On Academics

This bloodless war we fight...
buried in the pages of findings...
while time takes its flight...
and we on its pages bending...
scoop what our minds and hands could find...
hoping to race against its timing...
this bloodless war...
to beat time in time...
bitten by the bug of thirst...
and dancing round the fire of knowledge...
staring to find an opening...
a door knob to life...
this bloodless war we fight to know it all...
and for our trophy...
learn that we cant win at all

Correcting Yesterday

Back then in the primary school, after every class work or assignments, we were always required to do our corrections especially when you did not get all your questions right. After the corrections, we will take our books to the teacher who will check it out and mark it and write 'Seen'. Looking back now at those days when all you need to do to correct something you got wrong is just to copy it from the board into your notes and submit for marking, you just wish life is that simple.

Sometimes we look back at those times when we took some decisions that altered our strides or defined certain unconvienient situations we are in today and we are like "if I can just go back, I will definitely correct that." Its just that life is not a mathematics or English language class assignment, so there might not be a board to copy our corrections from.

Does this now mean that once we have gone wrong we just have to remain that way and lick our wounds for life? Well...not really! It must be noted though that there are some mess-ups that will leave their scars forever. However, I believe all mistakes can be corrected. Even in life. Okay let us look at that a little bit closely.

Back then at the primary school, when we get a question wrong, the teacher takes us through the question again and we see the correct way to do it. The teacher then requires us to copy the correct analysis into our notes and submit for checking which he/she will endorse once it is corrected. The truth is that what is important is not the sum you copied into your notes for final checking, it is the one in your mind registered. No matter how much you copy the correct the one, if the one in your mind is not corrected, then you as good as you were when you got it wrong the first time. And it is the same with life. What is important and what will determine our peace is not the fact that we have been punished for taking a wrong step yesterday, it is the question of whether we have learnt our lessons. Have we looked critically at that wrong step we took? Have we discovered the point where we got it wrong? For some wrong steps we take, the remote cause is mostly earlier than the event itself. After knowing where we got it wrong, have we known how to do it right? As young as I am I have discovered that till you get certain things right life will always bring the same questions before you albeit in different forms. After discovering our points of errors and situations, we should just correct our mind and in more clearer terms, renew our minds.

Yesterday is always a day we will never see again...but its challenges may well come in other forms today. So if you got something wrong yesterday, correct it in your mind first today before trying to correct it in the physical and if you cannot, prepare for other challenges that will come along that trail. Once you get today and tomorrow right, you will have corrected yesterday.

WHAT WORKS WHEN EVERYTHING ELSE DOES NOT

Have you ever gotten to the point where it seems everything simply does not work? Maybe you see Tom next door doing good and you hear Daisy is flying high but you appear to be stuck in a rut. Or do you turn on the TV and see peeps who do not care which name honesty bears thriving and being celebrated? And you begin to wonder if honesty and being good can ultimately really bring you to the point of your desires. It has even become a norm in many quarters that you must succeed no matter how you get there or make that happen, after all "the end justifies the means." Then you need to know this:

Do you know that man cannot manufacture clay? It is a product of nature. You just meet it there in shapes that more often than not leaves little to be admired. Such is life. You did not create it, you just woke up to see you are here and sometimes it is not always a beautiful reception you get. But like clay, you have to sit when it is early enough in the day, wet your hands and produce what you want to see. It is not automatic mind you, but you have to have faith in your hands and mind, and you have to not be someone who gives up easily because you do not always get it at first try. And mind you, you have to start early enough or you have the sun to harden whatever you have whether done or not. Such is life.

You did not form the clay, nor did you create the sun, those two I will liken to life and your detractors. You do not have much power over the two, and for the detractors, they will always be there, you have to be the one to manage them the way you want. And there are two things that helps a porter, FAITH AND PERSISTENCE. These two will not leave you stranded in the long run if you are honest with them. And either ways, you need it. Either you want to do good or you want to do bad, these tools will be there to attend to you. But why do bad instead of doing good when you can avoid having conscience issues or hurting someone else unnecessarily for your desires? Moreso, the two takes the same channel, one just appears to be faster than the other, but the truth is that both are always close by, the extent of your faith and persistence determines how far you are from them.

So, does it appear as if nothing works? Are you considering ditching being good for being bad? Or are you doing bad because you feel good's paycheck appear late? Remember the porter and his clay and remember that as you work hard with FAITH AND PERSISTENCE, you will get to the point of your dreams so do not go bad.

Good morning.

WHY YOU MUST JUST BE YOURSELF

Everyone loves attention. We all want to be recognized for whoever we are or whatever we do and sometimes when we do not get that attention, we are not happy. Sometimes thee difference between a very confident person and a fidgety one is the amount of attention they have enjoyed in the past or have at present. Most times we tend to admire or envy people who receive more of this attention than us or who receive this attention in places that we have not. As a result sometimes we tend to imitate or try to copy some traits in the people we either admire or envy. This however is a personality killer.

Getting accepted by people around you is not necessarily about your finesse, how rich you are, how cruel or stern and so on, it is about how much you can believe in and stay true to your own personality. If you tell me something and you do not sound convincing or sure, I may be tempted to believe someone who does even though you may be right about what you are saying. Being assertive in your words, believing in your own styles and improving as much as you can in being yourself are one of the major keys to getting accepted and having the needed attention whenever you surface.

This does not mean that you should be rigid in your living or non-conformist in your way of life. You must know how to be diplomatic, dynamic and still stay true to yourself. Trying to be someone else will so not fit you that you will continually be frustrated at how hard you are trying and how little you are having successes.  Of course you can learn from others but never copy them at the expense of who you are.

The only person that fits you is you. So, don't be me, don't be him, just be you. Be honest with yourself, if you have personality issues, clear it. But without that, never trade yourself for another person. The thing is that there is something that makes you yourself, there is a distinct peculiarity in you and how you do things that guarantees that you are a star. 

Just  Explore it!

ALL I ASKED FOR EASTER

.

As the celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus is on-going and entering its final day, there are a few things I have come to ask and hope I will have in the coming month. Since this Easter is towards the end of March as today, the Easter Sunday is the last day in the month of March year 2013, here are my thoughts:

When this year began, I made up my mind that this year will be my year of progress in many things. Since the year began, ever so continuous are my desires for development per-time that I sometime ask myself if I am progressing at all.

We have spent three months in this year and looking at myself right now, all I still see are skeletons of my desire, not much flesh, evidences that my wishes can be granted if I just work harder. So, as we celebrate Easter, all I ask for are few, but strong things that will determine a lot.

If Jesus rose the third day, and the month of March is the third, then I guess the benefits of resurrection should start from the fourth day which in this case I will liken to the month of April. So, here I am, with written and clearly spelt out desires for the next month…April.

It remains to be seen if it will be enough, but all I want this April is complete, remarkable progress.

Happy Easter guys.

--- DMJ

TIME...

Time flies
Seasons whistle by
Moments pass by us
We laugh,
we cry,
We love,
We hurt,
And with life's lifeless hands
Our living is stripped
Bit by bits
Like we were being unleashed
Beautiful to the eyes
Yet a further unveiling
And we are left
Nothing but dusts

DEMYSTIFYING LIFE: “WHAT IS LIFE?!!!”

Many attempts have been made to determine the perfect definition for life. Some will say it is like a sea, stretching out beyond anyone and cannot be held on to, others will say it is like a market, we come to buy and to sell all that we have bought and then go away; some even claims it is war, you know, looking at the many things we go through in life like battles – survival, love, success, etc. These and many more definitions are being pushed forth as to what life is and life in its malleable self accommodates these definitions, but none of them is adequate to define life in an all-encompassing way. So, what is life then? Or is life going to be a topic we will never fully understand? But do you know life can stop being too much of a mystery to us? I mean we can demystify life. Let us then try out something and see how far we can go with it.

I think in our bid to understand life, we need to change our method of defining it. Let us stop looking at life as an entity on its own but as an engine set in motion by a person, people or a God. Do you know that what we call life today is not independent of the people living? In fact we have attempted to look at life as if it is a system operating independent of people and people are just thrown into it like a pack of lost aimless pawns. But NO! Humans make life what it is.

No matter the sector or section of life you are in, people determine what you see and experience and define as life. For example, if you are a young growing up person, you may see life as wonderful if SOMEONE or PEOPLE provide for you and you get all you need as and when due. An elderly man once said, “When I was young, I used to wonder why people trek and not go about in cars as I didn’t believe that there can be a family without one or two cars.” If you are a young man that had a hard time growing up because you did not have SOMEONE or PEOPLE or PARENTS who is rich and gives you everything on a platter of gold, you may see life as a battle. If you are a successful business man that PEOPLE patronize a lot, you may see life as beautiful. And if as a business person you have to do more to convince PEOPLE to patronize you, you may see life as a competition. So, what we call life is actually what we see and experience around us and that is determined mainly by the people we interact with as we live on. Even the uncertainty of life is mainly caused by the unexpected behavior of someone or people or a turn of events which is either caused by someone or some persons or related to someone or some persons. Knowing this? How do we then ply through life with ease?

Since life is a picture imprinted on our hearts based on how we view it, then we get to demystify it by just checking how we see it. You know all the positive confession things just explain this. Okay, here is it. Do you know that we see more from our mind and heart than from our eyes? Do you know that we hear more from our thoughts than from a loud speaker? That is why it is possible to be lonely while within a crowd and it also explains why we pick the aspect of a discussion that we pick. When some pastors are about to start their sermon they will pray that “Lord let it meet us AT THE POINT OF OUR NEEDS.” For example, if I am in debt, what will always catch my attention or be of maximum interest to me will be how to make money quick or how to get your debtors to forgive your debts. In fact this essay may not really interest someone who sees no reason to want to understand life. So we pick things based on what we have on our minds and that is determined by what we experience from people around us. An African adage even says, “It is the issue that bothers us the most that is the most frequent in our discussions.” So in essence, we see life in our minds and how we see life determines our response to it.

Our response here determines a lot in what we experience. Now, if someone hates you and you hate back, you cannot expect good. So if someone like that does you evil, do not say life is wicked. But if someone hates you and you choose to love the person, do you know that more often than not you will be getting positives from such a person? In fact you may sooner or later turn things around to your benefit. Do you know if you are a fire-for-fire kind of temperamental person you will more often than not turn good moments to a bad one for yourself? Do you know that when you are in the most difficult of situations, you will go through it easier and faster if you keep your mind positive and shun out as much as possible self pity? Do you also know that if you keep your mind positive while going for a job interview, you will approach it with more confidence and will more often than not get it? Do you know that if you are a business person and your colleague seems to be making more sales than you, with the right attitude you can up your own market and sales and even get that counterpart to be a partner? See, life is what we make of it and what we make of it is a consequence of what we keep in our minds. Then the big question will be WHAT OCCUPIES OUR MINDS? If you are always thinking of making it big through short-cuts you may sooner or later just be a fraudster or always not make it at all. If your mind is occupied by the right stuffs then you are 80% going to have a good life. Do you know that the unconscious director of our paths and life is our minds?

So guys, while life is a big topic to be defined in a simple sentence, it may just suffice us to know that the best definition for life can be given by no other person but you. While what we see of it is a factor of what we experience with other people, we hold a big stake in determining what we experience with those people. Our tool or should I say the engine room is our minds and hearts when they are wrong, we suffer; when they are right, we enjoy.