May! May is about appreciating what goes around, comes around. May is about peeling away all the layers of confusion and truly seeing someone for who they truly are. May is about answering that question, "Why are you doing what you're doing?" May is about remembering that life isn't about taking, it's about giving back. May is about stopping to smell the roses before they all come in bloom. May is about never looking at another person's flaws through your own lens. May is…
Storms of Life For, Tinuke. I hope you find solace. There are many storms during our lives that carry conflicting emotions, raw reactions, and a sense of loss. These emotional storms are the result of circumstances that may involve physical, mental and emotional pain. The emotional storm we are dealt creates struggle and uncertainty about what to do. This struggle may lead to how we handle pressure, emotions, and how we react to external events. We all face storms of life.…
Joy - Momentary How do you define joy? A few years ago, I asked my volunteer students to tell me what their answer would be. Their answers were all over the board, with most of them saying that they did not know. However, a number of them said that they knew exactly what joy was and they could give me a detailed description of this elusive emotion. The reason why they did not know was because they had not experienced it. This is a question that has been played around with by…
Why Do We Struggle? What causes us to struggle? Why is it that we live in a world where there is so much disparity between the rich and the poor? Why do some people experience tragedy during their life while others appear to sail through theirs with ease? I believe there are only two reasons why we struggle in life: The first is that we're simply not well equipped to deal with the challenges presented to us. And secondly, I believe we don't have adequate support systems in…
Opportunities Comes and Goes Opportunities come and go. You have to be happy about them. I was talking with my colleague about this. She was not happy about an opportunity she missed because a co-worker took it from her. After consideration, she realized that she should be happy because she did not take on the project. If she had taken it on, she would not have been happy. She would have been spending a lot of her time doing something that did not interest her. We all get…
A True Friend A friend in need is always a friend indeed. It is very unfortunate that sometimes we find it very hard to help our friends when they are in need. The only way to overcome this challenge is to weigh the negative thoughts we have towards our friends against the positive ones. One of the moments which I found myself listening to my negative thoughts was when a friend of mine had a car accident and was in need of a car repair. I don’t have a car yet and when he…
Scared To Be Lonely As I thought about what to publish today, one of my favorite songs came creeping on my mind. It’s a song by the famous female English song writer “Dua lipa” and Dutch DJ “Martin Garrix”. Then I stopped to ponder on the music a bit after re-adding it to my music playlist. By the way, this article has nothing to do with the content of this music. I just decided to write something on the topic alone. In our age of social media, we live in a state of nonstop…
Life doesn’t come with a manual Curiosity is one of the most basic elements of human nature. It's a funny little thing too — curiosity is what allowed us to become the dominant species on the planet, but it's also what has killed us. We're curious about death, but we don't want to actually die; we're curious about drinking, but we don't want to become alcoholics; we're curious about sex, but we don't want to contract STIs or end up as teen parents. But when you really look…
Peace Out What is something that typically makes you feel at ease when you encounter it? What is your refuge? I have always been fascinated by people's answers to this question; most responses are very personal and answer this according to their own intricately woven fabric of life. Daily, I reflect on that question to try and center myself. For me, peace feels like acceptance. Accepting the things I can change and accepting the things I cannot. It feels like knowing when to…
Integrity 101 Integrity is the property of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness. A person with integrity is an individual that can be counted on to do what they say they are going to do. They are someone you can trust because they will not double-cross the people around them. A person with integrity is honest, forthright and reliable. They are not unfaithful to the commitments they make and do not take shortcuts in their business dealings or…
Pure Bliss Pure bliss is a state of being completely at ease, peaceful, and happy. Achieving pure bliss is a choice. It is something you intentionally create in your life by making work and relationships more fulfilling, meaningful, and purposeful. You may think that achieving pure bliss means having tons of money, your own business, or that dream home with the big backyard. But, maybe achieving pure bliss could be as simple as choosing to be happy right where you are right…
Never Stop Believing In Yourself More often than not, it can be easy to lose sight of what you're capable of and to let others define your limitations. But throughout history, there are stories of people who have defied the odds, succeeded in the face of their fears and proven that they can accomplish great things all by believing in themselves and their ability to achieve. But is there a time when we should not believe? We would say never. No matter what you choose to do in…
Listen More Than You Talk It is safe to say that listening is a lost art. It has been replaced by broadcasting, self-promotion and boosterism. Yet listening is one of the greatest skills any of us can develop and practice. If we listen deeply to one another, we can better understand people's needs and help them to work through their problems. We can have more informed conversations and be able to resolve our differences more effectively. Our ability to listen can bring us…
Debt Isn’t Worth it You've got a job, you have a nice place to live and you probably even have a car. You've been successful in life. Yet you've got this monkey on your back that's slowly killing you from within. So why does it feel like life just keeps getting harder? You're being drained more and more every day. Your income is being sucked into the void of debt and it feels hopeless to ever get out of the hole that you're stuck in. This is the story of most people. On the…
Worrying is Worthless Worrying gets an undeservedly bad rap. In the same way that love can be blind, so can worry. Many of us have been misguidedly encouraged to think that a good attitude is enough for success. But the truth is, you can be optimistic and still suffer from the effects of worry. Worrying is the process of feeling anxious about a future outcome—and in doing so, it actually changes your future. When you worry, you are rewiring your brain and risking your future…
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