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Food for Living: Understanding the Power of Gratitude
By Henry Ukazu
Dear destiny Friends,
“Any day your gratitude is higher than your expectations, then that day can be described as good” – Kola Adesina
One of the best ways to achieve success is by practicing gratitude, which invariably is one of the greatest forms of appreciation. However, most people still don’t understand the power of appreciation. It is worthy of note that gratitude and appreciation are currencies which if properly utilized can attract abundant opportunities.
If there is one trait worth cultivating in life, it’s gratitude. Most of us see gratitude from the angle of favour, blessings, and opportunities. It’s important to note that we can be grateful for the pains, setbacks, challenges, betrayals, and failures we experience along the way because it helps us to see life from a different perspective.
It is also stated that we should always be grateful for what happened because if it didn’t happen, it may lead us to disaster. Afterall, every disappointment can be likened to a blessing. According to Oprah Winfrey “Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.”
Gratitude is critical to one’s success. If you want to be successful, start with gratitude. When you celebrate and appreciate people, success has a tendency of coming to you.
According to Doris Day “Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” Rich people tend to be grateful for whatever they receive, but uniformed minds tend to take any little favour for granted. Their ignorance clouds their understanding that it’s from the little things that greater things come up.
In the journey of life, nobody succeeds alone, people help us along the way. We all had friends, mentors, partners, teachers, managers, professors, mentors, friends, and family who have helped us to figure out our path and helped us. It’s sad to see how ungrateful some people can be when they get to the top and they forget those who assisted them when they were down.
Sometimes some of us take time to show gratitude to our benefactors, strangers, friends, mentors etc. who have assisted us. Sometimes we even do it sluggishly.
According to James Allen “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” One might say, I have it in mind, I will reach out, but they fail to understand the words of Arthur Ward, that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it,”
There are many ways to practice gratitude – You can practice gratitude by writing down the things you’re grateful for every morning. You can also be grateful for any little job you have. For instance, each time you open a door at your job, remind yourself that you’re grateful for your job, your co-workers, your customers, and clients.
Gratitude helps you appreciate your successes. When you take inventory of your path, you will discover how far you have come in life with the little steps and progress you have made overtime.
We all have many reasons to be grateful. Once you have the basic things of life like food, shelter and clothing, you are wealthy. Most people are, without mincing words, are very ungrateful; they always think of what they are lacking as opposed to what they have. For instance, you have a life while most people are breathing with the help of oxygen. Some people don’t have legs, hands, arms, or eyes, some are dealing with health challenges, some have no job, no academic qualification etc. The list is literally endless.
The moral here is that gratitude makes you understand you can’t have everything and as such you should be grateful for every little you have. Remember, everyone is dealing with a secret frustration.
Gratitude is not just saying thank you; anyone can say it. After all, most people say it as a reflext action without necessarily meaning it.
Real Gratitude has three components:
Don’t not complain about anything, no matter how similarly bad the situation is; be a love and value finder instead of a fault finder; and take nothing and no one for granted.
According to Jim Rohn, “Learn to be thankful for what you already have, while you pursue all that you want.”
When you are grateful, everything falls in place. Gratitude does not make anyone feel disappointed. If you are filled with gratitude, you’ll know human beings can be unpredictable and as such can disappoint.
Let me share a little story of how gratitude works. There was a story of two women who were begging for food on the street, a man saw them and gave them food and money, one of the women said ‘thank you so much’, while the other woman said thank you, prayed for the man, his family and business. Who do you think the man will support next time if he goes there? I guess the woman who prayed for the man.
That’s simply how gratitude works, when you truly appreciate people, they’ll go the extra way for you.
Ungrateful people are always bitter; they are always complaining. The only formula for success is gratitude. Everything else flows from it: love, contentment, humility, patience, etc. When you show gratitude to people, they have a way of blessing you with more favour and opportunities.
There are many benefits of practicing gratitude amongst which are: Grateful people achieve more; grateful people pay it forward; gratitude attracts goodwill and opportunity because it’s a currency; Grateful people get along better with others; Grateful people are less depressed. A grateful person never takes anything for granted because they knows nobody owes you anything.
It’s sad to note that some people, out of ungratefulness, always focus on what’s wrong, or the negative experience they had with people, while grateful minds focus on the positive side of human beings and see the negative side as experience of life.
In conclusion, endeavor to start your day with gratitude, and end it with gratitude. You can do this by taking stock of the day’s activities. Be grateful for all that happened no matter how it played out. By doing so, you will learn from your failures, experience, trials, challenges, success, etc.
According to Maya Angelou, “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.”
Telecommunications giant, Globacom, has charged Christians to embrace the virtues that Christ preached as the 2025 Easter celebrations hold this weekend.
While congratulating Christians in Nigeria in a goodwill message released from its Lagos Head Office on Thursday, Globacom admonished them to imbibe the noble qualities of Jesus Christ.
According to Glo, “Peace, love and sacrifice are the central message of Easter. Christ offered himself in atonement for the sins of the world and he lived a life which made Him an eternal symbol of peace and goodwill for mankind”
Globacom charged all Nigerians to espouse the lessons of selflessness, a necessary ingredient in the growth and development of every society and called on all Nigerians to join hands to make Nigeria a better place for all.
The company praised their perseverance through the 40-day Lenten period which comes before Easter as it emphasized the ideals of selflessness, love and peace among all as a way of demonstrating the exemplary life of Jesus Christ.
Easter comes yearly at the end of the Lenten season of fasting and prayer considered as a ritual of purification for the Christian faithful. It also precedes the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ on Good Friday and His eventual resurrection on Easter Sunday.
The company assured its customers of unhindered voice, data and Short Messaging Service (SMS) during and after the Easter celebrations, while urging them to avail themselves of the various data and voice offerings on the network.
Dear Destiny Friends,
Every human being loves to get approval, either for the great work they have done or the ones they are doing. They love to be appreciated and admired. They also love to be given attention when they have something valuable to say or do. In all of these, one thing is certain, there is something special about us, and this special thing makes one unique, and ultimately attracts people to us.
Let’s face it, nobody will admire you, appreciate you, approve you and give you attention if you don’t have anything to offer. The reason most people associate with someone is because they feel or know there’s something they can gain from the person. It’s hard for someone to relate closely with someone who they don’t see potential value in.
There is no doubt each and everyone of us is unique, yes, there’s something unique about you. You can sing, you can write, you can dance, you can lead, you can serve, you can cook, etc. One can even be a good actor, athlete, comedian, or preacher. The list is literally endless. Now, what’s unique about you?
When you discover what’s unique about you, please do all within your reach to nurture and develop it. One day, the right person, who truly appreciates and knows your value will celebrate you.
I have a friend who is exceptionally skilled in writing and developing creative contents. I call him a genius because he can literally write a book within a week. How he does it is what I don’t understand. I was surprised when he once told me he wrote a book and manuscript in one week. According to him, he has been developing the contents mentally, but hasn’t found time to put his thoughts together, and when he finally gets his thoughts together, he was able to write the book and manuscript. This is a typical way of knowing a unique being.
Many, however, do not know what’s unique about them. We focus our energy chasing what is not chasing us instead of focusing on developing what we already have. It’s sad to see young and old people living their lives in an unintentional manner with a belief that somehow lines, favour or opportunities will fall in place for them.
Sometimes, we rely on other people’s affirmation and opinion, and accept it as our fate. For instance, just because one is tall, he might be told he will be a great fit for basketball without considering if the athlete loves basketball; again, just because someone is very intelligent, his parents will encourage him to major in a particular discipline, which is perceived as lucrative without considering if the person likes it pr not.
I once experienced this fate when my late dad inspired me to study taxation law in New York Law School, a major I detest with passion. It was like a suicidal mission for me because I do know, it will take miracle to graduate from the program. How I was able to get a scholarship for my grades and graduate in record time is a story for another day. I’m not wired as a finance person, I will better serve humanity in the social and developmental space where my skills, talents, gift and passion will be better utilized. And ever since I joined the space, I have seen results.
There are many cases where many people lose their identities without knowing they are unique. We are all unique in our individual ways. Just like there are several gifts and talents, we have different skills. When you know what’s unique about you, you will stand out and the world will not only appreciate you, but will celebrate you.
When one discovers the power of their uniqueness, we will gather strength to unleash it to the world. Uniqueness works in several ways. For instance, the mere fact that ten people are genius, talented, skillful or valuable in a particular work, the person with the unique gift is the person who will not only stand out, but will be called upon to do the work.
Let me share more insight. If ten people sing a particular song with a great voice, the person who is called to be a singer will receive a unique appreciation because he/she is working on purpose. That is why it is easy to see a lot of people venturing into a particular form of business, but the favour of the business will not locate them because they are not uniquely destined to do business.
Few years ago, one of my mentors shared a deep insight with me. He said that, as a trained medical doctor, he once observed that despite the fact there are hundreds and thousands of medical doctors practicing their profession. One fateful day, he noticed a particular patient was not responding to treatment despite all the medication that had been given to him by a nurse, his health was deteriorating, then another nurse came and administered the same pill a nurse gave the patient, and the patient began to feel better. What does that tell you? The second nurse was probably working in her purpose which aligns with her profession, and as such the corresponding success. This goes to show that when one is unique, it has a way of robbing off on their work.
Furthermore, he stated that Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson, and Beyonce are some of the gifted singers and dancers the world has ever celebrated. He went on to say that we have hundreds and thousands of musicians, but only a few have got the spotlight.
What does that tell you? When you are unique, the world will celebrate you. I have understood that the fastest way to get recognition in life is to work in areas where one’s strength and unique gift will better serve the purpose. This is simply because the world does not celebrate one’s weakness, rather, the world celebrates one’s strength.
In recent times, I have seen myself as a counselor and human inspiration. My counseling skills have enabled me to influence people to live positive lives. Overtime, I have realized that when people share their burden with me, they feel relieved after speaking with me. What amazes me most is the fact that even my elders feel comfortable to relate with me on a cordial basis. Maybe, I have a unique gift for counseling and educating.
Today, I am going to charge you to focus your energy and time on whatever will bring you the highest satisfaction. Even if you are looking for a job, applying for school, or seeking any opportunity, your focus should be centered on what you have that the job, school or opportunity will amplify. When you do so, you will be in high demand.
In conclusion, please affirm to yourself today, I am a unique being with a unique personality, purpose and gift.
Say to yourself, ‘I am original’, and refuse to be fake.
Again confess that your originality, authenticity and uniqueness will attract favours, blessings, opportunities from leaders and queens to you, and you will be celebrated.
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
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has emerged as the Best Road Safety Agency in Africa. This monumental achievement corroborates the Corps’ almost four decades of dedication, resilience and passion towards safeguarding lives on Nigerian roads.
The Corps, according to a statement made available to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), received the award at the 3rd edition of the Kofi Annan Road Safety Award held in Elzuwini in the Kingdom of Eswatini, South Africa between 14th and 15th of April 2025.
You may recall that Kofi Annan Road Safety Award was initiated by the Office of the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy on Road Safety in collaboration with Kofi Annan Foundation to immortalize the contributions of African illustrious son Kofi Annan who served as the Secretary General of the United Nations.
The prestigious Road Safety Management Award represents a badge of honour for Nigeria, and a pure testament of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to unflinching support for the Federal Road Safety Corps and his believe in the Corps’ potential to serve as a model for other African nations. Indeed, FRSC’s tireless efforts to reduce road crashes and promote safe driving practices have paid off, earning recognition across the continent.
The recognition further speaks volume, as well as justifies the giant strides Nigeria has made in ensuring safety of road users and her leadership role in the Sub-region.
Reacting to the recognition, the Corps Marshal, Shehu Mohammed said that it is a testament to FRSC’s unrelenting passion for road safety. He thanked the entire community of the motoring public, stakeholders, partners, and the Nigerian people for their support. Emphasising that together, the Corps was able to achieve the enviable feat because of the collective energy and all round support received from the motoring public.
The Corps Marshal also revealed that FRSC’s winning formula includes, innovative strategies, implementing cutting-edge road safety initiatives that drive results, collaboration, fostering partnerships with stakeholders to promote road safety awareness, community engagement, educating the public on safe driving practices, full deployment of technology and road safety protocols.
The award was received on behalf of the Corps and the Federal Republic of Nigeria by the Principal Staff Officer to the Corps Marshal ACM Meshach Adigizi Jatau.
