S.S. David's Blog, page 17

Words Are Forever!

 

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Sean kicked the grass in frustration, his eyes filled with tears and he tried to control himself with great difficulty. His dad‘s harsh voice resounded in his mind like a volcanic eruption, ”You’re no good, you’re like your mother – a drug addict! I hate you.” He dashed inside the house, his dad recoiled on a chair, a glass of beer in his right hand, remote control on the other. They exchanged hateful glances. And Sean raised the gun.

*

Hamza tried to stop the tirades of abuse from the boys in the estate, ‘you’re a loser, go kill yourself.’ At home, it was worse, his mother was stoned twenty-four hours a day… He left the house but the words of the boys clung to him like a second skin.

*

Chloe’s brown eyes light up in anticipation. Her dad kissed her on the cheek, and said with a smile, ‘you light up my world angel, you’re a star, you can do this.’ She nodded, her future is bright, she knows she can do anything she set her heart to, she had been nurtured with loving words, right through her childhood, and now at the age of twenty, the world is her oyster.

* * * * *

The words we speak has the power to destroy or build up, let’s be mindful of our words. Some people were damaged by words of others while some have killed others by their words. Let’s choose our words carefully. A word fitly spoken has the power to change a life…

Think about that this weekend, and I wish you love, peace and happiness, wherever you are in the world my friends. Have a great weekend!

Much love, always.

Filed under: Fiction, Motivation, Musings Tagged: Belief in self, Dad (Angel), Despair, Family, Father, Home, Hope, Life, parents, Star, Stay at Home Fathers, Success, Words

Temporary…

(Photo credit: Leon Tarac)

I like this wise saying from American author Napoleon Hill that, ‘one of the most common causes of failure is the habit of quitting when one is overtaken by temporary defeat.’

Defeat can be an ongoing thing when we give up. Most of us know the story of Abraham Lincoln, how he failed severally before becoming a President people celebrate till today. I’ve seen countless temporary defeats (I’ll call it delay) in my short life, but do you know what I do? I learn from it and find out what caused the delay in the first place and do it again. And I tend to succeed,

I just don’t pack it in and give up!

Life is too short and too beautiful to give up at the first sign of defeat. I laugh at the face of danger and failure, because I have a dream of what my life should be and I’m not gonna rest till I achieve my goal and purpose in life. Do you know that you can beat cancer? Poverty? Low self-esteem? And all those dross of life that makes living akin to running a race in the mud! It’s all in your mind.

My husband used to say this and I agree, ‘you’re the only one that can make yourself happy… no one can!” And I will add this as well, that you’re the complete integral part or clue to your success in life. I can go on and on but I hope this week will be a great week for you… and if there is a temporary defeat lurking at a corner of your life, just pick yourself up and go again.

I wish you love and peace wherever you are in the world, and remember, temporary defeat doesn’t mean failure! Enjoy the rest of your week my friends!

Much love, always!

Filed under: Life, Motivation, Musings Tagged: Abraham Lincoln, Dreams, Failure, God, History, Napoleon Hill, President of the United States, Resilient, Self-esteem, Success, United States

Our Golden Moments

 (Photo credit: Flickr)

We can’t always control what happens to us in life

We can’t always decide how life will turn out.

We can’t always wish problems away

Or conjure up visions of peace and have it in our palms.

We can’t decide how long our days may be,

Or the years we live on this earth.

We lie when we think we are immortals

Man born of a woman is of few days

Like a vapour in the wind.

But we can control the moments we live in this life.

And I call it our golden moments.

Life can always throw up a punch we least expected

But we can LIVE life the way we want.

By prolonging our golden moments under the sun,

By helping the poor,

By not turning away the needy with empty hands when we can fill it up with wealth

By putting a smile on people’s faces – even strangers

By loving all and despising none.

Then we will have earned our golden moments!

I am so happy to write this post, I’ve missed every one of you my dear friends. My holiday took longer than expected, a few visits from family abroad means I couldn’t blog and had to postpone a lot of work. But I know you guys have been having fun, I’ll join in the party and read as many posts as possible. Above all, I wish you more love, more peace, wherever you are in the world. Have a fantastic weekend!

Love, always!

Filed under: Earth, Friends, Life, Motivation Tagged: Activism and Peace Work, Friends, God, Hope, Life, Peace, People, Recreation, The Golden Rule

Kingdoms!

(Photo credit: Flickr)

”Take root in the ground

Live in harmony with the wind

Plant your seeds in the winter

And rejoice with the birds

In the coming spring!”

”A king without compassion does not deserve a kingdom. No matter the technology, a world cannot live without love.”  It’s annoying that the action of a single man can have ripple effect on millions of lives. I’ve watched in disbelief as the Syrian dictator is killing his people, and some of us could shrug our shoulders without giving a thought to what’s happening but the effects could be more than we can cope with. I hope things would not come to a head and the actions of a few would not have a devastating effect in the world.

**********

On a lighter note, could you please hop over to 

JUMP!

 

  (Photo credit: Flickr)

THIRTY YEARS AGO, I was this skinny sickly eight year old kid with plenty of courage. I remembered now with a huge smile on my face as my mother’s eyes usually sneaked up on me with her brows knitted in a frown because of my escapades. My dad was a lecturer at Florida State University but the rest of the family were still in Nigeria and anytime he came home, I always love reading those green Encyclopaedias he brought home. There, I believed was where I learnt a lot of things. Although I was a studious kid but I also loved to play hard. We lived in a picturesque town called ‘Ilorin,’ it was a neat little town where everybody practically knew each other then, our apartment block nestled nicely in a leafy part of town and every evening, kids would troop out playing one game or the other.

We lived on the top floor of the five storey apartment block, one day, out of boredom, my friends and I gathered at the veranda of our apartment. We began regaling each other with stories, when it came to my turn, I told them about what I had read in my father’s encyclopaedias, about jumping from a plane and stuffs like that.

One boy looked me in the eye and asked, ( I can still picture the snarling face!)

‘Can you jump out of a plane?’

‘Yeah, ‘ I replied unconvincingly, I bet he saw my hesitation and played on it.

‘I’m sure you can’t jump from here to there,’ and he pointed to the ground.’ Mind you, I forgot to tell them I hated heights but because I wasn’t going to let anyone see my fear, I said with forced gaiety.

‘Of course I can but my mum won’t let me.’ My friends pondered on that and agreed but that boy refused to let it go.

‘How about we arrange some stools and chairs and make a little mountain, can you scale the stool and jump?’

‘Yeah! Why not?’ I said without hesitation and watched as he dashed into one of the apartments and within minutes, he was back, carrying stools. Some of my friends did the same and before I knew it, the stools looked like Mount Kilimanjaro.

 

I watched with growing trepidation but I was too proud to say NO! When they finished, the boy asked me to climb the stools. You can all guess what happened. I managed to navigate my way to the top and looking down at my friends, I hesitated and as if on cue they started shouting,

‘Jump! Jump! Jump!!!

And I jumped.

That was the last thing I remembered. The next time I opened my eyes, my left leg and left arm bore the brunt of my fall, my leg and arm were in bandages and when my mother’s tearful eyes met mine, I simply turned away. Believe me guys, that was not the end of my ordeal but I won’t go to that aspect of the story today.

Where am I going with this story? Please don’t JUMP, stand your ground, don’t bow down to pressure from so-called friends to do what you don’t want to do. Since that day, I became my person, I can stand my ground and face any foe. Throughout my primary, secondary and university days, I held my ground, fought off bullies and lived in relative peace.

Life is too short to be easily swayed by others. Like that picture, you’re a shinning star, let no one tell you otherwise.

Have a pleasant weekend and don’t forget, ‘don’t jump! Refuse that sneaky little voice that said you are helpless, you’re NOT! End of story!!’

Much love, always!

Filed under: Friends, Life, Motivation Tagged: Bullying, Family, Fear, Florida State University, Friends, Home, Nigeria, Residential area, Strength, Tower block

Destiny Or Coincidence?

                                                                                             (Photo credit: O. Ampi, Flickr)

 So many people have said or written a lot on destiny, it’s an inexhaustible topic. I’m not going to perambulate or go around in circles, I believe we make our own destinies by the choices we made. Coincidence on the other hand is mere luck, it’s something trivial in my book. From time immemorial, I knew I wanted to be a writer but that’s not where it ended. Of late, I’ve been involved in some projects that I never believed in my wildest imagination that I was going to do but it happened nonetheless, which keeps me wondering about destiny, fate, and coincidence.

But today, I’m glad I have awesome friends like you, which brings me to this C.S Lewis quote that I saw recently,

”In your life you meet people.

Some you never think about again.

Some, you wonder what happened to them.

There are some that you wonder if they ever think about you.

And then there are some that you wish you never have to think about again.

But you do.”

Those words aptly encapsulates the people we’ve come across in life. At present, I often wonder about friends I met on this blogosphere who simply disappeared off the radar, some have stopped blogging, some can’t be bothered anymore and some are even better than friends I had known for years. And I don’t think our friendship is coincidental! I know some of you reading this might have wondered about the same thing but I truly believe that friendships makes life bearable! And saying that, I have a writer friend, Tracy Shawn and I would love to promote her upcoming book, ‘The Grace Of Crows” shown here;

The novel would be released by Cherokee McGhee Publishing in October, please check It out, and I’ll always tuck in a reminder in my posts before and after the release. Thanks guys!

On that note, I’ll say, I’m happy you’re my friends and I wish you all a lovely and peaceful week!

Much love, always!

Filed under: Blogging, Friends, Life, Motivation Tagged: Belief, Destiny, Fate, Friendships, Karma, Kristin Cast, Life, Love

The Goops

(Photo credit: Nolan Caldwell, Flickr)

The Goops they lick their fingers

And the Goops they lick their knives:

They spill their froth on the tablecloth

Oh, they lead disgusting lives!

The Goops they talk while eating,

And loud and fast they chew;

And that is why I’m glad that I Am not a Goop,

are you?

By Gillette Burgess

********

Life is incredibly hard at times but I’ve found out that we don’t need to take ourselves too serious sometimes. I’ll immerse myself in goopy behaviour this weekend, laugh at silly jokes, play in the sand with the kids, watch comedy, enjoy nature (like that incredibly beautiful picture) sing, pray and enjoy life. Succinctly put, I’m gonna live. Please guys, join me and have some fun… Enjoy yourselves!

NP: The Goop is a poem that tries to teach kids to behave, but I had no intention of doing that this weekend, but on Monday, I’ll be back to the normal Seyi Sandra David!

 Au’revoir everyone and have fun!!

Much love, always!

Filed under: Friends, Life, Marriage And Family Life., Motivation, Musings, Poems Tagged: Goop, Life, Live, Love, Recreation

TRUST

(Photo credit: Flickr: Bruce M Walker)

”A little girl and her father were crossing a bridge.
The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter:
“Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don’t fall into the river.” The little girl said:
“No, Dad. You hold my hand.”
“What’s the difference?” Asked the puzzled father.

“There’s a big difference,” replied the little girl.
“If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.”

In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond. So hold the hand of the person whom you love than expecting them to hold yours…”

***********

I saw this today and though I had planned another post entirely, I believe it would suffice for what I’m feeling now. Trust is the back bone of all relationships, that’s what makes us safe. I hope you’ll all have a glorious week, I intend to.

Much love, always!

Filed under: Books

Beauty In The Midst Of Decadence

(Photo credit: Guga)

 

Angela rushed through the meadows, her brown hair flying in the wind, to a percipient onlooker, she’s the picture of perfection and beauty. I watched her keenly as Jasper pulled me along the rough footpath. The howling wind whipped my cheeks savagely and I glanced up at the gloomy sky. Suddenly, my skin began to crawl and I had one of the most uneasy sensations since I left the house with Jasper. I sensed danger, Jasper whined and began to bark. I looked round widely and spotted the brown-haired girl.

That was all I saw and I sprung to action, I ran as if my life depended on it, luckily, we got there on time. I caught hold of her legs and everything paled into a blur. I was  glad I acted when I did. I saved a girl from killing herself!

* * * * * *

The above story is mere fiction, but beautiful if one way or the other, we could interrupt tragedy and save a dying soul from despair. Angela was just 12 years old, and yet, she wanted to kill herself, why? Because of cyber bullying. We live in such a fast-moving world, it’s scary sometimes. I was a virgin when I entered university and met my husband, but kids of today have had sexual relations as young as 9 years old! Though I believe we can still preserve the beauty and innocence of our children,  we just have to create more time and let them know we care about even the mundane details of their lives. I was a teenager once, so I know the feeling. As a parent, I care about young people and pray that we would do enough to make this world a better place, but I believe it starts from the home front, don’t you think?

Next week, I’ll be promoting some author friends, if anyone is interested in joining in my little adventure please drop a message on my contact page! Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

NP: I have had a very busy but interesting week and must have missed lots of awesome posts! Please bear with me friends, I’ll stop by your blogs as soon as I can!!

Much love, always.

Filed under: Child birth and Family life., Friends, Life, Marriage And Family Life., Motivation, Musings Tagged: Beauty, Bullying, Children, Decadence, Family, Home, Internet, Life, Love, Marriage, Pain, Parenting, Time

The Act Of Emptying…

At one time or the other in our lives, we had stuffs weighing us down which reminded me of the words of Jon Gordon, he says. ”We fill our minds with thoughts that hold us back, habits that limit us, distractions that derail us, negative people who drain us, fear that paralyses us, time-sappers that sabotage our productivity. We spend so much time and energy on things that don’t matter – we fail to focus on what does matter. We fill up with so many things that generate negative energy, there’s no room for positive energy in our lives.”

And today, this minute, this week and throughout the rest of this year or our days, I want us to learn the act of emptying, removing all those negative energy and renewing our minds. According to my daily devotion, the author state that we need to lose the clutter in our lives and I quote,

” The clutter you need to lose includes: believing that you’re alone ( and you’re not! ) trying to please everybody (I don’t try to), feeling insecure, putting yourself down, needing everybody to like you (it’s not possible, even dead people still have enemies!) jumping to negative conclusions before you know the fact (I’m sometimes guilty of this), thinking you’re always right (bah!) recalling all the times you messed up, wanting to know how it all turns out, needing to have all the answers (that can only happen in another planet I guess ), worrying that if you let go of the memorabilia you’ll lose the memories, agonising that you’re not rich enough (everyone can’t be Bill Gate or Oprah Winfrey), good enough or clever enough, surrounding yourself with people who remember the bad times and not the good, (lose them!) making energy sucking comparisons, viewing life like a movie instead of participating, believing that the best days are over, waiting at all times for the right moment, fearing you will look foolish, focusing on negative type-casting…”

Believe me, the list goes on, but how on earth can you empty your heart and fill it with positive energy? Through the spirit, the spirit of God can renew your attitudes. We can do the direct opposites of the lists above, and believe me, that’s the art of emptying your clustered minds and lives. I don’t have all the answers of life but I do enjoy my life and you can too!!

Have a fantastic week, and remember, YOU ARE THE BEST!

Much love, always.

Filed under: Friends, Life, Motivation, Musings Tagged: Celebrity, Energy, God, Good thoughts, Hope, Jon Gordon, Life, MInd, Motivation, New week, Oprah Winfrey, Oprah Winfrey Show