MOTIONLESS STEPS

Sometimes in our lifetime, we feel enclosed, restricted, and motionless. Every page we turn seems to be a recycling of  previous pages. Nothing seems to be working. Our lives look like a cycle of failures, defeats, and limitations despite our inner yearnings for breakthroughs, success, and achievements. All helps appears non-existence.

Like the Biblical Israelites, forty days journey becomes forty years. The wilderness of life appears scary and daunting. Crick-crossing here and there, we remain standstill while time flies in a nanosecond.Our will and skill to succeed becomes insolvent. 

The shortest route to take at such time is to rescind to fate, though is usually the worst route. By nature, man wants things to happen the way he planned, emotional and physical stress is antithetical to the nature of man, nonetheless, it is inevitable to the survival and success of man.

Like the raw gold pass through the fiery fire to become priceless, so is the life of man - it must be x-ray in the scorching sun and the tempest storm to become the best he can; but the time in between what is available and what is desirable most times appears eternal. At such moment, even the very best and the fearless fighter could throwing the towel. No one like pain, yet is inevitable in every man's life. Life struggles and troubles are common lexicon in the dictionary of great man. 

In our part of the world, the unwholesome economic climate, not less other societal induced problems have further compounded the woes of potential leaders. Career to business: Africa has not helped Africans, all thanks to policy directionless and greed of supposed leadership. The followers lack of assertiveness have equally not helped matters. People hardly ask questions, let alone ask the right ones that will ensure that leaders are held accountable. In the end, we wallow in cycles of man-made problems applying spiritual solutions to physical problems. It is little wonder payment of school fees in school becomes a testimony in religious setting.

Enough of complaints; it is time to move forward, but doing this will not happen at the snap of fingers. We have got to think deep ad outside of the box, because, doing the same thing over and over expecting different result is another sure-bet definition for insanity. In my thinking, let us problematize with problems by writing the word 'problems' vertically.

P = Provoke your thoughts. Think deep to ascertain what you are doing right or wrong. Ponder about where you are coming from, and where you want to be. X-ray your thoughts to identify your strengths and weaknesses. Think to know the root cause of your misfortune. Think and think. Wondering could be a virtue if applied rightly.  

R = Reverse your steps. Missteps are part of life. If there were no possibility of mistakes, the pencil will not be made with eraser, so is the correcting fluid. Falling and rising are two sides of a coin. Every wrong could be made right. It is not only the cars that need reverse gear, men do too. 

O = 'Opportunize' the situation. In every problem lies opportunity. Learn to turn your dunghill to diamond by looking at the positive sides of every situation. To do this, negative thoughts have to be jettisoned. Disillusionment has to be done away with. It may not be easy, but it has to be done. This is because as I once said somewhere else, opportunity is everywhere, perhaps even in hell.

B = Believe in yourself once more. One of the easiest thing to do when faced with challenges is to lose hope and faith in our capabilities. The fact however is that rescinding to depression, becoming downcast, and losing faith in oneself is not antidote to problem. Psychologists have found out that over 90% of what we worry about or fear are flukes. Hence, we must learn to summon courage to move on to the Promised Land. 

L = Let go. Yea, let go of the good for the best, and the best for the best of best. Let go of the past and the hurts. Of what important for instance is holding on to a job that can hardly meet your needs? How about a relationship that is neither here nor there? For the aged eagle to renew its strength, it has to do away with the old wings, same way you have to let go of the good that is not good enough. It may appears risky, and maybe like launching into the deep without knowing the content of the water; yet you still have to let go for the earlier you fail and learn, the better for you. If you don't start early, you won't end up early. Learning the ropes is part of necessary steps to greatness.

E = Educate yourself. You can't never learn enough. It has been said, the day you stops learning, the day you starts dying. Life education is more important than classrooms education. Improving yourself through good books and training is a must if you are to reach the climax of your life. As  matter of fact, you will be the same person in five years time; Robert Frost observed, except for two things, the book you read and the people you meet. Learn from books,. Learn from the fools, the wise, the old and the young. Learn!

M = Model your life after your mentor(s). Mentors are invaluable guidance angels whose work cannot be quantified and we have have all needed one or more. Right mentors provide us with footprints to follow by helping us to avoid their pitfalls and emulate their success path. Perhaps, the greatest mentor you can have is your Maker by partnering your life after him and living by his basic instructions on life.

S = Set new goals and act on them. Without goals, we are bound to meander about, but when targets are set, we have our eyes fixed like a flint. Indeed, to make a headway in life, if we are not pursuing something, something must be pursuing us. Without dreams, man is but a rudderless beast awaiting ambush by preys. We must set lofty and big goals to allow the ingenuity in us to come out. Our aspirations must task our brains and bring out our creativity.