FIRST LOVE YOURSELF, OTHERS WILL COME NEXT

When you look in the mirror every morning, what do you see? Is it a true reflection of who you really are or a far cry from your true self.

Our self image determines what we allow others to think about us. A good self image allows us to focus on our achievements and the compliments we get from people. This is not to be confused with conceit. Being egocentric and having self love are two different things.

Self worth is a personal evaluation of a person is truly valued. It has to do with the feeling of having a good opinion about your abilities and appreciating your character irrespective of what the world thinks. Your self worth affects your personality and the attraction of others towards you.

Self regard or Egocentricity on the other hand means confusing what we see and think with the reality. When under the influence of egocentricity, we think that the way we see things, is exactly the way things are. 

An individual's self worth attributes profoundly on the way they feel about themselves. For a person to genuinely feel worthy, they have to be secure and confident in what they can do. 

Egos is a disease that makes every body sick except the person that has got it. This disease manifests itself in our inability to take other people's ideas or facts into perspective, just because we do not want to be perceived as being wrong about anything. 

Self worth enables you to respect your wishes as well as the wishes of others. It means you can be proud of something you have or have accomplished without necessarily rubbing it off on others around you. It also means that you can gracefully accept your shortcomings while striving to work on them yourself. 

Egostistic people possess huge egos derive pleasure in being the centre of attraction. They always crave recognition with little or no concern for those around them. They also possess a lack of interest in consistency or clarity. 

If egocentricity is a disease, then self awareness is the cure. We need to become more aware of our tendencies to confuse our opinion about everything with the truth. Our belief in our rightness is difficult to correct if we ignore the faults in our thinking process. This makes us fail to notice when our behaviour contradicts our self image.

Evaluating yourself the right way also affords you the liberty not to be compelled to justify your actions to yourself and those around you. For instance, you have no compulsion to justify to anyone why you have to go abroad on vacation, wear designer clothes or have lunch at a five-star restaurant. It makes you feel comfortable doing the things that adds colour to your life.

Finally, you have to recognize that there is no such thing as "Superiority complex". When you genuinely appreciate your own worth, there is no need to tell the whole world how valuable you are. It is only a person who is no convinced of his or her own worth that goes about endlessly about how costly they are.

EBOLA ALERT! PLEASE DON'T FORGET YOUR HAND SANITIZER

Fellow Nigerians, It is to the glory of God that I announce to you that we are finally free from the scourge of Ebola. But I enjoin you to continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in neighbouring West African countries who are still fighting the epidemic. The truth is if they are not free then we are not completely free.

I would also want to remember in a special way all the men and women who sacrificed their lives to keep us safe. May their deaths never ever be in vain.

One of the key actors in the Ebola episode was the “hand sanitizer”. Overnight, this largely overlooked hand antiseptic agent became a national treasure. This was fundamentally due to the fact that it was hailed as the sole resistance to Ebola after salt and warm water solution failed to convince Nigerians beyond reasonable doubt.

The introduction of the hand sanitizer into the daily lives of average Nigerians was a welcome idea safe for the fact that its value was misplaced. To be fair to hand sanitizer, it was unjustly overrated. So, instead of using it for the primary purpose it was meant for which is to keep the hands clean, Nigerians abused it. I even heard some people applied it on their body as lotion or in their bath water as disinfectant.

I was indifferent about getting the hand sanitizer simply because I was fed up with the whole the drama. Well, someone cared enough to get me one as a gift. I don’t usually get gifts when it’s not my birthday, so I figured she was also doing it to help herself since we worked in the same office and she was a primary contact.

Somehow, I kept forgetting my Hand Sanitizer at home before leaving for work and my colleague didn’t find this funny. So we devised a means to always remind me. We both agreed that she would send me a reminder every morning at 6.am which always read “Good morning. Please don’t forget your hand sanitizer”. I would get this SMS every morning for the next couple of weeks. And then it stopped coming.

I received the news of Nigeria being free from Ebola with joy but little did I expect that we would all abandon the hand sanitizer that helped us get through the trying period the way we did. It got me wondering if it was more honourable for us to fight against Ebola than to maintain a healthy lifestyle as a people. 

According to research, the hand sanitizer kills most bacteria, fungi and helps fight viruses that we would easily contact if our hands are not clean. Washing our hands frequently with soap and water or with the use of a sanitizer is the most important way to prevent dangerous diseases. 

Fellow Nigerians, Ebola has come and gone (hopefully) but it is not enough reason for us to neglect our personal hygiene. Let us keep Nigeria free from all diseases and please don't forget your hand sanitizer. 

FULFILLING YOUR ASSIGNMENT

A good number of us have not discovered why we are in this world. The objective of this post is to help identify your assignment with the hope that you still have enough time to focus on it and make something meaningful out of your life.

There are three basic things that usually point you to the direction of your assignment in life. They include the following;

• The things that makes you happy?
• The things that makes you Sad?
• The things that you really love?

The desire to protect and care for someone, a group of people or a situation is what brings out the best in you. Following through with this desire eventually leads to discovering your purpose.

Every human being created by God is a solution to an existing problem. That is why every birth is celebrated because it is expected that the child has a mission to accomplish on this earth. However, the inability to identify this mission has left many falling short of their full potentials.

We are often the missing piece in some puzzle and there is always an opportunity waiting to help you fulfill your assignment successfully. Some of us have identified our assignments but we are too afraid or lazy to pursue them. Others are discouraged by the circumstances they find themselves in and the lack of support from those around them.

In as much as there is a lot of factors that stand in our way, we should realize that it is in fulfilling our assignment that our lives become valuable. It is better to be afraid of dying without leaving a legacy than to be afraid of the obstacles that will hinder you from living a purposeful life. Nobody will remember you when you have done nothing to make their lives better.