CURIOSITY

The tendency to learn about things by asking questions, investigating or exploring.

Inventors have always been curious people. Among all the world’s greatest inventors you will find very curious individuals, who always asked the question of why things work, or how does things work, and how they can make things better. Curiosity is asking the right questions that make us learn something new.

No matter the age every individual is always in a curious age because our brains can always take in new knowledge, researches have shown that our brains never really adapt to a particular line, show it something new at any time, I can always adjust.

Curiosity makes you ahead of others because you are always trying to know something new. Making up our mind to learn something  new every day spices us up. Fela Durotoye said it is a crime not to learn something new every fifteen minutes. Every knowledge is within our grasp these days of information technology. The internet can supply us of information anytime any day, we can Google up almost anything now and get an informative response. The vast knowledge of Wikipedia has at least a line to say about anything we seek to learn about.

Our young people these days have resorted to only be a consumer of other people’s brain child; they seldom ask questions on how things come about. We use almost anything called a social network and we seldom ask the question: of how is this done? and surprisingly we will find out or realize we could have actually done some of these things at some point in our lives if we have simply paid attention to the questions in our heart.

GOD created every individual and put questions in our heart and at the same time HE put the answers all around us. But we can never get answers without questions. Curiosity brings out these questions in our hearts to the point where they can produce tangible answers that are productive.

Curiosity is simply the secret behind the rising technology of the Chinese that is challenging America now. The Chinese simply adopted the technique in engineering called ‘reverse engineering’ this technique simply works on the principle of curiosity. They were driven with the question of finding out how things were produced and how they can do the same with the available resources that they have. Their curiosity drove them to ask how they can make a better, cheaper and more user friendly products than others.

In my place there is a saying that goes: “a person who asks questions about his route will never get to miss his way during the journey.” This holds true in all other areas. Curiosity can drive us to our divine destiny. Our level of operation in life is determined by the questions we ask. You know where a man is going by the quality of questions he asks.

Intelligent curiosity brings about intelligent knowledge and drive away ignorance. Let’s say no to ignorance, it will go a long way to save us a whole lot of unwarranted mistakes.

Try a little sarcastic curiosity today, it will do your heart a lot of merry!

OWNING YOUR NAME

In my previous post I promised to bring to us 21 days to a good name, while putting together the piece I discovered that life is not just about bulding a good reputation or name, like +John Wooden puts it “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” But about the person of quality we are.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.
+Warren Buffett

It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.
+Benjamin Franklin

No man will ever carry out of the Presidency the reputation which carried him into it.
+Thomas Jefferson

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition; oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
+William Shakespeare

A single lie destroys a whole reputation of integrity.
+Baltasar Gracian

Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us.
+Thomas Paine

With these in mind lets see how we can work on a good name in 7days.

DAY1

• Hold your tongue and take three deep breaths before responding to comments and situations that make you feel angry, defensive or upset.

DAY 2

• Never talk badly about anyone. Never say anything negative about any person behind their back. If you have a problem with some else’s behaviour, talk to them privately and directly. When you talk negatively about someone in their absence, the person you are talking to feels you may do the same behind their back.

DAY 3

• Be respectful of other people and their opinions. There is never one way of doing things, and your way is not the only way, even if it feels like that at the time. Always keep your mind open and accept other people may have a different experience and a different opinion. Remember, you can disagree and still be respectful.

DAY 4

• Be truthful and honest. lying and deceit always finds its way out, and it’s never worth it. I always say “When in doubt, tell the truth”. Telling the truth is cleansing and liberating, no matter how small. If you are running late, don’t blame the traffic, say “I’ve miscalculated the travel time”, “I left too late”… whatever the case may be.

DAY 5

• Keep your promises. If you made a promise, keep it. It seems so simple, yet very few people can hold ALL their promises. If you can’t make it happen, do not promise. If you’ve promised, but can’t make it happen, tell the other person honestly. They will be flattered with your honesty.

DAY 6

• Accept responsibility for your actions and behaviours, and avoid blaming others.

DAY 7

• Do not judge other people or their behaviour. Do not jump to conclusions and label people in your mind or when talking to others.

Have a good day people.

BRANDING YOUR NAME

I grew up to see that as I played my pranks in school as a pupil, the authorities would go for my parents. It was a case of my parents answering for my sins which obviously they didn't commit. But as I grew much older and became more responsible for my actions, I realized that it wasn't much about my parents anymore and it was becoming more about me. I could remember back in secondary school, there was this notorious boy known for his many pranks, on one of the many occasions where his father was called to school to answer for the boy's sins, we all heard the father scolding Ralph, for that was his name saying "why do you keep dragging my name to the mud?"
Every young man or woman will get to a point in his or her life when he or she will begin to make a name for his or herself. Your father's name will no longer be dragged into your own mess. This is a sense of responsibility the young people of today should uphold.
The question I ask is this: when will you make it your name? With the way young people today count their words to be nothing and thinking that there is a father out there to always bail them out or like Ralph still thinking it’s his father's name being dragged to the mud, by the time our father’s kick the bucket we will realize its then too late.
As young people, our names can open doors today just like our father's opened when we were younger. Our reputation can be an asset. Your name can go to the bank and come back with a facility. Our women can look up to our men for their words.
It comes by holding to the virtues we saw in the names of our fathers, having integrity. When you borrow money or any other thing you strive to pay back. There are little habits in which if we practice daily, we can establish a trustworthy name.
In my next blog you will be having "21 DAYS TO A GREAT NAME"
Know this my young man and woman: your name can stand as an asset. Have a great life ahead of you!

...that joy

The joy of prayer is what every believer should never deny his or herself every day. I can’t imagine what I will be missing without this joy, the joy of speaking in tongues long before others start rising from their beds.

It opens my eyes to see what others don’t see, it puts a spring to my steps, and lights up my face with a divine glow. Whether it’s evident to the physical eyes or not, there is a fire burning in my eyes.

That joy when scriptures begin to find expression in your lips forming a behavior for you for the day. That joy of knowing its going to be alright because you got on your knees and stayed there before GOD.

I love praying in the morning, because it gives me an opportunity to avoid a lot of time wasters and irrelevant discussions and involvements through the day.

When it comes to prayer am still a novice because I know not what to pray as I ought but thank GOD for the Holy Spirit that makes intercession for me with groaning which cannot be uttered so I can have an utterance in my conversations with men and when I am teaching or preaching in church even in the classroom.

I love praying in the Holy Spirit, because this is where I know I will not make mistakes because the Holy Spirit does not make mistakes.

 Every day I learn how not to use my brain to direct the prayer focus, direction, sequence and even the intensity but on how to simply allow the one who is praying to pray and I speak as He gives the utterance.

Give your life a lift as we explore the estimable joys of prayer again. Isaiah 12:3 says “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation”

iykeIGWE (Abuja, Nigeria)