The attraction of your life depends on your message. To know the depth of impact that your message has, check how people who know you react to you. They must either love you passionately or hate you passionately. Greatness is not a popularity contest. So be comfortable with people not liking you. Your mission in life is not to solve every problem, so your message and solution code cannot be acceptable to all. Jesus was passionately hated by the religious order of His day but passionately loved by the ordinary people.
Every married man would remember the day he first met the lady that eventually became the love of his life. Images of the location and perhaps the time remain indelibly etched in his memory. Trust me, the wife would never forget that moment when he popped the big question.
I recall it like it was yesterday. Sometime in 2008, I was invited to breakfast with a wonderful couple in Maui, Hawaii after an early morning church service. We had a very simple breakfast in a modest restaurant. Our discussion ranged from global politics to the economy as well as Africa-America relations. Little did I know that the man I was having breakfast with was a retired Adviser to a former President of the United States. He was so impressed by my input to and knowledge of the issues we discussed. We left it at that. A few weeks after that, I received a special invitation to the National Prayer Breakfast with the President of the United States. So, from the 3rd to the 5th of February 2009, I was, along with several Heads of States and other world leaders at The Washington Hilton Hotel on Connecticut Avenue NW in the nation’s capital for the series of events culminating in the breakfast proper on Thursday, the 5th of February 2009.
The tapestry of our lives is woven and consolidated in special, unique moments. Moments are definite codes of experiences and circumstances that happen to us in time. Sometimes fleeting and sometimes enduring, moments, depending on the lessons they impress on us, help us to freeze experiences that have the greatest impact on our lives. We are all subject to the effect of moments, subject to the memories they conjure in us. Have you ever watched a video of a significant event in your life, wedding, graduation ceremony, an award ceremony or any other event that is of emotional importance to you? How did you feel when the recording got to very important moments in the recording? Nostalgic? Conversely, if it was the video of a sad event like the funeral of a loved one, each time you watch it and you see that moment when they were lowered into the grave, can you remember the overwhelming sense of grief that enveloped you all over again? Since we cannot repeat the experiences in the way they originally occurred, moments of such importance can only be recaptured in our memories.
Life offers all of us moments of inspiration. These are the times when ideas come to us as a flash which, very often, if undocumented, may be lost on us. Such moments are the raw materials for life-transforming inventions and business ideas. Bestseller books are products of moments of inspiration. We all dream dreams but only a few of us go ahead to pay the price to live them out in our daily realities. There are moments of discoveries, also known as “aha” moments. This could occur when you suddenly have greater understanding of a situation that had befuddled you in time past. It could be the discovery of an inner capacity that you did not know that you had. It could be the discovery of the truth about a situation or an individual that you thought you knew about earlier. Such moments are learning moments.
At other times, we have moments of experiences, positive and negative. The experiences could signpost feelings of joy, celebration, success, achievement. On the other hand, they could evoke feelings of sadness, grief, tragedy, illness etc.
What we call memories are nothing but an attempt to commemorate or freeze moments in time. This is the point at which we deploy the power of recall. Sometimes, moments of recall help us to appropriately contextualize our experiences for the purpose of bringing out and learning essential lessons from the experiences. This happens when we take time to meditate on the events.
Have you ever felt the sense of exhilaration that comes from achieving significant success in a venture or getting to the top of your career? Or that moment when your input produces an output that gives you the feeling that you are doing something significant to add value to the human enterprise as a vital part of the divine equation? Or being in a position to influence a decision that impacts positively on the lives of others? These are moments of power and fulfillment that give you an adrenaline rush.
You have read so much about a very famous or wealthy person. Let us assume that you have just finished reading a book about Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk and you have been so inspired by their stories. You have also read biographies of some successful people and you desire to meet them one on one. Or you came up with a value proposition guaranteed to make Bezos’ Amazon tons of dollars but you never had access to him. Then imagine that one day, as you enter the elevator of a high-rise building in your city, you come face-to-face with Jeff Bezos without a complement of security details. The ride can only be for less than a minute. After overcoming the initial shock, how would you spend those precious moments that can only be frozen in memory rather than in time? Considering that this could likely be one opportunity in a lifetime, how would you spend it in a way that makes him want to see you again?
One of the ways that life moves us forward significantly is through the opportunities offered to us. Whether in the chance to meet someone of our dreams or taking advantage of an investment at the right time before the market is saturated, opportunities are doorways into greatness. We can either walk through such doors or shut them against us. Opportunities are platforms that God gives us to express our perception of and commitment to the contribution of value to people or our environment. Opportunities place a demand on our willingness and commitment to take advantage of what time offers us to make a difference or enhance our own life.
Since they cannot be frozen in time, special moments are to be treasured for what they represent, learning points. There is always a lesson to learn from memorable events of our lives, even when they are not so pleasant. Without learning and embracing those lessons, the story of our lives would lack authenticity.
In the meantime, make the best of every moment to love, to give and to be the best version of yourself.
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
ALSO READ FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
- Suspense As APC, PDP Governors Meet In Lagos
- I Had Sex With Sofiat Before We Cut Off Her Head, Removed Flesh From Her Thigh For Money Ritual —Lover Boy
- Marburg Virus: What You Need To Know About Disease Recently Detected In West Africa
- FACT CHECK: US Did Not Give Nigeria 48 Hours Ultimatum To Detain Abba Kyari
and then