Sacrifice Today for the Future You Want.

“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to.” — Mitch Albom.

The key to life, in all aspects, is giving, otherwise known as, sacrifice. All we get comes from all we have giving. There is no other way. Not giving is giving NOTHING. And, guess what you get? Glad you figured it out. One of my mentors, Jim Rohn, puts it like this, “The greatest form of maturity is at harvest time. This is when we must learn how to reap without complaint if the amounts are small, and how to reap without apology if the amounts are big.”

There is nothing like fate or destiny being imposed on us. We are the painters, designers and story writers of our own life. We determine what the future holds for us. Nothing happens by accident. Our future is an harvest of all we are sowing today. We today are reaping the fruit of all we sowed yesterday. We tomorrow will reap the fruit of all we are sowing today.

It is so funny that we still find it difficult to grasp. We are inundated with examples all around us and in our own lives. Pitiable creatures we are. We are so easily blinded by the moment, we fail to see the full picture. That is why we need to step back every so often, now and then, to see the things we might be missing in our blindspots.

Only two days ago, I was invited to a supposedly conflict resolution meeting. This turned out to be a premeditated harassment meeting. The managers who are supposed to know better seemingly engineered the harassment. Why? Power drunkenness, obviously. People who should know better the values the company stands for are all about their own agenda.

What they miss is that life is transient. What they are sowing today is waiting for them tomorrow. They will reap the harvest of their doings. The holy book puts it this way, "Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices." It is just the way the cookie crumbles. That is why it is not worth stressing. 

Sow the seed of the harvest you desire. Providence takes care of the rest. Les Brown puts it like this, “Do what is easy and your life will be hard. Do what is hard and your life will become easy.” If you live carelessly today, your tomorrow will pay for it. If you make the sacrifice today for the tomorrow you desire, your tomorrow will reward you.

St. Akin de Great.

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Time to Get back to Work.

Time to Get back to Work.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas A. Edison.

This is very personal to me. I am because I keep shooting. I will be because I keep shooting. To fail is temporal. To give up is terminal. The choice is always ours to make. We are powerful beyond our wildest imagination. However, that power can be contained or released. It is contained by our paradigm and will power. What we see is the messaging our subconsciousness receives.

The clarity of the messaging is dependent on the accompanying emotions, which are dictated by our focus. That is what we mean when we say focus is power. To focus is to be absolved by the object of our focus. It is to be taken over by the spirit of the object. It is to be bewitched, as it were, to be put in a trance by it. That is the way the conscious mind is suspended, in what is known as hypnotic rhythm.

Once the conscious mind is suspended, there is a free access to messaging the subconsciousness, without any challenge. Our subconsciousness is our prophecy fulfilling messenger. Like the army, it is created to obey without questioning. Whatever gets to it, like a dummy, is accepted as true, and it goes all out to consolidate, regardless of the actual veracity of the messaging.

This is the basis of mind control, brain washing, subliminal advertising, witchcraft, etc. As much as it can and is used for evil, it can and is also used for good. Hypnosis is a legally accepted means of treating mental illnesses. Obviously, there are ethical boundaries related to this. The main idea here is re-emphasizing its existence and its availability for your toolbox.

Guess what messaging our subconsciousness receives when we give up. There are endless examples of this. When we give up, we admit defeat. We tell our subconscious mind to quit trying, to quit shopping for options, to quit innovating. We tell it to power down. What happens when you power down? Darkness! Right? Remember, darkness does not exist in nature. It is the absence of light.

The holy book tells us, “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Little wonder why and how people fall into depression? They surrendered. Either because they were expecting help from else where, or they are simply despondent. I love the way Alice Walker puts it. She says, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”

“We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.” (Marianne Williamson) Wake up to life, child of God. “You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine.” (Dieter F. Uchtdorf). Time to get back to work.

St. Akin de Great.

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You are Not An Accident.

Sacrifice Today for the Future You Want.

You are Not An Accident.

“All we have to do is understand that we’re here for a reason and to commit ourselves to that. Then we can laugh at our sufferings, large and small and walk fearlessly, aware that each step has meaning.” — Paulo Coelho.

Not sure if I can add anything else to Coelho's words. It is full, all on its own. Perhaps I can share my personal experience around it. We are here for a purpose. None of us is an accident, irrespective of the events around our birth, and life. Actually, those who seemingly had the most none accidental birth rarely fare better than those with seemingly accidental birth.

It is all a matter of perception, our own interpretation of the events of our history and the trajectory we project from it. Our tomorrow is not subject to our yesterday, but rather to our purpose, our assignment, our vision, and our dreams. That is what sets off the fire in our bones. That is what keeps us awake late at night, and early in the morning. 

That is what keeps us going even in the fire. That is what keeps us alive when others would have long died. That is what births leaders. Remember, leaders are not born, they are made. They are made by their heart catching a purpose, a reason for their very existence, and they swear their lives over to attain the same. It becomes, as it were, the very reason for their existence.

It makes a lion out of sheep, and an eagle out of chickens. It awakens the hitherto sleeping giant on the inside to the issues of life. It is a call to a function, a call to duty, a call to honor. It makes a warrior out of a coward, for the innate potentials are all called to life. Failures are quick to say, "life is not fair." Really, "compared to what," we dare to ask. "Compared to death?"

Life is very fair. Life is just. Life is neutral. Life has nothing to do with equality. It does not give to each person equally. It only gives according to your eating, your hunger, your desire, your ability, your purpose, your assignment, your expectation, your demand of it. Sad, to hear a lot of ignoramuses quick to tell people not to have expectations, then turn around to say, "life is not fair." How so dumb?

You will only get from life what you expect, not just a wish, but a demand. Meaning, you have to expect it with the whole of your person. You have to sow the seeds of your expectations. You have to find out the prerequisites and fulfill them. Life is not for the wishers. Life is for the doers. You have to do all that is in your power to do, so that life can do all that is not in your power to do.

Heaven truly helps those who help themselves. Heaven helps those who don't sit waiting and looking for phantom "destiny helpers." It helps those who pull their own weight wherever they find themselves, knowing that providence has their back. Hence, they hold themselves up to the high ideals that providence requires. They find meaning in every event, encounter, and relationship in their life.

St. Akin de Great.

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Time to Get back to Work.

Reframing.

Reframing.

“To this day, even when I hear about problems, as you’ve probably noticed, I tend to call them challenges. I don’t dwell on them, and I immediately focus on how I can convert the challenge into an opportunity.” — Tony Robbins.

Albert Bandura first coined the concept, “Self-Efficacy,” in 1977. It is “the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.” It is a person's belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Self-efficacy is the belief that we can achieve influence over the conditions that affect our lives. 

It is the belief in our own ability to succeed in achieving a goal - having the confidence to know we can do whatever we set our mind to by managing how we think, feel, and behave. It is the fuel that drives change. Doesn't that sound rather familiar? Remember the famously repeated quote by Henry Ford, 

“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” 

I like the fuller version even better. He said, 

“You must never, even for a second, let yourself think that you can fail.” 

He continues, 

“Our first principle is that failure is impossible. You may not get what you’re trying to do right the first time or the second time or the tenth time or the 100th time, but if you shut out of your mind the possibility of being licked, then you are bound to win.”

A similar line of thought was toed, in 1905, by Superintendent John Herbert Phillips in a set of speeches delivered to High School students in Alabama. This was included in a speech titled “Knowledge and Power.” He said,

“Have faith in yourself; develop confidence in your own power, reliance upon your own resources. If you believe you can, you will; if you think you can’t, you will fail. There is much truth in the old Latin motto: “Possunt quia posse videntur.” They can because they think they can.”

Mahatma Gandhi wraps these up by saying,

“Keep your thoughts positive because your thought becomes YOUR WORDS.
Keep your words positive because your words become YOUR BEHAVIOR.
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes YOUR HABITS.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become YOUR VALUES.
Keep your values positive because your values become YOUR DESTINY.”

Those men surely understood the power and purpose of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy plays a role in how we think, how we act, and how we feel about our place in the world. It determines what goals we choose to pursue, how we go about accomplishing those goals, and how we reflect upon our own performance. Reframing is one of the ways top athletes and performances exploit this concept. 

They reframe the challenges they come against in such a way as to boost their self-efficacy. They tell themselves the stories that empower them, rather than surrender to the story the challenge is shouting at them. More like the same techniques offered in Cognitive-behavioral therapies. You might not be able to stop the bird from flying over your head. You can prevent it from building a nest on your head.

St. Akin de Great.

#selfefficacy

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Better Than That.

Better Than That.

“Never complain about what you permit.” ― Dr. Mike Murdock.

As strange as it might sound, this is the reality of a great many. They go to jobs they do not like. Worship at churches they despise, and the examples go on and on. They live the part of one who is unable to decide. Yet, as we shared yesterday, the moment of decision is where fate and destinies are decided. Guess what these undecided fellows get? The very crumb, the left overs.

Such are, as it were sleeping through life. They are the people pleasers, don't rock the boat type of people. Yet they are unhappy, bitter set of people. As it were the issue so their lives has not grabbed them. They are smiling in their suffering, like the proverbial moaning dog sitting on a nail. They are not looking for solution to the issues of their lives. Rather, they are looking for pity parties.

They crave to be the center fo attraction, not for the good they have done, but to be worried over and for. That, for them, is the cheapest route to glory. How so sorrowful and truly pitiable are this ones? They have been deceived. They have been done for. They are the no future ambition set of people. They are ever seeking never getting, ever learning, never grasping type of people.

Such are who the Apostle Paul complained about in Corinthian. While they were expected to be teachers, they remain students. Ever amazed, never comprehending. Such are so quick to be in wonder. "That is deep," they say. Yes, deep, but not too deep for you to understand. Ask your question. Rather, such make such pronouncement more to excuse their need to comprehend, but would rather be told what to do.

I sure know none of these describes you. You are better than that. You are on top of the affairs of your life. You are not leaving any stone unturned. You are grabbing as you have been grabbed. You are here to win, and winning you will. You respect yourself enough to live to your commitments. You are disciplined. You have a vision and you are pressing towards the same.

I know you, and I duff my hat for you.

St. Akin de Great.

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I Got This.

I Got This.

“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.” — Tony Robbins.

I guess we have already established the truth no one has any definite pre-recorded destiny or fate. We all determine our own destiny and fate. We are the masters of our destiny and fate. Why? We are the captain of our soul - our intellect, will, and emotions. Where and how we direct our soul determines our destiny and fate. Not directing it is directing it. It is leaving it to be directed by the winds and waves of life.

The winds and waves only result in a ship being tossed to and fro, motion, no movement; run aground, or capsize; and drawn downstream, where all the dirt goes. It is to be at the mercy of the negative gravitational pull of life. It is to have our life go south, down the drain in every sense of the word. That is the sure destiny of those who do not have a WHY, purpose, and intent for their life.

We are the captain of our intellect. We decide what fills it - junk or nutritious ingredients for a healthy and wholesome life. Remember the saying leaders are readers? Why? The decision to feed their mind with all they need. They decide to gain wisdom, not with their own experience only, but by standing on the shoulders of others. Thereby they game speed, momentum, to do much more with a relatively short period.

More so they don't have to re-invent the wheel or repeat other people's mistakes. They can afford to start from a higher pedestal. We are the captain of our will. The onus is ours to learn how to say no to the wrong things, and yes to the right things. We are responsible human beings. We always have a choice. We can decide. We do decide, for not deciding is deciding to do wrong.  

Nothing in life has to be done. All we do, and whatsoever we do is because we chose to do it. The good things of life don't come by chance. They come by choice. They come by change. Change is the only certain thing in life. Wisdom is learning how to use change in our favor. We are the captain of our emotions. This is measured on what is known as the neuroticism spectrum or scale. 

Neuroticism is the extent to which one is not in control of his or her emotions. This is could also be coined to mean or dictate the extent to which one is mentally sick, or potential to be. Neuroticism is one of the big five personality traits. The others being Extraversion (or Introversion), Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness. (Do you know where you stand on these? Below is a link to a self-test.)

The Five (5) Higher-order Personality Trait Test 

At the same time, Neuroticism happens to be one of the four characteristics determining a person's disposition to life. The other three are, Locus of Control (LOC), Self-Efficacy, and Self-Esteem. This goes in no small way to explain the importance of emotions to the makeup and success of a person. This is further supported by the relative placing of Emotional Intelligence in the Intelligent Quotient rating.

You have to get a hold of yourself and direct yourself in the direction of your set goals, dreams, aspirations, and vision. The presupposes you have those destinations already mapped out. If not, what are you waiting for? The cavalry ain't coming. Help is not coming from anywhere. You got this. It's your show. It's your life. You got to rise to the occasion of life. Be done with all the excuses and craving for pity.

There is nothing to be pitied about you. You are complete. You are whole. You've got all it takes. All you need you ALREADY have. All you don't have, you don't need. Make a decision today as to the destination you want your life to get to, and start today, where you are to marshal yourself in that direction. You got to start today, not tomorrow. Today is your day of salvation. Don't miss it.

St. Akin de Great.

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I Had to Die to Live.

Better Than That.

I Had to Die to Live.

“Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.” — Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis.

Now, this is a difficult one. A lot of people I know will say, "this is deep." Yet I see it proven in my daily walk and short pilgrimage. I am sure you see it also, for it is a universal principle and law. Just may be you have not noticed or rightly categorized it. Whatever you have not truly given away is not yours. It will forever elude you, especially when you want it most.

Whatever you have not given away, or cannot give away, has the mastery over your heart. It has you. You don't have it. It is your god. It controls you. It is outside you grasp. Whatever association it has with you is only temporal, not permanent. May be that is why the holy book says, "except a grain of wheat falls to the ground and die, it abide alone." 

Death is the birth of life. Life and Death are the "yin and yang" of nature. One cannot do without the other. One leads to the other. Until we die, we cannot truly live. For us to truly live we have to die. Twenty-five (25) years ago I had to break from a love relationship I had been pursuing for 11 years, as at then. I was young, stupid, and sincere, and pursued with all my heart.

Perhaps it never was because it became an idol for me. My friend possibly saw in me a desperation. The parting words she had for me were, "I was too good to a fault." I took and over looked a lot of fault of hers all in a bid for peace and her overture. She possibly saw a desperate person. She would have probably done more with one who responded to her shortcomings. That is my story.

I grew up a bit on the anxious side. Always careful not to miss it. May be that's the reason I was susceptible to depression. My lessons from these episodes include the fact nothing is worth dying for. You lose one, you gain another, even better one. That which is yours will never pass you by. If it does, it was not yours. Yours is coming. Wait. Nothing is worth being anxious or in a hurry for.

"Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches [happiness, joy, wealth, health, life, etc.] certainly build themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward the heavens." [The Holy Book]

Carl Gustav Young puts it like this, "Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil." Dallas Willard, adds, "Hurry I step greatest enemy of spiritual life in our day." 

Dallas Willard advice to us all is, "You must ruthlessly  eliminate hurry from your life." Don't get cut up in its web. 

St. Akin de Great.

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Controlled By What Feeds Me.

I Got This.

Controlled By What Feeds Me.

“Men are moved by two levers only: fear and self-interest.” – Napoleon Bonaparte.

Tony Robbins, will rather call it Fear and Pleasure. It was from him I learned this principle, as I read his books, "Awaken the Giant Within" and "Unleash the Power Within," decades ago. The second was rather more technical, and more difficult for my young mind to digest. Tony sold me on the key, instinctive,  motivations for every one of us - fear and pleasure, or self-interest, as Napoleon would rather have it.

What's your take on it? Do you agree with Tony and Napoleon? Or, you think other factors come into play? Why do you do what you do? Why is it important to know? It is important to know, as Tony spells out in his second book because you can direct it. You can use it to your advantage, rather than allowing it to use you. That was the whole essence of Tony's second book, which I can now better decipher, from my knowledge of metaphysics.

The average person, deceptively thinks him or herself to be rational. Really? Unknown to such they are being controlled, teleguided. They are only simply using their rationale to justify their action. That way they have an appearance of control. Appearance is all that is to it. Mere smoke. The substance is the programming and conditioning running their life, irrespective of their awareness of it. 

Carl Gustav Jung puts it this way, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” What a lot of us call fate today ain't fate. They are predictable outcomes. You have gotten the result of the things feeding something on the inside of you, be it via the instrument of fear, or self-interest. 

In an unconscious, or should I better say the subconscious state, we are all mercilessly selfish. Our subconsciousness only works for our own interests. And, will only produce a result which is in conformance and congruency to what it is used to, its programming and conditioning, irrespective of every other thing.

Are you aware of the conditioning and programming your life is running on? Do you think it is worth knowing? Do you like the results your life is producing? If yes, then do more of it. If not, You need to change some things in your programming and conditioning. You need to be aware of the wrong beliefs and values that might be doing you in. Then, you need to replace them with a new empowering story, conditioning, programming, belief, and value system.

You can. You will. You must.

St. Akin de Great.

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'Tis Working in My Favor.

I Had to Die to Live.

'Tis Working in My Favor.

“There is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see that now. Time will reveal it. Be patient.” ― Swami Sivananda.

This was difficult for me to understand eleven (11) years ago, as I dipped into my first major depression. I was tired. What I had invested my energy, and practically my blood into did not come out as I had planned. Yet, being me, I had broadcasted the stages to all, who were expecting to hear the result. The disappointment, shame, and seeming wasted effort overwhelmed me.

What's more, people all around me seemed to have been making money, while I was busy on this one-headed adventure, I gave my all. As the result became apparent, I started diverting funds towards the reigning investment "soap opera." Unknown to me, the main crop had been harvested. I was entering at the tail end of the bandwagon. Hence, crashed, as expected, when the balloon busted.

This was the story of my life as I descended into two (2) years of depression. What took me down that road? It was not the things that happened to me. Yes, they contributed, but they did not take me into the depression of their own accord. So, what did? One, I was exhausted - physically, and psychologically. I had put in me all, including missed vacations. It did not turn out as I expected. 

Yet more than the above, I began to allow the events to define me. I interpreted it as a curse running over my life. And, I just might have been correct. I started asking the questions, "why is it that I don't finish things?" "Did someone just bewitch me?" "With my twenty-five (25) years adventure in spirituality, how could this have happened to me?" "How could I have don't something this stupid?" Will I ever catch up, financially again?" 

I practically lost faith in myself. What started with me in control got to the place of no return, the place where something takes the hold of you and has a life of its own. It's call depression. All I could see was darkness. I could not stay alone in a room. Sleep became an alien. Faith was gone, and all I had was unbelief. It was visible in my bodily construct. Yes, I could still pull a few moments, but in totality, I was not in control.

I need not enumerate the fact it affected everything - home, work, etc. My saving grace was my daily routine. Though nothing fresh was coming out of my quiet times, I did not give up on them. Though the word was not as lifting as it once was, I chased after it at every opportunity. Drove all the way out from Bakersfield to Longbeach, California to attend the Victory Campaign. The Word did not hit me as it use to, but I kept pushing.

I kept pushing till I got the word I needed. It was, "cast not away your confidence, for it is of a great recompense of reward." That was what brought me back to life. I realized the cavalry ain't coming. If I am going to get out of this it is going to take me, no one else. No one else could pull my boot strings as I could. There ain't no help coming from anywhere, not even from heaven. If I was going to come back to life, it was going to be me. 

I had to live up to the call of life. And, here I am today. I have made back everything I ever lost, and I am today on a very good trajectory, excelling all I ever dreamt or imagined. Everything I went through, the questions of my heart all got answered. I am who I am today, only because I went through hell, but did not stop there.

St. Akin de Great.

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The Cost of Freedom.

Controlled By What Feeds Me.

The Cost of Freedom.

“Empowerment means that people have the freedom to act. It also means that they are accountable for results.” ― Kenneth H. Blanchard.

The only one who truly knows the value of freedom is one who has experienced incarceration - in reality, or synthesized. Until you truly know what it is to be without freedom, you'll probably never truly appreciate the freedom you've got. And, when you don't truly appreciate the freedom you've got, it becomes a source of incarceration. It stops being what it is and starts becoming what it is not.

Years ago, when I first read about freedom in the holy book, the "but" kind of caught my attention. The "but" is what traps a lot of people. Their brain kind of bypasses it. They assume the "but" insignificant. They miss its power. And, hence lose that which is freely given. There is no absolute freedom anywhere in the universe. We all are held together by the "but" - the boundaries, the attraction, the gravity, etc.

Just imagine a world without gravity. We will all be floating and unable to keep station. We would be free, but useless. The uselessness then becomes our captivity. There is no absolute freedom anywhere in the universe. Every freedom given is a trust - a trust to function in a particular path, upholding specific values and light. When the trust is upheld, more freedom is given and or opened up. When it is not upheld, freedom constricts.

Whether we are empowered or not is all in our hands. We are the captain of our soul, the master of our own destiny. We are self-made. Whatever our life is and becomes, we are responsible. It is all in our hands. It is all a function of all we do with the freedom we have been given.

St. Akin de Great.

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Let Go of What Was.

'Tis Working in My Favor.

Let Go of What Was.

“Holding onto what was isn't healthy for what is.” ― Hannah Whitall Smith.

Yesterday is gone. And, it really does not matter your yesterday - good, bad, ugly, etc. The only reality is, it is history. It has forever been locked away in the annals. It cannot be made worse, or better. It is forever cast. It cannot be changed. Why then do we keep staring at it? Why then do we keep second-guessing it? Why then do we keep wishing it were different? 

Someone or something has got us busy doing the worst of things. We are all motion and no movement. We are deprecating our ability to think, hence defecating our mental efficacy. Guess what that is known and called? You are right. I always knew you are intelligent. It is called mental sickness when you lose mental efficacy. Obviously, that is not intentional. No one wants to be told they are crazy. Do you?

The mere understanding of that got me to fight my way back from depression, on my last bout with it. I sure did not want to be associated with mental sickness. It did not sound right in my ears. This is in no way to despise those battling with it. We all are at different stages of life, different experiences, resilience, etc. Just here relating my story, and also encouraging everyone not to give in, irrespective of where you find yourself. 

There is always something you can do. Do it, and keep doing it, till there is more you can do. Then go for the more, and keep raising your game. No one is asking you to do the things you cannot do. Miracles don't start in the future. They start today, this very moment, with all you can do. Until you do all you can do, you will never be able to do the things you cannot do. 

The miracle of life is found in every moment of every day. Never in the yesterdays, nor in the future. Life happens in the now, this very moment. Herein is the fallacy of holding too tightly to what use to be. Until you let go, the miracles of your life, the miracle of the now cannot bear sway in your life. You cannot have fresh wine in a full cup. You got to empty the spent wine of the yesterdays to receive the new wine of today.

Learn from yesterday, but refuse to be fixated on it. It does not matter what you lost or gained. It's history. It's a new day. Be fixated on today, this very moment, and watch the universe open up to you. Your dreams are possible. Your vision is possible. Your goals are possible. Your targets are possible. You are possible, but only in the present moment. This is where you are most powerful, efficacious, where the universe, providence is at your beck and beckon.

What are you waiting for?

St. Akin de Great.

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The Cost of Freedom.

You Are A Magnet.

You Are A Magnet.

“Pessimism never won any battle.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Remember that old saying, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." (Mark Twain) That is what wins the battle. That is what makes the difference. The difference between winners and losers; masters and the ordinary. It is what is inside, that little extra that carries people over the huddle that separates the rich from the poor, those who are alive and the living dead.

Where do you fall in the divide? As Adolf Hitler so rightly said, "Those who want to live, let them fight, and those who do not want to fight in this world of eternal struggle do not deserve to live." I can't believe it, but I do agree with Hitler in this wise. Life is a fight. You don't have to want to fight. You have no choice in the matter. You are either going to take the initiative, or the initiative will be taken on you. 

There is no sitting on the fence. The fence has long been brought down. You are either fighting to live and excel, or you are being beaten down to oblivion. We see an example of this every day in the wild - the fable of the lion and the gazelle is instructive.

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: when the sun comes up, you’d better be running." - Christopher McDougall.

Can you imagine a lion waking up and thinking how he'll not be able to outrun the gazelle? That is a recipe for extinction. The same is true for the gazelle. They both have to keep dreaming and imagining themselves outrunning the other That is what keeps them running and keep them alive. Pessimism, on the other hand, kills the spirit and steals the fight. 

Pessimism is not instinctive to animals. Optimism is. The sheer survival instinct keeps them believing, trying, and never giving up. Humans are plagued by their ability to reason and make decisions. That which gives them a leverage position can also be their undoing. It is up to each of us to agree with our instinctive drive for survival and excellence. That is the only way to mastery.
 

Marianne Williamson puts it so well. She says, "Nothing binds you except your thoughts; nothing limits you except your fear; nothing controls you except your beliefs." Do you believe it?

St. Akin de Great.

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Let Go of What Was.

Catch Your Wave and Surf.

Catch Your Wave and Surf.

“Life consists not in holding good cards but in playing those you hold well.” — Josh Billings.

Whatever example of the success you want, is available. The same goes for failure. From all that we have seen and know, we were all born to succeed. For some, it is with what they had. For others, it is with what they did not have. It is not what happened, or did not happen to us, that determines our success. We have no excuse for failure. It is always what we do with both what we have and do not have, that makes the difference.

We can either use the frame before us or reframe what is before us, in getting our self on the path of success. We must never forget, nor give away our place and power. We are the holder of the pen and paint. We are the storyteller of our own life; the director of the movie production. We can determine the end scene and or chapter we desire and want.

Once our ending chapter is determined, we can thus plan every other chapter to end in our predetermined chapter. Yes, there might be distractions along the way. Our predetermined chapter, ending scene, is our North, for which our compass is always seeking. Irrespective of where the waves of life might sweep us, our compass will always ever be North seeking to take us home. We might not have a definite path, but we always have a settled destination.

So, it is not about fighting with life or looking for some ideal condition. It is catching our own wave in the midst of the rough seas. There is a wave we can surf on, and when we lose it, we can always catch the next one.

St. Akin de Great.

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My Life - My Work of Art.

You Are A Magnet.

My Life - My Work of Art.

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” — Henry David Thoreau.

Nothing happens by chance. Everything happens for a reason, a purpose, and an end. You can predetermine that reason, that purpose, and that end. That is the very essence of being a human being, one with free agency. We are not here to be happened unto. We are here to happen. We are here to be revealed to the world, not found. We are not lost. We are.

We are here to act out our own part in the script of the everyday movie, in which we are the hero. It is all about us and we can, and should influence the scenes. First, the end should be without a doubt clearly imprinted upon our hearts. There is no starting without first the desired end. The end determines and shapes the beginning. 

Only when the audacious end is clearly painted in our mind and heart can we then determine how to plot our today to it. So, we need a canvas for the end of our life, and one for every single day on the journey to arrive at the end masterpiece. One for the end scene in the play, and one for the daily scenes plotting their way to the end. That calls for the engagement of our creative acumen.

It's our life. It's up to us to make it as glorious as we so desire. There ain't no limitation. We can have all our heart yearns for, we only need to start from where we presently are and work our way there. The miracle of tomorrow does not start tomorrow. It starts today, where we presently are, this present moment, where we are most powerful.

As ET will say, "dream big, start small, and start today." Time is your greatest asset on this journey, for all things good are built, and it all starts with the very first step.

St. Akin de Great.

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Hello! Doorkeeper.

Catch Your Wave and Surf.

Hello! Doorkeeper.

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.” — Flora Whittemore.

How so the sage is this quote by Flora Whittemore. The doors we close in and open decide the influences we allow and do not allow in our life. The first important thing to note is that we are the door (gate) keeper. No one else is. None else, but we are the doorkeeper of our own life. We allow that which we choose, and disallow accordingly also. We have this right, no one else does.

Unfortunately, not every one of us rises up to this important duty over our life. We assume ourselves powerless. As Alice Walker so rightly puts it, "The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any." How so sad a lot of us fall in this category. We abdicate our own responsibility to others - family, friends, government, church, religious entities, etc.

Such see their LOC (locus of control) as outside of themselves. These are people with a fixed mindset, not those with a growth mindset. They are visionless and are being entrained by their imaginations, or should I rather say nightmares. Their lives are out of control They are swept about by the latest fad, and having no real stay of their own. These are the wannabes and followers of the proverbial Joneses.

This is not the way to win in life. Winning in life entails rising to the occasion of life itself. It entails knowing you are no accident, nor do you want to be an accident. You are here for a reason, a purpose, and you matter. The world is incomplete without you. You are an essential part of the eco-space, system, and puzzle. You are here not to be happened to by life, but to happen to life. You are here to leave your definite, unmistakable mark.

The way to do this is to ensure the generator, yourself, from whom the life you possess proceeds is kept sacred. Hence, the sacred need to control the influences over, in, and around your person. You want to ensure your conditioning and programming work in line with your established vision, purpose, values, and beliefs. For, whatsoever path these find becomes a self-propagating entity. You form them, and they make you.

Keep your door, doorkeeper. Maintain your LOC internally. You are in charge. You have the power. Use it. 

St. Akin de Great.

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Time is Neutral.

My Life - My Work of Art.

Time is Neutral.

“You are no more exempt from time’s inexorable passing than Macbeth. Whether time is your friend or foe depends on how you use it.” — Patricia Fripp.

Time, just like money and power, is neutral. It does not make a person, it rather amplifies and or demystifies. Whosoever we truly are, time will make it as plain and as clear as water. Time makes all things possible. Whatever you want in life, it is possible, if only you allow time to do its job. For the good things of life are not simply prayed or wished for. They need time to come to manifestation.

Life is built. Wealth is built. Relationships are built. And, every other good thing of life is built. They are needed time to come to manifestation. Like our local palace will say, "obe tu dun owo lopa." It is not only money. The really true ingredient is time and care. The money might have procured the different parts, but did not provide the soup (life, wealth, child, etc.). It is the care in placing one line upon the other that gave the final product.

St. Akin de Great.

Links to Series.

You are the Master.

Hello, DoorKeeper.

You are the Master.

“The quality of your life depends on how you respond to the situations and circumstances you find yourself in.” — Patricia Fripp.

Life happens to us all. We are not who we are or are becoming because of life. Life happens to us all. Our differentiation is not in the life that happens to us all. It is in what we each do with life that happens to us. Easy differentiation is if you respond or react. To react to life is to fail at the issue of life. That is a sure road to hell, a sure way downstream where all the dirt is washed.

Life is meant to be responded to, not reacted to. Life should not make you, it was never its purpose. Its purpose is an enhancement, not a creator. Life should meet you set on a defined path. Your beliefs and values should already be settled. Life only comes to cement those, not give you new ones. Life is our gym our chief examination officer.

For every truth will be tested. Every belief, value, faith, doctrine, etc. will be tested. Once you make a definite decision life will test it. Life is not for the uncommitted. It has a way of judging and sifting such out of contention. While it approves of the genuine and true. Life comes as your gym instructor and routine to help you build muscles in your true person so you can fulfill your purpose.

Life is for us, not against us. It is an asset, not a liability. The secret is in seeing it as it is, and harnessing it to the optimum. Life ALWAYS comes with its secret treasures to give to only those who come through and pass its exam. Like we like to say, "there is a treasure in the eye of the storm." Focus on the treasure, rather than be distracted by the storm. The storm did not come to kill you, but rather to approve of you.

Use your storm. Don't be overwhelmed by it. You have been approved for a miracle. Take it.

St. Akin de Great.

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It Matters.

Time is Neutral.

It Matters.

“Every part of the journey is of importance to the whole.” ― St. Teresa of Avila.

How so much a lot of us grew with the deception there are things we could get away with. Right? Age has thought a few of us a whole lot more wisdom. There is nothing you can ever get away with. Everything affects everything else. There are no insignificant actions, nor thoughts. Every action affects all other actions and thoughts, manifesting. Every thought calls on other thoughts and actions, tuning. It's a connected universe.

Our days are the building blocks of our history, habits, recordings, programming, and conditioning. They are the template we give to our foot soldier, our destiny finder and builder, our subconsciousness to run with. It is a subliminal messaging which finds its way to the very core of who we are and cements itself in position. When fully in position, it then becomes a self-fulfilling prophet looking for and creating circumstances in congruency with it.

Every part of our journey determines the rest of our journey. For we are created to seek congruency. We are created to seek agreement within our own constitution, irrespective of what that agreement might be. It is not a moral system. It is simply a congruent system, for that is the base of a functional human being. We are only functional when the whole of our constitution agrees with what we are set on doing or are doing.

Functionality is a good thing, no doubt, but functional doing what is equally important, if not more important. That brings about the need to focus on the RIGHT things. What are the right things? These are the things that are in consonant with our purpose, calling, person, and walk. That is the place of our joy, fulfillment, and wealth.

St. Akin de Great.

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Let's Go Offshore.

You are the Master.

Let's Go Offshore.

“The mind that opens to a new idea never comes back to its original size.” — Albert Einstein.

That is very much like the saying, "You cannot step into the same river twice." New neurological pathways have been created, creating new realities and opportunities. Such a person has been ushered into a new world which they never knew prior. New responsibilities and demands are placed on such a one, with accompanying rewards and penalties. 

To know is to know how much we do not know, and hence the drive to cover such bases. The taste and satiation levels are forever altered. To open up to a new idea is to lose the hold of the familiar shore to begin the search and discovery of new shores, territories, oceans, and lands. It is to expand one's horizon and dare failure to its face. It is to overcome oneself, one's demons; calling on the giant within to rise to the occasion of life.

To open is to achieve. To close is to seek to maintain, which only leads to decay and rot. There is a world waiting to be conquered. There is a destiny waiting to be achieved. We each are the master of our fate. The captain of our soul. Time to lead the ship out.

St. Akin de Great.

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Made by My Thoughts

It Matters.

Made by My Thoughts

“We become what we think about most of the time.” – Earl Nightingale.

This is a well-researched topic and needs no belaboring. Yet many, though they agree with it mentally, struggle with it experientially. Why? Man fallen nature craves for pity, wants to be understood and seen. This gets in the way of our rising above the downward pull of the elements of this life. As it were, scarcity, poverty, negative thoughts feed this craving in us.

It takes a conscious, deliberate, and focused disposition to rise above these and swim upstream to the very source of life itself. We have to be deliberate about what we think. We have to deliberately think about possibilities, not impossibilities. We have to consciously expect miracles, magic, and help. We don't have to know how it will happen, but we have to expect it.

This takes a new consciousness, which goes against the drift of normal human nature. We have to decide to do it, otherwise, it will not be done. It is not human nature to think positively all, or most of, the time, but it is possible. It is possible when we make the decision to do so. It is the way to rise above the herd and join our tribe. It is the key to the good life - temporal and spiritual.

I choose life. I choose to control my thoughts. I choose to use my thoughts to drive me to where I want to go, not otherwise. I am the captain over my soul. I will direct it aright. What about you?

St, Akin de Great.

Links to Series.

As the Mind, So the Body

Let's Go Offshore.