Morning Music!

Getting six hours of sleep everyday is not enough but I really don't have a choice with my crazy schedule :S and so I have started listening to UPBEAT music in the morining to pump me up for my day. Here is something that slaps the weariness out of me LOL



God Bless You :-)

I Just Can't

"Excuses are nails used to build the house of failure" Don Wilder

It's habitual for us to make excuses in all areas of our lives.When we think about doing something, we always have an excuse to escape the hard work (I do that a lot). Excuses hinder us from pursuing our dreams (the only one you are hurting is you).

"I am still young"
"I have time"
"I'm still a student"
"Who will help me"
"I'm not smart enough"
"I don't have the money"
"I don't have the time"
"I will fail"

As we make excuses, the clock keeps ticking and our dreams drift away. We just become creatures of habit, going with the flow; wherever the wind blows.

I don't know about you but, this year, I am going to take chances, pursue the dreams I had as a child and LIVE FOR THEM.

A return to love - marianne williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,gorgeous, talented, fabulous?Actually, who are you not to be?You are a child of God.Your playing small does not serve the world.There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.We are all meant to shine, as children do.We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone.And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.As we are liberated from our own fear,our presence automatically liberates others.

Let Go

I'm :( at my PC typing this, it erased my previous post and I have to rewrite and remember everything I said before.

Forgive and Forget

That is what we say

Easier said than done

You remember the incident

You picture the person

Or even worse, see the person

And the old feeling of anger, revenge and repulsion

surge back in

"To Forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you" Unknown

As we learn to "Forgive, I pray God will help us develop the excellent spirit He wants us to have!

Forgiveness by Paul Gordon and John Caird

You mustn't be revengeful
You have to be strong
To offer good for evil
Return right for wrong
We must not hold a grudge
And we must learn to endure
Then as God is your judge
At least your heart will be pure

Forgiveness is the mightiest sword
Forgiveness
Of those you hate
Will be your highest reward

When they bruise you with words
When they make you feel small
When it's hardest to bear
You must do nothing at all

Forgiveness is the simplest vow
Forgiveness
Of all their crimes
Is your deliverance now

Bless those souls
Who would curse your name
When the last bell tolls
You'll be free of blame

You can continue to grieve
But know the gospel is true
You must forgive those who lie
And bless them that curse you

Forgiveness is the mightiest sword
Forgiveness
Of those you fear
Will be your highest reward

The time will come when we will leave this world, and the injustice and
the pain and the sin will fall away from us, and only the spark of the
spirit will remain--returning to God who created it.

You must never lose Faith
You must never lose Heart
God will restore your trust
And I know you're afraid
I'm as scared as you are
But willing to be brave
Brave enough for love.

Get It Together - India.Arie

My Shoes

I woke up one day and I realised that there were many things

about my life I was not satisfied with or better still, there

were challenges that were threatening my soul.

And I said to myself, "Why should anyone envy me and want

to be in my shoes." They don't know how far I've come, they

don't know what lies ahead of me, and neither do they know

how dissatisfied I get with myself from time to time.

People don't know the troubles that you've had or the price

you had to pay to get where you are. All they want to know

is that they wish they were like you.

Why should you wish you were in some other persons shoes when you

hardly know how they fit?

When you've worn your shoes for a while, they take the shape

of your feet and align to the way you walk. If you were to

wear my shoes, you will not be comfortable in them.

So I stopped wishing that I am in someone else shoes because

it might not fit; rather I thank God for my shoes, because

THEY FIT PERFECTLY :-)

I have learnt to be the best in what I do, and I know no-one

can replace me anywhere and in any sphere.

I am an original, my God is not in the cloning business.

He make originals!

Song- A day in your life by Chrisette Michele. This was the best version I could find :-(...very good song!

Father's Love Letter :-)

Taking Time

This has been one of the most stressful two weeks of my life!!! Mental drainage, frustration, deadlines everyday... you name it. It's finally OVER and so I'm taking serious time off to relax...I am NOT thinking about anything this weekend that's for sure LOL...Body no be firewood!

Some of the things you can do to relieve z stress...

1) Sleep

2)Listen to soothin' moosik with candles lit up - bubble bath

3)Go out for a walk

4)Find a quite place, free from people that make you angry or complain

5)Read a book

6)Do some ativities you enjoy eg. draw, paint etc

7)Watch a good movie

8)Don't be afraid to say NO

9)BREATHE

10)And lots more...fill in the blank

Hope you take time once in a while this year to relax from your busy schedules. It is essential for our health :-). Signing off withhhhhh Ledisi's "Take Time "

More Than Money

Where will all the money go when you die?

False Authority!

What a day! What a day this has been already...

Woke up a lil late this morning because I was up late studying for an exam, which wasn't good coz I had to rush out of the house as fast as I could this morning b4 I missed the test. Got in the parking lot of school and saw a car with flashing blue and red lights cruising behind me - their first prey for the morning I presume. Yup! you guessed right it was the popo, olopa, POLICE!!! :-(

Me thinking "Should I cry? Should I beg? Gosh I'm late for my exams already...no chance to relax sef *hiss*. But WAIT a minute, I don't recall running any lights, I signaled, did not go above the speed limit ??? I mean, what the heck @*&^%$! Ok be calm W"

I just chilled, turned off my upbeat/wake up in the morning music...(thanking God I had all my documents in the car lol...)...there was not only one but two cops approaching me from both sides of my car, touch their gun and all, how dreadful---was a bit scared oh...hmm

Police: Do you know you just ran a red light
Me: No...didn't see it...kinda rushing for an exam...(trying to be as calm and polite as I could be before they taze me)
Police: You did run one at McA and bla bla bla
Me: hmmm...really?
Police: Can I see your ID
Me: OK...gave him
Police: Insurance
Me: sure...gave him
Police: School ID
Me: Are you seriously kidding me...this man is pushing it!!!- gave him

Went to do some verification and all and came back saying - we are gonna give you a warning this time...but be careful next time...thanks for your corporation and its good you had your seat belt on :-S...nonsense...at least that saved me the time of going to dispute whatever tichet there were wrongly tryna give me.

Now I'm 20 mins late thinking....OK I've gotten stopped b4 but only one cop came up...so he must have doing some training or something...bottom line is I DID NOT RUN THE RED LIGHT...gosh...must have been the scapegoat for the morning but thank God all went well.

What I'm trying to say is that authorities are not always right even though they are suppose to be knowledgeable about some certain things.

I'll liken it with.....

your parents, teachers, police, elder ones, boss, pastor,husband or wife etc may be right SOME of the time and Your the only one that can back yourself up in some certain areas

(2 Timothy 2:15 KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

A teacher gives lectures but you have to do more studying on your own...if not you go fail

A parent raises you, it's left to you to decide what is good or bad with the Lord's guidance

A pastor leads you in the path of righteousness, it's left for you to work out your own salvation!!!

OK I'm done with my ramblings today ...... :-)

Yay!!! TGIF

Process of Change

I just had a talk with one of my friends that I better take note of... I was talking to her about creating a system for getting organized. She responded to me with, "You don't GET organized, you GROW organized."

Often we talk about wanting to GET organized, or GET fit. If only we could GET to these places, everything would be better...but that's not the way it works.

We GROW. Change happens through a process, not instantly. One small step at a time adds up to become a big step. When we are consistent in making the small steps, we can one day look at where we've come and recognize that we're organized, or fit, or...

God will help us all

What pieces in your life do you you wish different? how will you begin to grow into better you?

God is real!!!

God is real India Arie

Sweetest honey to the brightest flower the largest plant
Into the smallest atom, snow flakes in the bird kingdom,
Smaller than the eye can see,
Bigger than the mind can concieve. (oh)
Heard a man on the radio today,
Must confess I disagreed with what he had to say.

How can he not believe that God is real,
I don't understand how he could feel that way. When
There's earth air water and fire.
So many different flowers, sunshine and rainshower,
So many differnt crystals and hills and volcanos.

That's how I know that God is real
(all of this is not by chance)
That's how I know that God is real
(all of this is not by chance)
That's how I know that God is real
(I know this is not by chance)
That's how I know that God is real
That's how I know that God is real.

In Saint Lucia, I jumped in the water.
For the first time I understood its power.
As I swam, I was cleansed.
If I had any doubts, this experience cleared them.

Now I know for sure that God is real.
I know that it's the truth by the way it feels (uh-huh)
Cause I saw starfish and sponges,
Fish and black trumpets,
So many different colors I stayed
Out there for hours and I only saw a fraction of a fraction,
Of the deep of the deep,
Of the great blue wide.
It Brought a tear to my eye.

We're made of the same stuff as the moon and stars.
The ocean's salt water just like my tears are.
You feel me the sun rises and sets everyday without fail

That's how I know that God is real
(all of this is not by chance),
That's how I know that God is real
(all of this is not by chance),
That's how I know that God is real
(all of this is not by chance),
That's how I know that God is real

Earth, air, water, and fire
Earth, air, water, and fire
Earth, air, water, and fire
That's how i know that God is real

Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.

Speak Life

For by thy WORDS thou shalt be justified, and by thy WORDS thou shalt be condemned - Matt 12:37

For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he SAITH shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he SAITH - Mark 11:23

1) The Words you speak identify you
2) The Words you speak set the boundaries of your life.
3) The Words you speak affect your inner man;your spirit.

Listen to the WORDS you speak!

Negative 2 Positive

Happy New Year!!! This Year shall be the start of great things to come in our lives in Jesus Name!! I started this blog to share inspiring reads and songs that I come across. I discovered this really motivating writer, http://www.ofilispeaks.com/ who lives in Texas, originally from naija...His stories are truely moving. Here is one - long but worth it :-)

Rising Up From Within

A farmer owned an old donkey, one day the donkey accidentally fell into a dry well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. The farmer threw a rope down to the donkey in an attempt to lift the donkey out of the well but this attempt failed as the well was too deep and narrow for the donkey to be pulled by the rope. The farmer made several different attempts to rescue the donkey, but all to no avail. He finally gave up on his attempts, thinking to himself, “an old donkey and dry well are not worthy to be saved”…instinctively he grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well, in order to cover up the well and simultaneously bury the wounded donkey.

This story reflects the reality of life, we fall into a bad situation be it getting fired from work, failing intermittently at a degree, financial crisis and people give up on us. At first they attempt to lift us up out of our situation, but sometimes their attempts are futile and instead of trying and trying we are left abandoned. Sometimes we are told to just give up. I know many stories of people that made a pact to go to college and do something with their lives, but because they have bad grades in their first few semesters, people that they look up to such as Professors, Friends even Parents start doubting their ability, saying things such as “why don’t you change your major?” or “why don’t you consider something different?” inherently burying their dreams and aspirations.

Sometimes we are not told to quit, but rather are allowed by friends and ourselves either directly or indirectly to remain in our current states mediocrity. This is what I call a slow carcinogenic death, because we don’t know that it is killing us until it is too late. Zig Ziglar motivational speaker tells a story about how this phenomenon can occur. If you drop a frog into boiling water, he will sense the pain and immediately jump out. However, if you put a frog in room-temperature water, he will swim around happily, and as you gradually turn the water up to boiling, the frog will not sense the change. The frog is lured to death by gradual change.

The same happens to us, we aren’t even aware that we are slowly dying; we just trot along like everything in life is OK. I remember vividly in Nigeria, my elementary school teacher told our class they were 3 types of brains. The brain A’s were the ones that heard the information and understood it immediately, they were smart ones. The brain B’s were the ones that heard and needed to study the information to understand, the average ones, while the brain C’s were the ones that heard the information, studied it back and forward, forward and back but still did not get it, the stupid ones. For some reason, I accepted that I was a brain B, not smart enough to be a brain A, but at least not stupid enough to be a brain C. This crippling mindset followed me all through high school, until “I fought my first battle from within.” My first 3 semesters in high school, I had what you would call an acceptable results for a brain B type. However, in my fourth semester things changed! Either I got dumber or my classmates got smarter, but whatever the case my result that semester was simply woeful. Coming from a family of very high academic standards (Dad was an engineer and Mum was currently a teacher and my senior brother was the President of the organization Brain A’s smart!) I was expecting the worst, an outburst of some sort from my parents over my results. But when I delivered it to them they said nothing, you see they had (to no faults of theirs) accepted the fact that I was not academically inclined to excel like the Brain A’s, just like the Farmer had given up on the donkey. But something in me got angered on the inside, I could have accepted what they had said and slowly and surely died like the frog in a sea of mediocrity. But I heard something louder than any beating or shouting I had ever received, it was a silence so loud that it shook the very foundations of mediocrity rooted in me. I decided from that they forward that I was going to shoot for excellence and so I did, my mindset totally changed I approached college with this feverish and addictive thirst for excellence. I left high school and college with academic records that would have made any parent proud. I remember driving with my dad once, right after I had graduated high school, he told me “that he was proud of me and did not believe I would make it to this level years ago.” I was so happy with those words, but remembered how close I was to accepting what was expected of me.

So when people give up on you completely or put you down gradually, fight the battle from within and strive for excellence. Remember “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt.

The farmer invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realizing what was happening, the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly. Then, a few shovel-fulls later, he quieted down completely. The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovel-full of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off, to the shock and astonishment of everyone.

The donkey in this story, refused to accept the faith he was given. Instead he used the negativity thrown at him to rise up. The truth is that life is not a fairy tale, it would be nice if we could all waltz through life with people telling us how amazingly talented and beautiful we are. But the truth is that life puts us down, telling us that we can’t, telling us to give up, telling us to quit, telling us to aim for lower goals. And the irony? We accept, what life throws at us. Humans are funny creatures, we tend to focus on the negatives as opposed the positives. We let the negatives bring us down and don’t allow the positives to uplift us. People would go even as far as taking a positive situation and turning it into a negative, those are the donkeys that would choke themselves with the rope the farmer handed down to them. Rhonda just had her portrait made. Her friend tells her how beautiful she looks. Rhonda instead brushes aside the compliment by saying that the photographer must have touched up the picture. She says she never looks that good in real life. Behaviors like this is all but ubiquitous, there is something that attracts us to the negative, this sickening cycle of self pity versus self upliftment. The greatest people however are the ones that are able to focus on the positives, whilst simultaneously using the negatives to motivate them.

There is a story about an African American who grew up in the fifth ward of Houston; his life was stuck in a quagmire of violence, crime and anger. One day he was caught by one of his cousins sneaking out of the house in order to dodge school, his cousin shouted out to him “go on I won’t tell anybody, nobody in this neighborhood has ever amounted to success.” Something in those words pricked him deep in his soul, he could have accepted the words and continued on a path to self destruction, but instead he took those negative words as a catalyst to propel himself away from that path. He joined the US job corps where he picked up the art of boxing, several years later he went on to win the 1968 Gold medal in boxing. Since then George Foreman has held the heavy weight championship title on several occasions and now spends his time ministering to youths. A classic story of someone, who took a single negative statement and used it to elevate himself to extraordinary heights, just like the donkey in the story, who used the dirt that was meant to bury him as a prop to get out of its precarious situation.

We are like a child chained up by negativity, but the keys of positivity are scattered around us. If we for one second concentrate on the keys of positivity we would free ourselves from the negativity that holds us down. Find the positive in every situation, replace negative phrases with I can, I will, I am beautiful, I will succeed.

Dave Ramsey best selling author says “the key to winning any battle is to identify the enemy” for many of us that enemy is us, the greatest battle we will ever face starts from within, only when we are able to win that battle, can we take our first step towards excellence.

By Okechukwu Ofili