Midnight Motivations and Musings // 48…

April 2, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha23 Comments

Opportunity is taking the situation that you are in and turning it around on its head to make some sense out of it. Opportunity is not going to traipse lazily and knock on your door begging you to pick it up.

Opportunity is not going to traipse lazily and knock on your door begging you to pick it up and it’s not everyone that will have a Cinderella story to tell. Some will have to work their way out of the grate of cinders with all the smoke and never a pair of dainty slippers to lose or Prince galloping to the rescue.

Some will have to work their way out of the grate of cinders with all the smoke and never a pair of dainty slippers to lose or Prince galloping to the rescue.

Adapting to the situation that life presents us is the first key to getting ahead.

Finding the positives that such a situation has to offer and tailoring it to serve some worthwhile purpose in your life is turning an ordinary occasion into a great and well-optimized opportunity.

Your story is an opportunity. Your life is an opportunity. Your art is an opportunity. Your photos are opportunities. Your speaking strength could be an opportunity. Your baking is an opportunity. Your cooking is an opportunity. Your parenting is an opportunity.

Opportunity abounds. Use them as well as you can.

Humbly Eating Burnt Offering…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

March 19, 2016 jacquelineobyikocha29 Comments

I smile in amusement as I write this little post. If not that Easter eggs are popping up every where, my thought would have been that Linda has bionic powers to see into my kitchen.

I just finished breakfast of partially burnt scrambled eggs offered by my daughter. We are learning to cook and I guess burning is part of the practice 🙂

I humbly ate the eggs with a thankful heart. Soon enough she will get the hang of it with practice.

I think fleetingly back to my growing up years and learning how to cook in my mother’s kitchen. Only God knows how many burnt pots of rice, yam, beans, soup, I had to go through before getting into it.

Eggs were treats back then, eaten mostly on Saturday and Sundays because we had to wait for our local, home bred chickens to lay enough of them and on some days during the week, they were stingy or lazy with the laying of the eggs.

It’s not like now, where trays and trays of different types of eggs are on display for customers to choose as many crates as they wish.

Back then, it used to be a delight to go to the chicken coop at the back and find a warm, just laid egg.

Occasionally we were blessed with seeing a little chick hatch from eggs that my grandma set aside.

How she knew the ones that would hatch is something that I never understood.

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If I Teach You Something, Will You Reciprocate?…

November 26, 2015November 26, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha21 Comments

There are things that I do often and quite enjoy doing. A lot of these things are physical and some are not.

I cook every day to keep myself and my family well nourished. One of the dishes that features in most West African homes is Jollof Rice. Maybe, some day, I will share the secrets of Jollof with you 🙂

I dance a lot too. Not the gymnastic, acrobatic tumbling all over the place, but I dance virtually everyday to the tunes of my music of the moment. However, I guess except I turn to you-tubing, I may not be able to teach you much about my dancing.

I write ever so often. I don’t bother tallying the amount of time that I spend penning something because writing to me is akin to breathing, laughing, reflecting and crying through my fingers.

I have been known to write on serviettes or tiny bits of receipts to catch that fleeting thought – and you need to see me on the days that I am scrambling through my bag trying to find that little piece of tissue on which I wrote something 😉

I actively search out ways to maintain a balance of my inner peace of mind in a chaotic life.

I am not a religious fanatic, but I am unapologetically a Christian.

At most times, I am a peaceful, humorous, friendly, loving and hopefully a kind human.

Let me share with you the little things that I do to create peace within and around. Maybe, we share somethings in common:

I dwell on positive thoughts – even if it is just one thought that I meditate on each day.

Walking or finding an hour to exercise either very early or much later in the day. It clears the cobwebs in the head and helps my health as well as the waist line 😉

Those thoughts that bug me, I write them down and them take time to tear the piece of paper into bits. Its a way of releasing and letting go for me.

Sometimes, wacky it may seem, I go into the bathroom, face the mirror and just speak my mind, make faces …

I say my mind if someone has hurt me and I move on. I let go of grudges as quickly as before I go to sleep.

I am always quick to apologize if need be. No need aggravating and dragging an issue that can be quickly nipped in the bud.

I doodle, draw and reflect as I draw. The doodle in the picture was my last work done two days ago.

Writing happy stuff.

Searching out amusing things to read or watch and laughing out real loud. I like people who can make me laugh.

Having a date with myself at least once a week. It could be going to the park, spa, museum or as simple as a cafe alone.

Rest when I am tired (still working on this though, because sometimes other events overtake my intentions).

Honesty is a key in life that I don’t compromise on and practice. Especially in my relationships.

Talking to people and not just family and friends. Total strangers too.

Minimized drastically the amount of time spent watching TV.

Keeping away as much as possible from negative and toxic conversations.

Working consistently towards my passion and financial goals.

Avoiding the spirit of envy and jealousy as much as possible and giving myself a hard telling off once I see the green eyed monster rearing it’s ugly head.

Accept those things that cannot change and leave bad memories in the past where they belong.

Learning to be more patient and tolerant with family, friends and everyone else.

Trying to focus my mind on what needs to be achieved at the moment and living in the moment and keeping it as simple as possible.

These things translate to my inner peace which leads to external peace. What one does not have they cannot give.

So what will you teach me today? I am listening 🙂

The Daily Post prompt Teach your bloggers well.

We all know how to do something well — write a post that teaches readers how to do something you know and/or love to do.

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Chef Extraordinaire…personal

November 26, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha29 Comments

Bending over to stoke the firewood, blowing at it with gusto and fanning the crackling flames till they lit; putting kerosene into the stove and lighting it’s wicks with an ignited single broomstick; manipulating the gas cooker to lower the heat from burning the beans or rice while I snatched a quick five minutes read in the bathroom, were my early forays in the kitchen. I was caught young!

Naturally this has gravitated towards keeping my brood and my dear Himself nourished over the years and I believe that in most homes this is usually the case – the mother automatically assumes the kitchen chef position.

I certainly know the way to his heart by keeping his tummy nicely sated with good tasting yumminess 🙂

It has been my primary responsibility over the years and I dare say that I can whip up a decent meal and efficiently too.

Since that is the case, it goes without debate that I am the best cook in my domain.

However, there are have been days that Himself develops a desire to become a culinary artist and Myself simply puts up her feet and watch’s my kitchen transform into an operation desert storm 😉

I don’t mutter a word of discouragement so that the waves of culinary want-to-do will hit more often.

I simply go ahead and enjoy eating every bite whipped up by Himself, with a deep hum of appreciation and a sink load of dirty pots and pans.

Do you enjoy whipping up some yummy stuff or is there a Himself in your life, who is a culinary artist turning your kitchen into an area hit by a thunder storm?

NaBloPoMo – Thursday, November 26

If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today (or even if you’re not!), tell us about the best cook in your family.

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Are you overlooking the Small Clay Pot?…

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 jacquelineobyikocha13 Comments

Learning to cook started at a young age for me; not that I remember being asked 😉 it was just the way things were.

From assisting mother in the kitchen in preparation of all sorts, to going over during the holidays to help grandma prepare her classic agidi jollof/wrapped corn meal and oil bean flakes which we would also help her sell at the local market; commercial trading was also learnt in the bargain.

Naturally, as a young child and a bookworm, often, I would get distracted or sneak into the restroom to read a quick page of my fave of the moment and the quick page turned into several; meanwhile my absorbed mind has forgotten that I was meant to be watching the pot of beans and ensure that it didn’t burn.

Needless to say, it was usually the aroma of burnt offering that alerted my nostrils to the disaster on fire and mothers voice raised to power two exclaiming away “Hia! this child will not kill me!”

The burnt level of the beans knew many degrees and the instruction to wash that burnt pot until it was gleaming enough to show the reflection of your teeth was never a small task. It kept you on the straight and narrow corner of the kitchen for some good days 🙂

Yet mothers patience never gave up on us. She continued teaching and we continued attempting to kill her, but thankfully never succeeded and turned out to be responsible adults today.

Let me leave you with this African proverb:

“When you overlook the small clay pot, it will boil over and put off the firewood.”

This can be translated in so many ways, but a quick example is: when you overlook a small bad habit, it becomes a character trait.

Once again Oba thank you for extending this invite. I am enjoying it.

To participate in the 3 quote challenge, I would like to invite:

Obscurasomnia

Oneta

Tony Burgess

Good day and blessings.