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Food for Living: Understanding Oneself: Foundation to Success
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
“To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom” – Socrates
Please permit me to begin this article by asking a simple question. Who are you? By this, I mean what you stand for or represent and not what the world thinks of you. It is instructive to note that what the world thinks of you is your reputation, but your character is who you really are.
If an employer wants to know more about a prospective employee, they can ask an open-ended question such as how would you describe yourself in one sentence? What are your strengths and weaknesses? Have you ever experienced a challenge or problem at work? If yes, how did you handle it? All these questions are structured to inquire more about the personality of the employee.
One of the best things anyone can do in life is not only to understand who they are, but also understand what they represent. It will be hard to know what you represent if you don’t understand who you are. If you don’t understand yourself, it will be difficult to understand other people.
According to Forbes, only 15% of the world are self-aware. One begins to wonder, what about the remaining 85%. As a transformational Human Capacity Coach, my company is focused on helping people unleash their potential. To do this, we use our self-discovery and mindset training manual to know more about them by giving them a set of self awareness questions which they are required to answer to the best of their knowledge. It is rather unfortunate that a lot of people don’t know themselves. They just exist as opposed to living.
Self-discovery is truly lacking in our society. When you truly know yourself, you will know your strengths and weaknesses. When you know yourself, you will know your boundaries as regards what to accept from people and where to draw the lines; you will know your personality traits; you will have a clearer understanding of your career path in your professional life; you will know how to interact with people; you will know your core values; you will have a clearer version of your life purpose; and you will be self-motivated. The list is literally endless.
In the journey of life, we engage in a lot of activities we are not supposed to be engaged in. For example, we study courses we are not wired or love to study, and this makes understanding difficult. Some of us apply for jobs we are not passionate about just to pay bills. Some of us even marry partners we don’t really like due to circumstances. Again, the list is endless. All these can lead to frustration and depression if not properly managed. If only we can take a deep breath and ask ourselves some deep thought-provoking questions on what we really want in life, and the reason we are doing what we are doing, the result will be different.
There are many ways to understand oneself. You can understand yourself by staying silent, reflecting about, and observing your life. These acts will help you to practice self-awareness which will ultimately help you to look inward and enable you to understand your feelings, emotions, and your personality. Self knowledge will enable you to know your values, interests, temperament, life mission, and activities to engage in.
As human beings, one thing we should constantly engage in is learning new things about ourselves on a daily basis. Knowing oneself takes time. However, due to desperation, most people don’t practice the art of stillness. When you take time to understand what’s involved in a particular work, it will be easy to solve it in a more efficient and effective manner. There is a story told of a philosopher, who fell into a ditch in front of him because he was too busy to see what was ahead of him.
Again, let’s take the case of Japan with about one hundred and twenty-five million people, which is one of the most industrialized countries on the planet, yet it maintains a level of calm despite the busy nature of the country.
The benefits of knowing oneself is priceless. It will make you confident which will ultimately eliminate self-doubt. It will help you build better and healthy health relationships by attracting the people you need and eliminating people you don’t need. You will be less stressed because you will focus on what’s important as opposed to irrelevant things which will keep your temperament and mindset in good shape.
Self discovery will help you to know your self-worth because no one will price you cheap when you know your value, and you will feel happier.
Furthermore, self knowledge will help you in decision making. When you know yourself, you will be able to make better choices about everything, from minor decisions to major decisions. Your temperament and personality type will be better managed as a leader or rational being.
Self control: When you know yourself, you will better manage yourself. If you can’t manage yourself, it will be hard to manage other people. When you know yourself, you understand what motivates you to resist bad habits and develop good ones. Knowing your strengths is one of the foundations of self confidence.
Resistance to social pressure. Self knowledge helps you to focus on what’s beneficial to you as opposed to other people. According to Bill Cosby, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone. When you are grounded in your values and preferences, you are less likely to say “yes” when you want to say “no.”
In conclusion, take time and reflect on this question, who am I? This is one of the most important questions you will answer in your entire life. When you answer this question, you have solved 50% of your life challenges. If you can’t answer this question, and need assistance, you can use the email below to reach out for assistance.
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
The Order of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja for the arrest of Edison Ehie, the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara and granted by Justice Emeka Nwite on the 31st of January, 2024, has been set aside, today, 25th April, 2024.
Justice Emeka Nwite had on January 31 ordered Ehie’s arrest in connection with the burning of the Rivers State House of Assembly on October 30, 2023.
The police, in the charges, alleged that Ehie and five others masterminded the bombing of the Rivers State House of Assembly amid a plot to impeach Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara.
The five others are Jinjiri Bala, Happy Benedict, Progress Joseph, Adokiye Oyagiri, and Chibuike Peter, alias Rambo.
Justice Emeka Nwite while reading the ruling setting aside the order given by the court against Eddison Ehie declaring him wanted and granting an order of arrest said it as now becoming a mere academic exercise.
The judge further granted same to the 2nd-5th Defendant/Applicant in same suit.
Eddison Ehie had a team of representation including Falana SAN, Wole Oladoye SAN, Dr Bimpe Ajegbomogun and Barr. Asmau Yakubu
Though Ehie’s name was mentioned in the counts, he was not listed among the defendants.
He said, “He was never invited by the police for anything. All that he saw was that they filed a charge; they mentioned his name in four out of seven charges for murder and arson.”
Aladedoye also argued that it was strange that the Inspector-General of Police left all the courts in Rivers State, where the alleged offences were committed, to file an application before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
“Your Lordship has no jurisdiction to entertain the matter here, “Aladedoye said.
Counsel for the other defendants, Femi Falana (SAN), said the crime his clients were alleged to have committed were state offences.
In the application it was stated that “What is disclosed are state offences; it is our submission that this court cannot exercise any jurisdiction in state offences without the fiat of the Attorney General of Rivers State.”
Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, has revealed that the now embattled former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, withdrew $720,000 from the State government’s account to pay his child’s school fee.
The EFCC boss disclosed this to journalists in Abuja.
The former governor was last week declared wanted by the commission for alleged N80.2 billion fraud.
EFCC operatives, during the period, stormed Bello’s residence in Abuja to arrest him, but were stopped by his security aides.
Two courts of coordinate jurisdiction also issued conflicting rulings on the matter. While the Kogi State High Court in Lokoja restrained the EFCC from arresting the former governor, the Federal High Court gave the commission the go-ahead to arrest Bello preparatory to his arraignment for alleged fraud.
Olukoyede said: “A sitting governor, because he knows he is going, moved money directly from government to bureau de change, used it to pay the child’s school fee in advance, $720,000 in advance, in anticipation that he was going to leave the Government House.
“In a poor State like Kogi, and you want me to close my eyes to that under the guise of ‘I’m being used.’ Being used by who at this stage of my life?
“I didn’t initiate the case; I inherited the case file. I called for the file, and I said there are issues here.
“On my own, I called him, which I am not supposed to do, just to honour him as an immediate past governor. ‘Sir, there are issues. I’ve seen this case file. Can you just come let us clarify these issues?
“He said, ‘Ha! Thank you, my brother. I know, but I can’t come. There’s one lady that has surrounded EFCC with over 100 people to come and embarrass me and intimidate me.
“I said if that is the issue, I’m going to pass you through my own gate, and you will come to my floor. We will accord you that respect. I will invite my operatives; they will interrogate and interview you in my own office. What could be more honourable than that to allay the fear?
“You know what he said: ‘Thank you, sir, but can’t they come to my village? “
The National Coordinator, Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), CSP Okuwobi Olabisi, has congratulated Nigerian Chess Master Tunde Onakoya for his world record-breaking chess marathon campaign at the Times Square in New York, the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), has learnt.
The POCACOV boss took to her X handle to offer her congratulatory messages, while encouraging the youths to emulate Onakoya’s fighting spirit. She emphasized that cultism can never put anyone on the world map, only innovation and creativity. She applauded the victory more as it occurred on a day dedicated creativity and innovation.
She wrote, “POCACOV congratulates the Nigerian rave of the moment, Tunde Onakoya @Tunde_OD on setting a new world chess record and being exemplary to other Nigerian youth on resilience, innovation and creativity at the world centre stage.
“I wish to congratulate and identify with you today being 21st of April; which is the World Innovation and Creativity Day!
“Cultism and criminalities can’t attract both local and international accolades to no one! Say No to Cultism and Say Yes to Creativity and Innovation, and be a champion like Tunde Onakoya.”
She added, “I use the World Day for Innovation and Creativity to congratulate the Champion of the Guinness World Chess marathon.
“I also admonish Nigerian youth to shun cultism and criminality while urging them to emulate the new world champion by being resilient, innovative and creative. Note that belonging to cultism and engaging in crimes can never attract accolades to no one.”
