Statement of encouragement: Resilience.

 

Hello everybody! Eku deede iwoyi o!

I hope, as always, that this message finds you doing well and staying safe.Yasmin Mogahed wrote that: ‘Resilience is very different than being numb. Resilience means you experience, you feel, you fail, and you hurt. You fall. But you keep going’. I think that Yasmine made a terrific difference about how we handle when we are hit by a crisis. We could just go numb, which basically means that I feel nothing. I’m not learning. I’m not even living. And that makes us a victim. But Yasmine said, no. When we go through a crisis such as the ongoing pandemic, we don't go for numbness. We go for resilience. And resilience is alive. It is learning. And what happens is resilience makes us victorious.You see, when somebody goes numb about a bad experience, they kind of look back and say: ‘Oh, my, it was just a nightmare, Wow! I don't even remember what happened.’ But when you're resilient, you do remember what happened. In fact, you remember everything that happened. And it's that remembering of how you overcame, how you, despite the odds, rose above what other people thought you could rise to. It's that resilience and remember that you put in your heart and store it. So, the next time you have an obstacle or difficulty, adversity in your life, that resilience remembers. Don’t allow the crisis to numb you. Be alive. Learn, feel, fail, and learn. That's what it's all about if you want to make this difficult time a good time.

We rejoice with you as always if you were born in December. Good wishes to you always and your future filled with happiness and joy. Happy birthday!

Best wishes for a peaceful and rejuvenating December! We hope you and your loved ones will take this opportunity to relax, reconnect, and enjoy this festive month. And if this message helps you, share it with a friend. Let them know about it to encourage and lift someone else up.

Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy!

Eric O. Thompson.

Statement of courage: Do not allow adversity to affect your attitude.

 

Hello everybody! Eku deede iwoyi o!

Everybody can have a good attitude when things are going great. But what happens when things go the other way, contrary to your plans or expectations? Such problems as; discouragement, change, failure, pandemic, etc. How are they going to affect you?

You need to be ready to meet the challenges. You need to be ready mentally to keep them defeating you. Veterans of most natural disasters words of advice focus mainly on attitude like; be patient, be war, prepare yourself, lean on others, have faith, stay mentally tough, etc. What they are trying to say is that you cannot control disasters and circumstances, but you can control your attitude. If you do, it will make the difference between giving up and bouncing back.

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit. – Napoleon Hill

The attitude we adapt in times of adversity will not only define the moment but will determine the future. Winston Churchill was right when he said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” Your attitude in adversity will either demote you or promote you. Here are four common attitude approaches when times are tough.

1.      Why me, why now?

2.    This is not fair.

3.    Why not me?

4.    Everyone together.

Which one will be yours?

The attitude formula in play looks like this: GA (good attitude) + RA (right actions) = GO (Great Opportunity). A good attitude gives you a distinct advantage. Let`s try as much as possible to have a good attitude at all times. It is the single greatest asset you have when facing the challenges of life.

We celebrate with you if you were born in the month that starts with NO which may mean New Opportunity. Wishing you New Opportunities in the month and always. 

Have a wonderful month everybody! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy!

Eric O. Thompson

Statement of courage: Salt and Light.

 

Hello everybody! Eku deede iwoyi o!

When you think about it at its most basic, salt has a powerful, distinctive and at times overwhelming taste to it. In this trying time, we are to be a community defined by self-sacrificial love. A great comedian once said; “One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn't pay to get discouraged. Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”

A great teacher also once said “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

So, when people ask, ‘When will the Coronavirus end?’ ‘What will happen to me?’ It is our responsibility to give hope to people in our lives that we will be fine, we will come out of this, even when we don`t know. Be an encourager. Imagine the sublime power of a single candle piercing, shattering the darkness of a pitch-black room. It is imperative for us to tear down the walls, to cross the barriers, and to be present and active in our neighborhoods, communities, and cities. Let people say of you at the end of the day; ”You did your best”.“You left an outstanding heritage which is difficult to match. You stand tall and we are deeply proud of you.” History which, you deeply respected will be kind to you and your legacy. To be the light of the world is to actively pursue the dark places, to willingly enter into places of pain, poverty, injustice, sickness, and violence. Let your light shine before others. Our salt, therefore, stays salty only so long as we practice the good deeds we do in imitation and shining the light of God within us in and among our communities and before the watching world. 

We rejoice with you if you were born in October. Count your life by smiles, not tears. Count your age by friends, not years. Happy birthday!”

Have a wonderful month everybody! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy!

Eric Olusegun Thompson

YAJ.

Statement of courage :You.

 

Hello everybody! Eku deede iwoyi o!

When Was the Last Time You Invested in Yourself? If you have difficulty answering that question, it's time to change gear! When there is so much work to be done, we forget to carve out space for our own personal development. By and large, we focus on growing our businesses, taking care of the never-ending needs of our loved ones both near and far, not ourselves. Does that really make sense? A friend told me how he walked away from an event feeling proud of himself. He said, “It got me fired up.” Never doubt the value of investing in yourself, whether that means taking a special meeting or attending a conference, seminar/webinar, or Buy (and read) a book. You're not being selfish. You're empowering yourself to see beyond your day to day and into the future. Instead of doing things for everybody else all the time, it pays to invest in yourself…We will pay good money for our kids to get tutors at school, for music lessons, to join sports teams, to join clubs, and the like. We sign them up for activities that broaden their horizons. Yet, we don’t do it for ourselves. Why? It doesn’t have to cost money. Invest your time instead. Download a podcast. Watch a TED Talk etc. Failure to invest in ourselves can promote stagnation. We grow as we learn. Bet on yourself, invest in yourself and that investment will surely pay off! 

We rejoice with you if you were born in September. Wishing you all the blessings you are due for and good health all year round!

Have a wonderful month everybody! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy!

Eric Olusegun Thompson

YAJ.

 

 

Statement of strength and courage

Hello everybody! Eku deede iwoyi o!

Someone once said, ‘Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change’. Wow! What he was really saying to us is that life is not the lottery that we think it is where we're just waiting for our lucky day, our time, our moment, our number to come up. He said, I want you to understand that chance has very little to do with your life, or my life, being successful. It's all about being better because of the changes that we're making. And that's a choice. You see, I choose to change so that I can grow. Growth always means that there's a change in your life, and the author understood that when a crisis comes, it creates a lot of change within us. In fact, in times of crisis, we have the chance to go through 3 zones, 1. Fear zone, 2. Learning zone and 3. Growth zone. Don`t count your losses now, count your lessons, because they will help you grow internally and externally. But the writer said I want you to understand the right you have to choose to make the right changes in your life, and that determines how well you will survive, live through, and overcome that crisis. Put behind you what you can`t do but put before you what you can do such as learning a new skill. Put behind you the difficulties, but put before you the progress. Stay focused and your world will expand.

We celebrate with you, if your birthday is in August. We wish you and every one an Augustus visitation in the month. Congratulations!

Have a wonderful month everybody! Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy!

Eric Olusegun Thompson

YAJ.

Statements of Encouragement 3

Eku deede iwoyi o! Good day everybody!

This month`s statement of encouragement is a sequel to last month`s as we are still in the middle and somehow experiencing the second wave. Robert Frost said; “the best way out is always through.” The tendency is that when we're going through difficulties, we don't think of going through. We think of turning around. We think of taking the nearest exits. In fact, we're looking around and saying, where's the exit sign? How do I get out of the mess? Because when we're in the mess, so many times, we aren't thinking big picture. We're just thinking, momentarily, of convenience. And if I think of momentary convenience for myself, I will always look for another way out of a difficult situation. A crisis like this helps us make a lot of adjustments, it also helps us appreciate things we have always been taking for granted. A crisis is part of life, in fact, one of my favorite quotes says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” and the point is to keep moving i.e. go through the crisis with grace and hope.

What Robert Frost knew is this, what we focus on determines what we become. He says focus on finishing. Focus on getting all the way through. The moment we focus on finishing, we stop looking for the exits. We stop trying to make a U-turn. And we basically realize the best way to overcome any difficulty, or adversity in our life is to put our head down, suck it in, go straight to the end, and by the way, when you go straight to the end, that's the quickest way to get there. We celebrate with you if you were born in July. Wishing you another year of good health and accomplishments. Stay safe, stay strong, and stay healthy until we will be able to gather together again.

Eric Thompson

YAJ.

Statements of Encouragement 2

Eku deede iwoyi o! Good day everybody!
Today we are facing so much uncertainty, how do you respond? In this day and time, what you focus on expands. A Yoruba adage puts it this way “ Ohun tinwuni ninpo Loro eni” Are you focusing on the ongoing unrest or uncertainty of the current crisis, or are you focusing on valuing one another? Thomas Carlyle said, “Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand.” He also said, ‘A  person with a clear purpose will make progress on even the roughest road. but, a person with no purpose will make no progress on even the smoothest road.’ Wow! That's a powerful analogy. Basically, Thomas Carlyle said it's not if your road is smooth or if your road is rough that you make progress; it's the purpose that you have that keeps you going. It's not how can I make my journey easier, it's how can I have more purpose in my journey? Because when I have a purpose in my journey, I climb those hills. So, here's the question as we're in the middle of adversity: What should be our purpose in adversity? Three things: 1. We should learn from it. Every day, we should look around and ask ourselves what is this difficult time teaching me? 2. We should grow in it. We should ask ourselves every day: is this developing willpower and self-discipline and inner character in my life? 3. We should be salt and light. We should make things better as food tastes when we add some reasonable amount of salt and we should make things brighter as light shines in the dark place for people around us by adding values to their lives. If you can do those three things, trust me, even on the rocky, rough road of crisis, you'll make progress. Also in the process purposely, put behind you what devalues people, selfish values, and pointing fingers in whatever position or association you belong to. Then the world will be a better place for you and me even for the generations to come.

We celebrate with you if you were born in June. We hope it will be another month and year of Jubilation, Unlocking doors, New achievement, and Empowerment for you and everyone.

Stay safe, stay strong, stay healthy until we will be able to gather again.

Eric Thompson

YAJ.

Statements of Encouragement.

Eku deed iwoyi o.

I have a statement of encouragement for you today . I just want you to know how much I enjoy bringing statement of encouragement to you to strengthen you during this difficult times. I don't enjoy the crisis, but I do enjoy the opportunity to encourage you or “us” in the crisis because I too get encouraged in the process. To lift your spirit up in this time of crisis. To let you see maybe the light at the end of the tunnel. So these statements are given, not only for me to share them with you, but for us to follow them. To learn how to apply them to our daily lives. So here's one quote by Martin Luther King. “We must accept finite disappointment, but we never lose infinite hope.” What he was saying is that disappointment is finite. This too shall pass. We have a period where we're going through a dark time. But he said, always understand that you need to compare finite disappointment, something that has a beginning and an end, to infinite hope. Something that is always is, doesn't have a beginning, and doesn’t have an end. What does he say? Hope outlasts disappointment. I want you to remember that. Because sometimes in the midst of difficulties, such as losing your job or set back in your business that results in low or no income, we get so consumed by how difficult and how hard this is that we lose the hope. Martin Luther King understood that disappointment is finite. Hope is infinite. You need to start playing that infinite game.

Malcolm Forbes quotes “When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better” We've been there, I've been there, and you’ve been there. Basically, wherever you are in the crisis, your perspective can be either an asset or a liability. I just want you to know if you’re in a position right now in your own personal life where you think, wow, things could get worse. I just want you to know that they may. But if you're kind of like at the bottom of the pile and you're just saying, it can't get any worse than this, then let me tell you something: the only way up is up. You can't go down anymore.

We, still celebrate with you if you were born in May. Wishing you good health always and as someone told me MAY stands for Miracles Await You and all this month. Thank you for reading. Stay safe till we`ll be able to get together again everybody.

Eric Thompson,

YAJ.

Times like this

Hello everybody! E Ku deede iwoyio!

Today, globally we are counting people and watching statistics rising as new numbers are released hourly of those infected by the coronavirus. It is not a time right now to be thinking just how this pandemic is affecting me and my life, it is a time to be thinking bigger than ourselves, about how we fit into society and our role within humanity. Lifestyles have totally changed in the past few weeks and are probably going to keep changing. So here are some tips to keep healthy at this time: Meditate or pray daily to focus your mind and raise your consciousness. Work with fears as they arise but don’t let them overwhelm you. Focus on opportunities, not the end of the world scenarios: Ask yourself, “How can this situation cause positive changes that the world might need anyway?” Assign to yourself the responsibility. Think about how you can be a positive example and support to others. When we feel inspired we will have a ripple effect on those we are spending time with. You can't just tell authorities they're accountable, and then leave them to it. We are in this together. Each of us has a role to play. Think of small acts of kindness, you can do for others out there. Be creative! Keep remembering to wash hands and follow the guidelines from the health authorities. Look for opportunities for what can be done at home. Have deeper, longer conversations with people you love. We are forced to be in our homes, so let’s use the opportunity as a time for rebuilding relationships and not as confinement. It’s all about our attitude. Out of struggle and tragedy, something new can be born. What will your role in this rebirth be? Let`s look at this coronavirus pandemic as a wake-up call as we unite to better serve each other and our planet. This could be a game-changer.

I saw a poster on a wall which says, “I never knew how strong I was until being strong was my only option.” Now is our time to be strong and to actualize that which is hidden within us and bring it to its potential.

Hopefully we will all be able to weather this time of crisis from a place of integrity and calmness. If you were born in April we celebrate with you. Remember to keep observing the social distancing and stay safe everybody.

Eric Olusegun Thompson.

Hold people Accountable

Welcome to March, everybody! Eku asiko yio!

You can't just tell people they're accountable, and then leave them to it. Yes, it may work for some, but not for all. You need to set up review sessions; you have to check in and see how people are doing. It lets them know that they will be held accountable for the activities. It gives you an opportunity to provide support in case things start to go wrong. It offers you the opportunity to offer praise and encouragement to move people further if things are going well. When people don't take accountability and things, start to go wrong, as they don't feel ownership they go into spectator mode and watch as things fail. If they thought it would fail or want it to fail from the outset it's even worse; they go into I told you so mode, which nearly always becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.Whereas when people take ownership if things start to go wrong, then they step into solution mode. They start to try and figure out what`s going wrong and try and fix it. Teams that are successful are full of people that go into solution mode. They are full of people who not only care but take care.

Accountability is something that has to be worked at.It starts with you, and it has to apply at all times and to everyone because we have the law, ethical standards, our own morals and values, and the expectations of society to use as an accountability check-in. In reality, it may sound like criticizing but if properly approached or structured, it helps to shape the organization. It can help to create a culture of accountability where the organization or association or country will start to hold itself and others accountable which will have a massive impact on performance and results.

We celebrate with you if you were born in March. We wish good health always as you march forward in your life endeavors.

Have a wonderful month everyone and please stay safe as much as possible from corona virus infection.

Eric Olusegun Thompson

President,YAJ.
https://yorubaassociationj.wixsite.com/japan
https://www.facebook.com/yoruba.japan

Accountability starts with you!

Eku deede iwoyio! This is the sequel to the first post in January. If you want to create a culture of accountability, then it starts with you. You need to model the behaviors that you want to see in your organization. If you want people to take ownership, then you have to be seen to take ownership, when you make commitments you have to be seen to meet those commitments. If you don't, then why should anyone else be interested in doing so. You have to walk the talk if you want others to follow you through the accountability path. As a leader, you are accountable for any failures, as well as any successes that your organization may have. Accountability comes as part of the job description. Accountability is the single biggest differentiator between successful and unsuccessful teams. Accountability is also not a one-time, sometime thing; it's an all-time thing. Those people who don't want to be accountable, or held accountably, are always looking for any opportunities to get out of it. You need to be seen to be as being accountable at all times.We celebrate with you if you were born in February, your joy and everybody`s shall always be fabulous. Have a wonderful month everybody!

Eric Thompson

YAJ, President.

Accountability.

Compliment of the season everyone! E ku odun e ku iyedun o. Emi wa yio se pupo re laye ati ni alaafia o. One topic that is always difficult to broach is accountability. Many people don't understand what accountability is, why it's important, or where it starts. Yes they understand accountability is important, but don't know how to create a culture of accountability, they just hope it will happen. But hope is not a strategy! Accountability is when an individual or department is held responsible for the performance of a specific function. Essentially, they are liable for the correct execution of a particular task, even if they may not be the one performing the task. Other parties rely on the task to be completed, and the accountable party is the party whose head will roll if the action is not properly carried out. Accountability is essential in your association as is common in the financial arena and in the business world as a whole. Accountability is essential in the financial industry. Without checks, balances, and accountability doled out in the form of consequences, the integrity of the capital markets would not be able to be maintained. There are compliance departments, accountants, and an entire concert of other professionals working to make sure that companies report their earnings correctly. This is the definition of accountability. Public companies are also required to have an audit committee as a part of their board of directors who are outside individuals with accounting knowledge. Their job is to oversee the audit. As the global economy has become progressively integrated, global economic problems – from climate change to financial crises – have become more interconnected as well. These global problems call for globally coherent policy responses. Such responses, in turn, call for global governance. Understanding the institutions of global governance, the determinants of compliance and policy effectiveness and an empirical framework for policy accountability are issues of first-rate importance for policymakers, academics, business leaders and all other responsible citizens. As a leader or leader to be you need to be or be ready to be held accountable for whatever position or action taken under your watch. When you do, the system will run the way it should. If you were born in January, we celebrate with you and wish you all the good your heart desire this year and always. Have a wonderful month and year everybody!

Eric Olusegun Thompson.

President, YAJ.