, but today, we all can attest to the fact that their dreams became success stories.

Now, talking about dreams, I do not mean images that come to fore in our sleeps depicting repressed thoughts and excerpts from our subconscious. By dreams, I mean ideas or plans that are conceived by the mind, but may seem unrealistic now because of surrounding situations and circumstances. Great minds dream even with their eyes open.

When one is not passionate enough about changing a situation or providing solutions to an identified need, it becomes almost impossible for the mind to create dreams, not to talk of working to make that dream a reality. A mind not on a quest is a mind not set to conceive achievable dreams. In the words of Thomas Dewar, “minds are like parachutes, they function only when opened”.

The price of making a dream a reality is hard work persistence and perseverance. Reiterating the words of Levan J. Suenes, “Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make it come true.” Real exhilaration is experienced only after a dream materialises. What is that dream of yours? Give it your best shot and when its all accomplished, sit back and let the sweet floods of victory drown every strain hard work inflicted on you.

Dream killers and initial failures are possible deterrents to the pursuit of any dream. Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents in the history of United States had his fair share of failure before being able to realise his dream. Many a dream have been extinguished at first their first encounter with failure. Let me paint an arbitrary picture here of an individual who sets out with a dream of creating an award winning blog page. He goes ahead to prepare then publish his first blog page, but to his dismay, does not get a single page visit or review in months. He may even have to contend with out right rejection by some sites or blog groups. One way to ensure continued movement in the direction of on dream accomplishment, is to visualise yourself at the finish line while still riding the storm. Keep your eyes on the goal.

Finally, for every dream that materialises into reality for you, always remember to acknowledge Him who gives the strength to achieve- The Almighty God.


Note: Do not judge those who try and fail. Judge those who fail to try!

ENTHUSIASM, LOVING WHAT YOU DO.

Sitting at my writing desk, pen in hand, waiting for the maelstrom of topic choice to ease up, the words of Charles Schwab comes to mind : “People can succeed at almost anything for which they have unlimited enthusiasm”

I have often wondered why it is that while some people succeed at what they do, some others will fail at that same project given commensurate resources and opportunities. The reason is clear enough from the quote above. Enthusiasm, which translates to great enjoyment, interest or approval, it is! From writing, through sports, to arts/entertainment, and even child raising, to mention but a few, the theory holds true.

The level of success achieved in any venture is reflective of the amount of zeal one possesses for it. Enthusiasm, which can also be viewed as “love for what you do”, is goes beyond the number of hours allotted to physical work or effort. It starts from the mind and it’s a powerful force that represents how much ones heart inclined to the project at hand. Here is a clear example that will illustrate this. No matter how much I have in terms of resources and work force to produce a novel – finances, publishers, printing press, you name them! - I will never be able to publish a novel that can be named on the list of successful literature if, first, I do not have a flair for or an interest in writing.

Where enthusiasm is a foundation, zeal takes shoot and it becomes easier to be creative. New ideas, better methods and other off spring of creative thinking will be evident simply because you enjoy what you do. Putting in physical effort becomes less tiring and extra hours seem but a little sacrifice to make. An enthusiastic individual is hardly fazed by distractions because he/she is willing to scale any hurdle in the way of making his dream project a success.

If success has eluded you in some of your past endeavours, I guess you can now easily recognise one of the contributing factors, lack of love for what you do. However, in the words of James Long, “One of the reasons God created time was that there would be a place to bury the failures of the past”. Your success stories are set to begin, starting NOW!

You can start with a re- orientation. Recondition your mind to love whatsoever it is you have found to do. This is likely consideration if you are stuck with your current work or job, where you really do not have a choice. For example, in child raising, switching kids may not be a possibility, so the earlier you start loving the idea, the better, that is, if raising great leaders of the future is your aim. Read books and other materials that are relevant to what you do and will make you understand it better. You can chat with other successful people in your line of duty. And get useful tips from them. Better still, (more likely for people who are their own boss!), seek out something you enjoy doing and give it your best. That way, you can make a success story out of it.

One great tool that comes handy in achieving a change in attitude is prayer. Jesus said in Matthew 7 vs. 7 that we should ask and we shall be given. There is no limit to what one can pray about, kids, jobs, relationships, etc. Develop a positive mindset, think positively and confess same. When you have developed the needed interest, your physical effort is set to produce great results.

Note: Success does not respect colour, sex or religion. Success only respects the price

-Novbe.