Tag: personal growth

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Posted in Life

Understanding Challenges

Posted on by Joel

“There is an old Celtic legend that says, just before each person is born, they are allowed to choose every hardship that they would experience during their lifetime. In this tradition, everyone selects the challenges that they would be able to overcome, the situations and conditions that would push them to learn and grow but that would not defeat them.”

I came across this in a guided meditation on Surrender: Letting Go by Jason Stephenson, and it made me realise that most of us had been going about challenges all wrong.

Most times when the word ‘challenge’ comes up, it almost automatically associates with words like deterrent, hindrances or insurmountable, in our mind. But really, a challenge is a demanding or stimulating situation. A challenge is meant to test us and see if we are fit for promotion. It is meant to ‘stimulate’ us for the sole purpose of growth.

Continue reading “Understanding Challenges” →

Posted in Life

The Power of ‘Proactivity’

Posted on by Joel

Life deals us a variety of cards on a daily basis.
Some are in line with what our goal in life is and others seem to push us off our path and we have to fight or struggle to get back on our path.

But there is an interesting question to consider: is it possible to control if we are pushed off our path or not?

There are two things we have to consider, and they are:

  • What it means to be reactive, and
  • what it means to be proactive.

Continue reading “The Power of ‘Proactivity’” →

Posted in Life

The Need for Paradigm-Shifting in a World of Diversity

Posted on by Joel

It is natural to meet or listen to people we don’t agree with or share their point of view. In fact, it is part of being human, to be able to think in a way that is not necessarily general. But there are certain people that seem to think in ways that you can’t just understand what is going on in their head.

During NYSC I encountered a guy by chance. A young lady was trying to sell some beautiful bead necklaces she had made to my friend, but this guy came from no where and said something like, “this is a waste of time, can you get rich doing this kind of trade? blah blah blah…” and some other things that sounds worse than my paraphrasing. People around him–myself and my friend included–just stared at him, no one could think of an appropriate response to give him. So he walked away.

I have to admit, a lot of responses came to my mind and some of them were not nice at all.
Thinking back to that encounter and many other similar ones prompted the question, “what do I do with people that have a different POV and I don’t naturally agree with? Continue reading “The Need for Paradigm-Shifting in a World of Diversity” →

Posted in Life, Truth

How to Not Waste Your Life

Posted on by Joel

If there is anything anyone should cherish, keep, guard with all jealousy and zealousness, it is their time.

 

Time is unarguably the most precious commodity everyone possesses. And as precious as it is, it is given equally to everyone everywhere everyday–as long as they still have breath in them. The only difference is that, while everyone has equal access to time in a day, some people’s time run out before others.

 

Let me be less vague.

Continue reading “How to Not Waste Your Life” →

Posted in Life

Realisation is Key to Change

Posted on by Joel

It gets to a time in everyone’s life when you realise you are too old for some things you do everyday and some thoughts you allow to occupy your mind, the people you allow to be in your life, the things you allow to affect you, your reaction to situations… The only difference in individuals is when we come to this realisation.

The sad part of this is that, most people come to this realisation very late in their life.

A friend told me recently, “the difference between us and them is that we are making an effort to be better.”
While I agree with him, the main difference is not the effort, it is rather the realisation. If you don’t realise there is a need to change, you can’t make an effort to change. Continue reading “Realisation is Key to Change” →

Posted in Life, Salient Thoughts

A Renewed Sense of Purpose

Posted on by Joel

There are just about a few things that are as frustrating as having so much to do but little time. You see, this is not an issue even proper time management can solve because the issue didn’t come up because you didn’t manage your time properly, but because there is so much to do that time, no matter how properly managed, is just not enough. And this kind of problem, I have observed, usually arise when you find purpose- a purpose for your existence and your relationship with both your environment and the people in it.

I had the privilege of spending time discussing with one of my oldest friends, Joel Akingunola, recently, and in the course of the discussion, he shared Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard commencement speech with me; actually I started reading it on his phone but due to lack of sufficient time at the moment, I asked him to mail it to me so I could read it up. But because of one thing or the other, I couldn’t get back to reading it until I was with another friend and we were talking about ideas that could be profitable. The discussion then led to the area of goals and “where do you see yourself in…?” Continue reading “A Renewed Sense of Purpose” →