Synapses that fire together wire together.

E ku deede iwoyio

I am sorry for posting a bit late this month due to my tight schedule.

Thank you for coming to the last meeting and thank you for the constructive contributions. We are very delighted that we were able to distribute the membership certificates at last, solidifying our membership status. Thank you for your understanding. Please let us know how we can serve you and the community better.

Throughout your brain there is a collection of synapses separated by empty space called the synaptic cleft. Whenever you have a thought, one synapse shoots a chemical substance across the cleft to another synapse, thus building a bridge over which an electric signal can cross, carrying along the relevant information you're thinking about. Don`t worry about the detail, but here's the catch, every time this electrical charge is triggered, the synapses grow closer together in order to decrease the distance the electrical charge has to cross. The brain is rewiring its circuit, physically changing itself, to make it easier and thus spark together making it easier for the thought to trigger.  

So having a thought makes it easier for you to have that thought again. That's not good news for the perpetually gloomy person. Not only do repeated negative thoughts make it easier to think yet more negative thoughts, they also make it more likely that negative thoughts will occur to you just randomly walking down the street. Another way to put this is that being consistently negative starts to push your personality towards the negative and /or makes you pessimistic outlook. Through repetition of thought, you've brought the pair of synapses that represent you closer and closer together, and when the moment arises for you to form a thought, the thought that wins is the one that has less distance to travel, the one that will create a bridge between synapses fastest. Gloom soon outraces positivism. The good news is that the opposite works in the same way. You will be positive and radiant if you think more positively. In the same way we can influence each other and the association in various ways and people looking from outside will be influenced to join and be part of the association and the process will continue after we are long gone. Hence “Synapses that fire together wire together”. 

Thank you again for your support.

If you were born in April you are not forgotten, you are a person of influence, we celebrate with you and wishing you the best always

Have a wonderful April everybody!

Segun.

Person of Influence.

E ku deede iwoyio meaning good day!

Thank you for coming to the last meeting and thank you for the beautiful contribution.Once again seeing the way and manner in which everyone passionately contributed, I was able to confirm that my being part of the association is not a waste of time and that each one of us is a person of influence! Everyone has influence whether they realize it or not. Influence isn't about having a social position or financial status. You may not be in the public eye today,but you may be the one to influence the influencer! Think about the influence you have over your circle, your children, your spouse, your co-workers, your boss and your friends. Your influence may be extremely subtle. You may not receive accolades or acknowledgements in this life, and you may not even realize all the ways you are affecting the people around you. Influence isn't about a social position; it's about a heart position. When you show up at the meeting and talking to people about the association with a heart of excellence, you are operating from your place of influence. When you go above and beyond to do what is right, people will notice and will want to be part of the association and in so doing we can stay united and take the association to a great height and your personal life may also be influenced by your association. Thank you for those who joined us anew and those who came after a long absence, we appreciate you all and please continue to spread the good news that may influence others to want to join even though we know we are not near perfect.

If you were born in March we celebrate with you and wishing you the best in all you do. Believe that you are a person of destiny and look for ways to operate in your place of influence!

Have a wonderful March everybody!

Segun.

Practical Influences

E ku deede iwoyio.

We are already in the second month! This year is running fast again.

As a continuation to last month on the theme of the year: Influence, I want to talk on practical influence that we may experience or give in our lives here or anywhere.Many of Japan’s principles for living can be found nestled in Japanese concept words that can help us organize our lives or understand purpose for living, or in our enlightenment to living in harmony which starts from inside. We need all these too, not only about our religious beliefs. Who will not be impressed with the clear separation of religion and education in Japan? They do a very good job by teaching children morality without tying it to theology depending on your personal opinion for or against that. You can be nice without following any religion such as being considerate to others, being clean inside and outside, being on time, etc. the common rules followed by everyone here. I believe we could be influenced by all these and live happily with each other and even take back to our home which eventually may influence the mindset of majority for betterment of our generation and generations to come. We may have or witness adversity or injustice sometimes, but the difference is clear and bad experiences are sometimes good because they teach us how to deal with life. Even then you`ll definitely receive justice if you seek for it. We can also influence other people here within our communities by being a good example. Just like the month of February is for Valentine, which is based on friendships or love, let’s keep working on giving unconditional love, even when it may be hard sometimes we`ll definitely enjoy it sooner or later.

If you were born in February, we congratulate you, we celebrate with you and we love you. To those who are still not sure to join or not,I was once like you, take your time , you are welcome anytime,but remember that "Aisimbe ni aibawondasi o" ,come and let`s put heads together for you and for me and for the association."Ao kereoko deleo".Have a good month!

President.

New Year!

Compliments of the season to you all Aseyi se amodun o!

Yes, it’s time to make the annual pledges to do more, less, or better. To quit, start, change, do this and that this year. Before you resolve what to do next, there are a few things you better take into consideration. You have all heard the legendary quote, “Begin with the end in mind.” This is a half-truth, and actually dangerous thinking.Begin with understanding of what got you to this point, and what you’re seeking to accomplish then, make a plan with the “OUTCOME" defined”

I however chose "INFLUENCE" as my theme for this year. It can be used in different ways, but I`ll start with this; we all know that living abroad gives you an opportunity to have a greater understanding of other cultures. We definitely experience a common societal, lingual, philosophical, aesthetic, and religious influence. According to a survey, the biggest influence on foreigners, as you might expect, was Japanese society itself and her core values. Most people felt that just being among nice and polite people was infectious. This year, let us be part of the people influenced by the positive aspect of the society and to allow cohesiveness, harmony, humility (less ego) and improved manners among us in our community. Let us think of ourselves less and to always learn from the society to exercise better manners. After all, good manners are free, they don’t cost anything. So as it appears that we benefit from living among good role models. Let us know the difference between Proud and Pride. Let us know how to work as a team, which is another Japanese culture. Someone said: “I learned that you can be outstanding without standing out.” Whether Resolution or Theme, let us listen more, love one another and be the solution to the problem this year and not the problem to our association or community Let`s be influenced by the society and see how it will help our community grow.

If you were born in January we celebrate with you and wish you a good success in the year. Have a wonderful year everybody!

Segun.

President.

Happy holidays!

Happy Holidays everybody,

E ku odun eku iyedun emi wa yio se pupo re laye ati laaye wa o ,

With Christmas a few days away, it's beginning to look a lot festive.

So, it's shopping time, party time, vacation time, family time, gift giving time, bonus time, travel time, football time, basketball time, TV time etc. With all of that, and the economy, and politics, and even the unrest world - it's time to celebrate!

How will you be celebrating?

These are my personal recommendations for maximum holiday enjoyment.

a. Send cards that are lovely to as many as you can.

b. Spend as much time as you can to play with kids yours and relatives`. They relax you and bring you back to a less stressful time. 

c. Get together with the people closest to you and tell them how grateful you are that they're in your life.  

d. Stay positive. Stay sober. And stay focused on family,

e. Make peace with at least one person. There's someone you'll see during the season that's not your favorite. Talk it out if possible and make it a better relationship. You'll feel great!

f Be your own Santa Claus. Buy yourself something nice. Something you really want if you can afford it!

I feel grateful to all members that YAJ is alive and functioning today.

You have missed a lot if you did not attend this year, but we love you and we missed you. Let’s do it together next year, igi kan kole da igbo se o.

Odun tuntun ti ombo yio se oju emi gbogbo wa o!

President.

Rounding up!

E ku dee de iwoyi o! meaning, good day!

Wow it`s December! It’s just like yesterday when we all said Happy New year, wasn`t it? We go through series of holidays or celebrations from Ileya (Eid al-Adha) Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas to close the year.

It has been a wonderful year and I`m sure we all have something to thank God for this year. We want to thank you all for attending our last meeting. We also thank you all for your contribution especially Mr. Gabriel for sharing his experience on how to successfully raise children in Japan despite a very short notice. Even though there was no much questions for that Q & A slot we created which was a forum to air our opinions, ideas, complaints, concerns etc. We do not want to assume that everything is fine. We always want us to, like someone put it,” dare to ask” and “let`s agree to disagree” to give room for creativity in solving problems in our community. The fact is that most of the biggest catastrophes that we've witnessed rarely come from information that is secret or hidden. It comes from information that is freely available and out there, but that we are willfully blind to, because we can't handle, don't want to handle, the conflict that it provokes. But when we dare to break that silence, or when we dare to see or ask, and we create conflict, we enable ourselves and the people around us to do our very best thinking. It was an example of what we experienced at the last meeting and it is a healthy way of helping the association to grow starting from each one of us developing habit of being patient, listening more, understanding one another more and to love one another more.

Open information is fantastic, open networks are essential. But the truth won't set us free until we develop the skills and the habit and the talent and the moral courage to use it. Openness isn't the end. It's the beginning to taking our association to a higher level.

Thank you everyone once again, wishing you a happy and healthy month as we round up the year especially if you were born in December.

Segun.

Happy holidays

E ku deede iwoyio!