Welcome to Jhene Stephen's Blog...

C hallenges build character and make you stronger. Challenges refine you like gold. Struggle and resistance  produce toughness in the muscles. In the same way challenges produces toughness in the mind. James Buckham says, "Trials, temptations, disappointments – all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them rightly. They not only test the fibre of a character, but strengthen it. Every conquered temptation represents a new fund of moral energy. Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before." We hang in there and never give up because success and the releasing of our potential is the reward at the end of perseverance. You're unique and one of a kind. All too often we don't really take into consideration just how special we are. Sure we pat others on the back for a job well done, but when was the last time you gave yourself some well-deserved credit? I hope that you'll take just a second ...

L ife could never be perfect; if life were perfect, there would be no challenges for a person to face plus there would be no interesting phase of life. Perhaps God made life imperfect so that people will have responsibilities to do. The missing links in life becomes tools for people to use in grappling with circumstances that they encounter in life everyday; otherwise, man would just sit down and do nothing if life were perfect. Life is a mystery we really don’t have all the answers…. Sometimes we need to hear so many No’s before we get the one YES, we might need to kiss so many frogs before we find our prince charming… The road to success is fraught with pain and rejection but each NO takes you closer to your big YES… Always remember you will need only one YES to make your big break! Be it business, relationship, job offer, marriage proposal etc. Just be patient and keep keeping on, we will all make it to the finish line… life is a roller coaster we just got to ride it.

A t 6:50 p.m., as evening fell in Mexico City in 1968, John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic stadium - the last man to finish the punishing marathon race. The victory ceremony for the winning runner was long over and the stadium was almost empty as Akwari – his leg bloody and bandaged -- struggled to circle the track to cross the finish line. Watching from a distance was Bud Greenspan, a documentary filmmaker famous for his Olympic movies. Intrigued, Greenspan walked over to the exhausted Akwari and asked why he had continued the grueling run to the finish line.The young man from Tanzania did not have to search for an answer. He said: " My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race." Commit or quit ... it's up to you.

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition.

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty . "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air. "My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20." Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that ...

Recently I hopped in a Taxi and we took off for the Airport.  We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right  in front of us.   My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!  The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.  And I mean, he was really friendly.   So I asked, 'Why did you just do that?   This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!'  This is when my Taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck'  He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.  As their Garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.  Don't take it personally.  ...

T here are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday with all its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back Yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed; we cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone forever. The other day we should not worry about is Tomorrow with all its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and its poor performance; Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, either in splendor or behind a mask of clouds, but it will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in Tomorrow, for it is yet to be born. This leaves only one day, Today. Any person can fight the battle of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities Yesterday and Tomorrow that we...

T he words that you speak out loud and the words that you repeat mentally have a tremendous impact on your outlook in life. Guard your words. Be sure that you’re only on conversations which affirm your dreams, goals, and aspirations. When you are in conversations with your friends, never put yourself down. Also, never talk about your goals in a negative way. They should not be of with frustration or worry. Instead keep the conversations upbeat and enthusiastic. You should always project a positive vision of your future to others. Talk to yourself in a positively manner. Speak out loud about things that you want to be, do and have. When you talk about where you are going you build up an expectation in your mind. Control that direction and your level of expectation by keeping your words positive. 

I t's been said that the biggest enemy of 'great' is 'good'. The biggest enemy most of us face is 'ourselves'. The nagging voice says: be like him, you're not worthy; do what he does, follow where others are going. When you're trying to be like someone else, the best you can ever be is "second best" . Why compare yourself with others? No one in the entire world can do a better job of being you than you. We all do it or have done it at some point in our lives; we compare ourselves to others and gauge where we are based on what we observe them to be doing. When you stop comparing yourself to others, you tend to produce more results in your life, you are able to improve yourself, and get a better vision for your life . The easiest thing to be in the world is YOU . The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position. Until you make peace with who you are, you will never be cont...

                                                              L ife is too precious to waste living it without a plan or goal. It is too short not living it to the fullest, as they say. Okay, okay. Say, you have a goal, a dream, a wish you want to fulfill. You’d ask, is that enough? The answer would be yes, as long as you have the assertiveness to reach it. Hey, it wouldn’t be called a goal unless you have no plans of achieving it, right? Otherwise, having a goal without the will to make it into reality is not enough. Another problem regarding this matter is that people do have a goal but just don’t have what it takes to achieve it, or so they thought. Again, they become blinded by the negativity of their minds . Money, socio-economic status, race, age, gender –these are just a few factors that hinder individuals to think that...