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...

Life is queer with it's twist and turns. As everyone of us learn sometimes, don't give up though the pace seems slow, you may succeed with another blow. Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tints of the clouds of doubt, and you never can tell how close you are.  The single most important difference between champions, achievers and average people is their ability to handle rejection and failure. You can't travel the road to success without a puncture. Mistakes are often the best teachers. Whenever you fall pick something up.  The mistake-riddled life is much richer, more interesting and more stimulating than the life that has never risked or taken a stand on anything. "Don't fear failure too much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of life contains 3 descriptions: could have, might have, and should have (Robert Schuller) ". Look at what you have left, never look at what you lost.  It may be near when it seems so fa...

The truth is that most dangerous place to be is in the middle of the road. Make rigid decisions, no should I or shouldn't I. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Remain indecisive and you will never grow! Every accomplishment great or small, starts with a decision. To move to where you are, you must decide where you would rather be. 

Character is the aggregate sum total of one's distinctive moral and mental qualities. Every man has in himself a continent of undiscovered character, however it is not a natural endowment we are born with.  It is something that each individual forms of itself, with a continuous process in every thought, every action, every deed, every feeling which contributes to the education  faculty of our attitudes and habits.  Character is just like cloud of smoke, it can never be concealed or hidden because it will find its way out. Character is a magnet that attracts the right people to you. It is the real foundation of all worth while success.  "Thoughts leads on purposes, purposes go forth in action, action from habits, habits decides character, and character defines our destiny" (Tryon Edwards). Would your reputation recognize your character if they met in the dark? Would the boy you were be proud of the man you are?

Be an original individual and not a photocopy. However, you may try to change your personality, but you can't. A congolese proverb says, " Wood may remain ten years in the water, but it will never become a crocodile". Beware! Many spend their entire lives trying to change the way they were made. "To be nobody but yourself" says E.E. Cummings " but in a world which is doing its best day and night, to make everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting." The greatest tragedy than can strike an individual is to fail to know himself.  Syndney Harris said "Ninety percent of the world's woe comes from people not knowing themselves, their abilities, their frailties and their real virtues". Whatever you are, be a good one.  You are number one; everyone in the world is your number two. Wart Disney said, "the more you are like yourself, the less you are like anyone els...

To maximize our life we must have a life of purpose. Without a purpose nothing would be done. William Scolavino said, "The heights of your accomplishments will equal the depth of your convictions. Seek happiness for its own sake, and you will not find it; seek for purpose, and happiness will follow as a shadow comes with the sunshine".  This means living a life of purpose brings happiness. A life without a purpose is an early death. " If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live," Martin Luther King, Jr said.  For us to maximize our life we must "know ourselves" but, then are we really keen to know our true self? "Knowing oneself" means an effort to improve on our shortcomings and weaknesses through self study. We should analyze our imperfections and endeavor to overcome them. The greatest and most honourable battle a man can fight, is to fight with himself and win the victory.  Life has ...

Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented. White lies leave black marks on your reputation. You can't stretch the truth without making your story look pretty thin, and when you stretch the truth, it snaps back at you.  Though honesty may not be popular, it's always right. The fact that nobody wants to believe what's true doesn't prevent it from being correct. Always tell the truth, and you never have to remember what you said. The truth is one thing for which there's no substitute. When you stretch the truth, it always snap back to hurt you. 

... Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care. Serving others is never entirely unselfish, because the giver always receives. Before looking a way to get, look for a way to give. Selfishness is the greatest curse of the 'human race'.  Self-interest is a fire that consumes others and then itself. Almost all of our unhappiness is the result of selfishness. It is absolutely true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others succeed. A self-centered life is totally empty, while an empty life allows room for God.  A good way to forget your troubles is to help others out of theirs. Look for ways to help others by praising them because any definition of a successful life must include serving others. 

Your future comes one hour at a time. Never be disgraced when you make progress, no matter how slow or small. Small steps are a big idea. Nobody makes the greater mistake than someone who did nothing because he could only do a little.  You are always nearer than you think. The greatest oppurtunity is where you are. Do not despise your own place and hour. The most important thing in our lives is what we are doing now. Know the real value of today.  The regrets that most people experience in life comes from failing to act when having an oppurtunity. Be on the the look out for the oppurtunities God is sending your way.  "The time is always right to do the right thing. Be driven by excellence. The true measure of a person is in his height of ideals, breadth of sympathy, the depth of his convictions, and length of his patience. If you want greatness, then forget greatness and earnestly pursue what is right. Then you can find both. The biggest mistake you can m...

There is no future in the past. Stop looking at where you have been and start looking at where you can be. The past is always going to be the way it was. Stop trying to change it. Rosy thoughts about the future can't exist when your mind is full of the blues about the past.  Living in the past is a dull and lonely business, looking back strains the neck in muscles, causing you to bump into people not going your way. Your past cannot be changed, but you can change your tomorrow by actions today. Never let yesterday use up to much of today. Move on!

Broken promises cause the world's greatest accidents. You can't make wrong work. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. Never chase a lie: if you leave it alone, it will run itself to death. Everything you add to the truth, you inevitably subtract from it.  A lie will add to your troubles, subtract from your energy, multiply your difficulties and divide your effectiveness. Never view anything positively that makes you break your word. Make your word your bond.