Positive Life & Relationship Blog

When a Newspaper Reporter interviewed a farmer who grew Award-Winning Maize each year he entered his maize in the Agricultural Show, it was revealed that the farmer shared his seed with his neighbours. Perplexed, the reporter asked, “How can you afford to share your best seed with your neighbours when they are entering their maize in competition with yours each year?” The farmer smiled knowingly and explained, “The wind picks up pollen from the ripening maize and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbours grow inferior maize, Cross-Pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my maize. If I am to grow good maize, I must help my neighbours grow a good crop.” So it is with our lives. Those who want to live meaningfully and well, must help enrich the lives of others. For the value of a life, is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy, must help others find happiness. For the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all. Call it power of colle...

Yes, I murdered him in cold blood!! Then I looked back and saw him still walking, still following me, then I decided to rip him apart and buried him thinking he would stop following, but he never did. He got up from mother earth and kept moving at my back........ I was becoming uneasy and frightened, so I decided not to look back anymore.... He was still following me, but I never looked back!!!.... Then, I never saw him again....!!! ----- That's how the Past acts. It will always be there as long as you look back at it...... But when u begin to look straight at the future, You wouldn't have to border about it anymore. It vanishes without you even noticing. Eze Victor Obinna

A woman has the ability to multitask. Sometimes you have to wake up early to study the Word, pray and prepare the day's meals. Other times, you come home by 10 pm, relax for a while, and study for hours before you give your bed a hug. Sometimes, you have to stay awake till 12 midnight to pray for open doors. Sometimes, in pursuit of your passion, you do two jobs. Sometimes, you keep the make-up aside because you have to maintain punctuality. Sometimes, you work so hard to give your parents a wonderful retirement. I know you've failed, sometimes, to keep up with the demands; you burnt that food because you had to fetch water; get your clothes ironed while cooking; you couldn't wake up as early as 5 am to prepare for work; you couldn't beat your face because you had to prepare the day's meal since you can't keep up with eating out anymore. I know you've failed to reach your daily goals, I know you've read one motivational book for 3 months, I know you fe...

Don't pretend for anybody so that they will like you. Don't try to be something you are not so someone will accept you. Being authentic paves the way for the people who love you for who you are to find you. Being authentic saves you so much stress in the long run. You won't be burdened with the problem of trying to remember what you said or why you did what you did. Your mind is lighter because everything you say is true and needs not be protected or defended; the truth defends itself. You find yourself telling someone the exact same thing you told them years ago, even though you had forgotten that you ever told them anything. Authenticity is spiritual freedom and is the only sure-fire way to go viral and to make an indelible mark on the planet. Uchenna Ilo

Forgiveness is the willingness to let go of the hurt. I've often heard people say that forgiveness is for the weak. So people let the pain they feel drive them on to revenge and all sorts of evil. Ebubeoniso Zudonu But relatively, forgiveness is for the strongest of men because they have come to the realisation that they love themselves too much to be drown in so much pain, sorrow, heartbreak, for another day. The more You forgive, the more Joy You have and the more healthy You become. So the key to forgiveness is "Self Love". Self love is everything. Moreover what do you want to do with all that misery and heart break, Eat it? Love Yourself today.

I was surfing the web some days ago and my love for football drove me like a fish into water and straight I went to the site footyroom to view football highlights. El Classico, Emirates Cup, let me quench my longing like a wife awaiting the return of her husband from war. As the site got loading, a video on the top of the screen caught my attention. And the caption, “5 things you did not know about coffee” arouse my curiosity and I was fixed. Let me see what these oyibo people think they know better. The video played on, point after point and I could not argue, I was fixated like my life depended on it. The clarity of the message, talking about the volume of coffee consumed each day, worldwide. New York, the city that consumes the highest volume of coffee and the fact that Starbucks opened two shops each day since 1987. I was smiling at the simplicity of the message, the facts and then the story woven inside. It was a beautiful mix that climaxed in unveiling Starbucks to the viewe...

70% of Leaders rose to stardom through the influence and impact of other leaders who directly or indirectly mentored them. Arguable, how far an individual can go in Life and Leadership can be traced down to the leaders or people who mentored and equipped them for Leadership. In the political arena, this may be referred to as "God fatherism". Most persons undergo a coaching process. Who Mentors Help? Mentoring is a parenting process to teach, equip, learn, make another better or become better for an assignment or task. Leaders acknowledge the fact that true success is measured by succession; this determines a leader’s level of effectiveness. Learn to follow the legacy of good mentors and coaches, and strive to achieve even more; also try to make a positive impact in the lives of others through mentorship. You may not need a mentor or coach, getting one is not a must. But having a mentor who is committed to your growth helps you leverage on their own experience and shorte...

One thing common among African youths is the penchant for having lofty dreams without any surgically precise plans to execute them. The African youth will always talk the talk and not work the walk. "I want to have a book club in my community where we will educate ourselves on our history and use it as a means to build archaeological artifacts and ornaments thereby making our community a hub for ancestral tourism" That is an intention. You intend to.. You intend to. Get up and execute! Start by documenting interviews with the elders in your community. "Intention is not a factor of production". "Oh I want to have an Innovation and Resource centre where youths become ingenious by training themselves with soft skills necessary to foster technologies that are flexible with the ever evolving global dynamics" That is an intention. You intend to.. You intend to. Get up and execute! You have a laptop but you will invite all your friends and you guys will pla...

Every one of us is full of hope. We have hopes, that's how we live our lives after all. Most of us live in cheerful expectancy, and we term it as being optimistic. That's good! There is no need for arguments. We believe that things are going to get better; we are confident that things will work out the way we actually wished they will... Dear, I salute your confidence. We enter Colleges and Universities with the hope that life is going to be great; that we are going to get our dream jobs and live our dream lives with our dream spouse once we graduate. We hope to be better friends, better parents, better citizens, better... That's what some of us do. To hope, just that! Then, when things we wished for do not happen as we wanted them..., we play the blame game. We blame everybody. We blame the government, our leaders, bosses, colleagues, friends, parents, relatives... But we don't blame ourselves ! We sit back and do nothing about it. We complain. We continue wi...

This inspiration is from a motivational video - FEAR by: Younes Marxieu. ----- I don't know what that dream is that you have. I don't care how disappointed it might have been as you've been working toward that dream. But here's what I know - that dream that you're holding in your mind, that it's possible. See, sometimes we can say I can do that. But what we can't say that it's possible, that I can have my dream, as we run towards it, as we work on it day in and day out. And most people don't work on their dreams why? One is because of fear. ----- And that's why you'll never be what you wanna be. That's why you'll never have what you wanna have. That's why you'll never accomplish what... ----- Success guys, are a very, very lonely road man. On that road you're not gonna see too many friends. It's your shadow, most often. ----- I wish I could tell you, you tried, go take a break. I wish I could tell you, you t...

I still maintain this position - God does not do trial and error with life. You are God's image; You are not a prototype of what he intends to create but you are the real deal, his actual and intentional creation, designed for a purpose, created through prophecy from the beginning. You already existed in Him before your physical manifestation on earth. He understood and designed, recorded and carefully calculated the unique genetic mix for your creation. Psalm 139:16 (AMP): Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. He arranged and aligned the correct order of events in your life even before you were formed, defining everything about you, your shape, curves, form and even to predestining your geographical location. He placed you in Nigeria intentionally, your State, Local Government area, community and family. Acts 17:26 (AMP): And He made from one [common origin, o...

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19) ...but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all (Mark 10:43-44) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11:24) Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you (Luke 10:19) But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls, And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? (Luke 11:17-18) *WORDS from Revised Standard Version (RSV)

It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see (Anonymous) Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back (Harvey Mackay) At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us (Albert Schweitzer) Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude (Lou Holtz)

Jane: I miss John. I sometimes feel like I made a mistake breaking up with him. Jennifer: But he was hitting you. Jane: I know, I know, but I still miss him. Jennifer: Don't you even think of going back, he's a monster. You don't love him, at least not anymore. Jane: Then why do I still miss him so? Jennifer: Deep down in you, do you want him back? I mean, after the battering and all? Jane: (few minutes silence) Now I'm confused. Have you ever missed something, and yet not want it back? Have you ever missed a past relationship, an ex, a past life, and yet, still not want it presently? It happens all the time. It's important we understand that missing something is different from loving and wanting something. You miss that person, that relationship, that life you once loved BECAUSE of the beautiful memories, the good times you probably shared or experienced; the ups, the gifts, the funny and nice way they made you feel. On some days, we miss people and stuffs,...

Counselling Session: ME: Your fiancée, Jane tells me you say she doesn't know how to laugh, is that true? HIM: Yes, it is. I have tried teaching her how to laugh like a real lady should, like her friend Janet, but have met with little progress. ME: Wawu... And emmm, She also tells me you think her walking step is awkward and needs improvement, is that correct? HIM: Yes, I have told her to look and learn how to walk like Janet her friend; more feminine and with more poise and style. ME: And you complain about her height too (I wonder what you want her to do about that) and her figure; and you think her eyes are too deep inside, like mine. Is that correct? HIM: Yes, I have asked her to put on some weight around her hips and loose some around her waist like Janet. ME: I see. Considering all these, the ones I have mentioned and the ones I didn't that you want to change about her, may I ask you a simple question, please? Do you love her? HIM: Of course I do, with all my hear...

This is an inspiring Success Story by Dr. Ewere Thompson Nosa, a Medical Doctor and graduate of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) Dr. Ewere Thompson Nosa ----- After rounding up my Secondary School education, and losing my Dad to the cold hands of death in 2009; I decided to fend for myself, and complement the support I was getting from my wonderful siblings. I had to do this because I don't like depending on anyone wholly, plus the fact that finance was limited and things were not all rossy. So I started off as a phone technician at Third junction in Benin. It wasn't easy for me as I was a bit too young and innocent to hussle in such kind of environment. I faced a lot of reproach, rejections and oppressions. I can remember a day I was beaten up at my work place, by some cultists for not fixing their phones to their specification. I also faced a lot of disappointments even among my loved ones. Well, that's all history. I endured all and passed...

Counseling Session: ME: So if I got you correctly, you have been in 6 different relationships in the space of 1 year? HER: Yes. ME: And ALL the young men you dated had one thing in common, right? HER: Yes, that's what I said. ME: And that one thing is? HER: It's quite amazing and annoying, they ALL turned out to be complete Idiots. ME: Hmmm, interesting. Do you know something else they all amazingly had in common? HER: No, Please, do tell. ME: YOU Sometimes , the problem begins with the man in the mirror ! Musa Gift (MG)

There is much pressure on girls to 'worry about their looks' Some people have resigned due to 'pressure of work' Some wish they could just go back to the village due to the 'pressures of city life' People who are not yet married are under 'pressure to get married' Those who are married are under 'pressure to keep up with family life'. Some are wishing they never married. Some ladies who decided to delay sex till marriage are under 'pressure of sex' due to the fact that they have lost some of their suitors. If we are sincere to ourselves we all face one kind of pressure or the other, seasonally or consistently. So how can we handle it? There are different recommendations on how to manage pressure, but permit to share one with you. You may not be a student of mathematics or a mathematician, but I'm sure you will be able to grab this. What is pressure? It is the use of persuasion or intimidation to make someone do something. The...

1. Make friends with Successful people and occasionally buy them gifts and surprise them with lunch because successful people always give and hardly get, so when you give them, they value the gift a lot. 2. Get a mentor and follow his instructions and respect the relationship. Never beg your mentor for money or disrespect his or her privacy. 3. Make new positive friends as often as possible and ensure you keep the communication line open. Create a network of friends and not just connections. 5. Show kindness to everyone. Some small boys today will be big boys tomorrow. The biggest dog in the neighbourhood was once a puppy. Keep the information/secret to yourself. 6. Always plan ahead and be proactive. He that plans the future works less in the future. 7. Listen to speeches and messages from great teachers, both religious and educational. 8. Attend seminars and trainings on any area you need to improve yourself - Train the trainer, personal development, public speaking, sales etce...

I love to share some relationship quotes by a colleague, great friend and a contributor on this blog, Musa Gift (MG). Musa Gift (MG) Here are the quotes: • When You have given your All in a relationship, and it's still not enough; then it's time to rethink if you are giving it to the Right person. To the wrong Person, all you are or can become will never be enough. To the Right Person, You are already enough. • Only weak men get intimidated by strong women. The Strong celebrate The Strong! • God made You someone's spouse; not to give the person competition , but to give that person Completion . Stop competing, Start Completing! • People do not get married with a plan to end it in Divorce. Divorce is the result of people getting married without a plan on how NOT to end in divorce. Have a Plan. Great marriages do not happen by mistake. Be intentional about your marriage.

I once wrote about how I mismanaged success. Having learnt from my mistakes, I would like to share some things that may help you, as you succeed. 1. Be careful about how you treat friends and old allies. As you grow busier, do not delegate a friend to your Personal Assistant to deal with. It may be more efficient, but it sends a signal that your friendship is no longer a priority. As you succeed, there will be jobs you can no longer take and accounts you can no longer service. Be careful about how you communicate that. Try to be helpful by referring others who can do a good job. 2. Manage your fame and the "sudden" income that comes with it. Do not be the man or woman who spends so much time planning for success, yet spends little time preparing for its outcome. Focus on creating sustainable wealth from seasonal fame. Remember, fame is mercurial but a rich person will always be relevant across several industries. 3. There will come a time when the universe smiles on you. I...

Recently, I noticed my whatsapp status was gaining lots of attention and as a very good badt guy, I was strategic with the content I share there. As with all my social media touchpoints, I would look at the “analytics” observe the views, those that did view, the time of the day, the contents that got attention, video or pictures, funny, serious, educating or entertaining. I observe and make necessary adjustments. Femi was a neighbor in the heart of Lekki and when I noticed he started paying attention to my status in recent weeks, I knew he was forming an opinion of me, just like anyone who looks at your brand and content. When he sent a message and offered an opportunity to host an event, dinner for lawyers, I knew my strategic contents have paved way. He even mentioned I did not come to mind weeks back as he would have referred me for a high class wedding in Lekki. Well, I was in Warri having fun, meeting great peeps, bonding with family and hosting a wedding anyways. So, ...

"Every life's battle is less about what the challenging situation calls itself; it's more about what you call the situation!" - DrOsaz America's greatest inventor (of devices like light bulb, motion picture camera, phonograph, etcetera), Thomas Edison, once came back home from school as a little kid with a paper for his mother. He told her, “My teacher told me to give this paper only to my mother.” Thomas’ mother read the note & her eyes filled with tears. Wondering why, Thomas asked his mother what the note said, and she looked at him with a smile and read aloud; “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.” And that’s exactly what Thomas’ mother did; she home-schooled her child with devotion and dedication. Many years later, after Thomas Edison’s mother passed on, and he was now one of the world’s greatest inventors, he found a folded paper among other family ite...

Be consistent at what you do. Your present circumstance may seem far from your preferred future. You may seem so far away from the big picture you envisage but just keep doing what you do. Learn daily to be sure you are on the right track. Take inventory of your life or whatever project you are on. Learn better ways to do what you do. Just don't stop. The reward is in the consistency because with consistency comes growth and increase in value. Ekwe Chijioke

If You wanna change the world, Start off by making Your bed. If You make Your bed every morning, You will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give You a small sense of pride, and will encourage You to do another task, and another, and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that the little things in life matter. If You can't do the little things right, You'll never be able to do the big things right. If, by chance, You have a miserable day, You will come home to a bed that is made. That You made. And a made bed gives You encouragement that tomorrow will be better. (from a Video: University of Texas at Austin 2014 Commencement Address – Admiral William H. McRaven) Stay Positive!

Bayo was once more in a depressed mood. He had just returned from the Tuesday Bible Study, which he had handled. As had become his pattern recently, he was once again in deep thoughts. He was a gifted teacher of the word, and he knew it, but he had noticed that each time he taught, every one was quiet. But when a brother, Matthew leads the Praise, everyone seemed happy and excited. People would shout for joy, or cry in deep adoration. He didn't get such responses from people, whenever he taught; no one cried, they just listened and probably grew in faith. Matthew's face appears on posters for worship concerts and he's popular in and outside the church; while he (Bayo) was just an ordinary "teacher of the Word." At least, that's how he saw things. He made a decision to stop teaching and join the choir. Albeit many people (both old and young) have found themselves in a similar dilemma as Bayo. How we envy one another and we fail to realize that everybody is g...

Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established (Proverbs 16:3) Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17) Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised (Hebrews 10:35-36) So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead (James 2:17) *WORDS from Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Today, I share some quotes from a friend. Let's be inspired by these quotes. • I learnt how to play the keyboard the wrong way. I loved short cuts so I boycott all the fingering trainings and exercises because I wanted to play fast. Of course, I did play fast but I have not progressed much because I didn't allow process to take its course. Any process you deliberately ignore will laugh at you in your face. Process, though may be slow, gives lasting advantage. • It is more useful to speak the truth before a legal conviction than after. Of what impact is the truth when it comes ill-timed. • When the voice of the hopeless is neglected long enough, the voice of the hopeless may become the voice of the people. • We may have mastered the taming of our eyes and mouths from evil, but there is one powerful doorway to our spirit we neglect - our ears. Block listening to negativity with all you have. Faith comes by hearing, so does fear and defeat. Raphael Donanu

Just a summary of transfers within the past week: Blaise Matuidi (Paris St-Germain to Juventus) Gabriel Paulista (Arsenal to Valencia) Jese Rodriguez (Paris St-Germain to Stoke) (Loan) Gylfi Sigurdsson (Swansea City to Everton) Gareth Barry (Everton to West Brom) Sofiane Feghouli (West Ham to Galatasaray) In Week 2 of the EPL, Manchester united grabbed a well deserved victory against Swansea city and maintained their lead at the top of the table. Liverpool grabbed a win against Crystal Palace, while Arsenal lost to Stoke City. Tomorrow, Sunday, August 20, Tottenham takes on Chelsea. In La liga, Barcelona takes on Real Betis while Deportivo La Coruna takes on Real Madrid.

"I am as passionate about personal health and fitness as I am about financial health. I believe your health is your most prized possession. It amazes me how many people pay no attention to their health. ... You know what you’re supposed to eat. We all do. Fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbs, salads, whole foods, lean meats, more fish and poultry than beef... You know it, I know it, we all know it. So why do so many of us still go out and chow down cheeseburgers and fries every day? I’ll tell you why: because it won’t kill us. Not today. If you ate a cheeseburger and immediately suffered a near-fatal heart attack, would you ever go near a cheeseburger again? I doubt it. It may take twenty or thirty years, but when you add up the compounded interest on all that high-fat, artery-clogging dietary mayhem, eventually your poor overworked heart just quits, stops dead. And so do you. It has been said that we dig our graves with our teeth. It’s easy to ea...

There will always be issues in relationships, and solving problems can be a skill, or something you can at least have an idea about. There are three solutions to almost all problems that's encountered in relationships; 1. Accept it 2. Change it 3. Leave it Let's take the example: You met a guy who approached you for a relationship, and which you accepted. Down the line, you got to learn that he's a mummy's boy, and that's a problem with you. For the Dude, let's say you discovered that your fiancée is very untidy and dirty. Of course, you've got a problem with that. Now, what does one do? 1. Accept it : Well, at least he is kind, or romantic, you justify. You try to see the positive side of him and then you choose to live with it like that. You accept . She's beautiful though untidy. But she can cook for Africa, I can always clean up after her, I'll manage. So you accept it . There will be little faults about people that we can overlo...

For you to be successful and safe, you must take control of your weaknesses, master them, find strengths in them by converting those disadvantages into advantages. What comes to your mind after reading the above? I could tell where your mind must have gone to. However, I'm going to relate that statement to an aspect of relationship. We must be familiar with this statement: "Men are moved (attracted) by what they see ; Ladies are moved ( attracted ) by what they hear " Let me relate this to the first statement. Look at it this way: For a man, "what he sees" is the weakness that needs to be mastered and converted into strength; while for the Lady, "what she hears" is the weakness that needs control, and turned into an advantage. If a man is dominated by this weakness, he will constantly not get satisfied with a lady. He'll be a confused one, with no direction, no focus as he'll be constantly getting attracted to a lot of attractive an...

Ikejiofor Izuchukwu Fear is a very essential component of living. It's a tool that's guides our lives and helps prevent tears. It's pretty normal to have fear; the fear of tomorrow. For a student; the fear of what happens when you graduate, the fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of all. The impact of the fear could build a soul or kill it. The problem is not the fear. Everyone has the fear (the prettiest, the wealthiest, the most intelligent and the most spiritual). The problem is how you channel the fear. Do you let the fear of failure stop you from starting, or push you for better? It's quite not feasible to see people who "fear not." Those who make it are those who use the fear as a propelling force for better yield. Are you afraid you will fail? We all are. Let that push you not to fail. And if you fail at something, after you do so, let the fear push you not to fail again! Fear is a good thing. Use it properly.

We must all know what Jealousy is. I doubt there's anyone who hasn't had that feeling in his or her entire life. When this feeling is recognized and is under the control of the individual, it's more preferable, to having this feeling control one. As I'll always say, everything can be viewed from the two sides of a coin, the positive and the negative side. One's ability to blend in both sides and turn both into one's advantage is Great! What important stuffs does jealousy point out about a person? If you always find yourself being jealous of other persons successes, or you tend to always feel less of yourself whenever you see or hear about the success of a friend, colleague, any other person; or you seem to put on a sort of unhealthy personal pressure that tends to want to make you surpass the success of another person whose achievement, you may be jealous (and envious) about... then you've got to check out yourself. If you've got dreams, goals, a vis...