Why Self-Love Is The Greatest - By Birthday Girl Tosin Kayode

Thinking back thru all the years, I have come from nothing to the road leading somewhere great and I want to motivate everyone around me about the essence of loving who we are. I so much love every single word of Whitney Houston's greatest love of all song, the song is so much an inspiration.
So many times, we get disappointing in ourselves when we make mistakes: we hate ourselves, we wish we could hurt someone, we wish we could undo the wrong but we can't. So many people have lost value in themselves; they feel inferior when in d midst of contemporaries. Oh, how we forget that we are humans!
Humans are prone to make mistakes, we almost cannot stop making mistakes, we can only manage ourselves not to make the same kind of mistakes everytime. No matter what we do wrong, the first step at becoming better is to embrace who we are, love yourself!
Love is really an essential part of life that can right so many wrongs, it may not be be able to undo them but can help you get ahead! We need to embrace the beauty in each mistake we make and move ahead! Life cannot always give us what we plan for, we have to get what we want out of life!
Considering every word in the whitney houston's song: most of us are walking in the shadows of some other people, and yet we can't see the deeper secrets of their lives and we hate ourselves for making mistakes that they might have made also! We see these people smiling on the outside, we do not know what they have gone through inside of them!
I want to encourage everyone reading this piece today, give yourself a sense of pride and value. A lot changes when yogu truly love yourself:
• you make good decisions for yourself,
• you believe in yourself,
• you dont let anyone treat you less than you deserve to be treated,
• loving yourself motivates you, it gives you strength frm the inside, you dont need to depend on anyone.
• You won't hate anyone for walking out of your life, u understand ur content and what you carry.
There is really so much value in loving yourself. Never be afraid to make mistakes, only pick out the lessons in your mistakes and be ready to do better next time.
One thing I've realised is that, as much as friends at times may want to sympathize with us in our difficulties, they can never feel our pain as much as we do! So this tells me that I need to find strength from inside of me and not outside, I need to be my own best friend, I need to make the decisions that will take me to my future, no one is gonna do that for me.
"And if by chance that special place, that you'v been dreaming of, brings you to a lonely place, find your strength in love"
My words to you today: whatever u'r going through or you've just been through: heartbreak, financial loss, failure, regrets or whatsoever, love urself!
Love yourself not to hate the other party that has left or has wronged you, dnt console urself by bringing out the bad side of the person or wishing him or her bad! Love yourself to see the great value in YOU! You are all you've got, love yourself and depend on no one.
Forgive those that av wronged you in the past, stop regretting your past! Free urself frm the bondage of the past! Freedom is a great feeling and most times it's got a price! Be willing to pay whatever price it is you have to, just aspire to be free! Love is the first step!
If you don't love urself, you can't love anyone else! Be honest with yourself and dont love pretenciously! Love yourself, give your self the best, spoil yourself when you need to. Spread the love to people around you!
• When I say love yourself, I am not talking abt you just saying you love yourself! I am talking about you practising love towards yourself.
• When you love urself, you don't make decisions that can threaten your future, you don't take substances that are harmful to your health, you don't do things that can badly affect your prestige! Love yourself by action and not by words!
• When you love yourself, you don't degrade yourself by doing wrong everytime, you learn from your past and become better, you tell yourself and face the truth always.
• Learn to love yourself by not messing up your body, treat yourself right!
"Learning to love yourself is the greatest. love of all"
I Love ME! Happy birthday to ME!

By @tospet16

'Faith-Fool Switch' by Fisayo Odebode

Sometimes I just go
"Shibragadista makhosh
Mekusha zibrada leggo"
A language you don't know
Makes no sense to you
Though empowers,
Even charges me
And sets me on the go



But really, a Pause!
We've heard it before
We'll hear it again
And of course
I'll speak it again
And again for gain



Have you tried silence?
Have you tried to listen?
The news is killing
Information so watered
Hear the great need
A bit of silence
A lot of action
Plenty  mobilization
Less of talking
Plenty demonstration



We will talk
More than talk
Rather a walk
A walk of the talk
Of course a hard work
In wholesale and bulk
Same things; Same result
A little tweak
A little difference
Drastic move
Massive result





The future holds what?

Our decision tells
Our actions tell
A deep thought of our children
Think of a fight; fight for justice
Possibilities again
And even Hope alive
Check the south
Deep thought and choice
Choice of a better-hard route
This Africa; Shall Arise
And the giants,
Breaking through
Going by our name
Breaking forth too!



This Poem is partly inspired by conversations I had with:
Mrs Bamike 'Oba' Adeyemi - a sister, mentor and mother and
Rotimi Lumor - a dear friend, brother and colleague(Person-ally).
Thank you! - Fisayo Odebode

Fisayo ‘Check’ Odebode is a writer, public speaker, music addict and counsellor. She is the initiator of Check Counsel Nigeria (a people oriented organization that cares for/helps stabilize children and teenagers in relation to their stage in human development through counselling). You can email her at miispecial@yahoo.com or @FisayoCheck on Twitter.

Cobhams Asuquo: The Extraordinary Musician Who Sees Beyond Blindness– @alabaster85

The winds were soft

   T’was midnight

   We were gathered in an amphitheatre

   The venue was OAU,Ile-Ife

   The guest artiste was invited over

   A lady guided him to the podium

   The voice I heard

   Soothingly struck my spinal cord

   I shivered with excitement

   My mouth agape

   His fingers even stroked the keyboard

   His name – Cobhams!

  As the programme ended

   We shuffled to our dormitories

   Everyone talking about Cobhams

   Saying the little they knew

  “He was born blind”

   I overheard someone say…who knows for sure?

   I froze in my tracks

   Tears welling in my eyes

   His song filled our hearts with light

   Light blindingly bright

   He definitely can’t be ordinary

   I concluded as I slept that night

   The blind had a dream

   He saw beautiful days ahead

   He fed on blindness

   All to grow into an enigma

   He lived in a world of ordinary people

   The extraordinary happened

  One of his secondary school seniors

   Who described him as very likable

   Told of a day he won’t forget

   When a lady named Mariam duped a ‘roomie’

   Cobhams, a junior ‘roomie’, heard about it

   He later turned it to music in the room

  “I saw Mariam…panparanpapapa

   Mariam beautiful from head to feet

   When you see her you should run

   She isn’t a girl for you to love

   When she says that she loves you

   Don’t listen, vit’s not true

   But when you miss her

   You are gonna miss your wallet too”

   They all enjoyed as he sang

   He, preparing for conquest, as David did in the wild

   Thanks for rising above blindness

   All to give us meaning

   Thanks for showing us the way

   With the beautiful light you bear

   I wish you can see and read all this by yourself

   But then, thank God you can’t

  Maybe without blindness

   There wouldn’t have been Cobhams

   We wouldn’t have heard Rooftop MC singing ‘Lagimo’

   Asa’s ‘Jailer’ would have been a dream in the jail

   To you, Blindness, we say thank you

   For giving us the mystery extraordinaire called Cobhams

Credit: Dr Fowler…for the song about Mariam.

Soyombo Ayomikun tweets from @alabaster85

Culled from: Omojuwa

“I don’t believe God made man and woman equal in any way” – OmotolaEkeinde

Giving reference to God,  the celebrity couple in a recent interview with Punch newspaper disclosed thus:

“It has to be God. There is no other strategy. One person can be perfect and the second person can be nasty. On our part, I’d say also that we don’t look at the relationship as something we can walk away from. We look at it as a life commitment. When your parents upset you, you cannot divorce them. Even the bible says you will leave your father and your mother and cleave to your spouse. Luckily, he doesn’t drink or smoke or abuse me. I don’t have any major thing to complain about, and I hope it is the same thing for him.”

When asked to share their experience with owning a joint bank account, Omotola who was listed among the Times 100 most influential people in the world said “When we first started, we had one account. We had goals and things that we wanted to do. Whatever we earned had to be in one purse. Then, we sat at the end of the month and drew a budget. We did that for so many years and were successful until she started her own company and we decided she needed to have her own account. In most marriages, the man goes into the marriage with the mindset that he will be the sole provider even when the wife is working. That does not make any sense. He uses his money to pay bills while the woman will use hers to buy only make-up, clothes and shoes. If the couple is one, they should join resources together to move ahead. Money causes problems in a family when one person is being selfish. It doesn’t matter who earns more or less. They should have a common goal. Save together and accomplish things together.”
On their advice to celebrity couples “Foundation really matters. Some people get into the relationship for one wrong motive or the other. Most of them live false lives. Couples that are in the same profession hardly last in a marriage. There is always competition. The best thing is to marry someone that is compatible with you.” they said.

Speaking further, Omotola Ekeinde said “I don’t believe in gender equality. I do not believe that God made man and woman to be equal in any way. I believe that in every organised institution, there is always a head and an assistant. It doesn’t mean that one should take the other for granted, or disrespect the other. I believe the husband is the head of the home and the wife is an assistant. My husband is a pilot, I have flown with him several times and I understood that here is a captain and a co-pilot. They are both responsible for the passengers’ lives. But when there is a final decision to make, it is up to the captain to make it. He is more experienced and the one with the responsibility.”



Do you agree with her? Share your thought below at the comment section!



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6 secrets for starting your own business - Tosin Kayode

Tosin Kayode



Recently, I got into an argument with some guys about what #120,000 can do. Being the business oriented person that I am, I mentioned that it can start a sustainable business. These guys disagreed and then the argument started, they said it could only start petty businesses like sweets, biscuits etc. I totally disagreed. The argument went on and on, along the line, a friend intervened and mentioned that a guy started a bread business with just #60,000 and is now making #800,000 monthly. Imagine, I argued further that only lazy and indiscipline people will not be able to do business with #120,000. As the argument progressed, I realized a lot of things – knowledge sometimes can be found in arguments!



I want to share some of the thoughts that came to my mind with u quickly;



Starting a Business isn’t really just about desperately having a means of income, it goes beyond that. If you are interested in starting your own business, you need to do your homework well.



What is this homework that you have to do?



Know thyself



This is very crucial in determining the appropriate type of business for you. Lots of businesses abound; not all of them can work for you. I believe what can help you is to know your kind of person, your weakness, your strengths, your adaptive and tolerance level. In business, either you are a service provider, products sales person or small scale manufacturer; you will be dealing with people. People affect businesses in a huge way, but you as the entrepreneur determines what reaction you will get from people by the way you carry out your business. Some people can never be good for a sales business because of the kind of persons that they are, it isn’t wrong, they are not gifted in that field, because they cannot follow up on debtors, make a customer agree with their price, or cope with customers reactions to their prices, and they can’t even cope with the risk of buying and selling. These people are better as service providers or just employees. As service providers, they can do well by having people to help them.



Know your environment



Opportunities abound a lot in our environment. These opportunities provide us with business ideas but not every type of business is good for everybody. Seek to meet needs in your environment; fill a gap – this will guide your decision on the appropriate business to start.  It's not so good to enter a business that's already crowded; it will limit your pricing strategy and options.  Be unique; look out for opportunities providing cheaper and more quality resources that are needed, consistency of supply and alternatives.



Know your weakness



These as well as your strengths are very essential for you to determine what type of business to go into. They help you understand the best environment, condition and industry to operate in.



Know your destination



It is very important that you know the height you want to reach before you start, this will help you to know the type of information you need and if there is need for further training; it also helps your focus so that you don’t start jumping from one line of business to another. Knowing your destination also helps you to identify resources that are relevant to your success, helps you determine the appropriate amount of capital needed.



Know a little of Bookkeeping and Financial discipline



You don’t need an accountant or need to be an accountant before you can do this. All that is essential is for you to have a record of your income and expenses on a regular basis. Most small scale businesses have failed as a result of the entrepreneur’s default in this aspect, they are usually more concerned about the money coming in and they keep spending and spending , not making provision for their capital which needs to be reinvested. By the time they get to realize that the business is no longer liquid, it is almost too late and the business folds up. I therefore advise that a periodic check be conducted on the financial figures and assets of the business.



The purpose of business is mostly to make profit from which a living is earned for the owner, but the owner needs to bear in mind the sustainability of the business. Profits usually fluctuate based on the level of activity or sales, sometimes it can be high and some other time, it may be very low. It is advisable to make enough provision for the rainy day through the attitude of savings.



Know your God



I believe that things that are beyond and also in our control need to be committed into the hands of God. No matter what we do or try to convince people to patronize our business, only God can control their hearts in our favor. Business can be very risky, it is important to be prayerful to cross the many hurdles that we might encounter.

I'll take  a pause at this point, might continue later but I will really have you guys share your own experience in business and the lesson you would like other people to be watchful about below in the comment section – I can’t wait to read your comments.





Yours sincerely,

Go and Prosper.

Follow Tosin Kayode on Twitter, @tospet16



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Daystar Trains 397 Young Entrepreneurs in 11 Different Vocations

Gabriel Olatunji 'Legend'



Having been properly trained and skillfully equipped in eleven different vocations, a total of 397 youth Nigerians were graduated by the Daystar Skill Acquisition Programme on Friday February 14, 2014.

Keeping to its vision of raising role models in the society, Daystar Christian Centre held a memorable graduation ceremony for the 13^th set of the Daystar Skill Acquisition Programme (DSAP) at the church’s Main Auditorium, Plot A3C, Ikosi Road, OregunIkeja, Lagos.

It was a joy-filled day as the graduating students leaped in happiness having been empowered with new skills in different crafts such as Makeup, Photography, Web-Design, Graphics, Sewing, Generator Repairs, Shoemaking, Beads-Making, Cake-Making, Pastries and the likes.

Speaking to the graduating students, senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Sam Adeyemi, ably represented by the church’s Chief Operating Officer, pastor Kenny Folarin charged them to make the best of their newly acquired skills toward adding great value to the Nigerian and the world in general.

“The skills you have learnt here can take you to places you never expected if put to good use. The money you’re looking for is in meeting people’s needs, and it is skill acquisition that helps us to solve people’s problems.” he said. Pastor Kenny Folarin also challenged the participants to strive to be the best. “Please don’t underestimate the skills you’ve acquired as there are millionaires all over the world who live on what you’ve learnt,” he concluded. He also appreciated the entire DSAP team and facilitators as led by Pastor BolutifeAje and Mrs. Toyin Olusola, for investing their time in building people.

Sharing her DSAP experience, Bukola Oyedokun, one of the Makeup Class graduands, said impact of the training was beyond her expectations. “Although I’m not a member of Daystar, I came around to learn makeup because of my love for it, and I was literally blown away at what I was able to learn and do within two weeks. It’s been an empowering experience and may God continue to bless this church.”

Daystar Skill Acquisition Programme (DSAP) is one of the initiatives of Daystar Christian Centre geared towards empowering people with practical trainings and skills to build lasting brands and maximize their potentials in God. The training runs thrice every year; February, June and October. DSAP has trained over 4000 entrepreneurs since its inception.

Check out photos from the event below.



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