Never ending wheel of complaint

It is easy to take things for granted. When you step back, you would almost be appalled at how we complain endlessly about seemingly unnecessary things. I would use this lovely weather as an example. Twitter updates from a particular set of tweeps were anticipating summer for months. They complained about how cold it was, how lazy the weather made them feel etc. Now its summer, 23 degrees and all. The same set are complaining about the sun, how hot it is, how sweaty they are all the time. 

It struck me: we can go through life complaining about anything and miss the beautiful moments we experience. If it is cold, layer up and enjoy the fact that you are not sweaty or whatever. If it is hot, see it as  an opportunity to wear clothes you ordinarily would not. It is so easy to get trapped in the vicious cycle of complaint and wake up wondering why we are never happy.

Our thoughts determine our actions to a great extent. If you make up your mind to be happy come what may, chances are that you would see an opportunity in the most dire circumstances. Stones exists and whether you turn them into stumbling blocks or stepping stones is all up to you.

"Every person takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." Arthur Schopenhauer.

I am not the centre of the universe.

"She is one, she is many". This describes the colour sisterhood perfectly. It is a constant reminder that the world does not revolve around me. There are people to cater to and I need to equip myself fully to meet the needs around me just as God meets my needs. It took me a while to fully understand this concept. I erroneously thought that only God could comfort people in trouble. How that worked, I never found out but I strongly believed that no human being should assume they can comfort anyone.

Then I read 2nd Corinthians 1:3-7. I read it repeatedly and in various translations because I really couldn't believe what I was reading. The particular phrase that struck me was "...God of all comfort who comforts us in our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (NKJV)

Basically, God does not comfort me so that I could keep it all to myself and pay no attention to those who need comforting. I am His vessel and when He comforts me during my hard times and brings along another person who is going through hard (or harder) times so that I am there for the person just as He was there for me. That's huge. We cannot give what we do not have and that is exactly why He gives us peace and comfort so we can share with others.

It really has changed the way I conduct myself. I literally walk into a place and mentally calculate how to contribute to making the place run more efficiently or smoothly. I constantly have to depend on God to sort out my issues and I am overwhelmed and honoured when He shows me how I can contribute to alleviating someone else's pain. Taking the focus off me and on other people is really challenging and I constantly ask God to equip me with the meekness of heart to remind myself daily that really, its not all about me.

The cycle

It is easy to get carried away with life and how difficult it can be. I would be the first to agree with you, life can be tough. One thing I have learned over the years is the fact that I have to constantly stay motivated, immerse myself in the Word of God and read books or listen to podcasts that uplift my spirit. Seriously, life is to short for me to only listen to the negatives.

I remember John Maxwell making reference to the fact that clean people do not take a shower once a year, they bathe daily. Same thing goes for energetic and positive people. They do not moan all day, they constantly renew themselves with positivity and stay away from constant negativity. 

There is this very interesting TED talk I listen to daily, Yes, daily. It puts things in perspective for me. It is called "The happiness advantage" by Shawn Achor. The first time I listened to it, I smiled a lot. Not only because he has a great sense of humour, but also because he made me understand that old Yiddish expression that says "to a fly in horseradish the whole world is horse radish."

The world is as beautiful as you allow yourself to believe it is. Yes, ugly things do happen but if you dwell on the ugliness for far too long, you would never ever see the beauty even when it is staring you in the face.

Have a great day.

Book Review: DOING VIRTUOUS BUSINESS

DOING VIRTUOUS BUSINESS

THE REMARKABLE SUCCESS OF SPIRITUAL ENTERPRISE

BY:

THEODORE ROOSEVELT MALLOCH

The 167 paged book with a foreword written by Michael Novak is divided into seven captivating chapters and two other sub-chapters:

·         Spiritual Enterprising

1.    Spiritual Capital

2.    Virtue

3.    Faith, Hope and Charity

4.    Hard virtue: Leadership, Courage, Patience, Perseverance, Discipline

5.    Soft Virtue: Justice, Forgiveness, Compassion, Humility, Gratitude

6.    Spiritual Capital in a sceptical Age

Conclusion: Spiritual Enterprise in the Global Economy

Appendix 1: A Gallery of Virtuous Companies

Appendix 2: The Numbers

Notes

Index

About the Author

The author, who himself benefitted from having been reared in an observant home and raised in the cradle of faith used his experience to craft beautifully how one can operate a business empire in a total spiritual realm. His intellectual pedigree, interdisciplinary training and a life of real-world work was a great advantage to having a broad over-view that helped in a perfect delivery of the book.

His meeting with the world’s greatest investor of the time, Sir John Templeton, set the tone for the book. Being one who looks at life from all ramifications, the meeting afforded more opportunities than just to gain some useful perspective on the market or to discover which company to invest in, it was a meeting that charted a full course of how enterprises and the entrepreneurs who started them are guided by a spiritual force rooted in faith. He used the encounter, the challenges it offered, generous support from Templeton and his own endowment to found the Spiritual Enterprise Institute which is now a multidisciplinary business academic center dedicated to exploring and analyzing the modern phenomenon of spiritual entrepreneurship and spiritual capital in the context of globalization. The framework of the Institute is premised on the fact that virtues, while explicitly held and applied are defined broadly so as to accommodate the perspectives of all faith traditions. It encourages integrating the spiritual principles and practices of virtue and faith into the mission, values, planning and operations of business and institutions.

The whole emphasise of the book is to present an overview of the ability of people with religious faith and spiritual commitment to make great success of their business. It explained that success comes because faith changes business for the better, and it presented a good blend of spirituality, enterprise and virtuous living.

The book which is a glossary of spiritual business enterprise is a must read for every Christian entrepreneur. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 

Introspection

I let myself slip into the abyss of my black despair…I was enslaved by the prison of my thoughts. I can’t explain how I went from being overtly excited when I woke up yesterday morning to being emotionally disturbed by noon.

I had to pick myself up from where I let myself slump. I, against the will of my body, meditated on a few things. I have allowed many issues to disturb my pretty head: lack of finances, my career plans not working out the way I’d like…the list is endless. I, Toyin, the tough little lady who tells people to cast their cares upon the Lord and blah de blah de blah…I have not heeded my advice.

I sat on the floor in my room and decided I would not be unhappy. I would bring that grin back to my face. I know what revives my soul, what renews my spirit: its when I praise God from the depth of my heart. But how could I praise God with lead in place of my heart? I did the next best thing I could conceive: I listened to the album “Look to You” by Hillsong united.

Whilst listening, I realized I was being a tad selfish. There are other people who feel the way I felt and worse and here I was, in my field of paper flowers, having a pity party. With that, I got up, took a shower, baptized myself with sweet, smelling body splash, wore a summery dress and forced my lips to smile. Then I said out loud a few scriptures which make me smile. With time, the smile was real

I know that you have to give in order to receive and this applies also to your state of mind. I have to give words of encouragement to receive same; I have to learn to respect what is important to other people whether or not it is important to me.

There are people who have huge smiles like mine but their throats are constricted with tears that refuse to flow…say something truly pleasant to them. There are those who cannot betray their feelings and wear long faces…hug them. Just do something to make people smile from the depths of their hearts.

PS: Scriptures which make me smile include: Habakkuk 2:3; Proverbs 3: 5-6; 1^st Peter 2.

Islamic Banking

I had rather interesting conversation with a fellow who has no tolerance for anything labelled Islamic and it occurred to me that perhaps, his lack of tolerance stems from the fact that he is a tad ignorant. We were discussing the Islamic Bank phenomenon and I was going on and on about the advantages and the things I liked about it…needless to say, he accused me of being a false Christian (whatever that means) and promoting Islam. Anyway, he isn’t the focus of my write up. I feel it’s my civic responsibility to enlighten my friends and people around me about Islamic Banking.

Also, on the 30th of June, 2011 there was a protest by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Delta State Chapter to express their objection to the proposed establishment of Islamic banking by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In my opinion, they have absolutely no idea what Islamic Banking is all about…I think they just heard the Islamic part and flipped.

Islamic Banking is simply a system of banking that encourages interest free loans. This stems from the fact that Sharia forbids the acceptance or payment of usury (Riba) for loans. This banking system is simply based on the profit and loss sharing concept (Mudarabha).

After many conferences and meetings on establishing interest free banks, the Islamic Development Bank was established in 1975 with the aim of providing funding to projects in the member countries. Egypt was the first country to experiment with Islamic Banking and it took the form of a savings bank based on profit sharing.

Banking institutions that offer Islamic banking products and services are required to establish a Shariah Supervisory Board to ensure that their activities comply with the principles of Shariah.

The Vatican has also approved of Islamic banking as it believes that the principle of Islamic finance may represent a possible cure for ailing markets. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aOsOLE8uiNOg&refer=italy)

According to CIMB Group Holdings, Islamic finance is the fastest-growing segment of the global financial system and sales of Islamic bonds may rise by 24 per cent to $25 billion in 2010.

I know you would be wondering how this form of banking makes any sense. Well, the basic techniques employed include the following:

• Profit Sharing

• Safekeeping

• Leasing

• Joint Venture

• Cost Plus

It is pertinent to note that Islamic Banking excludes transactions involving alcohol, pork, gambling, smoking, pornography, etc. Also, Islamic Banking is not restricted to Muslims only!

I would like to refer my readers to a short article I read in The Economist a few weeks ago. It would help you understand Islamic Banking better and perhaps see that all along, we might have deprived Moslems in Nigeria the privilege of having a banking system that conforms to their religious beliefs.

(http://www.economist.com/node/3084278)

Book Review: Put Your Dream to the Test

John Maxwell is a leadership expert and has sold more than 19 million books worldwide. If you are an ardent reader of his books, you would realize that although he doesn’t say anything particularly new in this book, he encourages you in different ways to put your dreams to the test.

I like the way he divides the books into chapters that ask the following questions:

A.      Do you own your dream?

B.      How clearly do you visualize your dream?

C.      How do you plan on achieving your dream?

D.      How passionate are you about your dream?

E.       What strategies have you put in place to actualize your dream?

F.       In order to realize your dream, who are the people you have included?

G.     What is the price of your dream and are you willing to pay it?

H.      How close are you to achieving your dream?

I.        Are you satisfied with the process you have set in motion to actualize your dream?

J.        Of what benefit is your dream to others?

Every chapter ends with a challenge/test. In situations where you cannot satisfactorily answer the questions, he gives strategies of improving yourself and increasing your chances for success.

For example, he makes us realize that we need to distinguish between desiring a dream and desiring the results of a dream.

I love quotes and I was glad to read many relevant quotes from different people in the book. This book encouraged me to reassess my dreams and the goals that I have set for myself. The theme I set for myself after reading this book is his quote: “If you have a clear vision, you will eventually attract the right strategy. If you don't have a clear vision, no strategy will save you”.




Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255