Hi folks, I know you want to say “where have you been for all these months?” or ” How come you haven’t written a single article in 4 months?” I really don’t know the answer. I must admit quite honestly that even right now I don’t feel like or want to write anything.

It’s not because there aren’t things to write, it’s just because I feel quite unmotivated and unworthy to write them. Anyway, I’m writing now ain’t I? So please just bear with me and read on…this will bless you.

I once heard about the parable of the monkeys. Once upon a time a monkey was placed in a particular cage with a bunch of bananas hanging from the top of the cage. Naturally, the monkey swung up the cage excitedly and reached up for the bananas, he was immediately doused with a jet of cold water from a hose that was aimed at the cage. Immediately, he dived back down to the bottom of the cage. Of course, monkeys don’t give in that easily so he tried again – no one was going to deter him from feasting on the bananas. He swung up again to retrieve the bunch of bananas but as soon as he almost touched it, he got doused with water again. He immediately dived back down looking for the source of his affliction (apes hate water). He couldn’t really see anybody and tried after a few minutes. He got doused again. He tried again and again and each time he got doused again and again. After a few days and many attempts, he stopped trying.

One month after, another monkey was brought into the cage. The monkey saw the bunch of bananas and immediately went for it (Note: The bunch of bananas were changed to fresh ones from time to time). He got the shock of his life as a jet of cold water hit him in the face. He quickly scurried to the bottom of the cage and waited a few minutes for the shock to wear off before trying again. He got the same result and after trying a while and getting drenched, he understood why the first monkey wasn’t as eager as he was to eat “free” bananas hanging at the top of the cage. He also succumbed to fate and stopped trying to get the bananas.

Another month after, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. As custom will have it, he went straight for the bunch of fresh bananas he saw hanging at the top of the cage but the other two monkeys went for it as pulled it down with his legs. They immediately pounced on it and beat it silly and into submission. They did that because they knew he would get sprayed with water  and all of them will get wet. They didn’t want to get wet and they knew that he wont get the bananas anyway so they took steps to ensure it didn’t happen. After a while of trying and getting beaten, the monkey gave up trying. One month went by and another monkey was introduced into the cage. He suffered the same fate as the 3rd monkey only that the 3rd monkey was involved in beating him up and keeping him from getting the bunch of bananas.

After a few weeks, the first two monkeys were taken out of the cage. Now of the two monkeys remaining in the cage, none of them actually had water sprayed on them for reaching for the bananas. They were only restrained with pain by the first two monkeys.

Yet another month went by and another monkey was introduced into the cage. He immediately was giving the customary beating treatment when he tried to get the bunch of bananas. After trying a while and getting beat a few times, he suddenly blurted

“Why are you monkeys beating me and holding me back?”

The other monkeys looked at themselves blankly and said

“We don’t know, we don’t know why we are beating you? We were beating as well when we came and tried to reach for the bunch so we just took on the custom of beating every other monkey who tried to reach for the bananas”.

How many of us are like that? We don’t why we are where we are or why we are doing what we are doing. We just know that that is how it should be done. Who told you that? Who told you that you must have only one stream of income? Who told you that you can not live above sin? Who told you that you can’t own your business? Who told you that you can not be financially free?

We were mostly brought up hearing our parents and environment say,

“Get a good education, get a good job thereafter, work all your life, retire broke and busted with a good pension and die!”

What a big lie!

You are like the monkeys!

Why can’t you dare the jet of water and pull out all stops to get the bananas!

What is your own excuse? Are you pulling others down who are trying to get the bananas?

Have you been enslaved by the system?

Do you merely wish freedom or do you DESIRE it?

Listen!!! those who have tried and failed have been taken out of the cage!

Ask yourselves what they did and how you can do it better?

Perhaps, if the three remaining monkeys planned to go for the bananas together the focus of the water spray would be divided and one of them would have been able to get the bunch.

Instead of proliferating negativity and pessimism, think of another way to achieve your dream and go for it.

LIFE DOES NOT GIVE YOU WHAT YOU DESERVE, IT GIVES YOU WHAT YOU DEMAND.

I once read about a story that talked about freedom. Once upon a time, some circus workers captured a baby elephant from its family in the amazon jungle of South America. This elephant was very aggressive and violent towards its captors. It resented deeply its forced seperation from its mother and the rest of its family. It fought its captors bravely but unsuccessfully and they were able to subdue it a little, bind its legs and carry it on a horse drawn cart to the circus camp.

On getting to the circus camp, they tied up the elephant to an iron stake in driven deep into the ground. The elephant tried time after time to get away from his captors but each time he tried, when he had stretched the chain fully, he got stopped by the chain and had to return back to the stake. He kept on doing this for days and after a while resigned to fate that he could never be free from bondage.

One day after many months, one of his captors came and removed the chain from his ankle and literally set him free. The elephant simply walked to the same point at which the chain gets fully stretched and stopped. After a while, he returned to sit by the stake. Day after day, the elephant performed the same ritual, never stepping beyond the point he had been unable to cross when he was bound.

The elephant though hav’n been set free in reality was still bound in his mind and as a result could not live in the reality of his freedom.
The state of the elephant is one I like to define as being delivered but not being free.

Many people are like the elephant in this story. They have shut down their minds to freedom so much that in the moment of their deliverance, they are not aware of the consequent freedom that attends it. Deliverance is many times an external activity but freedom must be internal.
People’s minds are bound to the prevailing circumstances in the environment. I just got into Ado-Ekiti, the capital of Ekiti state with a great opportunity. I really expected to be greeted with enthusiasm and drive, rather I was met with skepticism and excuses. I almost got discouraged but quickly recognised the fact the deliverance vs. freedom issue springing to the fore.

People don’t want to fail forward. They don’t want to try something that looks like something they have failed at before. It is no wonder that Nigerians support one club in England this season and another in Spain next season and another in England next season and so on….People are so used to rushing after the winning team. They don’t understand the importance of building a winning team.

I couldn’t help but wonder, “what will it take me to drive the elephant beyond the boundary of his bondage in his mind?”. “what do I need to do to open the eyes of his mind?”

People have one negative thing or the other to say about network marketing and I ask myself.

“would people rather stay on a job, work their lives out, hate their bosses and their organisations, earn less than they desire, deprive their family of necessarily time  and still get stuck int he rat race simply because they are unwilling to bolster up courage and write their own stories?”

“If network marketing especially those with models by which you can earn passive income for the rest of your life  isn’t the fairest type of marketing inthe world, then tell me is it conventional marketing that only rewards the direct salesman and not the chain of advertisers, referrers or indirect marketers?”

“Why are people hypocritically behaving as if there’s one particular thing they are passionate about, the absence of which they’d rather die when it’s obvious that all they truly wish for is freedom (financial and otherwise)?”.

“If only wishes were horses, even beggars will ride”.

“The proof of desire is pursuit”.

Apparently, loads of people around here are not desirous of freedom, they only wish it, otherwise, they’ll pursue it with all they’ve got.
Deliverance is not equivalent to freedom until one gets involved in making it so.

Deliverance is to wishing what desire and pursuit are to freedom.
You may have been delivered, but are you free?

A few days ago, I attended a business meeting with my boss at Sheraton hotel. There was not much to the meeting except for welcoming the CEO of an Austrailian company who was coming for a week to hold seminars across the country on the product his company was marketing. Soon after we had held the welcome ceremony, we set out for the office. I got in my boss’s car to drive while he sat on the passenger’s side. We also had a few of our friends and colleagues who had come for the welcome ceremony sitted behind in the car. As soon as I started the engine,  an annoying sound started from the controls inside the car.

The indication light read “Parking brakes disengaged” or something like that. I tried to touch all the buttons I could to no avail. The inside of the car was like an airplane’s cockpit so there were many controls to fiddle with. My boss who owns the car tried as well to set things right but he couldn’t. We decided to keep on going anyway, since we weren’t far from the office. We hoped that one way or another, it would stop or when we got to the office, some techie would come and fix it.

As we travelled towards the office, my boss called the driver who had driven us to the hotel. He had dropped the keys and left because he was feeling ill. My boss asked him what he had done to the car and why it was screaming at us continually. The driver then told him on the phone that he didn’t touch anything. Apparently, the brake lining of the car had issues prior to then and it had been taken out pending when a replacement for it would be purchased. In taking out the brake lining, the sensor for the parking brakes had been removed; the brain box of the vehicle not seeing the sensor where it should be was now giving alarming signals indicating that the parking brakes were faulty.

So my boss was actually trying to find out if he had fiddled with something in that arena. Anyway, when it didn’t seem as if he had touched anything relating to the brakes, my boss asked him what we should do now. “Switch off the engine and switch it on again, and when you switch it on, don’t touch the park brake release lever”. he advised. My boss passed on the message to me. I trafficated and stopped the car and switched it off and on again. I avoided the brakes despite the fact that the noise came up again and after a few seconds it stopped and the indicator light went dead as well.

I laughed at myself and said out loud. When ever you have a problem that you don’t have an understanding of, just stop, go back to the beginning and try and trace the source. That is why I titled this post “Press Enter”. While typing on the keyboard, to return to the beginning of the line, you can press the “Enter” key otherwise called the “Return” key. Many times in life, if only we returned to the beginning when we get hooked on the journey to fulfillment or destiny, we would be able to instantly solve the problems we are facing.

Questions like “why am I alive?”, “why was I created?”, “why did I marry her?” “why did I pick up this job?”, “how did I get here?” and others relating to the afore mentioned questions point you in the direction of the beginning or the source. There’s a yoruba proverb that translates literally as “If you don’t know where you are going, ensure you know where you are coming from”. Wherever you are stuck right now regardless of the situation, please “Press Enter” and go back to the beginning. You may just discover where things went wrong.

Once upon a time there was war between Japan and China. It was quite a difficult war to fight not because other wars are simpler but because the similarities in the looks of the nationals of both countries was striking. It was an uphill task distinguishing between Japanese and Chinese. As a result, Chinese warriors accidentally shot fellow Chinese soldiers before they could ascertain their nationality and vice versa.
In a bid to make the most out of the war, the two countries called a meeting and decided to agree on some rules of engagement.
“We need to be able to distinguish between our soldiers” they said. After hours of deliberation, someone suddenly came up with a brilliant solution.
“Let’s have two different colours for our uniforms” they finally agreed. And so the Japanese chose black as their uniform colour, while the Chinese chose red. One seemingly smart chinese soldier decided to sew his own uniform black an red. He sewed the front with red cloth and joined a black material with it to sew the back.
On a particular day when the battle lines were drawn, the smart soldier went  and stood in the midst of the battle field with his back turned to the Japanese army while he faced the Chinese army. Right in the middle of both armies he stood with his hand raised in the air as if to say “Who else but me can do this?”
Immediately, cheers rang out though strangely from both sides of the battle field as the chinese and japanese  both hailed the brave soldier, each  army thinking that the soldier was their’s. Amidst so much euphoria and pomp, the soldier decided to turn his back on the chinese army and face the japanese army. He didn’t realise that he had just made the biggest mistake of his life. One of the archers of the Chinese army on seeing the black uniform which was what his rear showed took a shot at him. At the same time, an archer from the Japanese army sent an arrow speeding in the direction of his heart.
SMACK! SMACK!! Both arrows hit him in the chest at the same time. He clutched at them in agony as he sank to the earth in throes of death.
What had he done wrong? Where did he miss it? How come his glory was so short lived? Why was he struck fatal blows by those who just sang his praise a few minutes ago?
He sat on the fence. He thought that he’d be safer if he didn’t stick to one army completely. He believed he could avoid the death, hatred and wickedness that was going on if he didn’t choose any side. He ended up getting killed by both sides.
How many people today are like this smart guy? People don’t want to say a strong “NO” or a hot burning “YES”. They want to be available to both sides of the moral, ethical and right divide at all points in time. They are neither builders nor destroyers. They are dressed in black and red, not in black or red. They are not ready to die for anything and would live and die for nothing.
They don’t want to be loved or hated by anyone. They are destructively phlegmatic. They will be ultimately be disowned and wrecked by both sides. You can not afford to not be known for where you stand. Someone said “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything”. What do you stand for? Where do you stand? What will you not compromise or negatotiate for? Don’t you just join the loudest ovation company? “If you can’t beat them, join them” – Isn’t that a favourite saying of yours?
If you wont be red or black, please don’t come to the battle field for you are not worthy of the honour.

Once upon a time, a clever monkey lived in a tree that bore juicy, red rose apples. He was very happy.
One fine day, a crocodile swam up to that tree and told the monkey that he had travelled a long distance and was in search of food as he was very hungry. The kind monkey offered him a few rose apples. The crocodile enjoyed them very much and asked the monkey whether he could come again for some more fruit. The generous monkey happily agreed.

The crocodile returned the next day. And the next. And the next one after that. Soon the two became very good friends. They discussed their lives, their friends and family, like all friends do. The crocodile told the monkey that he had a wife and that they lived on the other side of the river. So the kind monkey offered him some extra rose apples to take home to his wife. The crocodile’s wife loved the rose apples and made her husband promise to get her some every day.

Meanwhile, the friendship between the monkey and the crocodile deepened as they spent more and more time together. The crocodile’s wife started getting jealous. She wanted to put an end to this friendship. So she pretended that she could not believe that her husband could be friends with a monkey. Her husband tried to convince her that he and the monkey shared a true friendship. The crocodile’s wife thought to herself that if the monkey lived on a diet of rose apples, his flesh would be very sweet. So she asked the crocodile to invite the monkey to their house.

The crocodile was not happy about this. He tried to make the excuse that it would be difficult to get the monkey across the river. But his wife was determined to eat the monkey’s flesh. So she thought of a plan.
One day, she pretended to be very ill and told the crocodile that the doctor said that she would only recover if she ate a monkey’s heart. If her husband wanted to save her life, he must bring her his friend’s heart.
The crocodile was aghast. He was in a dilemma. On the one hand, he loved his friend. On the other, he could not possibly let his wife die. The crocodile’s wife threatened him saying that if he did not get her the monkey’s heart, she would surely die.
So the crocodile went to the rose apple tree and invited the monkey to come home to meet his wife. He told the monkey that he could ride across the river on the crocodile’s back. The monkey happily agreed. As they reached the middle of the river, the crocodile began to sink. The frightened monkey asked him why he was doing that. The crocodile explained that he would have to kill the monkey to save his wife’s life. The clever monkey told him that he would gladly give up his heart to save the life of the crocodile’s wife, but he had left his heart behind in the rose apple tree. He asked the crocodile to make haste and turn back so that the monkey could go get his heart from the apple tree.

The silly crocodile quickly swam back to the rose apple tree. The monkey scampered up the tree to safety. He told the crocodile to tell his wicked wife that she had married the biggest fool in the world.

I got quite fascinated  when I read this story and learnt a few things. Find my lessons below. You can add your own lessons as comments

1. You can never consistently sustain a relationship that is based on transient things.

The monkey and crocodile became friends because the monkey offered the croc rose apples when he was hungry. The monkey should have known that feeding a croc doesn’t pertually make you a friend to the croc. One day, your purpose and destiny will either find alignment or dispersal with that of your close friend, colleague, spouse or business partner. For two to walk together, they must agree.

2. You must know and understand your purpose and design and live within its limits.

A monkey will always be a monkey (potential food for crocodiles and other predators) and a crocodile will always be a crocodile (a predator of animals like monkeys). No amount of friendship or longstanding relationship will change those facts.

3. Values must define everything you do.

Any boundaries set or drawn without value lines will be pulled down or stepped over quite easily when pressure to do so occurs. If the crocodile valued his friendship with the monkey, he wont have been willing to kill him to save his wife. The worst case scenario is that he would have arranged with the monkey or otherwise to catch another monkey. What are you willing to negotiate your values for. Once you can negotiate it, it has no value.

4. What is the Big Picture?

People hardly look closely or deeply to see the big picture. It is said that less that 1/10th of the total size of an iceberg is visible above the waters. The larger part of it is beneath the surface. Experience mariners know this and do not treat icebergs on a surfce level. Where, candidly did the monkey think the friendship would take them to? Did he ever pause to consider the large picture? Did he just enjoy the friendship while it lasted and choose to look away from reality intentionally because responsibility demanded that he drew the line? Did he relish the power trip when other monkeys like him saw the croc and himself together and not wonder if he was on his own in the friendship, couldn’t there be a possibility that he would be on his own when it was over?

5. Who constitutes your multitude of counsellors?

Someone said “In the presence of counsellors, there is safety. ” Did the monkey ever seek counsel concerning his peculiar situation or did he think “Hmm, anybody I talk to will surely ask me if I’m in my right senses and warn me off my friend. They are all biased.” ? Maybe if he had spoken to someone he trusted about the situtaion, he’d have gotten good advice. If you don’ t have good, sensible thinking, mature and honest counsellors in your life, you are simply prey being prepared for the predator’s dinner.

Hi guys, remember in The Best Medicine – 1, I wrote about the frustrated and disgruntled man who was at his wits end and suicidal until he went to see his doctor to complain and was instructed to do what he loved doing most when he was young (going to the seashore). He told him to stay there all day and first Listen (at 9 am) for three hours and then reach back (at 12 pm) for another 3 hours and ponder on all that has happened to you in the past, what you’ll change or what you wont or what you’ll do better if given another chance. For more on the first 2 doses, please click on The Best Medicine – 1

In continuation, at 3.00pm, he tore open the third prescription. It said, “Reexamine your motives.” This took so much intense thought and concentration that the remaining three hours slipped by quickly as he reexamined his motives – his reasons for living and fulfillment. He clarified and restated his goals.
Motive is everything. That is why God always checks our motives. The “how” may be important and exciting but the “why” will always be revealing. Why are you doing what you are doing currently? Why are you at the level you are? Why have you not started to write, joined that group, proposed to that lady, taken your family out, prayed through, read a book, read your Bible, taken that course, called that person, priced that good? Why? Why? Why? They say “He who knows how will get the job, but he who knows why will always be his boss.”
And at six o’clock, under a gray, darkening sky and with a taste of salt mist in the air, he read the final prescription: “Write your worries in the sand.” Pausing for a moment, he knew there was something that seemed to be gnawing inside. With his pants rolled up, he grabbed a stick, walked to the shoreline, and wrote his worry in the sand. Before leaving, he stared at what he had written. But as he walked toward his car, he looked back and saw that the incoming tide had already erased his words. A smile eased onto his face as he got into his car and headed for home.
Nothing can change by reason of your worrying….which of you by worrying can add one cubit to your height? – Matt 6:27 Learn the lessons and forget the details.
Ingest now these four doses. Begin to listen, to reach back, to reexamine your motives, and to write your worries in the sand. Begin now to place your troubles, difficulties and past failures into perspective. Take time out now to discover yourself, where you are going, and how and when you will arerive at your destination. Remember, there are no unanswered requests in the universe. If you do not like what you are receiving, you can learn to ask for something different. Then you will find what you wish.

Once upon a time, there was a man who felt he had reached the end of his rope. To him, life was meaningless. All spirit had vanished from his life. Even his family, friends, and his work failed to hold his interest. Finally, nearing the point of desperation and at the end of his rope, he visited his physician. After listening to his story and seeing the depth of his depression, his doctor asked, “When you were a child, what one thing did you like to do best?”

The man took a deep breath, paused for a few moments, then replied, “I enjoyed visiting the seashore.”

“Okay,” his physician said calmly, “I’ve got just the remedy. But I must warn you. You must follow my instructions to the letter. Under no circumstances are you to deviate from my treatment.” His doctor then pulled a notepad from his rolltop desk and continued.

“Tomorrow, I want you to spend the day at the shore. find a secluded area on the beach and spend the entire day – from 9am until 6pm. Take nothing to read or anything to divert your attention. I’m going to give you four prescriptions that are guaranteed to cure your ailment. Take the first at 9am, the second at noon, the third at 3pm and the last at 6pm. Do not look at the instructions now. Instead, wait until you arrive at the shore tomorrow morning”. With that, the man promised to heed his doctor’s orders and left his office.

The following morning, shortly before 9am, he parked his car on a lonely stretch of beach. There was a strong wind blowing in from the sea, and the surf ws high and pounding. Depressed and forlorn, he walked to a sand dune near the inviting surf and sat down. As instructed, he took out the first prescription, opened it, and read it. It simply said, “Listen.” That’s all that was written on the paper – Listen. And for three hours that’s all he did. He listened to the sound of the buffeting wind. He listened to the lonely cries of the seagulls. He listened to the sound of the rushing surf. He sat motionless and listened.

You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll hear when you take time out to listen. Listen to your environment, listen to the birds, listen to the insects, listen to your children, just listen……listen to the wind, listen to your wife, and above all, listen to your innermost being.People never really take time to listen.Whenever you do, if you do, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll hear. As a country, we should learn to listen. We should listen carefully to and observe our history. We should listen to what we yearn for in our hearts and we should listen to what our potentials and destiny as a Nation say daily to us. As a people, we should listen to each other. We should listen to our leaders; we should listen to God and listen to posterity.

At noon, he reached into his pocket and took out the second prescription. Just like the first, these instructions were plain and simple. It said “Reach back.” And for the next three hours he did just that: He let his mind wander back as far as it could. He recalled all the incidents of his life that he could remember – the happy times, the bleak times, the triumphs and the struggles.

Always reach back; pause and ponder. Reminisce sometimes about the past in quietness and sober reflections. Remember the happy times, remember the sad……..remember and reflect on the best times you’ve had as well as the worst; when you cried and when you laughed; who you had fun with and where; the adrenaline rushes and the terrible mood swings. Just reflect on things past and replay them over and over in your mind. What you promised not to do again that you are still doing; what you promised to leave or start and you did. how you did things in the past and what you should have done better; what you risked and what you let go; your mistakes and brain children………..you’ll be amazed at how far you have come and how many lessons you have learnt or could have learnt and applied to your present. Note what you need to continue, change, stop or start.

Hope you endeavour to apply these first two doses of the best medicine until I make available the other doses of these great medicine. Till then have blessed moments and hours.