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Food for Living: What You Seek is Within
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
A man who finds no satisfaction in himself will seek for it in vain elsewhere – François de La Rochefoucauld
Human beings, by nature, are insatiable. This is because they always hunger for more money, opportunities, love, respect, sex, recognition among others. It is instructive to note that a wealthy mind is considered poor as a result of greed while a poor man is considered rich because of his contentment.
As progressive minds, we must know that whatever we seek in life is within us, if we pay close attention. For instance, we have our hands to eat yet we invented cutleries; we have our legs to move around and travel yet we invented cars, bicycles, machines, ships, trains, planes and other forms of transportation. In the same vein, we invented eye glasses when we have eyes as well as invented cooking stoves when we have firewood. The list is literally endless. You can now see we have everything we need in our body?
One pertinent fact available is knowing that nobody will give you anything on a platter of gold. If you need success, you have to work for it; if you need love and happiness, you must find it internally; if you seek opportunities, you must create it by networking, meeting the right people and showing competence.
In the journey of life, you must take the risk by making a move, or live to rue over lost opportunities. If you need something, you must take proactive steps to get it. Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Nelson Mandela, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr, Dele Momodu, Rosa Park, Martin Luther King Jnr, Henry Ukazu, and numerous great men and women that ever existed had a vision, and dreamt of a future they would love to see. Not only that, they made a move by looking inside of themselves and identified their strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. They knew what worked for them and what worked against them. They didn’t plan to be like somebody else. These made them unique.
We share the same genes with these great people as human beings. You can surpass them however, by listening to your inner instincts. When you hear things in your spirit, write them down because that might be a vision that is related to you. If the creator of the universe wants somebody else to hear it, it will be revealed to that person. Moral: Taking action is a distinguishing trait that makes celebrities and legends stand out.
For you to stand out as an exceptional being, you must know yourself. According to Aristotle, “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom, and according to Robin Sharma, “the DNA of self-enlightenment is self-knowledge. Benjamin Franklin, on his own part, succinctly put it that “There are three things incredibly hard: steel, a diamond, and knowing one’s self,” When you know yourself, you won’t be deterred by the noise around you. You will be focused on working on yourself and your vision. Self awareness is truly lacking in our society, and because many people don’t know themselves, they tend to work in organizations they don’t like. When you know yourself, your energy will be different. That’s why it’s always good to maintain focus. When you interfere in other people’s focus, you will lose own focus, but when you focus on your on what is uniquely yours, other people will begin to borrow a leaf from you.
To tap into the power of within, you will need to focus on your internal being, for you can never find it outside of yourself. To do this, you must speak perfection; your eyes must see perfection; your ears must hear perfection; your mind must agree with your inner feeling. Perfection.
I will summarize with the words of a philosopher, who reasoned that the power of within can be activated by what you focus on. According to him:
If you’re looking for love, look within yourself and you will find it.
If you’re looking for joy, sit quietly and move your attention to the back of your heart, and you will feel it.
If you’re looking for inner peace, choose to let go of the thoughts and emotions that usually trigger your pain and fear, instead of clinging, and you will be it.
If you’re looking for happiness, look at everything around you through the lens of gratitude and unconditional love.
If you’re looking for success, connect to all the progress that your soul has made, all the lessons that you’ve learned, and all the gifts that you’ve received throughout.
If you’re looking for appreciation, appreciate yourself and all your efforts more, and you will no longer feel the need for it.
If you’re looking for better health, listen to your body, love every part of you, and nurture yourself as you would like to be nurtured by others.
If you’re looking for connection, close your eyes, tune into your breath, and send love to yourself and all beings, especially in times of challenge and triggering.
If you’re looking for trust, trust yourself to always know deep inside what is in your highest and best good.
If you’re looking for wisdom and discernment, listen and look attentively without the bias of attachment and aversion.
If you’re looking for more, be more present and you’ll experience the vastness and richness of your experience.
If you’re looking for presence, ground yourself in your body and you will feel it.
If you’re looking for fulfillment, come into alignment with who you truly are.
If you’re looking for alignment, get in touch with your feelings and find out who you truly are.
If you’re looking for equanimity, place your consciousness at the seat of your soul and stay there.
If you’re looking for God alignment, ask for guidance and intend to hear and receive it.
If you’re looking for intentionality, do the things that matter to you most.
If you’re looking for your true self, let go of your ego and you will find it.
Whatever you’re looking for, both internally and externally, it’s already there, within you. You are a microcosm to the macrocosm of the Universe. Everything within you is a representation of the outer world. If you go within – beyond the layers of ego – you will always find whatever you’re looking for.
Tune into yourself, observe your thoughts, feelings, and emotions with detachment, and focus your attention, time and energy where you want things to grow. That is the real and only secret of manifestation.
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
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara has extended an olive branch to lawmakers loyal to his rival, Nyesome Wike.
The governor invited the Amaewhule-led House of Assembly members to a peace meeting, following the Supreme Court’s judgement on the state’s political unrest.
The invitation was made through a letter from Dr. Tammy Danagogo, Secretary to the State Government, to Speaker Martins Amaewhule.
The meeting is scheduled for Monday at 10 am at the Government House in Port Harcourt.
The agenda includes addressing lingering issues, presenting the 2025 state budget, and discussing payment of lawmakers’ allowances.
The letter read: “I hereby write in furtherance of His Excellency’s promise stated in my letter dated 5th March 2025 to notify you that His Excellency has received the Supreme Court Judgment, and has therefore directed me to invite you and your colleagues -the Honourable members of Rivers State House of Assembly, to a meeting to discuss:-
“Provision of a befitting space for the Assembly’s sittings. Payment of all outstanding remuneration or allowances of the Honourable members. Presentation of Budget and sundry matters;
“Any other matter(s), as may be necessary, to chart the way forward in the best interest of the State. Sequel to the above, I hereby humbly invite the Rt. Hon. Speaker, and all the Rivers State House of Assembly members to a meeting with the Governor as follows.”
The Federal Civil Service Commission (FCSC) has extended the closing date for receiving applications for various vacancies in the Federal Civil Service to Monday, March 17 2025, to allow more eligible candidates to participate in the exercise.
The announcement, according to a statement by the Head, Press and Public Relations, Mr. Taiwon Hassan, supersedes the previous announcements in various national media on Monday, January 27, 2025 including FCSC website: www.fedcivilservice.gov.ng, where the deadline was pegged at Monday, March 10, 2025.
Qualified Nigerians are urged to avail themselves of the extension opportunity and apply for the vacancies of their choice.
The Commission assures applicants of merit-driven and transparent recruitment.
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
