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Food for Living: Change Your Mindset
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By Henry Ukazu
Greeting Destiny Friends,
According to Buddha, “Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” This is a very deep saying. Everyday we rise from the bed, we are given opportunities to succeed by creating new vision and products, but what we do with our time is what literally makes the difference. It’s very easy to blame others for our misfortunes, but the truth is if we look inward, no one can insult you without your consent.
One of the greatest powers we have as human beings is our choice. Just like we all have different taste buds, we also have different preferences in life. The difference between a great mind and a shallow mind is how they reason and understand life. Both of them have different visions and understandings. While one is thinking of leaving the comfort zone by taking a rational risk, the other is thinking of maintaining the status quo.
If we take the discussion a little bit further, the human mind is the second most powerful force or power. This is because if the world is telling you, you can succeed on a task, and you know, you can’t accomplish the task, you’ll definitely fail, but if the world is telling you, you’ll fail on the task and you are determined to succeed, you’ll definitely succeed because he that is in you is greater and stronger than he that is in the world.
In medicine, we were taught about different parts of the brains, for the case of this article, we shall limit our to four parts namely” the frontal lobe which performs cognitive functions. It controls our voluntary movement or activity. The parietal lobe processes information about temperature, taste, touch, and movement, while the occipital lobe is primarily responsible for vision. The temporal lobe is largely responsible for creating and preserving both conscious and long-term memory
Each of the lobes is controlled by the mind. Your success and failure in life can be attributed to many factors such as your thinking faculty, network, exposure, knowledge, and God factor amongst other factors. Amongst all this, the mind stands out because regardless of how other attributes work if our mind is not in alignment with our faith, knowledge, and network, we’ll fail.
The human mind is capable of achieving anything is desires if it plays by the rules. This is because our success and failure start in our minds. It’s quite unfortunate many of us have limited the power of the mind. If you believe you can achieve a particular task, you’ll achieve it, setbacks will only act as energizer to you.
To appreciate the how the mindset work, imagine wearing a pig a gold or jewel, the pig won’t appreciate it, rather it will make a mess of it, but give that jewel or gold to a rational mind who knows the value, you’ll see how the person will treasure it. That’s simply how mindset work.
The question we have to ask ourselves is how can we change our mindset? Changing our mindset is not hard, rather what is hard is remaining focused. You can change your mindset every now and then, but are you ready to commit to the new target? Every year, we make a new resolution to live a better life, stop procrastination, kick out negative habits and live a disciplined life, but within a couple of weeks and months, we see ourselves going back to the old habits.
The difference between a poor man and a wealthy mind is their mindset. A great man doesn’t limit his thoughts and vision towards life, but a poor man has no problem beclouding his mentality with lots of negative reasons or factors why a task can’t be done. Let’s share some examples of how we can change our mindset.
Learn to meditate
When you meditate, you develop your mind to opportunities. You see what other people can’t see. Very few people know how to meditate. There’s uncommon power in meditation. When you medicate right, your mind opens up many opportunities.
Focus on your long-term vision.
Always have the end in sight. It is the vision you have about life, that will inspire you to forge ahead when you face challenges.
Keep Your Circle Close:
Your network is your net worth, don’t associate with low minds who don’t have the vision of an eagle, rather associate with people who are smarter than you. Find people who reflect the values you want to adopt. As your own mind starts to change, it’ll become easier to connect with more positive people.
Challenge your thoughts.
You cannot change your mindset without changing your thoughts. Whenever you are faced with negative thoughts, always look for positive thoughts to counter it. Thoughts have power, if they are not uprooted, they have the tendency to grow and germinate and bear fruits which can kill your vision. Kick our negative thoughts from your mind. Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start thinking about what could go right!
Affirm and Visualize:
Tap into the power of affirmations by daily affirming positive words into your life. I can’t overemphasize the power of affirmations. You can do it every day by speaking into your life when you wake up every morning. Whenever you wake up or each time you experience a challenge, affirm and visualize by saying, it too shall pass, it’s a matter of time. Creating a strong mental picture of where you want to be, reinforces the message in your brain. Nike has a logo that says “Just do it”. To them, all you need is the belief factor, don’t look at the reasons why it can’t be done, rather focus your mind on why it can be done. In order to affirm and visualize, dream it, think it, speak it, affirm it, and act it. When you affirm, you visualize yourself in the dreamland. You can a take tour, travel, or even chat with your idol just to have an experience of what it feels like being in the desired place or position.
In conclusion, it should be noted, you can’t give what you don’t have, neither can you achieve what you didn’t visualize. True success is by luck neither is it accidental, rather it’s a deliberate and intentional effort to succeed.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. 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
Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of removing some of its nominated candidates from the commission’s list and replacing them with names allegedly unknown to the party.
The National Chairman of the party, Senator Moses Cleopas Zuwoghe, made the allegation in a statement on Sunday, following INEC’s publication of candidates for the 2027 State Houses of Assembly elections.
Cleopas said the names published by INEC, particularly in Anambra State, suggested an attempt to undermine the party ahead of the elections and create disaffection among its supporters.
The NDC chairman specifically alleged that nine persons whose names were not authorised or submitted by the party had been listed as its candidates in various constituencies in Anambra State, the home state of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
He called on the INEC Chairman to immediately investigate the development and determine how the names got onto the commission’s list.
Cleopas also urged INEC to extend the investigation to other states, including Benue and Imo, where he said the party had observed a similar pattern.
According to him, the development had embarrassed the party, its leadership and its genuine candidates, while creating disaffection among its supporters in Nigeria and the Diaspora.
“We, as a party, are also carrying out our own independent investigation, the preliminary findings of which are already pointing to the complicity of INEC officials in foisting names purporting to be our candidates, but who are not from us,” he alleged.
He said the party’s investigation indicated that the uploading process was being used to intimidate and embarrass the NDC.
The party listed the following persons as names allegedly published by INEC as its candidates in Anambra:
Onitsha South 1 — Umennaajiego Jude Ezenwa
Onitsha South 2 — Akpotue Obinna Chibuike
Orumba North — Nwankwo Chiemerie
Anaocha 1 — Maduagwu Eric K
Idemili North — Ngoebisi Obinna
Njikoka 1 — Isintume Charles
Nnewi South — Nwachukwu Nonso
Nnewi South 2 — Okeke Ifeanyi Akunne
Ayamelum — Nnonyelu Samson E
Dunukofia — Azotani Chuks Francis
Cleopas, however, said the party is particularly concerned about the process through which the names were uploaded and published.
He said after the conclusion of the party’s primaries and appeal process, stakeholders from Anambra, the party leadership, representatives of Obi and the appeals panel agreed on a final list of candidates.
According to him, the list was signed off by the relevant stakeholders before being uploaded to the INEC portal using the code provided to the party by the electoral commission.
He alleged that INEC officials subsequently kept nine of the names on “Pending” status, claiming that the names were already in the commission’s system based on submissions by officials who monitored the party’s primaries.
Cleopas said the NDC formally challenged the names and submitted the identities of candidates it said were legitimately nominated by the party, but INEC allegedly declined to replace the disputed names.
He further alleged that INEC subsequently collected Form EC-9 directly from the persons whose names were in dispute and uploaded the forms without going through the party.
“To further confirm that there was a predetermined effort on the part of INEC to impose the said nine candidates on the party, and embarrass both NDC and Mr. Peter Obi, INEC went behind the NDC to collect the Form EC-9 directly from the candidates, bypassing the party, and uploading same,” he alleged.
Cleopas argued that where there was a discrepancy between names submitted by a political party and information received by INEC from its monitoring teams, the commission should have left the affected positions vacant pending clarification, rather than publish names the party said it did not nominate.
“At the very worst, INEC could have left us with no candidates for those positions, if they knew they were unwilling to engage us in addressing any perceived anomaly,” he said.
The NDC chairman accused INEC of creating a pattern in which opposition parties were allegedly prevented from uploading their preferred candidates while other names were introduced into their candidate lists.
He vowed that the party would pursue the matter through all available legal channels and seek to have what it described as its authentic candidates restored.
“We are moving to approach the court of competent jurisdiction to seek redress and restore our authentic candidates. The general public and our millions of supporters should note that these are not our candidates,” he said.
Nepal said Sunday it had begun burying some of the hundreds of bodies recovered after devastating floods, after taking DNA samples and marking them so families can later retrieve them.
The dead are traditionally cremated on funeral pyres in Hindu-majority Nepal, so the burials are viewed as long-term storage until families can retrieve them.
Foreign Secretary Amrit Bahadur Rai told reporters that all those buried were carefully recorded, but also appealed for international support, saying Nepal needed “more than a thousand” freezer units to store bodies.
The announcement of the burials came as Nepal’s disaster ministry increased its toll again on Sunday to 752 bodies recovered and 2,502 people missing.
That list includes 589 foreigners unaccounted for.
Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster, taking the overall toll to 768 dead and 3,048 unaccounted for.
“Following standard and accepted protocols, such as those of ICRC (Red Cross), the mortal remains of the dead, especially those not recognisable… have been temporarily buried,” Rai told reporters.
“Medical teams took DNA samples from every victim prior to the burial so that families can match-reference later, and would be allowed to exhume for necessary rituals.”
Nepal has called for freezer storage units and DNA testing kits, as it is overwhelmed with the number of bodies to store safely.
“We have requested different countries for freezers; we will need more than a thousand,” Rai added.
“Many dead bodies have been collected, and they have started decomposing. To preserve public health, we had to bury the decomposing bodies,” he added.
AFP
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Everyone loves influence. Everyone wants to be a person of influence. Everyone wants to be relevant. Everyone wants to be celebrated. Everyone likes attention, appreciation, approval, and admiration. All these are products of influence.
The question I need you to ask yourself is, are you a person of influence? Are you influencing anyone? Do you have a positive or negative influence on your children, spouse, friends, mentors/mentee, or even strangers? Take a minute to listen to yourself.
When we talk about influence, uninformed minds just think influence is only about money, power, authority, or even being a mentor. Influence is far from it. We are all influencers in one way or another. Many people have influenced us in different ways, some positive, some negative. Similarly, we have also influenced many people in good and bad ways.
But today, I’m here to share with you what influence is about and the positive ways one can be a person of influence. Influence comes in different ways: as a politician, you are influencing people; as a leader, you are influencing policy; as a youth advocate, mentor, teacher, pastor, and employee, you are influencing somebody in one way or the other.
Do you know you can influence someone with your lifestyle? Yes, the way you talk, write, lead, dress, eat, exercise, preach the word of God, do your job, serve people, train your children, etc., are all part of influence. Influence is powerful. It has a way of permeating someone without them knowing. I believe that’s why my late mother would always say, if you are hanging out with a friend, only take the good part and leave the bad part.
We currently live in the 21st century, where the internet leads. The internet is regarded as the fifth estate for a reason, because it empowers networked individuals and alternative media to hold traditional institutions, governments, and mainstream media accountable. Everyone and almost everything is on the internet; however, sometimes, the information we get on the internet is regarded as fake because it’s unverified.
In some quarters, the internet has been regarded as a bad influence on the younger generation because of the limited restrictions and the negative information it has exposed their minds to think in a particular way. Some other schools of thought have opined that the internet has done more good than harm due to the knowledge it has exposed their minds to, as opposed to the information being peddled by some other schools of thought. Regardless of the aisle one belongs to, the internet truly has its pros and cons, especially as it relates to influence.
The big question one needs to answer is what influence is. According to Nosakhare Tune Oni – A Pan-African Strategist, leadership and business coach, “influence is when people trust your judgment enough to act on it. It is when someone calls you before making an important decision. When your recommendation opens a door. When your name carries weight in a room, you’re not even in. When people are willing to put their reputation behind yours. That’s influence.
Let’s take a minute to dwell on those lines again. Has anyone played any of such roles in your life? If yes, that’s the best definition of influence in a nutshell. Influence is not about quantity, but quality. The quality of people in your life is more valuable than the quantity of people one’s life. Do you know we don’t really need battalions of friends, whether online or in person, but just one person of influence can be a game-changer. According to Les Brown, a leadership coach, we need only quality people.
Do you know we are everywhere and nowhere at the same time? Do you also know that we can be everywhere and still have very little influence? Influence is about knowing your value and the right people who appreciate the value you bring. Do you know one can be a person of value to the wrong person or audience?
Influence is about having followers who believe and follow your teaching. We can have visibility with little or no influence. One may have 100,000 followers. We may trend on Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, or even WhatsApp. Your name is a household name. That is visibility.
Let me give you a practical example. If you have a large crowd of people following you online or in person. The critical question one must ask oneself is: why are they following me? Are they following me because of my ideology, my talent/gift, academic process, position, profession, vocation, skill, or jokes? If they follow you because of the ideology you represent, you are a person of influence. If they are following you because of your jokes, you may be a content creator or comedian with little or no value in influencing them to do or not do certain things. Real influence provokes action.
According to Nosakhare Tune Oni, influence is built differently from attention. Attention can be bought. Influence must be earned. You can manufacture visibility with advertising, controversy, or constant posting. But you cannot manufacture trust that easily. It comes from consistently being useful. Keeping your word. Knowing what you’re talking about. Showing up when it matters. Building relationships before you need them.
And creating value for people without constantly asking, “What’s in it for me?”
Do you know a person with 1,000 followers and deep trust within a particular industry may have more real influence than someone with 100,000 followers who nobody listens to. So, I don’t think the goal should simply be: “How many people know me?” A better question is: “How much does my presence actually change things?” Because visibility gets you noticed. Value gets you remembered. Trust gets you listened to, but influence is what happens when people trust your value enough to move.
As I prepare to conclude, please take a minute to ask yourself: are you a person of influence? Do you have influence? What positive influence have you had on people or anyone? Today, I want you to be a man/lady of influence like Martin Luther King Jnr, Mother Theresea, Evangelist Ebuka Obi, President Nelson Mandela, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Dr. Kola Adesina, Dr. Joe Abah, Dr. Dele Momodu, Barr. Henry Ukazu and Miss Ginika Dike.
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- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, Unleash Your Destiny, and The Six Pillars of Success. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
