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12/02/2024

Everyone has battles they fight behind the scenes—challenges unseen to the world.

‘All lizards lie on their stomachs, making it difficult to know which one has a stomach ache.’ This Yoruba proverb is a beautiful, succinct reminder that appearances often mask reality.

As we scroll through our feeds, seeing snapshots of perfection, let’s pause and remember this wisdom. Everyone presents their best selves to the world, but beneath the surface, there may be struggles we can’t see.

Let’s extend kindness, understanding, and support to each other, acknowledging that we’re all in this together, even if our challenges are different. 💕

What’s your favourite African Proverb?

12/02/2024

Everyone has battles they fight behind the scenes—challenges unseen to the world.

'All lizards lie on their stomachs, making it difficult to know which one has a stomach ache.' This Yoruba proverb is a beautiful, succinct reminder that appearances often mask reality.

As we scroll through our feeds, seeing snapshots of perfection, let's pause and remember this wisdom. Everyone presents their best selves to the world, but beneath the surface, there may be struggles we can't see.

Let's extend kindness, understanding, and support to each other, acknowledging that we're all in this together, even if our challenges are different. 💕

What's your favourite African Proverb?

03/07/2023

'Once there was a great wrestler whose back had never known the ground. He wrestled from village to village until he had thrown everybody in the world. Then he decided he must go and wrestle in the land of the spirits, and become champion there as well'.

'He went, and beat every spirit that came forward. Some had seven heads, some ten; but he beat them all. His companion who sang his praise on the flute begged him to come away, but he would not, his blood was roused, his ear nailed up. Rather than heed the call to go home, he gave a challenge to the spirits to bring out their best and strongest wrestler. So they sent him his personal god (chi), a little wiry spirit who seized him with one hand and smashed him on the Stony earth'

Chinua Achebe ~~~ Arrow Of God (African Trilogy)

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LESSON: People should learn to do things in moderation. We should never allow pride to get better of us, learn to know when to pull back. No one wrestles with his personal god and triumphs. Your personal god is like your maker, your providence, your guiding spirit, your provider. No matter how strong you are, you cannot defeat your personal god.

Inspirational & uplifting words daily to help you get more out of life.

26/05/2023

In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity.

26/05/2023

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said: "I am blind, please help." There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?" The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way. "I wrote: 'Today is a beautiful day; but I cannot see it.'"

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign simply said the boy was blind. The second sign reminded people how fortunate they were to have their sight. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Morals of the Story:
1. Be thankful for what you have.
2. Be creative and innovative- Think differently & positively.
3. When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.
4. Face your past without regret but handle your present with confidence and prepare for the future without fear.
5. Keep the faith and drop the fear.
6. It's a beautiful thing to see a person smiling, but more beautiful if you are the reason for the smile!
7. Faith is not only about everything turning out OK but more about being OK no matter how things turn out.

Let's share this. May be you'll touch someone's heart and become the reason for the smiles on their faces.

24/05/2023

DON'T DIE WITH YOUR DEAD.

Did you know that when you cry for your dead, you cry for you and not them?

You cry because you “lost them”, because you don’t HAVE THEM by your side. You think it all ends in death. And you think they are NOT there anymore.

So if you’re dead no more, where are they?

Yes they have left, or they are now somewhere else, is that place better than this?

Yes, definitely that place is better than this; so Why do you suffer for their departure?

When you have finished accepting that they are no longer "NOT here", but they are still in another place even better than this, for they’re where they are no longer sick, or suffering.

Then you'll stop mourning them and you'll get them back in memory so they keep accompanying you with the joy of all that you've lived.

If you truly loved them LOVE them AGAIN and this time with greater strength, with greater purity, with greater delivery.

Today, there will be no more reproach of any kind.

Only LOVE, will be the essence between you, between us, between them.

I respect your pain, and the way you express it. I know you cry and you will cry without comfort.

But .. Today I say to you:
Don't die with your dead.

Remember we are only seeing one side of the coin (death).

We are not looking the other way; we are not seeing the wonderful place of light where they stand.

What if we start seeing “death” as a Second Birth?

Second Birth we ALL will go through.

Don't die with your dead, honor them by living your life as they would have wanted you to.

Let them transcend.

And you keep living.

~Andrew Mclaren
Artist: Unknown

07/05/2023

19 REASONS TO IGNORE EVERYBODY AND FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS

In response to what naysayers, gatekeepers, or anyone might say to keep you from dreaming, I want to share 19 reasons why you should ignore everyone and follow your dreams:

1. The only “yes” you need to follow your dreams is yours.

2. You’ll regret it later in life, and if you’re delaying it, you’ll question yourself why didn’t you do it sooner.

3. Not following your dreams makes you feel unaccomplished. Eventually, this will stop you from dreaming altogether.

4. It will attract some attention, even from the naysayers and haters. You will feel strong as you prove the naysayers wrong. As Walter Bagehot said; “The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.”

5. People who follow their dreams are doers. Doers have more power to create, influence, and change their environment… and eventually the world.

6. Life feels more memorable; hence you feel and become more memorable.

7. Following your dreams might take unexpected turns, but those are the exciting and memorable challenges of living the dream.

8. Those challenges will help you grow as they make you step out of your comfort zone.

9. Dreams make you take chances, but chances can bring more opportunities.

10. Afraid of it? Good. Being afraid makes you feel more alive, so smash through that brick wall of fear. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Elbert Hubbard once said, “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.”

11. Your dreams and your actions define you. Don’t let others define you with what they tell you to do and not to.

12. You will inspire other to follow their dreams, even if they know nothing about you.

13. Following your dreams makes you interesting.

14. Who doesn’t love to challenge the status quo?

15. There are no rules in life so why limit yourself to what everybody else is doing?

16. Accomplishing your dreams will spark even bigger dreams.

17. You feel you have something more to live for.

18. Even if your dreams fail, you’ll feel proud you gave it your all to accomplish them. Dreamers fail now and then, but they also learn more in life. You learn from failure. So, dust yourself off and try it again.

19. It’s your life, live it under your terms!

06/05/2023

Cherish friends who make time for you amidst their busy lives. But truly treasure those who put aside their own schedule when you're in need. 💚

Mention such friends in your comment.

30/04/2023

Somebody needs to see this today.

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being excited about what could go right.

28/04/2023

Fable: DON'T ARGUE WITH DONKEYS

The donkey said to the tiger:

- "The grass is blue".

The tiger replied:

- "No, the grass is green."

The discussion heated up, and the two decided to submit him to arbitration, and for this they went before the lion, the King of the Jungle.

Already before reaching the forest clearing, where the lion was sitting on his throne, the donkey began to shout:

- "His Highness, is it true that the grass is blue?".

The lion replied:

- "True, the grass is blue."

The donkey hurried and continued:

- "The tiger disagrees with me and contradicts and annoys me, please punish him."

The king then declared:

- "The tiger will be punished with 5 years of silence."

The donkey jumped cheerfully and went on his way, content and repeating:

- "The Grass Is Blue"...

The tiger accepted his punishment, but before he asked the lion:

- "Your Majesty, why have you punished me?, after all, the grass is green."

The lion replied:

- "In fact, the grass is green."

The tiger asked:
- "So why are you punishing me?".

The lion replied:

- "That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green.

The punishment is because it is not possible for a brave and intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey, and on top of that come and bother me with that question."

The worst waste of time is arguing with the fool and fanatic who does not care about truth or reality, but only the victory of his beliefs and illusions. Never waste time on arguments that don't make sense...

There are people who, no matter how much evidence and evidence we present to them, are not in the capacity to understand, and others are blinded by ego, hatred and resentment, and all they want is to be right even if they are not.

When ignorance screams, intelligence is silent. Your peace and quiet are worth more. ❤️

20/04/2023

TRUE STRENGTH

In the Serengeti Valley, a young Maasai boy named Kito prepared for his warrior rite of passage. He was the only child of a widowed mother, and they shared a deep bond. The night before his journey, Kito's mother tearfully shared the secret of the Ancestors' Blessing—a gift granted to those who demonstrated love and compassion for all beings. Kito promised to honour her wishes and set forth into the savannah.

Kito encountered a wounded lioness during his journey, struggling and in pain. Remembering his mother's embrace and the love that guided him, Kito chose to heal the lioness, even though it might risk his success in the rite of passage. As the lioness limped away, Kito knew he had received the ancestors' blessing.

Upon his return, the villagers were moved by Kito's story, and the Council of Elders declared him a true warrior, one who understood that the mightiest warriors had hearts filled with compassion. Kito's mother, tears streaming down her face, embraced her son, their love stronger than ever.

From that day on, the people of the valley remembered the lesson Kito's journey had taught them: true strength lies not in the force of one's hands but in the depth of one's heart.

19/04/2023

LOVE OVER ALL

150 years from now, none of us reading this post today will be alive. 70 percent to 100 percent of everything we are fighting over right now will be totally forgotten. Underline the word, TOTALLY.

If we go back memory lane to 150 years before us, that will be 1872, and none of those that carried the world on their heads then are alive today. Almost all of us reading this will find it difficult to picture anybody's face from that era.

Pause for a while and imagine how some of them betrayed their relatives and sold them as slaves for a piece of mirror. Some killed family members just for a piece of land or tubers of yam or cowries or for a pinch of salt. Where is the yam, cowries, mirror, or salt that they were using to brag? It may sound funny to us now, but that is how silly we humans are sometimes, especially when it comes to money, power, or trying to be relevant!

Even when you claim the internet age will preserve your memory, take Michael Jackson as an example. Michael Jackson died in 2009, just 13 years ago. Imagine the influence Michael Jackson had all over the world when he was alive. How many young people of today remember him with awe, that is if they even know him? In 150 years to come, his name, when mentioned, will not ring any bell to a lot of people.

Let us take life easy, nobody will get out of this world alive. . . The land you are fighting and ready to kill for, somebody left that land, the person is dead, rotten, and forgotten. That will also be your fate. In 150 years to come, none of the vehicles or phones we are using today to brag will be relevant. Biko, take life easy!

Let love lead. Let’s be genuinely happy for each other. No malice, no backbiting. No jealousy. No comparison. Life is not a competition. At the end of the day, we will all transit to the other side. It is just a question of who gets there first, but surely we will all go there someday.

Note : The photo is of an art installation created by Ghanaian artist Kwame Akoto-Bamfo in 2010, displayed at that time, I believe from the video, at the National Museum of Peace and Justice in good ole Alabama.

Jewel Fitila