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Food for Living: Spirituality and Success
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Let me begin this article with a disclosure; I’m not an ordained Minister of God. I am a trained Human Capacity coach. I therefore, speak and write on whatever affects the optimum performance of human beings. One may be wondering why I decided to write about the spirituality of success. Before you conclude, just spare me a minute and you will see reasons you need to pay attention to this wonderful article.
Did you know that all success is spiritual?
Here is the reason. Before anything happens physically, it has taken shape spiritually. This is because success starts from the mind. Is that not spiritual? Before a blogger publishes an article on a website, he or she would have done some background work before the article is published. That’s spiritual success. Before a politician wins an election, he/she must have campaigned; before a student passes an exam, wins a scholarship or an award, he/she must have distinguished himself and herself; before someone gets an appointment, he/she must have developed himself/herself. These are all examples of spiritual success.
To show you how spiritual success works, the work must be done in the closet before it gets public attention. That’s why it’s always said, you must work hard in success and allow your success to make the noise.
Let’s spend a minute on sacrifice. Sacrifice comes in several ways. You must know the kind of sacrifice you want to engage in. As a progressive being, you must be intentional the way you live your life. You must know what you want in life. This entails knowing who you want as a life partner, business partner, the kind of business you would like to engage in, the kind of friend, mentor, parent, child you would love to have. When you have been able to decide on these salient issues, you will know the kind of sacrifice you will have to engage in to get what you want.
As a student, the sacrifice you engage in to pass your exams is different from the sacrifice an entrepreneur will engage in to grow his/her business. The same is applicable to a parent who wants to give his children a decent education. As a mentee, you must know the kind of person you would like to adopt as a mentor, and then know what works for the person and see how you can use your gift, value or time to get the attention of the person. As a man interested in a lady, you must sacrifice your time and resources to get her attention. These are all spiritual sacrifices because you must have done the work before the result comes out.
Did you know that sacrifice can make things happen? There’s a level of sacrifice you will engage in, that can provoke someone to do what they never intended to do. In the corporate world, you will get promoted by the extra work they do.
Sacrifice can be spiritual, occultic or covenanted. Sacrifice can be given to a god/God, it can also be given to a human being. The question you need to ask yourself is who am I you sacrificing to and for what purpose? This is because every sacrifice has a goal and purpose.
Your sacrifice shows how serious, passionate, and intentional you are in getting what you want. I have personally sacrificed a lot to get to where I am today. I invest my time and resources in causes I am passionate about. I invest in my mentors, mentees, business, late parents, family, and friends just to mention a few.
The right sacrifice can open doors of opportunities for you. It’s sad to note that many people don’t know how to offer the right sacrifice. Do you know where your prayers, academics, works and connections cannot reach? Did you know that your sacrifice can speak for you? Your sacrifice can serve as a communication link for you.
It’s also sad to note that most people sacrifice with vested interest. If you sacrifice your money and time due to an interest you have in somebody, it’s only a matter of time for the true intention of the person to be known. Your sacrifice must come from your heart.
The level of sacrifice you engage in determines the kind of result you will get. When most people sleep late at night doing productive work and waking up quite early like an early worm to do some productive work, they don’t do it because it’s fun. They do it because they have a project they are working on. It’s sad to note that many people don’t know how to sacrifice for the right cause. They misplace the time and money they are supposed to use for a worthy cause for an unworthy cause, thereby spending major time on minor things and spend minor time on major things.
According to a veteran celebrity journalist Dr. Dele Momodu, ‘many people are chasing what they should have left for God and ignore what should lead them to God’. If you know what you want in life, no amount of sacrifice is too much to attain it. It’s instructive to note that people become successful by virtue of the work they do based on the sacrifice they have invested with the work they do.
In conclusion, if you want to go far in life, you must sacrifice something. If you want anything in life, you must sacrifice.
Question: what are you using as an exchange for your sacrifice?
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
Two members of the Rivers House of Assembly, who are loyalists of former Governor Nyesom Wike, have withdrawn from the impeachment move against Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers.
The Minority Leader of the assembly, Sylvanus Enyinna Nwankwo, and Peter Abbey, who represents Degema State Constituency, urged their colleagues to exercise restraint and allow for dialogue to maintain stability in the state
In a video widely circulated on Facebook and an excerpt published by Rivers State Television, the lawmakers urged their colleagues to prioritise the overall interest and stability of Rivers above partisan disagreements.
Call for ‘cooling-off period’
The legislators stressed that the prevailing political climate demands calm, dialogue and a “cooling-off period” within the assembly to allow, in their words, “wisdom and truth to prevail” in the legislative chambers.
Background to impeachment moves
The Rivers assembly parted ways with Mr Fubara because of the feud between the governor and Mr Wike, who is the FCT minister.
The current impeachment notice on Mr Fubara is the third attempt in less than three years to remove the governor. The previous efforts had split the legislature into two factions, causing President Bola Tinubu to declare a six-month state of emergency in the oil-rich state and suspend the governor, the deputy governor, and the lawmakers.
The lawmakers accused the governor of constitutional breaches and administrative misconduct, allegations his supporters have dismissed as politically motivated.
Source: Premium Times
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Food is an integral component for living and existence because among other things, it provides energy and nourishment to the physical body. However, it must be consciously selected in other not to run into crisis.
Different kinds of food serve different purposes to the human body depending on the immediate and remote needs. That explains the reason doctors and health practitioners have advised on certain meals to be taken for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And because these serve different purposes, one must therefore, be intentional in selecting the food they eat. It is worthy of note that when one eats a heavy meal at breakfast which is supposedly meant for lunch, there’s the tendency they might not be able to function optimally.
The importance of choosing what goes into the human system as food cannot be overemphasized taking into cognizance that different foods work for different people. This is because they have different taste buds and distinct preferences.
For me, I love having breakfast. As a matter of fact, breakfast for me is the most important meal of the day. If I have have my breakfast, I can practically ‘stay woke’ the whole day.
Again, I love fruits with passion, especially when it’s organic. I can take fruits all day and be fine. This again means, I know what works for me, and so I am intentional in selecting the kind of fruits and food I eat.
Making choices of this nature however, does not relate to food alone. When metaphorically use, food can refer to every facet of living to contributes to growth. An average human being is therefore, expected to choose and dictate the directions of their relationships, professions/business, lifestyle, spiritual life, academic life, health routine, family outlook, and even outfit. It should be noted that anything one does in life, is a function of selection. Every area of our life is centered on choice.
Back to the literal food; while there are different options of food, an individual can decide to stick to a particular one. This is applicable to all other aspects of life. So, before one wears any cloth, it is believed that he must have made the choice out of many options.
As a living being, it’s not all kinds of food that must be eaten, the tantalizing appearance notwithstanding. There are some foods one will eat, and one’s body will react to it. That’s why it’s important for one to determine what works for them. Selecting the food we eat is like selecting the lifestyle we intend to live.
In the journey of life, we must select the kind of lifestyle we would like to live, if we select a bad lifestyle, we’ll have to live with the consequences. There’s no human action without a corresponding consequence. If you do good for someone, it has a way of coming back to you soon directly or indirectly. If you do bad, you will understand the meaning of actions that have consequences.
A case of action with consequences can be likened to the now trending story of a Nigerian Pastor, Chris Okafor, who was alleged to have committed sexual immorality with many ladies while legally married, in addition to living a lifestyle that is unbecoming of a pastor. All his acts were not publicly known until he offended one of his numerous sex partners, one Ms. Doris Ogala.
According to the lady, Okafor promised her marriage, but chose to abandon her after numerous sexual escapades with her. Due to the pain she experienced, she began to expose him on all fronts. The public shame following the ‘pastor’ is the consequence of the action of sinful life he chose.
As an observer on the street, I realized one thing, it’s not all food one is supposed to eat. As a man, sometimes, you are supposed to fast from some food no matter how appetizing it may appear. Sometimes, act like you didn’t see the food just to preserve your sanity, and sometimes, dignity.
Pastor Chris has allegedly tested many foods, unfortunately there was a meal he tasted, and he began to purge. That single meal has exposed and unearthed a lot which was not publicly available and many interested persons, especially ladies, who have been victims have begun to share their personal experiences with pastor Chris, and this has led the security agencies to wade into the allegations against him. Again, this goes to tell you, it’s not every food one must eat.
As a cultural Igbo man from Nigeria, we have an adage that says, nobody knows the womb that will bore a king tomorrow. This adage insinuates that, as human beings, nobody knows where the next opportunity will come from, and in the same manner nobody knows the allegation or challenge that may lead to their downfall. So, it’s important for one to be intentional about how they live their life.
As a man, one must have a certain level of decency, especially if they want to go far. One must also be intentional with their life. Once it’s screwed, it will be hard to fix.
As a career and life coach, there are many opportunities flying all over the space, and it’s normal for one to jump into any industry because it seems to be paying well, or it appears to have lots of growth opportunities. But most people fail to understand that just like there are sands everywhere, opportunities abound everywhere.
When faced with such temptation, what a rational mind must do is to determine whether that opportunity is right for them. It’s always good for one to do what’s best for them, and that entails working on their God given purpose. Failure to do this might make one to work like an elephant and eat like an ant. Even if one is lucky to succeed in that career/business, if they decide to change careers, they might not be happy in addition to having a fulfilling life.
One may have a different attitude to this because they will prefer to cry in a limousine than to cry in a bike or bus, but the truth must be stated, there’s a stage one will get in life and they will realize that if money is the only thing they have, they are poor.
There are many people who married because of money, looks and social status, and today they are either divorced or not happy. Money does not solve all the problems in marriage, neither does looks, faithfulness and sex solve all the problems. What’s important is the shared beliefs in alignment and purpose when two partners are committed to make the relationship work.
In summary, selecting your food is a hypothetical way of informing everyone that we must be intentional with our life. If you see something you like whether it relates to business, education, career, relationship, spirituality or personal, please commit to it regardless of the distractions and detractions that will come in the form of challenges and obstacles. If one can stay strong, they will smile at the end of the day.
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 and Unleash Your Destiny . He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
The Chairman of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, through his legal representative, has filed a formal corruption petition against the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, at the headquarters of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
This was disclosed in a statement made available to our correspondent by the Dangote Group media team on Friday.
Recall that Dangote had earlier petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate Ahmed for allegedly spending $5 million on his children’s secondary education in Switzerland. He withdrew the petition a few days ago, even as the ICPC vowed to continue with its investigation.
The statement on Friday said Dangote’s petition to the EFCC followed “The withdrawal of the same petition from the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, a strategic decision aimed at accelerating the prosecution process.”
In the petition, signed by Lead Counsel Dr O.J. Onoja, Dangote urged the EFCC to investigate allegations of abuse of office and corrupt enrichment against Ahmed, and to prosecute him if found culpable.
The petition further stated that Dangote would provide evidence to substantiate claims of financial misconduct and impunity.
“We make bold to state that the commission is strategically positioned, along with sister agencies, to prosecute financial crimes and corruption-related offences, and upon establishing a prima facie case, the courts do not hesitate to punish offenders. See Lawan v. F.R.N (2024) 12 NWLR (Pt. 1953) 501 and Shema v. F.R.N. (2018) 9 NWLR (Pt.1624) 337,” the petition read.
Onoja further urged the commission, under the leadership of Mr Olanipekun Olukoyede, “To investigate the complaint of abuse of office and corruption against Engr. Farouk Ahmed and to accordingly prosecute him if found wanting.”
