What Is There To Be Happy About?

Sometimes I wonder, what is there to be happy about? So many things are going wrong, bills are higher, wages are low, people are depressed, and nothing is improving. All our material security is being eroded. People are in massive debts; they have no solution to the problem. The rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer. Big companies are making more profit while small businesses are folding up. The world is becoming more selfish and people become lovers of self. We are more “me” focused and people are more self-centred than ever before. Everybody is now taking care of number “1”. I wonder, is there anything to really be happy about? Then I realised that in order to be happy, I have to make others happy. In order to be rich, I have to enrich others. In order to have friends, I must make myself friendly. In order to find help, I must help someone else. If you are not happy, you had better stop worrying about it and look for what treasures you can find around you. It is proven that poverty and wealth does not bring happiness. We are so fond of counting our troubles that we forget to count our joys. The happiness you are looking for will not come as a result of getting something you don’t have or attaining more riches but it is only when we recognise and appreciate what we have that we find true happiness. If you want to be happy practice compassion, be kind to others, give a helping hand. Whenever you can, say kind words and encourage others, prefer others to yourself and sacrifice for others. If you want to be cheerful, cheer others up. Happiness is not far away, it is like a butterfly, when you pursue it, it flies away beyond your grasp but if you sit quietly, it will alight on you. There is a seed in your hand; it is called happiness, share it and you will be surprised to see that it blossoms into a beautiful flower. In order to find true happiness, we must give it. A great obstacle to happiness is expecting others to give what we ourselves cannot share. Happiness is a gift, share it and it will bring you great joy. The secret to being happy is in the giving.
"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness." ~Author Unknown
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

What About This Life?

What a life, you wake up in the morning, go to work or for lectures, go to the gym or pre lecture activities, come back home, and sleep and oh my!
The same old routine day in day out. What a life!
What about this life?

The body craves for achievement, and after satisfying that want or need, another craving arises.
The body doesn’t seem to get enough of this poor old dirty and filthy world. What a life!
What about this life?

The spirit man craves for supernatural food, and after satisfying that want or need, another craving arises.
The spirit man doesn’t seem to get enough of the sweet savoury aroma of the presence of God.

What a life;
The higher you climb in achieving, either for the body or the spirit man, the higher the level of challenges.
The battle never ends and then you wonder, what about this life?

I have personally sought to encourage myself in the Lord, at least the Bible, in the Book of Ecclesiastes chapter 1, it teaches about the fact that there is TIME for everything.

It only boils down to one thing; there is more to life than the eyes can see.
There is more to life than our thoughts can comprehend. Remember, whatever you do, make sure God approves of it and make sure you do not sell your soul to the devices of the enemy.
Life is a battlefield, but Jesus already won the battle, for in HIS name and by HIS blood, we are victorious.
LIVE YOUR LIFE, DON’T SPEND IT!
(Written by Modupé Mabel Ade-Onojobi-Daniel, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

The Power Of The Mind

Today, I would like to encourage you to fill your mind with good and positive things. The mind is a powerful minefield, out of it comes the issues of life. What you think matters and what you allow to dwell on your mind matters. If you think and meditate on something long enough, you soon act on what you’ve been thinking. Nobody can think for you, you are the only who can think for yourself. People can make suggestions, negative or positive, the choice is yours to decide what you allow to dwell and remain on your mind. You can pollute your mind by accepting the negatives that people throw at you and you can cleanse your mind by being positive and choosing not to accept the rubbish that is being thrown your way. The world we have created is a product of our thinking. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If you think negative all the time, you must try and change your line of thought, as all you will produce is a negative. Read encouraging, inspirational and motivational books. Feed your mind with good things. Go on courses that will inspire, motivate and energise your mind. Renewal of the mind is the key to positive thinking, you have to renew your mind and feed your mind with good things. Your thoughts become words, if they are negative, you will speak negative, if they are positive, you will speak positive. It’s better to train your mind so that it always sees the positive things in life, then you will act and speak positively. Negative produces negative, positive produces positive, what you sow is what you will reap. Why don’t you sow good things so that you reap good? It is easier to dwell on the negative than the positive. Renewing your mind to think positive takes more effort but produces good results. You could be a prisoner of your own mind, thinking you are ugly when you are beautiful, thinking you are fat and ugly when you are not, thinking you are no good when you have abilities that other people envy. Renewing your mind is important if you are going to make it in life, so keep a positive outlook, think positive and act positive. Weed your mind of the negative and fill your mind with the positive. May God enable you to overcome the negative. God bless you as you think on these things.
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

The Gift Of A New Day

Today is a new day, another day in your life, another day in my life, another opportunity to look at things differently, another opportunity to see the good and the bad in our lives, another opportunity to be nice to someone, another opportunity to make up with someone. Today is another day, another day to consider what we could have done better, another day to see if we can make a difference, another opportunity to make the best of the time we’ve got left, another opportunity to share our gift, another opportunity to pray for a friend in need, another opportunity to lend a helping hand. Today is another day, another opportunity to take what belongs to you and make good use of your talent, another opportunity to discard yesterday’s doubts and try something new, another opportunity to do what you procrastinated about yesterday. Take today and don’t waste it. Each new day is there for you to use, to create and birth something new. Don’t waste today; it will not be there tomorrow, so do something with today. If you don’t make use of the opportunity you have today, someone else will take the opportunity you’ve missed and make good use of it. Make an opportunity of your difficulties today. Don’t sit down regretting the chances you’ve lost, take hold of opportunity and don’t let it fly away. Be wise with your time and make the best of today. Today is another opportunity to make a new happy ending. Opportunity is like a bird, it never perches. Today is one moment in your life, seize the opportunity and don’t let it slip, take hold of it and make good use of your day. May this week be productive and successful for you. Have a blessed day.
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

Is Your Soul Cast Down?

Maybe you woke up this morning with so much on your mind and you are wondering how your problems are going to be sorted out. I am encouraging you today to not lose heart. Problems come and problems will go. Just as night turns into day and day into night, I am encouraging you that your night will soon turn into day. You must continue to persevere and not give up. Don’t give up yet. Obstacles will come in your way but everytime you conquer one obstacle, you become much stronger to take on the next one. No one can help you as much as you can help yourself. If your soul is cast down, I will encourage you today to arise and shine. Arise and shine. You must hold your ground. It takes a little acorn to grow into an oak tree. If the acorn did not hold in the ground, it would not have turned into an oak. You must hold your ground; you can’t go through life quitting everything. You have to persevere and stick in there. If you should fall, pick yourself up again and don’t quit. Life is full of challenges, the race is not for the swift but for those who keep on running, so keep running and don’t give up now. If you are going to achieve anything, you’ve got to stick with something. Your victory comes not in the falling but in rising up everytime you fall, so I encourage you today to rise up. Rise up to the challenge, rise up and face the world, rise up, it’s not over yet. Each time you conquer and overcome a circumstance or situation you become more than a conqueror, so rise up and conquer. My encouragement to you today is not to give up at the edge of your miracle. If you fall seven times, arise on the eighth and keep going. You can make it if you persevere. For you to have come this far is an act of courage, so be courageous and keep going. Resist fear and keep going, keep going anyway, don’t rest on your laurels. May God strengthen you in this hour and everytime you need help, may His angels lift you and strengthen you. All hope is not lost if you don’t give up. I will encourage you to kneel down and ask God for help, He is waiting to hear your voice and He loves you.
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

Believe in Yourself

If you doubt yourself, then you are standing on shaky ground
Your doubt is a traitor, it will make you lose the good you might have won
What lies within you is greater than what is behind you
What lies within you is greater than what lies before you
Believe in yourself and you will be astounded as to what you can achieve
Believe in yourself and give yourself to yourself
Be your own best friend

It is you who is your own enemy
It is you who beats yourself up
It is you who fights against yourself
Learn about your strengths and not your limitations
Love yourself, and then you can love your neighbour
If you don’t believe in yourself, who will believe in you?

Believe in yourself, set a standard for others to follow
You will only reach as high as you can grow
You can only see as deep as you can look
You can only be as big as your dream
Believe in yourself and dream big
You are only as big as your dream

Do not be afraid of the storms
Only learn to sail in the storm
Believe in yourself
Don’t give your dream away
Don’t let anyone steal your dream
It’s your dream, not theirs
Hold on to your dream
You can do it if you believe it
However strong you are,
Without belief in yourself,
Then you are weak
The key is in your hand
To unlock your potential
Believe in yourself and you will do it!
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

“When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.” ~ African Proverb

Are You A Bully?

As we live our day-to-day lives I am prompted to ask this question. When I see strife and division I am prompted to ask this question. When I see other people hurting, I am prompted to ask this question. When someone loses his or her confidence, there is a reason why. When someone has low self-esteem, there is a reason why. When I see someone crying and in pain, I know they are not making it up or faking it. I know their pain is real. Are you a bully? Do you enjoy inflicting pain? Please forgive me for asking. The world is hurting and dying because of the pain we inflict on each other. We hurt each other daily, though we may not want to admit it, as it’s always easier to point at the next person and blame them. Do we show compassion when we see the suffering of others? Does it make you feel better when you pass rude comments to others? Do you feel good when you shout at others and you hurt if they do the same to you? Are you a bully or are you not? Do you easily feel insulted when others try to correct and point you in the way of peace? Do you easily misunderstand and misconstrue what people say to you? Are you too proud to say sorry knowing very well what you have done is not good? It makes me wonder if you are a bully. Do you easily point the finger and blame others for your own errors and do you make others laugh or cry? Ask yourself that question once again. Do you make others laugh or cry or are you constantly at war with others? Do you compliment your loved ones or do you pull them down?

Today is the beginning of a new week. Let us take time to think. How can we change ourselves so that we can change others? Believe it or not, if you inflict pain on others then you are full of pain. If you are constantly hurting others then you are full of hurt and you need to sort yourself out before you lose friends and family and what would you have left? Yourself! Loneliness is not a good thing so I encourage you today to please try and change before it’s too late. May God make His strength perfect in our moments of weakness.
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

Are You Feeling Low?

When you feel low in yourself it’s always good to talk to somebody who is reliable and can be held in confidence. Feeling low is not a bad thing, as it is a feeling that we all have at some point or the other. The key thing is not to allow your feeling to overcome you to a point where you descend into depression, as depression is more difficult to deal with. It is important to find a source of encouragement where you can get some advice, prayer or support of some kind. Remember, you are not alone; there are thousands of people going through the same road. Help must be sought in time of need, if not this leads into isolation and danger. If you are feeling low right now remember there are plenty of people worse off than yourself. Look up and try and see the brighter side of life. Nobody promised us a bed of roses but if we choose to look on the bright side, things could be better. Whatever you are going through try and keep hope alive. Try and look up. Try and do something to make the situation better. You are the important one here, you are valuable, you are worth more than many sparrows, and your life is worth much more than money can buy. There is no one like you, you are unique, you are special, just believe in yourself and keep hope alive. There is light at the end of the tunnel, so don’t give up just yet. Somebody out there needs you so don’t cut your life short.

I leave you with an Inspirational Phrase by Groucho Marx and I hope it blesses you:

"Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it."~ Groucho Marx

(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)

We Are An Army

One thing we must remember is that we are an army in this world and we are here to fight a battle. We are to fight a battle in which only God can be our helper, our guide and our aid. He is the only one who has the perfect strategy for the battle. Our battle began from conception until the present day. Tell me who in this world has not faced one adversity or the other? Our being birthed safely into this world is a battle and victory in itself but our battle only just begun. Imagine a fatherless child or a child whose mother died during labour or just after being born. These are the people we need to remember to pray for, the orphans, widows, the sick, people going through mental attacks, the hurting and those who find themselves in a position they are not able to do anything about. This is proof in itself that there must be something precious in us that some devil is after. That is why I created this site to encourage people. I don’t know what you might be going through right now but I would like to encourage you to forgive those who have hurt you. I know it is not easy but this is the first step towards spiritual freedom. You and I are a treasure in this world and we have the potential for greatness in us, you have the potential for greatness, believe it or not. You and I have the capability of changing the world and helping to make it a better place. We have the ability to create in our minds and bring that creativity into manifestation. We have the ability to create good things and empower others to do the same. We have the ability to transform other people’s lives and bring a change. We have the ability to make the world a better and safer place. There is power invested in us by the Almighty but there is an element of evil in the world that is trying to stop us from achieving our full potential. There are destiny killers in our way, obstacles, trials, tribulations, pain, heartache etc. All these stem from evil. My encouragement today is not to look at what has been done to you, look and see what you can do for others to bring about a change in this world. With a positive mind and outlook, the world can be better even if it is only by a fraction. Your efforts are worth it. God bless you as you think on these things.
(Written by Ladé, 2008 © All rights reserved.)