"Self Discovery Demystified"

    Self discovery is a major and a vital part of an individual's existence on earth. In the process of self discovery, there's an unlimited unfolding of human competence and essence for living. Self discovery opens you up to a large wealth of potentials and gifts you never knew you had, and brings you into the consciousness of greatness embedded in you.

  Leland val van de once noted that: "The degree to which a person can grow and accomplish in life, is directly proportional to the amount of himself, he knows". Here's a little illustration: In the game of football, a team is made up of eleven players, and they don't all play the same roles. This therefore implies that, for any player to make the team, he must have first discovered himself and where he fits.

   Know this, "You were awesomely designed and graciously assigned for a purpose". Your success in life is neither defined nor determined by external features, but is solely dependent on discovering who you are and what you are made of and for.
  
    These questions ~ "Who am I? What was I born to do? Why am I here? Where do I fit? What is my potential? ~ are global questions that hunt the being of every human. Each of us will discover the answers to these questions of identity in the place of self discovery, in order for us to enjoy a meaningful, effective, and fulfilling life.
                                 Thank you.

By Prince Anthony | The Conceptionist. Contact him on Facebook- Obiajuru Prince Anthony, Instagram @iam_ princethony.

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Self Discovery Towards Successful Accomplishments

        I will be taking you on a drive. Did I hear you say to where? Yes I am taking you on a ride somewhere. Sit back, relax as we ride through the lane of self discovery towards successful achievements and accomplishments. 
       Paulo Coelho, the Portuguese novelist said, " the act of discovering who we're will force us to accept that we can go further than we think ". This statement lies on the back drop of making great feat towards success and laudable achievements.  No man who has ever acquired great heights is ever ignorant of himself, it is in one's bid to knowing oneself that the great you is bring revealed and unveiled. Note that you're intrinsically successful but that success is locked up, it lurks in you. It takes self discovery to have the treasures in you revealed. 
      All men possess success in them however, ignorance of self is naivety of purpose and the treasures that lies sleeping and veiled. 
       Ralph Waldo Emerson once said,“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us". This simply means that though we may seem to experience external accomplishment based on your joint participation such as in organizations, company or even in school. It is nothing compared to the great feat and possibility that lies in you. 
      The error we make is we think communal success is equivalent to personal success, this is not true. Do not consider your greatness based on communal achievements, there's more to that. And it comes from you. 
      Don't be scared to search yourself, speak to yourself, understand yourself, question yourself because by so doing you're unlocking and unveiling treasures that lie dead and sleeping in you. Who are you? 
Self discovery is not a one time thing, it is an endless process, as you live daily you consciously discover yourself. 
      This is not a call to narcissism but a conscious effort in knowing who you're which is the first step to unlocking the greatness in you.
      Remember all men have greatness in them, but if not revealed it lies sleeping and dormant.
Join me as we continue this series next week where I will give practical steps to self discovery.

Bankole Wright, The Activator.

LOVE DON’T CARE BY SIMI: TACKLING NONSENSE TOWARDS SENSE AND SENSIBILITIES

      I have come again oh.  But this time with a more serious issue worthy of focus and scrutiny. But before I start let me tell you of a wonderful song I heard lately;

      I was lying on my bed listening to the radio on a Saturday morning.  I decided to tune in to the early morning drive show on my favorite radio station; the presenter was talking about the recent consecutive dispute that tends to pervade the Nigerian music sector.  However, let’s leave that one for now, that’s not the reason why my beak speaks wailing ink. As the presenter went on, he decided to take a break with a song which he called Love Don’t Care by Simi. As I heard the introductory tone I had already assumed it was going to be one of those melancholic melodies put together to express either lost love, love lost or lost but found love as the case may be.  However, as I listened to the lyrics, I was really astounded, so impressed by the words engraved in the melodies that came from the sonorous voice of the artist.  As the normal saying, radio no dey repeat, the song eventually came to a stop as the presenter cut in with words while the song faded into the background.  Immediately, I left the radio and picked up my phone, switched on my mobile data, browsed through Google to download the song. To my luck, I was able to download it, I listened to this song over and over again. I saw depth in the issues she addressed, a very strategic and daring feat was exhibited in that song by Simi. 

She dealt with two important issues which pose major problems in a country occupied by colonially brainwashed citizens of this country. 

Let me start with the first issue which is of ethnic disparity and separatism.  In 1963 when Nigeria fully gained her independence, the colonial masters showed us to ourselves; the Ibos stood, alongside the Yorubas and Hausas, then the Whiteman called us one, under one umbrella called Nigeria. Unknown to them, that not only do we not know each other but also we do not possess mutual understanding. From that day, Nigeria became independent but each ethnic group still nurtured a personal desire for separatism. An absence of communal love!!!

If you doubt me, then answer the question why Biafra came to be and is still trying to raise its head, answer the question why whenever an aspirant emerges, there is always a nosy abhorrent inquiry of his or her ethnicity echoed by ignorant folks of ethnic dogmatism and extremism?  It is unfortunate that the love which should exist amongst citizens of one nation has been centralized to ethnic sameness, while others from a different ethnic background can go and die as the case may be.

A disservice which we offer to the younger ones is the one of ethnic disparity in making marital choices, whereby parents strongly advice their children against getting married from any other ethnicity aside theirs, the Igbos are perceived rude by the Yorubas, the Yorubas considered diabolical by the Ibos while the Hausas are seen to be dangerous and inherently dirty, there are all sorts of unintelligent and inconsiderate reasons why the communal growth of this nation is hampered.  

The second issue addressed is that of career choices which affects the erroneous perception of wealth. There are some career choices that are believed to yield low income, thus, parents vehemently advise their female daughters against going into a relationship with a man with such a career; an example is cited by Simi; a teacher. In no bid to begin identifying the invaluable relevance of the teacher in the society, I just want to highlight a role and that is to teach. This role explains it all, the success of any individual is in how much he or she has garnered in terms of knowledge, how much he has been taught which is reflected in the individual’s actions, this forms the basis of his or her relevance in the society. And talking about the issue of wealth or no wealth, it is a relative thing developed and nurtured by an individual. 

We live in a society filled with mediocrity, occupied by individuals who do not learn but make investigated assumptions about issues and situations. And as such they stereotype an issue that may have occurred on an individual basis to be surely happening in other places. For example, if an Ibo man or lady tends to be rude to a Yoruba individual. He or she (the Yoruba) tends to foolishly say; “don’t mind them, that how they do. Ibo people are the same”. Without considering the fact the totality of a man is not made up by his ethnicity but as a result of what he or she has garnered in terms of knowledge and growth.

 Also, a mother will tell her daughter; “you must not marry teacher Chinedu, if not you will all drink garri” like you are a seer who have already seen his destiny and where he is going to end up. This is the society plagued with ignorance and extreme foolishness in which we live in.

However, it is in the presence of these maladies and societal disservice that a youth still employs her sonorous voice, crying out to Nigerians to WAKE UP and stop all forms of ethnic malevolence and favoritism. Let one thing stand tall amongst this ethnic rubble and that is LOVE. The love she yearns for is a stubborn one, a love that will speak up against a mother’s seemingly motherly advice that fans the flames of ethnic separatism and marital choices based on “venerated” careers or the father who with a phallocentric tone tires to coerce you into the same.  A love that does not care what happens tomorrow but believes tomorrow is a product of the beauties of today. 

It is time to begin to oppose seemingly old decisions laden with selfishness, greed and inconsiderateness, upheld by our apparently “I too know” mothers and fathers, and it’s time we begin to chart the course of our lives towards communal love, oneness and unity.

Dear fellow youths, the destiny of this our nation, Nigeria is in our hands. We do not need a Moses with a staff to guide our way, all we need is ourselves. In sincerity of heart and love for this nation, we will take it to the point where our past heroes and heroines have always desired.

                                                                                           

COME AND CUT IT OFF: CHALLENGING THE OBNOXIOUS AND PREPOSTROUS

                   

Wonders shall never end in this society filled with pessimists, optimists and extremists. Well let’s leave those “mists “alone and go into the matter that has brought my pen to bleeding. 

Na jeje I dey inside bus o, dey go work o, with several thoughts in my head, groping into  the sunny weather, begging the Supreme being in charge of the climate to have mercy upon the poor souls who are getting roasted day by day. Filled with these in my head I alighted, stretched out a 50 naira note to the driver who was eager to collect his fare. Suddenly he reclined and started yelling, “You must be stupid, Ori e o pe . Early this morning you’re giving me money with your left hand. Do I look like your mate or what? I opened my mouth in shock, perplexed, angered and pained. You mean I got these insults on a Monday morning because I gave a driver his money with MY HAND? I kept quiet till he was done ranting. After his drama I stretched my hand and said, “ëwa ge owo mi” meaning “come and cut off my hand”. I was really furious; I felt I needed to give him a piece of my mind.

There was traffic so I entered into the bus and I began to give him in slices my mind, as e dey hot. I told him, “You are just an illiterate, who has no basis for his actions. You only act based on what you are fed with, obnoxious and irritating cultural mindsets”.

 Some reasonable people began to antagonize the man for making such remarks at me, I recall a woman said, “What’s bad in using his left hand? Is it not his hand? As for me NOBODY can tell me which hand is and which hand is not”. The argument continued that I just had to alight after satisfying my urge to talk, I left them still arguing over some inhumane cultural and traditional values.

On my way, walking through the quiet path that led to my destination, I began to examine the beliefs that consider a part of the body cursed and redundant? I began to ask myself, “If I can feel pained and less human by the remark of that ignoramus driver, how many of the left handed beings in the world face this kind of discriminatory treatment from so-called “complete”, “blessed” right handed humans?  These questions began to linger in my heart which made worried and hurt. I began to imagine how many young children would grow up with the mindset that the left hand is a taboo and a wrong hand to be used. However, some would have or have decided to deliberately change their hands from being left handed to right handedness all because of the superstitious beliefs that seems the permeate the mindset of men, women and children as to who a left handed person is. 

I had a young female student of primary six who was a leftist but stopped making use of it. I asked for her reason  and she said it was her primary one teacher who thoughtlessly stopped her. She said and I quote: “my aunty in primary one said I should not use left because she does not like it” you can imagine the disservice given to the younger child. The child who is naive of any erroneous cultural injustice is been made to forgo her desire to use her left hand for right hand for no justified reason, leaving the child confused as to why she is being made to become another person.

I met another young girl of twelve years at a party, she was served jollof rice and chicken; she was evidently hungry as she eagerly launched into the food with the spoon on her left hand. Almost immediately she changed the location of the spoon to  right hand which she uncomfortably and forcibly tried to use. She smiled timidly as she saw I was watching her, I asked why she was struggling to use her right hand when her left hand is completely “hale and hearty”, she said and I quote, “my mummy said I shouldn’t use my left hand when I am in public or else I would be called a devil”. Are you kidding me? What affiliation does being “left handed” have to do with the devil. Does he reside at the left wing of the universe or is Hell in the left part of wherever? Or is the devil and his fallen angels left handed?

This is the extreme damage that occurs when we continue to savor the decaying stench of myth and superstitious beliefs. Our society will inexorably tilt towards an imminent decline in traditional justice and cultural considerateness if we do not stop at upholding fallacious mores.

 I understand your pain, even majority of common tools are designed solely for use by right handed people making it difficult, painful, or unsafe for left handed people. For example tools like scissors, saw to name but a few. To worsen it, I understand that you are considered unlucky and unfortunate beings and are seen to be stupid, dishonest and even accursed. And for the younger ones who face beating and more extreme measures as hurting their left hand fingers simply to ward off their mind from using it, I understand your pain. 

I have faced it too, I have lived a life where I can’t eat with an elderly person because I use left, I can’t give an elderly person anything with my left hand else I will be considered rude, immoral and uncultured. I began to live cautiously, pretending to be right handed before aged extremists. Oh to hell with that culture!!!

Well, to my left-handed humans: First it has been discovered that approximately 10% of the world population is left-handed. This estimated percent gives me a strange feeling and a sense of hope. Do you know why? The reason is simply because despite the fact that we belong to a very minute percentage of the world’s population yet we still find great humans almost everywhere who happen to be left handed.

 Now I discovered that these great humans such as left-handed U.S. presidents like James A. Garfield  20^th, Herbert Hoover 31^st, Harry S. Truman  33^rd, Gerald Ford  38^th, Ronald Reagan  40^th ,George H.W. Bush 41^st,Bill Clinton  42^nd,Barack Obama  44^th , to name a few, from Nigeria we have got the likes of the former Executive Governor of Lagos state Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) also history has it that Leonardo Da Vinci, Aristotle, Michelangelo Buonaroti, Charlie Chaplin, and the science veteran Albert Einstein were also left handed and also  the great Oprah Winfrey to name but a few. These people have internalized their identity; they have stood their grounds on their humanness and are ready to go at any length to justify their humanness through great feat which has indeed led to their immense greatness.

To the left handed humans who are still out there trying to fit into a “world that has been orchestrated for the right handed” like one fool said, I bid you to rise up and face the challenges of being left handed, confront superstitions and putrefying beliefs, let no man look down on you because you are left-handed, that is who you are, don’t try to be who you are not. You are DIFFERENT and that is the major problem.

 Human beings dread uniqueness, they intimidate change, they try to bring down a person of difference, and they desire to level a distinctive man up to their standard. You are not like the majority, you are a minority, let your deeds speak; let your greatness speak out your humanness. Left-handedness is not a curse; it is a gift, a call to being DISTINCT.

And for the likes of the ignorant bus driver, who just internalize rubbish, who have allowed it form their policies and belief system, I say 'Stop and think, who really is left-handed?' He is human and left handed; she is human and left handed. We are humans and left handed. I repeat we are humans. We feel pain, we feel rejection, we are happy, we are accepted. We love and desire to be loved.

This is no form of appreciation or whatsoever, but I must thank my late grandmother for beating up my mum who tried to stop me from being who I really am, who attempted to stop me from being left handed.

TOWARD DECOMPARTMENTALIZING NIGERIA(of Retrospect: Nigeria at 54)

                   

Few days ago we celebrated Nigeria at 54, where we had so many sanctimonious patriots who claim to be true citizens of a country where ethnic differences and cultural segregation seem to be worn like a cap on the heads of almost every citizen of Nigeria; the aroma of the decaying frame of the nation spreads like wildfire beyond the borders of the nation and has caused unworthy mouths to speak ill of us. The naysayers predict our fall, pessimists make a pre-extinct mourn, the negative minded ones imagines the expunging of the name “Nigeria” from the surface of Africa. But all of who I don’t blame at all, an adage says, ‘‘if the older woman brings one down, the little one climbs on him’, I have no word for them but I have loads of it for my nation who clocked 54 in putrefying body, being filled with the foul smell of distrust born by ethnic inequality, religious disparity as well as our incorrigible firmness to the past that gave birth to no fruitful future.

We speak of our desire to build a nation yet we bear an identity separate and disparate from the one and only identity that we possess which is the Nigerian identity; one rich in culture, intellect and talents. Now every man bears his father’s name which we acknowledge as our ethnic beginnings while we relegate the true beginning which is the beginning of Nigeria, we have failed to come to terms with the fact that the land which we ignorantly or consciously claim to be lord over was built upon the blood of patriots, those who ignored tribes and tongues to achieve one goal which is Nigeria. The building of a nation is not the responsibility of the president neither is it the work of the lower administrators but the sole responsibility of every citizen of Nigeria. Administrators are there to oversee not lord over us; we have the voice how come we have become one without a voice? Well the answer is glaring, so visible to the blind; we have compartmentalized everything in this country; we now answer to our tribes and tongues rather than as a nation, we now separate the poor from the rich, the privileged from the less privileged, Christians from Muslims. We now savor the taste of death which comes as a result of a scattered broom, dancing to the beats of disparity yet we ask preposterous questions if God is on our side. What folly!!

Nigeria was not founded it was made, molded and created by patriots who were ready to die for the course, they didn’t consider their gains but the gain of the coming generations so how come we have decided to forget this labor of our past heroes and heroines who with togetherness of heart fought for the course of the nation irrespective of their tribe and tongues. Our brothers and sisters in Diaspora cry over the prevalent racism they encounter as the tread on another man’s land, we have forgotten that the same thing pervades our very nation, we see Yoruba mothers tell their children not to marry from the Ibo tribe, the Ibo too warns his/ her child not to attempt it at all. Also, a Yoruba prefers to help his fellow Yoruba as long as he is ‘omo kaaro o jire’ while the Ibo assists only one who is able to say ‘kedu’ as well as our Hausa citizens. How will a nation grow in such stench of inequality?

When will we begin to realize that Nigeria is not the territory but those who occupy the territory? The development and growth of Nigeria is extremely hinged on what we do and not do, when we begin to do the right thing as a citizen of Nigeria then we are on our way to building a nation that other nations will look up to, we will no longer go out to seek solace from other countries that are tagged ‘developed’, we will find comfort and accomplishment in ourselves as a nation. Let every citizen of this country begin to live and stop existing, a man that loves is a man that lives, let love permeate this nation, let us begin to heal the rottenness of Nigeria with our outstretched hands of care and hospitality. Let there be neither rich nor poor; let everyone sit on the same table to eat together as one created by one God, let the headache of an Ibo man be the headache of a Yoruba man as well, if an Hausa man is hurt let the whole nation remain awake to heal him of his wounds. I ask can we do this?

Now we are approaching another election, can we all stand up and vote for one man that will represent us all, the man who will stand as a voice for everyone. If we come together then no one will ever be voiceless because we will all stand as one to speak the voice of one body, one entity, one nation, one Nigeria. No man can come from nowhere to use his bread of corruption to scoop off our soup of riches, fertility and tranquility; if we in one accord stand we will definitely defeat the swindlers as well as the marauders who hide under the aegis of religion to perpetrate evil, let us all bring out the giant in our nation enveloped in extreme decay and debilitation.

Let us all create a nation where there is neither the haves nor the haves not; a land where riches is circulated amongst all and sundry not amid the so call elite.
We are all we have, let us defend our land TOGETHER.



This was written at the 54th anniversary of our dear own NIGER AREA....Time flies anyways.

THE KING IS SILENT{ of Retrospect}.

Tossing and turning in the vine
of where there used to be flowers and wine
with children playing and singing the song
and busy mothers in sonorous tone

The vine was calm and all was pure
in our tranquil and peaceful grandeur
like the night when angels fly
Fluttering and waving and cooling the land

Alas!! A voice we hear from afar
The mist of blood all spread abroad
The mothers are wailing, the fathers are weak
The children are dying ,some taken away
The land that was green now full of red
The blood of humans all full the vine.

“Let’s go see our king” they said
Perhaps he’s wailing his eyes away
or has summoned his aides to fight a war
in tears of hope we walked to him
our veritable lord and master of all

Alas!!!we saw our lord and god
The second to the deity, our guard and shield
Sleeping and snoring, snoring and sleeping
What hope have we who came for succor
From the one whom the gods has placed the staff
To guide and lead us to our rest
Behold all sobbing, “our hope is lost”.

This poem was written about the former President of Nigeria Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his obnoxious silence at the sudden incidence of the kidnap of the Chibok girls... Here I was a budding grey, my beak was just growing to be sharp. able to pierce into the hearts of those who hear my pen wail.