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Food for Living: Be Intentional with Life
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make us.” (Richie Norton)
Please permit me to begin this article with my humble knowledge and understanding of the law. At Law school, we were taught the doctrine of actus rea and mens rea in criminal law. While actus rea consists of the conduct, result or an omission of an alleged crime a defendant is being accused of, mens rea is the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime. In a lay man’s understanding, actus rea simply means the act or conduct, while mens rea looks at the intention of the alleged defendant.
Let me explain a little further: if someone steals food, the act of stealing itself is a crime, but what plays a bigger role in the case, is the reason or the intention of the alleged criminal. That’s why the law takes into consideration the intention to determine the punishment the person will get. If the defence is able to prove the alleged defendant stole because of hunger, the punishment will be reduced, otherwise, he/she will have to face the full wrath of the law.
You may be wondering why I began this article with the law, well, the answer is simple, in whatever you do in life, you must be intentional. To be intentional, you have to live your life on purpose. For you to attain a form of success in life, you must be intentional. Intentionality is everything. Without intention, you will be like a ship without a rudder, a plane without a compass, and a human being who is merely existing as opposed to living.
When you are intentional, you might consider social media and social functions as a form of distraction. When you are intentional, you will be kind because it’s humane to have empathy as opposed to helping someone because of vested interest.
According to Harold Kushner, “Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are. When you are intentional, you will do things that bring you joy. When you are intentional, you will make out time for self-reflection to examine the life you are living.
When you are intentional, you will be careful with how you spend/invest your money and you will know what you want and what you need. Intentional people cultivate a positive mindset. They are careful on their thoughts, words, and action.
When you are intentional you will be careful on the words you speak, especially if you don’t want to hurt your partner or close friend. Words can be hurtful if not properly chewed before spewed. Words are powerful. They can make us or break us, lift us up, or knock us down.
In our contemporary society, it is hard to remain focused in life because there are so many things battling for our attention, most especially as in this age of social media where the internet showcases much information which can make us lose focus on what matters.
If you are desirous of being successful, you have to be intentional, if you are desirous of writing a book, you have to be intentional, if you want to get married, you have to be intentional, if you want be rich/wealthy, you have to be intentional, if you are desirous of being a professor, you have to be intentional, if you are desirous of being the President of your country, you have to be intentional. I can go on and on, the list is literally endless. But the point here is that you must give time and attention to whatever you desire in life. You must be laser-focused to achieve your goals.
What then does it mean to be intentional? You are intentional when you make decisions and act on what’s important to you. When you are intentional, you set boundaries; you let people know what you stand for, what you can accept, and what you can’t accept. People who truly care and respect you will abide by your principles. Remember, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll die for nothing. Once you are intentional about your life, you will spend your time wisely
One good thing about intentional people is that they are action-oriented and have an unshakeable determination to accomplish what they’ve set out to achieve. Intentional people practice self-awareness.
Below are examples of how you can practice intentionality.
Be deliberate with your daily life
Every day is an opportunity to show the world what you stand for. To make your day fruitful, identify the important activities that will help you achieve the outcome you want and work on them. Commit to ensuring that you achieve the goals you set out for the day. Your daily activities can show the world what you value. It’s often said that if you want to know someone, look at what they do and not what they say.
Be clear on the result you want
Being specific in your thoughts, words, and action is very important. When you are clear on what you want and the importance of what you want, you wouldn’t want any form of distraction in your way. The whole world sets apart for the man who knows where he’s headed. Don’t allow people to assume or second guess what you have in mind. Human beings are not mind readers, they only work on what you show them. When you are clear on what you want, it will save you the stress of explaining yourself.
Be purposeful with your time
Be intentional and deliberate on the kind of relationships and collaborations that will help you achieve the results you want. You can do this by setting boundaries.
.Be focused and conscious
When you are intentional about your goals, you identify the result you want to achieve up front which gives you more direction and focus. This gives you clarity on how to invest your time and energy in your priorities.
Be mindful of your relationships
You must know who belongs to your inner circle. Your friends can turn to family and your family to core friends depending on how they respect your values and boundaries. Anyone who respects you, won’t take your business and what you value for granted.
Develop healthy habits
What most people don’t know is that the greatest gymnastics is in the kitchen. If you want to shed fat, you must be conscious of what you eat and engage more in exercise in addition to eating healthy.
In conclusion, I will leave you with these words of wisdom to keep you focused.
“It’s not about what can I accomplish? But what I want to accomplish? Paradigm shift” – Brene Brown
The busier you are, the more intentional you must be” – Michael Hyatt.
Intentional days create a life on purpose – Adrienne Enns.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a mindset coach and public speaker. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success and President of gloemi.com. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
There’s no doubt that human beings by nature are insatiable. When we get one opportunity, we always look for another. When we attain one height, we always look for another accomplishment. Isn’t it true that the end of one mountain is the beginning of another.
However, I don’t think it’s selfish for anyone to dare to succeed.
Being ambitious doesn’t make one an opportunist or disloyal. It all depends on one’s perception or outlook to life. It’s just natural for one to dream big. It’s only ugly when the process one chooses to achieve his desires becomes dirty and nasty.
According to a former Nigerian presidential candidate and seasoned Economist, Mr. Peter Obi, “if you must be referred to as “Your Excellency”, then the process through which you arrived in office must be excellent”.
If you desire to be reckoned with on the journey of existence, you must be legitimately hungry for success. One’s hunger for success will facilitate the drive to accomplish great tasks despite daunting obstacles posing as challenges.
When one has this mindset, one will not be bothered by the noise which serves as obstacles and challenges along the way. Negative and weak minds are always concerned on why something won’t work. They tend to focus their energy and reasons on the obstacles facing them. But great and productive minds always focus their energy on the reasons why it will work. This is the spirit of an insatiable mind who is a goal- getter.
It’s instructive to note that we can’t please everyone. According to Bill Cosby, a famous actor, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.” Isn’t it true that when you talk, people will still talk about you, when you don’t talk, people will talk about you, so whether you talk or not, people will still judge you, so, do what’s best for you. There’s nothing you can do to please human beings. Your best option is to live your best life.
To understand how the insatiable nature of man works, one must be oneself. You don’t have to “please” anyone. Be yourself, and don’t try to be like anyone just to curry favour. It’s important to note that when you are yourself, the people that matter will come through for you, and the people that don’t matter will gradually find the bearing in another space because those that truly care don’t bother and those that bother don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
Life has truly taught me to focus on the important things of life as opposed to the mundane things. It’s truly sad to see people spending more time on the little things of life, and spending little time on the important things of life. That’s just a misplaced priority.
When you are yourself, the best people can do is to copy or imitate your style. They can never imitate your creativity nor can take your originality from you.
We live in a world or society where people don’t generally care or show empathy. Most people tend to live around themselves, their family, and close associates. They generally find it hard to lift a finger to assist others for reasons best known to them. Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka once said, “we live in a wicked generation”, re-echoing the voices of a lot of people of the world. Some people in authority just have criminal expertise in amassing wealth of opportunities meant for the citizens without thinking of the citizens they are meant to serve.
It’s worthy of note that not everyone will like you nor support your work, but when you find people who truly care about you; please hold them tight. This is because despite having family members you have shown love and compassion, they might not still appreciate you even if you lay your life for them, they will still find something to say. Again, this is the insatiable nature of man.
It’s okay for everyone not to like you, normalize living your life for God, yourself, family and those that care about you. If everyone likes you, you have a problem.
Did you know that you can get a new family from friends, strangers, and acquaintances? These sets of people might appreciate you more than your own family members. They might not demand or under appreciate you like your family members and close friends or associates. Any little support you give them will be highly appreciated. Their focus is to see you do better.
In conclusion, as you desire to succeed in life, never give in to failure until you have made your last attempt, and never make your last attempt until you succeed. This literally means whatever you desire, dream it, think it, say it, and believe you can achieve it. This principle is generally applicable to relationships, businesses, family, personal and professional development.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer and author of Design Your Destiny Design Your and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
A federal judge in the United States, on Thursday, put a temporary block on President Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict birthright citizenship.
The ruling imposes a 14-day halt on the enforcement of one of the most controversial executive orders Trump signed hours after being sworn into office for a second term.
It comes after lawsuits were filed by a total of 22 states, two cities and numerous civil rights groups.
“This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” senior US District Judge John Coughenour was reported as saying during the hearing in Washington State.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed to the bench by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.
Birthright citizenship is fundamental to America’s national identity, with the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution decreeing that anyone born on US soil is a citizen.
It says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the US illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.
AFP
The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State capital has upheld the death sentence of Ramon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier, for his involvement in the murder of one Timothy Adegoke, a former postgraduate student of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State.
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, the court affirmed the earlier verdict of the Osun State High Court, which had sentenced Adedoyin to death.
“The judgment of the High Court of Osun State stands. Adedoyin’s appeal is dismissed in part,” the court declared in part.
The Court of Appeal, however, set aside some aspects of the lower court’s orders, including the forfeiture of the Hilton Hotel and the order for Adedoyin to pay for the education of Adegoke’s children.
Furthermore, the court ruled that it had no jurisdiction to impose penalties outside the statutory provisions
Adegoke’s death was reported in November 2021 after his corpse was found at the Hilton Honours Hotel in Ile-Ife, Osun State, where he had lodged.
The hotelier had travelled from Abuja for an examination at a distance learning centre in Moro, Osun State on November 5 of that year.
He had checked into the hotel but was reported missing after two days. However, Adegoke’s body was found days later, leading to a probe that linked his death to Adedoyin and others.
In May 2023, Adedoyin and others were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to murder.
But dissatisfied with the judgement, Adedoyin approached the Appeal court to dismiss the sentence and conviction.
The court of appeal, on Thursday, however, upheld the conviction and death sentence of the hotelier.
