Tag Archives: Love

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Can never be said enough. Can never be written about too much

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There was a time when I used to write and talk about love so much. I used that word – love, so much in my writings that sometimes I felt like maybe I should emphasize it indirectly, with other words. But as events – good and bad – continue to unfold in our world, I realize that the word love can never be said enough and it can never be written about too much especially in the context of how it ties into building peace in our world.

Well, here I am today back on the topic of love and how we must exude it unconditionally, without prejudice and stereotypes – to family, friends, strangers and foreigners. For a world constantly shaken by extreme acts of hate, it is love that makes it still go round. It is love that gives people freedom in their societies, despite the existence of difference in whatever form it may take.

Often I am reminded that some of the world’s most startling issues that break my heart can only be cautioned when we love, when we choose to never be like the oppressor, the shooter, the bomber, the hate speech deliverer etc. When we extend a helping hand to people who are fleeing their country as refugees due to violence that they did not cause, we are engaging in an act of love. That is man’s humanity to fellow man. You have probably seen in your daily lives that when you react to violence or hate with love, you are weakening the efforts of the oppressor. In this world, I have seen time and time again that love is winning. I am convinced everyday that our world will never become overcome by evil, terror and hate.

Whether it is from people’s move to welcome refugees to their country, to catering to the poor, advocating for the rights of the racially marginalized and the religiously marginalized, I see hope in our world. When I feel heartbroken at the tragedies of injustice and senseless violence in different countries around the world, the people who carry on the torch of love bring me back to good spirits. Very importantly, they somehow remind me to never stop talking about the need for love, love and lots of it in our world. It can never be talked about enough, it can never be written about too much.

Always spread love. Be a light in your society and in this world.

Love,

Chiamaka

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Openness and All That Good Stuff It Brings

Different people can interprete the word – openness in different ways and so, we can act on it in different ways. However, there are two aspects of openness from which people are likely to come to a consensus:

– loving more

– embracing our talents

The decision to become open to love comes with a desire to check your behaviours, your beliefs (e.g are there some hurtful stereotypes that you hold?) and a desire to be true to you. An openness to love requires that you become unselfish and share in others’ joy and that you be there to see them through hard times. You want to possess virtues that will attract the right friends and people into your life. With good relationships, come support and new learning experiences. It is true that the right people do not always come to good people, but when you have decided to be true to you, you know what you want in relationships and you can be selective and choose who you want to have in your life.

Most parts of the world are getting more and more open to love – we are learning about other cultures, and the belief in equality is now common across several nations. Openness has awesome benefits:)

Let us look at ‘being true to you’ from another openness perspective …

Openness means that you are true to you – that you are embracing every aspect of you. I believe that talent is innate in everyone and you just have to tap into it, in order to benefit. Be open to using your talents. Continually search for opportunities in which you could apply them and never deny that you have a particular talent (you never know what opportunities for success you are losing by doing that). Embrace your talents.

This second aspect of openness also requires that you be willing to accept change – this may require that you stop doing things in a particular way or that you improve on those things that you are already doing. In a constantly developing world, you must be willing to embrace change because innovations are being made at such a fast pace and one has to keep up:)

It is important to work on being open, that is – loving more, learning more and attracting opportunities for growth and success.

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka.

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Drawing The Line Between Social Justice Advocacy and Extremism

In this world, there is so much injustice. It is saddening and it is sickening. There is that temptation to hate, to  generalize and there may be the temptation to go against your morals. However, for true change to occur in this world, hate is not an option. Social justice is about being open and working towards building a world of peace. To make our world a better place, we all need to work together. You cannot liberate some and hate some. There is a point where social justice advocacy may be escalated to extremism. I noticed this earlier in the week, on one of my social media networks.

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There was a post written by one of my connections on a social media network (let’s call this person Sonia). Sonia is Black and she tends to write posts on the marginalization of Blacks and sometimes, Natives. She also writes on White supremacy. This particular post was chastising White people and to me, it was completely unnecessary. When I first saw it, I thought to myself – this is just wrong. However, i was used to Sonia posting similar things against White people, so I just skipped it.

Later on, I went back to the post and looked at the comments and there was someone who expressed discomfort with Sonia’s post. What was Sonia’s response? She insulted this person and the racial group (Caucasian) that this person seemed to belong to. I was shocked. People in her network joined her to shame that person. Sonia usually posts on white supremacy. Some of her posts I agree with, some I find racist. I have looked at past posts of Sonia and how she encourages violence in the name of being on the side of the oppressed. As someone who is very passionate about Human Rights and race relations, Sonia’s posts were an eye opener. A reminder that extremism can easily set in.

It was scary to observe the prejudice that Sonia holds and maybe what is even more scary is the fact that she has people in her network who give her support when she writes offensive posts. This is how extremism escalates, this is how violence is born. This is why I will soon be cutting Sonia out of my network.

There is hate and evil in this world, but we need the opposite of those vices to make our world a better and a more peaceful place. We need to love with an open heart. Again, we cannot liberate some and hate some. Extremist views do not help anyone. They do not align with equality and peace. So, Sonia needs to re-define the mission of her advocacy. Her posts certainly made me reflect on mine and I came to the conclusion that we are not in the same kind of social justice movement. There is a constant cycle of injustice in our world. It is easy to get bitter, to hold prejudice, to generalize (I have been there), but when those feelings come, re-visit your mission – keeping in mind that only love, unity and peace can truly change the world.

Love & Peace,

Chiamaka.

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Why Love and Business Do Go Together

One of the best pieces of advice that can be given to someone is – Follow your passion.

Rephrasing the above advice to the focus of today’s blogpost – Build a business that is based on your passion.

When you own a business, you should truly be your own boss. If you build a business based on something that you are genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about, that is attractive. Customers derive the confidence to buy a product through the character and words of the seller. Also, possible future business partners will like to join a team that is built on realistic goals, lots of wisdom and passion for the job. So, if you are the boss of something that you do not have a serious interest in except for the financial profit and even so, are yet to gather information about the job, business is headed for trouble.

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Also, care must be at the heart of your business. You may love the job that you have created, but you must care about the people that you are serving. If you are just all about the money, you may not win so much in business. Show care for your clients and people that want to patronize your business. Ask them about their personal lives (e.g “How was your day?”, “How was work?”, “For how long have you lived in this city?” e.t.c). Ask them if they have any allergies (depends on the kind of business that you do). People love when they have a personal relationship with their service provider. Such a bond automatically puts that seller at the top of the customer’s list every time the latter needs to get that kind of service (which must be offered by more than one person).

Do not want money so much that you forget to take the customer’s needs as a priority. Do not convince your customer to buy the more expensive product when the cheaper one will be more effective. If you do not have the product that will be best for your customer, it is fine, let the customer leave or make a recommendation. Also, you can learn from clients. If you have noticed that lots of people have asked of a particular product that you do not have, maybe it is time you started selling that product, then:)

The best backdrop for a business plan is passion. Love what you do and care for your clients and the people that want to patronize you.

Love,

Chiamaka.

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