~In the spirit of Thanksgiving~

I have never for a moment doubted the crucial role passion, honesty, and love play in the outcome of virtually every human endeavor! You can never ever go wrong when you consciously infuse enthusiasm, honesty and joy into what you do. You become an instant magnet for kindred circumstances and people alike! The uninstructed would marvel at the kind of outcomes you get not realizing that you are choosing to apply time-tested eternal and universal laws, most especially the Golden Rue! We all deserve to meet and constantly interact with happy, honest, and enthusiastic versions of each other.

In my craziness, I sometimes would wish that it is entrenched in some law as a fundamental human right – Right to present only your happy, honest, and enthusiastic self to each other, in all your dealings, and at all times.  When we are passionate about what we do in business and in life, we usually see more successful outcomes than when we are constantly grouchy, whinny and negative! People see this and respond to us in kind! We all have personal trials, difficulties and challenges but I am a firm believer that in spite of our personal challenges, other people desire and (rightly) deserve to get happy, honest and passionate versions of “us” all of the time. After all, they played no role whatsoever in my personal challenges or difficulties. I train my employees to discard every personal challenges and unhealthy, negative emotions at the door of the office before stepping into the office so that the client gets the best version of them at all times. They are entitled to that!

Even though I have a website and spend so much on advertising for my firm, the most effective way for generating clients for me had been word of mouth through past clients or through people who have seen me in court and asked for my business card. They usually will say, “You seem very nice and passionate about what you do; can you help me with this matter”? Even though there had been few who attempted to negotiate the lowest legal fees possible because you are nice, it’s been overall a rewarding experience for me. On a personal level, I would travel to eternity with my hair dresser, not just because she does a really good job with my hair, but mostly because she is usually upbeat, happy, and passionate about her work! That kind of energy makes me go back to her even after being introduced to another hair dresser who charged almost half of what she charges me.

So last week, on the eve of Thanksgiving as I was picking up my Baby, Destiny, from the day care center where she is enrolled, I had stopped by to say a big thank you to her teacher Ms. Nicki. I have always told her I loved her energy and passion, and dedication but when my two year old started missing her Ms. Nicki at home, I just knew that I had to tell her how thankful I am that she is a part of our lives!  For every mom or dad out here who know how difficult it is to drop off that baby and see him or her cry and know you would still leave them and go to work, having a Ms. Nicki in your life will not only eliminate that heart break but also re-affirm your belief in the existence of angels. (After all, aren’t we meant to be each other’s angels?).

So talking about Ms. Nicki, Ms. Nicki is not your typical teacher at all. Her passion and love for what she does permeates every single cell in her body and oozes outwards, literally infecting everybody in her path. She infected me too! My two year old loves her Ms. Nicki so much that when she wakes in the morning, she is excited and will keep saying, “I am going to see my Ms. Nicki”. During the weekend, it is always, “I love my Ms. Nicki”. It is so easy to see how she would be so smitten with her Ms. Nicki whom I also simply adore! It does not matter what Ms. Nicki is going through, whenever I am picking up my child, you’d see her smiling from ear to ear amidst her tired eyes. I just love her selflessness, passion and the pure love she brings with her every day to her job.  So, on the eve of thanksgiving, I just had to tell her how thankful we are that she is a part of our lives through words that I wrote in a thank you card. I also included a little gift for her. She was so emotional when I gave it to her. (You must know by now that I was equally emotional)!

Anyway, this post is especially dedicated to all the Ms. Nickis’ out there who bring joy, passion, honesty, and undiluted love into their various life endeavors. They all have personal challenges and difficulties but consciously chose to discard those in order to give their personal best to others all of the time! That for me, is the hallmark of treating people exactly the way you’d want to be treated! It is priceless!!!

Nothing engenders success both on a business or personal level than this singular act of infusing love and passion to your work and your life!

I am thankful for all of you who read the blog and send your great insights and comments:-) Christmas is coming!!! Happy Holidays to you!

Lovingly yours

Ogor

Receiving our Blessings. . .Are you a closed or open vessel?

Most times, we are our own biggest enemies and we really have to learn how to get out of our own way. Yes! There are critical moments in the course of our day when we are presented with a Blessing. We simply fail to recognize that "test time" is here! We unconsciously repel and say NO to that blessing simply because it does not directly benefit us. We must be constantly on the alert and understand that blessing must not directly benefit us and our immediate reaction to a blessing that comes to others will determine whether that blessing will feel comfortable enough to come to house itself in our vault. Humanity is so interconnected that every blessing to another directly benefits us whether we are able to see it or not!

Make the right choice when "test time" comes. . . :-) You would get amazing result!

Lovingly yours,

Ogor Winnie Okoye

Children are simply IN---CRE----DI---BLE!!! Gotta LOVE' em!

To all the women (and men)out there who are raising children, I am sending your way, a heartfelt shout out! I think we are all doing a job that I believe to be one of the most important, tremendous and sometimes daunting jobs in the world! I promised myself that I must find the humor or what I always call my “happy” in every crazy situation that I am facing because there is always a blessing in every crazy or stormy circumstance. We need only the willingness to persist and hold on, just a little longer.

Once upon a time, I was that mom that wanted to do it all, while having the spickiest house in the world; but alas, children have taught me that my role is not to be perfect but to be the best that I can possibly be especially when it comes to the spicky factor around my home. Do you get my drift? I know that there are moms very much like me who have tried every conceivable trick known to man to get their children to be the best they possibly can be, especially in terms of their home chores and school work. I have done rewards, “real” hysterical crying, “fake” hysterical crying. I have felt real heart break in which I actually did feel real physical pain; faked heart break with amazing results too because the children did fall for it and the minute they leave my presence, I fall to the floor and melt in a feat of real laughter. I have done angry screams, the kind that you feel your lung straining under the pressure, taken away their most prized possession, etc. . .:-) Any moms (or dads) out here ever tried any of these fun antics?. . .Of course, we all have. . .:-) Don’t even lie. . . J

I often travel down memory lane to the days where it was my husband and I and a house that is every inch the idyllic spick and span house. Every piece of furniture as well as every single item in the house looked the exact same way it did when it arrived from the store. Even though friends often told me at the time that these  obsessive compulsive orderliness would drastically change when the babies start arriving. You should hear me say, “NO. . .NO”, I am allergic to disorderliness of any kind” “Not in this house”.  Those years seem so far away. I remember how diligent I use to be in picking up and returning items to their proper locations while wiping and cleaning every single spill when it was only baby no. 1, but then comes no. two,  no. three and four and I have to confess that it seemed they finally cured my allergy for disorderliness. I pick what I can, when I can; and make them pick the rest.

Last week, I was suffering a bout of the flu and stayed home. I kept walking past their playroom and for some strange reason; it looked as if the couch was calling out to me. My husband bought this beautiful, expensive, brown leather couch a couple of years ago and one day, I discovered a little hole (size of my hand) under the couch, (thanks to my lovely children) and we decided that the couch should go inside their playroom as a visitor might lose their car keys and lift up the cushion in search of the keys and it will not be such a good sight to behold! That was precisely how the couch became theirs, the childrens’. 

I passed their play room and decided to pick up the toys and sweep out the room; something good that will help me feel better from the congestion and fever.  After I was done sweeping and picking up the toys, I turned to leave the room and it looked like this couch was calling me (at least that was what it felt like).  I went back into the room and sat on the couch. I remembered that hole from months before and saw myself  lifting the cushion, ok,. . . , that small hole from a couple of months ago, is officially a giant man hole (seriously!) I noticed that it had some snack wrappers, sticking out of it and I put my hands inside the hole to get what I thought was a couple of snack wrapperss out of the hole and my hand sunk even deeper into what looked like a landmine of candy and snack wrappers. I was livid with anger! I got a trash bag and started stuffing it up until I filled it up with the wrappers.  I am thinking that almost every snack that I had bought in my house had their wrappers at this final resting place, inside this couch. Oh my God! My once lovely, lovely brown leather couch that housed so many precious memories (for my Bubu and I. . .:-) is now a landfill of snack debris and wrappers! The more snack wrappers I got out, the higher my anger meter rose! (Remember that I was already feeling awful from the flu) I am thinking that we will all be dead by the time they get back from school!  I know that I make them clean out this room almost on a daily basis and they must know about the landfill because they filled it up themselves!

Amidst all of this anger, I get a text from my cell phone company reminding me that the bill for the kids’ cell phone is due! They have lost their cell phone for at least three months and I have made them look everywhere in the house for that phone and they just have never been able to find it! For some weird reason, I just never disconnected their phone because I knew that their cell phone was somewhere in the house!  I grudgingly made the stupid payment for a non-existent phone and got back to work; a work that was taking me almost one hour – One whole hour to clean out “my couch”, their “snack wrapper land fill”! I finally got the last of the snack wrappers and decided that I needed to elevate the couch in order to make all of the snack debris go on one side of the couch so I could suck it all out with a vacuum cleaner. When I elevated the couch, I heard lots of items settling exactly where I wanted them to go and I stuck my hand inside once again, and here is a list of the items that I discovered, in the exact order of discovery  ;-)

Two remote controls (one for my daughter’s room and the other from their play room)  – missing for  months. For the first time since the cleaning started, I broke into a BIG smile! “This is so unbelievable”, I thought, “The kids would be very happy to finally have their remote controls back”. Next, I discovered 27 pencils, 11 pens, 2 erasers and 3 sharpeners. You must guess that I was officially at a really healthy and happy frequency, the frequency that had eluded me all morning; (I am thinking that I would not spend any dime on pencils and pens for the rest of the school yearJ. Next, you are not gonna believe this, . . .I stuck my right hand in, one more time, and out came my hand with “their cell phone”! Yep!,. . .their cell phone had been in that couch all these monthsJ. I just started jumping up and down and screaming in joy! I was ecstatic! Finally, the discovery that made me roll on the floor and laugh like I had never done in a really long time! Listen to this, “two tiny human teeth”. . .:-) Did the tooth fairy decide that my couch was a good place to keep those?  I remember my last son, Kenny and my older daughter looking for their lost tooth months ago, and wondering if anyone had seen them. .(lol!)

A day that started really crappy, ended really great!  That couch kept calling for help and I answered that call! LOL! When the kids came back from school, they were beside themselves with joy! They have their cell phone as well as their remote control back and even their teeth (LOL!!). Anyway, after speaking to them about the couch, they promised that they would not stuff it up again with the snack wraps and I have been checking since last week and no wraps yet. . . I think children are incredible! They test us every day; but most importantly, they teach us resilience and strength and add a huge “happy” into our lives!  Personally, my kids have taught me that there is no such thing as the “perfect mom” and that I only needed to be the best possible mom that I can be to them!

In the meantime, I am not giving up on my various antics as they have worked so far. . .:-) I would love to hear about new antics that have worked for you with your kidsJ. Hope everyone is enjoying this lovely new month of October! ~xoxo~

Lovingly yours,

Ogor Winnie Okoye

Its September! Are you Manifesting your Best Ever Results yet!

It is September 1, 2011 (yeeeeaaahhhh. . . .:-), Happy New Month guys!!!! I must confess that I am both excited and nervous at the same time! 2011 is determined to race to the finish line as fast as it can, isn't it? September, however, is a stellar month! This month marks for me, the beginning of taking stock of my whole year’s set goals and aspirations and also ushers in the MBER months! Months for Manifesting Your Best Ever Results; based on the goals and aspirations I set at the beginning of the year.

It’s time to get honest with ourselves. . . Can we confidently say that we have begun to Manifest our Best Ever Results as of today, September 1, 2011? Have we reached our set goals/aspirations that we were so enthusiastically committed to at the beginning of the year? Are we still very far from the manifestation phase of those goals or are we closer than ever to manifesting our best ever results? Did you embark on a weight loss goal at the beginning of the year? How are you doing with that..:-)? Did you promise to work on being a more loving, kinder and understanding version of yourself at the beginning of the year? How did you do? Did you promise to step up in your relationship and become better at understanding your partner? How did you do? Are you able to check off some goals on your list? Are you able to check of NO goals on your list?  Honesty guys, please. . . :-)

Do you recall the enthusiastic spirit with which you welcomed the year 2011 and the goals  or resolutions that you promised yourself you would achieve before the end of the year. If you have not started manifesting those either because you still have not taken that Critical First Step (CFS); or because you did take the CFS but are yet to take those series of Important Next Steps (INS) towards manifesting those goals; today is the day to start! Recreate that enthusiastic spirit and make it happen! It is your dreams; your goals, your aspirations and so you know what the critical first steps and important next steps entail!  Do not give up! We still have about 120 days and approximately, about 2,880 hours to Manifest those Best Ever Results that we desire! Start NOW!

If you happen to be welcoming this brand new month of Manifesting your Best Ever Results with one or two goals that you already manifested; kudos to a job well done because it does take a lot of commitment, hard work, dedication and resilience to be able to Manifest those results! You deserve to give yourself a special treat for that. . .:-) If you are like me with some goals that you were able to check off and some goals that still have a few loose strings to tie before they manifest, then follow these quick tips:

1. Enthusiastically follow through with that Critical First Step (CFS) NOW; not tomorrow! If you have already started but need some other important steps in order to manifest those goals, Follow through with those Important Next Steps (INS) NOW, as in TODAY, not tomorrow.
2. Never worry that you do not have everything it takes to manifest those goals. We are all endowed with just enough to start anything whatsoever! Start with what you have from a place of FAITH; the missing parts of the puzzle will appear one link at a time. Its manifestation is exclusively tied 100% to your FAITH;
3. Try to give it 100% any time that you work at it! Not only are you building a strong and dogged character, but hard work would always pay given that action and reaction usually tend to be equal and opposite – Newton’s 2^nd law of motion; and finally,
4. Never believe people who tell you that it cannot be done because their reality and truth is theirs and not yours, it is only their opinion; your own reality and your own truth is what counts! It is entirely up to you! What you believe becomes your truth and your reality and will manifest in your life! You call the shots!. In the alternative, AVOID, AVOID, and AVOID such people if you can. . .:-)

I wish you a most stellar month of September! – the beginning of the months for taking stock and Manifesting your Best Ever Results! Let us work together on checking off a few more items on our to do list. J

Lovingly yours,

Ogor

~xoxo~ 

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