The Use of Your Mouth

Dear lovely people,

Recently, I asked a pertinent question on Facebook “Of what use is a mouth that is not connected to the brain?” The question invites you to reexamine the way you use your mouth and how that affects your quest for personal success.

Descriptively, a mouth that is not connected to the brain says just anything at any time. It is quick to speak before reason is applied and at such it’s often good at undercutting, gossiping, intoxicating and demotivating just to name these few.

Knowing exactly when to open your mouth and when to keep it shut is valuable wisdom. Fact of the matter is, we all sometimes don’t speak up when we should, and do speak when we shouldn’t. But successful people do a lot less of this and know the value, particularly, of keeping quiet.

Do you or know someone who gossips? When you want to say something negative about someone behind their back, don’t. Just don’t. It’s such an energy consuming task and trust me, there is almost never a good reason to gossip. It makes you look petty, childish and spiteful. In most cases, it gets back to the person you’re slandering with twists and turns.

It’s equally true that sometimes someone might do something truly terrible and you might need to discuss it to decide what course of action to take. But this is rare and so it’s really a question of knowing the value added in opening your mouth before you do.

Another main reason not to talk without using your brain is because when you’re talking always, you’re not listening. Listening is the most important thing you can do on your path to success.

Just a few years back, I thought of starting a bakery business and before long, most of my friends knew my detailed plans. The landlord of the house where I planned to lodge the business equally knew the details of my plan and guess what, that business never went beyond the planning phase. The owner of that house today runs a bakery business there.

That’s when I learned that you should set your goals and make your plans, but spend less time talking about them, and more energy actually carrying them out.

Your Basement Complex

Dear lovely people,

Do you know what a Basement Complex is? It might mean different things to different people but during my study of geology, I learned that a Basement Complex, is actually the thick voluminous rocks that form the foundation of ancient, and oldest metamorphic and igneous rocks. These particular rocks in turn, form the crust of continents, often in the form of granite.

Well, don’t ask me the definition of all these big terms so that I can spare you all the geological jargon but I must tell you that the Basement complex is contrasted to overlying sedimentary rocks which are laid down on top of the basement rocks after the continent was formed, such as sandstone. At least you know what sedimentary rocks are.

Nonetheless, the idea here is not to plunge you into a geological presentation but rather to let you know the world of strength and insight buried in you. In a layman’s sense, The Basement Complex is simply the foundation on which every other thing on earth stands be it the massive mountains, the seas or the continents in which case, it actually provides the solid platform on which every other thing stands. How do you like that? Therefore if there was no basement complex, there will be no rocks, no soil, no vegetation etc.

This means that after all the noise that rivers make while eroding down mountains, all the force exerted by the seas and oceans, all the explosions of volcanoes, there is something much deeper down into the earth crust unseen but on which they all depend. You might not know how secured it is on the ground until you find yourself hanging with no balance on the 2oth floor of a building.

Just imagine what will happen if you adopt the nature of the basement complex in your life. Then, the world can be boiling up, the volcanoes of social life can be exploding, failure can knock you on the head hundreds of times over and you will be unruffled. You will have your peach because after all, you are mightier. Your ways give you unbelievable stamina, you take your time to do the things you have to do and so despite all the challenges, all the negativity, you come out victoriously clean and clear.

The good news is that “you are wonderfully and fearfully made” God took time off to create the masterpiece that you are and gave you the same stamina of the basement complex. You have all what it takes to step on to higher grounds each time in your life already build into you. But often, you allow fissures to develop within your basement complex and consequentially succumbing to the pressures and volcanoes of social life to the extent they sometimes demotivate you, weaken your vision and expose you to the dictates of external forces. At such times, you are tempted to give up.

Fortify your basement complex with visionary thinking, resolve, tenacity, insight and hindsight. Be an emitting station of enthusiasm rather than a receiving station and above all, be a lighthouse then, success will smile at you when you come knocking.

Your Power To Succeed

Dear lovely people,

Irrespective of what you consider success to be, we all want to succeed. Every one of us wants to be a winner. So, what is it that holds back many people?

In the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 13:31–32) I read as follows: He set another man before them, saying, "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches."

My understanding of this as I have detailed it previously in The Mustard Seed Within You is that deep within every single person on earth without distinction dwells some infinite dormant powers and abilities that you never dreamed of possessing. I am talking about powers that would revolutionize your entire life if awakened and put into synchronized action.

Here then are the big questions you have to answer to yourself: Are you ready to take your life to the next level? Is it time to overcome any limiting beliefs that have held you back by awakening the infinite powers within you?

A great starting point is to Stop blaming others and making excuses. It really doesn’t make a difference if the problems in your life were caused by someone else. It really doesn’t matter if circumstances in your life make it difficult or almost impossible for you to succeed. You are the only person you can rely on to fix your problems. If you want things to be better, you have to make them better.

Then you have to fire up your change process by thinking really big. Learn from Michelangelo Buonarroti who said: “The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.”