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Food for Living: Bless the World to Receive More Blessings
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
While in college, I learnt one of the best skills in human relationship, and that’s communication. When you know how to communicate with the right words, you will literally get whatever you want in life. This is a universal principle.
Let me explain a little; when you pray the right way by using the right words your request will be given attention by God. As a man, when you have the right words for a lady, she’ll easily be attracted to you, especially if word affirmation is her love language; as an entrepreneur, if you can articulate a good proposal, you stand a better chance of getting a grant or funding for your business. As a student, if you can use the right diction, you stand a better chance of passing your exams.
According to Les Brown, if you want to succeed, you must change your mindset, practice only quality people and develop your communication skills because when you open your mouth to speak, you tell the world who you are. This goes to tell you communication is one of the most important skills if not the most important skill one needs in our contemporary society. Your ability to write and speak clearly will set you apart from your contemporaries.
Why is human relationship very important? Human beings are the people who will bless you. If you don’t have a good personal and professional relationship with people, it will be difficult to get whatever you want. Social skills is a currency, if properly utilized, one can attract goodwill. If you will agree with me, the joy of life is not how happy you are, but how happy others can be because of you. When you touch people selflessly, they will be attracted to you.
To receive blessing from anyone, you must have value. This value might be a service, a product or even an attitude. In our contemporary society, many people complain of lack as the reason they haven’t been able to make an impact in the world. These ignorant minds think money, connections, academic qualifications etc are necessary factors to attract influence and money in the society, yes, they are part of the requirements, but not necessarily the main substance.
There are certain qualities and values one can have that’s more valuable and important than money. A typical example is attitude. No matter how smart, connected, rich and resourceful one might be, if you have a funny or nasty attitude, no serious-minded person would take you seriously. According to Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Everyone is blessed with a skill, talent/gift, or has some form of certificate. Even if you don’t have any, you have common sense, wisdom, humility, kindness, gratitude, loyalty, or a heart of volunteerism. When you showcase these traits to the right people with a genuine heart, there’s a tendency to attract opportunity because people see those who participate.
When you bless the world with what you have, the world will in turn bless you with money and opportunities. It’s instructive to note that no gift, skill, or virtue is more important than the other. What’s important is knowing how to make use of it.
In the business world, one must know what works for anyone to attract an opportunity. Did you know your humility, kindness, words, volunteerism, and honesty can make someone invest in you?
Most times, some uniformed minds complain of being poor. However, they fail to understand that if one doesn’t have money, the reason is often because he is not solving a problem, or not solving enough problems, or not solving the right problem or not solving problems for the right people.
Generally, we make money because we have something unique to offer to the world. So again, I will ask you, what do you have in your hands or personality to offer the world?
The major reason most people fail in life is because they don’t really discover themselves. Self-discovery is a life-long career because you can never fully comprehend yourself. When you discover who you are, your gift, talent, skill, and the academic qualification you have been blessed with, you will be properly positioned to bless others.
It should be noted that you can’t bless others if you haven’t been able to bless yourself. To know if one is blessed, investigate your life to see if you have received any form of favour from people; this favour might not necessarily be money, it can be opportunity or appreciation.
When people invest in you, it’s simply because they have seen value in you. Someone made the way for you by giving you an opportunity, the best you can do is to pay it forward by being a blessing to another person. Did you know you are blessed to bless other people? When you develop your skills, talents and gifts, the world will in turn celebrate you.
When you are good in what you do, people can see through you, especially when you are consistent for a just cause. When you solve a problem with your value, people notice. Your greatest gift to the world is to make an impact with what you have.
According to Hans Urs Von Balthasar, what you are is God’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.
In conclusion, I will strongly admonish you to stop complaining and start practicing gratitude with what your have. Let me ask you; are you a good singer, dancer, artist, footballer, athlete, writer, speaker, etc.? If yes, horn and develop them to the best of your ability, and see if the world won’t celebrate you. Trust me, there are literally people waiting to pay you for the gifts you are giving the world for free if only you know how to pitch your ideas to the right people, organizations in addition to monetizing it. Remember, the day you discover your gift, that’s the day you become a millionaire.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer Design Your Destiny and Unleash Your Destiny. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
UK police named a 14-year-old boy killed in a sword attack in London this week as Daniel Anjorin, as officers released more details about how the violent rampage unfolded.
Anjorin, a British-Nigerian pupil attended Bancroft’s private school in Woodford Green – also attended by Nottingham attack victim Grace O’Malley-Kumar.
He died on Tuesday morning as he walked to school in Hainault, in the east of Britain’s capital, when he was attacked by a man wielding what appeared to be a Samurai-type sword.
Police tasered and arrested the suspect, a 36-year-old man who remains in custody on suspicion of murder. He has not been named and was not previously known to police.
The independent school attended by Anjorin said in a statement Wednesday that they had been left in “profound shock and sorrow” at the pupil’s death.
“He was a true scholar, demonstrating commendable dedication to his academic pursuits. His positive nature and gentle character will leave a lasting impact on us,” Bancroft’s, in Woodford Green, near Hainault, said.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said Tuesday’s horror unfolded just before 7:00 am (0600 GMT) when the accused crashed a van into a house fence, hitting a 33-year-old man before stabbing him in the neck.
A 35-year-old man was then attacked inside a nearby property, causing lacerations to his arm, before Anjorin was killed.
Police arrived on the scene 12 minutes after the first emergency call and attempted to neutralise the suspect with incapacitant spray and a Taser gun but these had little effect.
The suspect seriously injured two police officers, both of whom required surgery on Tuesday and remain in hospital.
One, a woman, suffered severe injuries to her arm and nearly lost a hand, the Met said.
The man fled again as terrified witnesses took cover in houses before police used a Taser to overpower him, detaining him 22 minutes after the initial call.
Police have said the attack was not terror-related.
It came amid a rise in stabbings in the United Kingdom and shortly before voters decide whether to re-elect London mayor Sadiq Khan for a record third term in local elections Thursday.
Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has criticised the opposition Labour Party’s Khan for his record on crime.
Anjorin’s death is the second recent tragedy to hit Bancroft’s, after a former pupil, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, was killed in Nottingham last year as she tried to save her friend from a knife attacker.
Valdo Calocane was sentenced to indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital for stabbing to death 19-year-old O’Malley-Kumar, fellow student Barnaby Webber and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.
The Federal government has approved a salary increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.
The Head of Press, National Salaries, Incomes and Wages Commission (NSIWC), Mr. Emmanuel Njoku, disclosed this through a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.
He said: “The Federal Government has approved an increase of between 25 percent and 35 percent in salary increase for civil servants on the remaining six Consolidated Salary Structures.
“They include Consolidated Public Service Salary Structure (CONPSS), Consolidated Research and Allied Institutions Salary Structure (CONRAISS), and Consolidated Police Salary Structure (CONPOSS).
“Others are Consolidated Para-military Salary Structure (CONPASS), Consolidated Intelligence Community Salary Structure (CONICCS), and Consolidated Armed Forces Salary Structure (CONAFSS).
“The increases will take effect from January 1.”
Njoku revealed that the Federal government has also approved increase pension increase of between 20 percent and 28 percent for pensioners on the Defined Benefits Scheme.
He added that the increase is on the six consolidated salary structures and would also take effect from January 1.
The move, according to him, is in line with the provisions of Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The official recalled that those in the tertiary education and health sectors had already received their increases.
“This involves Consolidated University Academic Salary Structure (CONUASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (CONTISS) for universities.
“For Polytechnics and Colleges of Education, it involves the Consolidated Polytechnics and Colleges of Education Academic Staff Salary Structure (CONPCASS) and Consolidated Tertiary Educational Institutions Salary Structure (CONTEDISS).
“The Health Sector also benefitted through the Consolidated Medical Salary Structure (CONMESS) and Consolidated Health Sector Salary Structure (CONHESS),” Njoku added.,,
By Eric Elezuo
The Nigeria Head of National Office, West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), Dr. Amos Josiah Dangut, has sounded a note of warning to schools in the habit of extortiing money from their students in the name of paying for certificates, to desist from the act henceforth, or face repercussions.
The HNO gave the warning while addressing members of the media on the conduct of the 2024 Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE) due to kick-start on April 30, 2024 in four member countries of the Council including Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
He noted that the public and the media have not been coming forward with reports of School indulging in the act, and that explains why the hammer has not fallen on some erring schools.
“The more you fail to report the schools involved, the more the act continues, so we encourage you to name schools involved in the act,” he said.
The HNO further noted that the examination, which will last a duration of seven weeks and six days will test a total of One Million, Eight Hundred and Fourteen Thousand, Three Hundred and Forty-Four (1, 814, 344) candidates from Twenty-Two Thousand Two Hundred and Twenty-Nine ( 22,229) schools, whose entries were received. Candidates will be tested in 76 subjects, spread into 197 papers during the period of the examination.
Of much importance, the HNO announced that the results of the SSCE will be released 45 days after the last paper, while the certificates for the students will be printed, and released to the schools 90 days after the release of the results, urging schools to release the certificates to the students-owners without any charges as their registration fees has already accommodated the charges for the certificates.
While advising parents and guardians to encourage their wards to study diligently and desist from engaging in any form of examination malpractice, Mr. Dangut tasks students to take advantage of all the educational platforms created by WAEC to ensure their success, such as the e-learning portal.
