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Food for Living: The Uniqueness of a Friend
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
Today, I will address everyone as a friend because we seem to have built a community and tribe by virtue of the engagements I have noticed over time over my articles. Some have reached out to me personally to share opinions and views on a particular subject matter while some others have been constructive on how I can improve my content. This explains why I feel honored to address you as a friend, knowing that it is only a friend who has your interest at heart that will go all out to advise or give you feedback on your work.
You may be wondering what’s behind this article. Well, the answer is not far-fetched. As a human capacity coach, I train High School and College students, entrepreneurs and career professions on the importance of building viable networks via the people they know. One of my biggest strengths is in teaching youths about self-discovery, and how they can attract value to their life when they know themselves.
We all need true friends who will always look out for us and stand for us when we are not around to defend ourselves. It’s quite unfortunate we live in a world where some people are selfish, self-centered, and out rightly wicked. In our contemporary society, we may have been betrayed, maligned, and neglected by “supposed” friends, who we hold dear to our hearts. The interesting thing about disappointment however, is that it can serve as a learning curve and experience.
We all desire that great friend we can relate closely with as a colleague, partner, mentor, relative, or even ‘enemy’. Yes, I said enemy because your enemy will keep you on your toes. The best way to seek a unique friend is to be one. The law of attraction teaches that we attract like kinds. It is just like a king who would like to marry; he will look for a classy lady that fits his position and the same is applicable to a professional lady, who wants to marry; she will look for a man with the same mindset and vision like her.
To understand how friendship works, imagine being a coach to a group of people. You will notice that it’s easier to get your team to do more when you show them you care by words, thoughts, and actions than by telling them to do their works in a sarcastic and condescending tone.
It’s quite easy to be a critic or a cheerleader because a critic sees your weaknesses and attacks your worst self, while a cheerleader sees your strengths and celebrates your best self, but a coach sees your potential and helps you become a better version of yourself.
One of the best things that can happen to anyone is to have real friends, who they can always reach out to when the need arises. Finding that friend can be difficult, but it’s doable. Some of the ways I decide who will be in my space is by looking at the attitude of the person, does he/she practices gratitude? What’s their personality like? Do they have good habits? What’s their mindset like? Do they have an idea of what they want in life? Do they have goals?
A friend is someone with whom you share similar interest, values, beliefs, vision, and worthy goals. A unique friendship is one that is symbiotic as opposed to parasitic. A unique friend is a person who checks on you in season and out of season just to make sure you are okay as opposed to checking on you when they need assistance. A unique friend understands your boundaries and respects you.
It’s worthy of note that your true friend is the person who brings out the best in you. The question now is, how can one find a unique friend? I will share some attributes you should be on the lookout for before you accept anyone into your life.
Care
A true friend cares for you and listens to your concerns without being judgmental. He or she looks out for you regarding what will benefit you. When a friend cares, they show empathy towards you, listens to your desires and needs, and is very supportive of your growth.
Truth worthy
A genuine friend is a person you can confide in without feeling guilty. A true friend is someone who can be brutally honest with you, very loyal, and dependable when you need their assistance. When you have a real friend, you won’t feel threatened to ask them for a favour.
Forgives easily
Real friends don’t hold grudges. A real friend will forgive easily for almost anything if not “everything. One of the hallmarks of a real friendship is the ability to forgive your friend or partner when they wrong you. They will try to understand the reasons you acted the way you did. It might be hard, but it’s one of the prices you must pay for the friendship to grow. Friendship is not always rosy, sometimes, it has its own thorn. It is the thorn and challenges that make the friendship stronger.
In conclusion, take time to examine the people in your life, are they leading you in the direction you will like to go or are they leading you to their destination? As you ponder through the question, just know that you are the one person today, but in five years time, expect a different person from the book you read and the people you meet.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He’s a Human Capacity & mindset coach. He’s also a public speaker, youth advocate and creative writer. 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,
The importance of timing cannot be overemphasized. Timing is everything in life. It is critical to one’s success. You can lose your money and get it back in many folds. You can even lose your health and get it back all things being equal, but when you lose time, you can hardly get it back again.
The importance of timing can be seen in crops. Every crop has a season, a good farmer won’t plant maize when it’s time for oranges, nor will he plant pears when it’s the season for mangoes.
Time is very instrumental to the success and failure of anyone. Imagine having a meeting or interview at 9:00am and you arrive at 10:10am, it will take the grace of God to be interviewed. As an employee, apart from one not being able to diligently do his job, one of the fastest ways for an employee to lose his job is by being late to work.
When I was in New York Law School studying Taxation law, I did a course titled, the Problem of Timing. During the semester, I learnt about cash and accrued income. Let me do some academic exercise here. In cash income, just like the name entails, one is paid in cash as soon as the work is completed. It’s just like going to the market to make a purchase. One can either pay directly with cash or with debit or credit card. But Accrued income refers to revenue a company has earned by providing goods or services, but for which payment has not yet been received, one will have to do the work first before getting paid. This is applicable when one works in either a public or private organization where one is paid either weekly, bi-weekly or at the end of the month depending on the stipulated mode of payment.
It’s important to note that before the money is paid either in cash or accrued, one would have earned it. It’s just like one learning g before earning, and one will have to update to upgrade. These are just the practical principles that will work with life.
In the same way, in life there’s a seed time and harvest time. It’s a universal principle of life. Whether as a parent, entrepreneur, student or employee. As a parent, if you don’t train your kids very well, they will grow up to reflect the opposite of what you desire. As an entrepreneur when you invest in your business, you will get the reward in due time. As a student, if you take your studies seriously, your grades will improve, and as an employee, you stand to get promotions and opportunities when you add value to your work. In summary, one will have to put in the work before recognition comes on.
To understand how seedtime and harvest work, imagine where parents tend to like one child more than others just because they see potential in him, or he’s smart, hardworking or even creative. They fail to understand that every child is different and as such their timing can be different. Some kinds take time to develop.
I personally believe there’s something so unique about each individual which God has deposited in everyone of us. It’s just a matter of time for it to manifest. Your timing of manifestation is different from your siblings and colleagues.
Personally, I didn’t mature fast with my contemporaries. Overtime, I have seen much improvement in my personal and professional life. Maybe because I have added value to my work with the assistance of mentors and good friends, or God had to humble my colleagues and mentors . Why do I say this? During my formative years, I had little or nothing to show for it. I was looking at my contemporaries as mentor and seeing my mentors as small gods whose feat is unattainable, but now, the reverse seems to be case as I have developed capacity some of my colleagues are yet to attain, while I have even surpassed the achievement of my some of my mentors in some quarters.
In all these, they are all surprised how it happened. Some are yet to comprehend or articulate the feat. It’s just like watching a film where everyone slept and woke up to see the game and tides have changed. The secret behind it is the seed time and harvest time. I was probably learning the trade while in the wilderness, and when the training season matured and ripe enough to be harvested, I became attractive to almost everyone who loved the seed I was producing.
There are litany of examples of people, who have been in the wilderness during the seed planting season. Let’s take a case study of Joseph in the Bible, his journey to stardom took a little twist. Despite the travails he experienced in the hands of his siblings who sold him, his experience while in the jail, and with Portiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him; they were all set ups for success. The moral here is Joseph seed time and harvest time was quite different, it wasn’t a smooth journey. Ordinarily, one would have cursed his siblings or his friends who were with him in prison and forgot him after they were released. But at the end of time, everything worked out for his favor. Joseph’s seed days were his dark days while in the wilderness.
Another inspiring story of note was that of Pastor Ibukun Awosika, the former board Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria. She once shared a pathetic story during her formative years of being in business. According to her, she sojourned for about 15 years. She cried because lines were not adding up for her and she wouldn’t do what her contemporaries were doing to get opportunities. At a point in her business, it appeared like she was in a race of own life because everything seemed to be against her, but at the appropriate time, lines began to fall in place for her. Appointments, business opportunities, favours and goodwill began to fall in place for her. Again, she had a fair share of seed time.
An interesting question I would like to ask you is, what’s your seed time? Have you ever been in the wilderness when you appeared to be fixed? It’s unfortunate many people are not willing to pass through the storms or experience seeds and harvest time. Amidst all these, one must do some work before they get opportunities. However, before such opportunities will come up, one will have to plant the seed.
In conclusion, seed time and harvest time is critical in the journey of life. Take a seat and determine what seed you would like to sow and what you’ll like to harvest.
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
By Eric Elezuo
The Senate has suspended Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghen for six months over her sexual harassment accusation and other disputes against the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
The Senate also withdrew her salaries for the period of the suspension, as well as her security details.
The chamber however, soft-pedaled on the salaries and allowances of her aides, who it was argued would not have any source of livelihood within the period.
Globacom is welcoming new customers on its network with the introduction of the e-SIM. The e-SIM activated in any Gloworld shop or Dealer outlet comes with an introductory free 5GB data when the customer buys a data plan of N1,500 or more.
Customers already on other networks can now join the Glo network with e-SIM as an additional SIM. Existing Glo customers can also enjoy this “SIM-less” freedom.
With the e-SIM, customers no longer have to worry about space for a physical SIM on their phones. The e-SIM is a software-based digital chip built directly into smartphones or wearable devices, thus eliminating the need for a physical SIM card for customers.
The use of e-SIM enables customers to have seamless switching between phone numbers without a physical SIM. It is ideal for upwardly mobile people who travel frequently. The e-SIM also guarantees security, as unlike physical SIM, it is harder to remove from devices. It is also eco-friendly and reduces plastic waste.
Globacom’s launch of the e-SIM enables enables it to cater to high-net-worth individuals and enterprise customers, and it also reinforces the company’s commitment to providing seamless and future-ready services to its customers.
A customer seeking to activate the Glo e-SIM needs to check the compatibility of the mobile handset by dialling *#06# on his or her phone. If an EID number reflects on the mobile screen, the device is e-SIM compatible.
“The customer can then proceed to the nearest Gloworld shop or Glo Dealer outlet to migrate to e-SIM. The process takes only a few minutes and the customer can thereafter begin to enjoy the use of an e-SIM”, the Marketing Department disclosed.
