BE(LIEVE) (IN) YOU(RSELF)

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me”…Jim Valvano.(1967-1993) American College Basket Ball Player, Coach and Broadcaster 

Your Self Concept!

Trust me on this one; I’m not trying to be all-grammatical here in as much as our complicated minds have inadvertently chosen to be blind to the beauty and simplicity of the world we live in.

Glad with that being let off my chest, shall we now move on to more pressing issues of life?

‘Self-concept basically describes the individual’s belief about himself or herself, including the person’s attributes and who and what the self is’.

Self Concept is an important term for both social psychology and humanism, which is essentially a mental picture of who you are as a person.

For instance, apparent beliefs like “I am a good friend” or “I am a nice person” are part of an overall self-concept.

Humanist psychologist, Carl Rogers believed that there are three different parts of self-concept.

1.           Self-image, or how you see yourself, this doesn’t necessarily coincide with reality. People might have an inflated self-image and believe they are better at things than they truly are.

2.           Self-esteem, or how much you value yourself. This includes how you compare yourself to others and also how they respond to you. We are likely to have positive self-esteem when people treat us well.

3.           Ideal self, or how you wish you could be. In many cases, the way we see ourselves and how we would like to see ourselves do not quite match up.

The point here is that a school of thought portends that we are a product of our environment, with our environment being apparently subjective and by implication relative, meaning we can choose to embark upon the sacred journey of self discovery in order to know who we really are, and then recreate ourselves as well as our environment, but it takes a huge degree of self belief, initiative and virtue.

“Don’t pretend to be what you’re not, instead, pretend to be what you want to be, it is not pretence, it is a journey to self realization. ”…Michael Bassey Johnson. Authour, Journalist, Novelist, Poet

The Originals!

What would you do if you were on a plane and the pilot announces that he’s not actually the pilot, rather he’s just learning to fly? Or imagine you were in the hospital theatre about to have a surgery, and the supposed doctor tells you this is his first time? I bet your guess is as good as mine; we want the best guy to do our jobs, it’s all or nothing.

Another school of thought tells us that we are the best versions of ourselves, so why then do we try so hard to be like other people?

I heard a speech from an intellectually sound personality a while ago, and he simply said Africa is not a part of the universal plan for the future. I didn’t quite understand the statement until he opened my eyes further by asking: What are Africa’s short and long term plans? What does Africa produce from her own original ideas asides mineral resources which she only seemed to stumble upon and still mismanage?

Africans live and rely on copying the western world, making it evident that we are not just still dependent, but that we still abound in slavery, only modern and systematically feigned.

Think about it, what legacies are we leaving for our children and what future are they looking forward to? We copy western religion, habits and lifestyle whether good or bad, and perhaps unwittingly downplay our rich cultures, values and heart, consequently we linger on in poverty both physically and of the mind.

Take time out to study the westerners, they plan every move like a pride of lions in the animal kingdom. They amass knowledge, customs and wealth, and then carefully pass it down to the next generation.

Africans simply squander any wealth that comes by on the luxury things that the westerners make to glitter before our very eyes, understanding our lust for vanity and temporary material possession, making us less financially intelligent.

If we do not strive to be the original versions of ourselves, then it is grossly inevitable that we might as well wither away like smoke.

“The more you believe in yourself, the more you could trust yourself. The more you trust yourself, the less you compare yourself to others.”…Roy T. Bennet. (1918-1988) American Authour

Faith!

 

It is scientifically proven that if your loved one is present at your public performance of any kind such as music, Stand-up, sports etc., you are more likely to impress the audience than if you were there alone, why? This is because your loved one has simply demonstrated that he / she believes in you just by being present.

This singular act of love, care and faith in you will make you strive to do well, thus you would most likely surpass your own expectation.

We Africans fail in leadership because we have failed to plan, genuinely work hard, uphold integrity, and have faith in ourselves.

We see ourselves as insecure and inferior, so we idolize our light skinned counterparts from the western world, and they have smartly taken advantage of this.

We sing their songs, not that it’s a bad thing, but we have failed to sing ours. We bleach our skins and curl our hair just to look like them, forgetting how beautiful we are.

We tattoo our bodies and pierce our skins exposing ourselves to cancer. We justify removal of morals from schools and perform homosexuality, robbing our kids of sound mind and confusing them and their futures about how homes should be.

We export raw materials like cocoa cheaply, we then import the finished goods (Chocolate) that have been laced with harmful chemicals expensively, and they harm our population giving us diseases only the westerners can allegedly cure with expensive drugs that are also basically poisons.

We import every single thing that we can actually produce back here and even provide entrepreneurs, employment and confidence through self-esteem. 
We trade all this because of the toxic money a bunch of wicked guys will benefit at the expense of our lives, this is definitely terrorism and lack of patriotism, and we should know better for the sake of our common good, for the sake of our future.

We can’t be quiet; we have to create the spark that will spur the warriors within us to action.

We’ve got to have faith, even if it’s just a little, because our lives depend on it.

“Don’t feed your mind with negative thoughts. If you do, you will come to believe them”…Catherine Pulsifer. American Authour

Bewildered!

How does the world really work? Because I have this feeling that some people have it all figured out, thereby enslaving the rest of us.

This is not a mystery for Scooby doo and his crew to solve; rather, it’s a whole new perspective we need to discover and vigorously embrace.

We currently live in a world where corruption, greed, insensitivity, deceit, lust and insatiable want for money are at their record high.

The government is all up in your business, it’s a crime to spank your kids when they stray, there is huge hunger and insecurity, massive companies are all about the bottom line at the expense of our health and ultimately our lives, while the government simply smiles to the bank in the name of high taxes.

You really need to trust me on this one; I’m not trying to be all-grammatical here, but our minds have not only been complicated, we have been corrupted and bewildered to a possible point of no return, and sadly we’ve been blinded to the beautiful and simple things. 
One thing is for sure, it cannot keep being like this, and if we do not believe in ourselves now, surely, no one will, and that is like being dead, even while alive.

Thank you for reading.

Akin Abimbola. (akinzogee@yahoo.com, akinzogee@gmail.com)

Twitter: @akinzogee

Facebook: Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola

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Sources: Brainy Quote, Good reads, Google, Very well, Wikipedia, Wow4u

This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.

 

THE POWER OF THE NAIRA!

“Naira is our currency, it belong to our country and belongs to the people. Buy made in Nigeria let’s grow the Naira to make it have value”…Saminu Kanti (1991-….) Blogger, Writer, Activist.

The Naira!

The Naira was presented on 1st January 1973 to replace the Pound at the rate of 2 Naira = 1 Pound, and the sole issuer of the Nigerian currency is her Central Bank, supervising its supply in the economy for price stability. Although Nigeria was the last to abandon the Pounds, a plan was made to re-denominate the Naira in 2008, but it was suspended.

The arrival of the Naira was welcomed with inflation, which the CBN constantly claimed to control. In as much as coins were also introduced as Kobo, which came in the forms of ½, 1, 5, 10 and 25 Kobo that came in bronze and cupro-nickel, they are hardly of any worth today except for historical collection. But in realistic terms, what can the Naira actually do?

“Whenever the grass looks greener on the other side. Stop staring, stop comparing, stop complaining and start watering the grass you are standing on to grow the Naira”…Saminu Kanti

Potential

I was at a conference sometime ago where I heard a speaker say, “Knowledge is not power” like we popularly say. Hmm, I like individuals that challenge the norm, just like the tortuous journey we had to embark upon before finally agreeing that the earth is spherical.

Then the speaker after getting our attention simply said “Knowledge is potential power”, what’s the point calling it power when you don’t use it? He asked.

This quite made a huge sense to me practically.

After Nigeria gained her Independence from the British colony in 1960, there was a natural urge to be identified with a unique brand so to speak. It became imperative for us to have our own National anthem, flag, currency; revenue source and projection of our culture without fear so far it was for the public good.

There and then, the apparent potential of Nigerians soared around like the eagle, with the world waiting and watching what the Lion’s cub would grow up to become. Nigeria was tagged a developing nation and one of the most likely to boom with the industrial revolution, just then the most unlikely occurrence happened, we struck black gold A.K.A crude oil, and our destiny took a drastic turn.

“I left the bank because they wouldn’t deposit my cheque of poems. So I went to the store, but they didn’t accept my currency of words. So I boxed all my stories and took them to charity. But they refused my donation and asked me to give blood instead.

I opened the notebooks and made them look, what do you think I wrote these in?”…Kamand Kojouri. Poet

Sweat, Blood and Tears

Have you ever given a kid an ice cream? Sure you have, the kid is sure to make a mess either out of excitement of mishandling, either way, a kid is a kid right?

There is a tendency that Nigeria’s independence has a semblance of the kid and the ice cream scenario.

Nigeria was colonized even long after slavery was abolished. The people were made to feel inferior and incompetent so much that it became an apparent norm that our white counterparts are more superior so much that a saying was coined that “mistake in London is system in Nigeria” imagine that.

No doubt the western people imported knowledge into Nigeria, but we should also realize that they did it to benefit themselves rather than for our liberation.

Those that resisted the British rule were of course annihilated and the rest that complied were robbed of their self-esteem and ultimately their souls, conscience and freewill. See? Even I am writing this piece in English, whereas Nigerians speak over 200 languages, so technically we are still in bondage in as much as I’m not trying to rewrite history.

Still on the path to self-discovery, our democracy was hardly mature before the Nigerian military took over power and dealt dictatorship upon a baby nation where what was unearthed for the world to see was greed, tribalism, corruption and war.

“The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings”…J.M. Barrie (1860-1937) Scottish Novelist and Playwright

Faith

If you have a family, you would realize that no matter how beautiful or seemingly perfect someone else’s child, sibling or parents are, you would always prefer and be proud of yours, then why do we idolize the Dollar and Pounds over the Naira?

It may interest you to know that America and Britain were not always perfect, neither were they as apparently powerful and as successful as they seem today, they had their times of hardship and turmoil, but their leaders back then had the courage to forge a future after collectively having a common vision and shared objectives.

This life is a matter of time and chance and turn-by-turn, that’s why world powers have always shifted.

World Superpowers shifted from the Roman Empire to the Mongol empire, then the British Empire to the Soviet Union and presently the United States of America, which became the first true global superpower in the aftermath of World War II.

After that war, America was home to half of the world’s GDP.

For four decades the Soviet Union rivaled it, but America was always stronger because of its economy, with the Dollar as a reliable legal tender.

 

With economy being the watchword here that Nigeria can learn from, how well have we nurtured our economy, and is the Naira a reliable legal tender?

Nigerians have over the years been systematically brainwashed, with our co-operation also of course.

We import virtually everything we use ranging from expensive Military fighter jets to luxury vehicles, and other gadgets by the millions, including labour, which we can choose to learn and build upon.

With this singular action, there is probably no hope for our economy, thus our future. To add salt to injury, we have chosen to be greedy, corrupt, lazy, wicked and devoid of ideas.

I feel ashamed when fans of rival English football clubs bet and clash, whereas they don’t know the Nigerian footballers that despite their penury play with patriotism to represent a nation that doesn’t care about them.

I am amazed when we proudly display expensive foreign cars and luxury phones to show off wealth and intimidate the less-privileged when some indigenous companies are struggling to sell one item in order to boost the Nigerian economy only to get discouraged both by our financial institutions and our over-bloated egos.

The power of the Naira is more than you know. The power of the Naira is as strong as you are, and it is in your hands.

The power of the Naira and the Nigerian economy lies in our faith in our country.

If we do not believe in the Nigerian dream and ourselves today, perhaps we might wake up tomorrow only to realize that Nigeria is no more.

Thank you for your time.

Akin Abimbola.

(akinzogee@yahoo.com, akinzogee@gmail.com)

Twitter: @akinzogee

Facebook: Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola

Did we make your day? Spread the word. Tell them it happened here.

Become a fan, follow and share.                  

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Sources: American History, Brainy Quote, Google, Good reads, The Little White Bird, The National Interest, Wikipedia, Wazobialand

This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.

TRUMP!

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”…Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)

What’s in a name?

It might interest you to know that the word or name ‘Trump’ as the case may be, is one of the most trending topics on the Internet right now for obvious reasons that I intend to be subtle about at this instance, first of, what does ‘Trump’ even mean?

According to the Oxford dictionary, Trump means a playing card of the suit chosen to rank above others, which can win a trick where a card of a different suit has been led. It also means a valuable resource that may be used as a surprise to gain an advantage. 
Hmm, isn’t that ironic? I used to think ‘Trump’ meant to trample on something; little did I realize it had a good meaning embedded within, so to speak.

Anyway, we all know Donald Trump right? A billionaire businessman and TV producer whom I have actually known and admired in a sort of way for as long as I can remember. No doubt he has always been a controversial fellow especially due to his literal freedom of expression that he holds unto so well and his orgasmic tendencies when he is under the spotlight.

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them, that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like”…Lao Tzu

Ready or not…here he comes

I didn’t forget to mention one more thing about Trump, neither did I think it’d surprise you after I’ve mentioned, I just wanted to save it because of its apparent uniqueness so the speak, and here it goes.

Have you quite thought about it that Donald Trump is about to be the most powerful man on earth? Honestly, from my perspective it still looks like a shocking dream (how dare I say it’s a nightmare).

Of course we all know that the recent United States election results came as unbelievable. Did you see the opinion polls? It kept pointing Hilary Clinton to many routes to the White House with Trump at her tail, but I suspected the threat level to have shot through the roof when every unlikely person spoke in favour of Hilary, celebrities seemingly crossed the line and President Barrack Obama appeared 17 times to convince every eligible voter to vote for Hilary, the rest is history as they very well say.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift, that’s why it is called the present… Unknown

I see the future

I’m no soothsayer and neither am I a prophet of doom, but just as they say, the past is a guide to the future, America is definitely gonna have some changes.

Trump made his position on immigration crystal clear just like its going to be a one point agenda, even his threat to build a wall to fence off Mexico still points towards immigration policies, so there you have it, illegal immigrants are having loads of apprehension as we speak.

On a brighter side however, as the optimist’s creed encourages, how can we all leverage on the Trump promise?

My take is that Trump is somewhat predictable, and for the record, I don’t mean it in a derogatory way. Predictable by the way can be a good thing, just like a Yoruba adage says, ‘when you know someone’s character, then you’ll hardly ever fight each other’, this is simply because you steer clear of him when he’s not in a good mood and you’ll avoid pissing him off especially when you know his ‘do-nots’.

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself”…Jalaluddin Rumi

Change

Bearing in mind that Trump will become United States’ next President (45^th precisely) we might as well highlight its perks and more. If truly he’ll deport illegal immigrants, then, they may as well be bold enough to adapt to the most constant thing, change.

Maybe its time we looked inward, a rare opportunity to discover ourselves and identify why we all want to visit and live in America. I once heard a story of a lizard that very enthusiastically wished to visit America because he believed he’d grow to become an Alligator, maybe it is true, but not literally, but what is that magic formula in America that makes us all feel that way.

 The obvious reasons make sense. The US is popularly known as a free country comprising 50 states covering a vast swath of North America, with Alaska in the northwest and Hawaii extending the nation’s presence into the Pacific Ocean. The US has major Atlantic Coast cities such as New York, a global finance and culture-center, and capital Washington, DC, Midwestern metropolis Chicago is known for influential architecture and on the west coast, Los Angeles’ Hollywood is famed for filmmaking.

One thing is for sure, we can definitely do better than that, all we need to do is make a commitment and perhaps collectively agree on a political will. Although Corruption is a topic for another day, but we need to embrace it in order to understand it better.

We are too used to foreigners showing us the gold buried in our backyard.

Its time for us to redeem our self-esteem and believe in ourselves and make big things happen.

We need to let go of pride because we don’t even have anything to be proud of in the first place.

Imagine an African wearing a million Dollar wristwatch and driving a million Dollar sports car and he floats with pride and talks down on regular folk. 
I think he should be ashamed of himself because the expensive things he’s using are even over-priced in the first place which further solidifies the notion that we aren’t financially intelligent, and secondly he’s not helping the economy of his country, this habit has to change if we are to survive at all (Without Prejudice: Tell that to our Senators).

So, as the world awaits President Trump, perhaps its time we learnt some vital lessons of life, like, never under-estimate a soul, speak your mind honestly and your fan base may just multiply as the people will see you as their voice, even if it’s a reversal psychological kind of possible scam.

Thanks for reading.

Akin Abimbola. (akinzogee@yahoo.com, akinzogee@gmail.com)

                          Twitter: @akinzogee

                          Facebook: Critical Lyric by Akin Abimbola

Did we make your day? Spread the word. Tell them it happened here.

Become a fan, follow and share.                  

You can be a critical lyricist!

Talk to us.

What did we miss?

What do you think?

Be grateful for being alive and let your content flow…

SOURCES: Google, Good reads, Wikipedia, Brainy Quote, CNN, Fox News, Channels, and NTA

This article is an original piece, reasonably researched and contains considerable opinion and a unique style of the author.

The names in actual stories are not real and the stories in this write-up are usually fictional, consequently, people’s names appearing are purely co-incidental, except for quotes and news that are typically referenced.