The 'little' things

   I recently just discovered something, as little and as insignificant as it sounds, it is the absolute truth. As human beings there are a lot of things we seem to take for granted, a lot of times we're not even conscious of it. We don't see it worthy enough to appreciate it by even a 'thank you'.

   I have a housemate who was always kind and considerate enough to put off the heater each time she was done in the bathroom, she had been doing it since we all moved in together and it really is something we all should do each time we use the shower but for some reason, since she always did it, we always left it for her to do. Prior to that, she would always tell us once in a while to please not forget to switch it off, and even when she said so, she would still go back to check before she left the house. It became the norm for us for her to do it. By the way, it is a process to switch it off but she always found the time to do it even when she was rushing. My other housemates and I never saw it as anything for her, we never appreciated her with even a thank you or just something to let her know that we acknowledge the fact that she's doing something we're all meant to do.

Two weeks ago she travelled for the holiday, in real sense, her leaving for holiday didn't mean that the heater should be left on always but because we always left it for her to do, and got use to the fact she always did it, we left it on for 8 days and on that 8th morning, someone went in to use the bathroom and found it spoilt. It refused to come on, and we couldn't fix it. Of course we were to blame but no one would take the blame for it. P.s we ended up spending a ton of money just to fix it.

   Moral of this story: that little thing someone is doing for you, no matter how little it is, show the person you see what they are doing and say thank you. Don't wait till you are without it to appreciate it. You can be sure that we all called my housemate that was away and said a big thank you for all the times she put it off when we forgot to and refusing to listen to her when she reminded us to do it. She was so thrilled just by that gesture.

   We tend to take the smallest things for granted and whether we know or not, the person performing the action also feels taken for granted. Something happens when we appreciate people, it's something natural, I think its more psychological but even me as a person, I know how I feel when someone notices my effort and says thank you.

  Recently I learnt that being grateful makes what you have enough. be thankful and appreciative even for the smallest things.

 

 

it doesn't get easier! You get better!

   

I'm sure for everyone, there's been that point in life when you thought "omg, I'm never going to be able to do this" and now looking back to that thing, your doing it with so much ease now and even wonder what you were thinking all those other times you thought you couldn't handle it.
   Anyways, have you wondered if it really did get easier or you just got better at it!?
For the majority of humans I know, they don't exactly like to give themselves credit for the things they do so a lot of people will resort to the first option being that it got easier but majority and if not most of the time, you actually get better!! :)
Give yourself a pat on the back for me.
   There's absolutely nothing wrong In appreciating yourself for something amazing that you did, weather or not someone noticed it. #selflove is the absolute best thing in the world!
Sadly, there is actually a very very thin line between confidence and cocky, it's very okay, in fact very advisable to be absolutely confident, it actually has an effect on the way you carry yourself, but you have to be absolutely careful not to get too confident which gets into cocky, we don't want to feel that way trust me.
   The new job you just started, and that new course you started doing that seems a lot easier or maybe not as bad when you started was as a result of YOU getting better! It actually didn't get easier!!!
Cut yourself some slack and celebrate you!!! And just to encourage all you out there who just started something new, or maybe thinking of something and at the same time thinking "it's going to be so hard". Why not leap out and see! Equate the fear stopping you from reaching out to the drive you have within you and watch it cancel out that fear!.

THE WORTH OF A SMILE...

We may never be able to explain truly the power of a smile.

   I was at a mall yesterday and like all other malls, it was filled with a lot of people probably shopping for the week as it was Saturday.

After a while, I found myself at the coffee section just to get a bottle of water because I was so dehydrated. I took a sit at the end of the shop so I could look out the window just so I didn't get idle.

   About fifteen minutes later, an old lady, very pretty took a sit at a table right beside me with her shopping cart. 

She then looked in my direction and asked if I would like to have coffee with her, I politely declined because I really didn't have that time and she was also still a stranger to me.

When her coffee arrived, I was still there, sipping my water and scrolling through my phone when she asked me to come and sit with her and keep her company, I was at first skeptical but she seemed so genuine and also really lonely so I obliged and sat opposite her.

   She started the conversation and said I had a pretty smile, that caught me off guard at first because I really didn't remember smiling at her. 

But she went back after probably feeling my uneasiness and said that while I was sitting at the window looking out as people walked in and out I apparently smiled at her, I remember smiling at anyone who made eye contact with me so I couldn't possibly remember all of them.

   But yes, that was how our conversation started and I spent quite a while talking to her, seems really insignificant but I know what I learnt within the period I sat with her and when she left.

And right before I left, she gave me a hug and said 'keep on smiling'... That went a long way in making my day pretty awesome.

The best part for me was the fact that she was white, it was a reminder that the world truly is evolving, who knew that today a black and white person would sit and have a conversation. days like this we have reasons to be grateful to the likes of Nelson Mandela.

And yea, you can be sure I left that mall smiling at every single individual I passed.

My point, I think smiling brings opportunities, it turns days around, and it costs nothing really just to smile at someone, you never really know who needed that reassurance from your smile.

How well do you know you?

Knowing yourself is the best thing that YOU can do for YOU.
   Because putting YOU in a position it doesn't want to be in only minimizes your output.
Only recently I started to discover some things about myself, I found out that unlike most people would say about me, i actually dislike being around too many people, i prefer to be alone, in order words as a person, I'm introverted. This is very contrary to what people know me to be. And because they knew me like this and constantly told me, I tried to fit into what they thought I should be, what they said I was. It didn't make me happy and that suppressed certain things in me because It Is in my quiet times I tend to produce the best results.
   Spend some time with yourself and find out who you really are. Don't let people around tell you who you are, be the one telling them who you are. Shun whatever you have heard about yourself and ask yourself who are YOU?....lol
Don't settle for those things you're not comfortable with, let it out and let people know.

Let your happiness be based on those things that really matter.

   Are you really that happy?

When do we say that we are happy? someone once said, 'the joy of life is not in the beautiful melody and symphonies, it is actually in the reality  behind when the music stops.' make any sense?

When are you the happiest?

when do you smile the most?

   Is it when you get an alert from your bank account? or when you get an awesome result in a test?

The test of strength and happiness is when even in the worst of times, your still the happiest, not pinning your happiness on anything gives you strength.

If having money or having the best score determines your happiness, then your limiting yourself because the test of true happiness is behind the reality of when you don't have these things.

   I just want you to stop basing your happiness on material things, things that honestly would not always be there. Its only very human to take for granted what you have, its those that don't have that appreciate it. its time we realized this and be grateful for what you have.

Be happy that you woke up and you still have life, despite the fact you don't have money or things don't seem to work the way you expected.

Be happy that you have family, they may not be complete but you've got someone to call family.

Life is short, don't live life basing your happiness on things that should matter the least.

REWIND PLEASE OR FAST FORWARD NOW??

  So this evening, my housemates and I got into a heated discussion when someone asked "if you had a chance to either go back to your past or fast forward into the future, which would you pick?"

Immediately i said i'll obviously go to my future stating my reasons. At the same time, some other people countered my own opinion and said they'd prefer to go back to their past because the past influences the present and determines the future.

This got me thinking really hard

   I said I would go into my future, find out the leading brands in society, get very knowledgeable on certain things, find out the technology of tomorrow and start investing in it when I came back, I also included personal details like knowing future hubby and also that of some of my friends. My take was that the past is the past, instead of mending it, why not concentrate and make the future better?

   My 'opponents' were totally of a different opinion, they said that if they went back to the past, obviously the present that we are currently in would've been different, they'd change all the things they regret presently and probably undo what they did that got them in trouble, some also took it to personal levels and said they'd have prevented a loved one from dying or tried to have avoided some really nasty things and on and on, it was very deep and got everyone critically thinking. At some point I wasn't even sure of myself.

But on second thought, forward ever and backward never right? I think I'm definitely of the opinion of live the past were it is and make the future better.

    Biblically speaking, looking toward the future is the goal because we know who holds the future.

And you know the saying 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger'? if you survived that past, i think there's a reason for it and those things you wish to have changed have made you better in some way and also molded you to who you are today.

I still want to hear what you all think.... if you had a chance, just if, would you request a REWIND or a FAST FORWARD??

                               

CHALLENGE....#100dayshappiness

So this morning, i woke up to an amazing post by Bondi Bilala on instagram which read "happy for 100 days in a row?"
This caught my attention almost immediately and i just stared at it and then i read her caption which dared us all to take on the challenge with her. Does it seem impossible? Finding one thing for the next 100 days everyday that makes you happy.
I think it is now that we'll begin to appreciate the little things in our lives that make us happy, cause when we sit to think of that one thing, so many others may pop up into your head which on a normal day you would've never even considered.
I'm taking on this challenge with her and i think we all should. Lets count one thing for the next 100 days that make you happy each day.
I think it'll even be more exciting if you wrote it down, or as she said, keep a journal of it and then maybe at the end of the next 100 days, you flip through it and see what put a smile on your face.
By the way, you really should check out her blog, www.bondibilala.blogspot.com. it is one you can relate to on what ever level. #100dayhappinesschallenge

The world we live in.

    

So yesterday, i was lucky to attend an international event some place here in Portsmouth, it was absolutely beautiful! cant remember when last i laughed that much... oh well

During the event, various countries were represented there, in food, dressing, language and the obvious flags. Got to learn a lot from so many cultures. There's truly a lot of beauty in diversity.

So back to my point, at a certain point in time during this event, each country represented by people, had to come out to the podium, holding their National Flags and do a dance done in their country, they would then receive claps and ovations from the audience, especially those also from the same country.

     So, guess what happened? 

This innocent, good looking chap, holding the South-African flag came out. First of all, unlike most people that came out in three's or four's, in the case of Nigerians dozen's, This South-African guy came out alone, smiling and holding up his flag very proudly. I really admired his confidence. You really should have seen the expressions from some people present, some even passed really nasty comments, all because of the xenophobic attacks going on in South-Africa right now.

I must admit, i was one of those who immediately thought 'why would they even bring out South-Africa?' considering what is going on there. But after the program, while people were still talking about it, it occurred to me that 'what exactly has the young chap done to receive such criticism just because his a South-African?' His here, He has no hand in what is going on in his country despite the fact that it is a sad occurrence.

   On the other hand,  it just reminds me that we are all Ambassadors, whether we like it or not, we represent something or someone. Because of what is going on in South-Africa now, I imagine the way some of these South-Africans feel in another mans country.

We really should be mindful of what we do, what we say and what were known for because it really isn't just your name you carry.

#stopxenophobia #onepersondoesntmeaneverybody.

INTRODUCTIONS

Hi there,

    My name is Rubie Targema-Takema, I know... its so hard to pronounce and just so long. I always dreaded First days at new schools because the teacher would usually take forever trying to get the right pronunciation and before he/she was done with the attendance, everyone knew me....typical!..

Anyway, I recently started a blog as you can read..lol and I decided to call it 'TheDiary' so vague? I realised, I did not want to give it a name that would focus on just one thing because it is probably going to be the most diverse blog you have seen. If there's anything I've come to know, it is that inspiration comes from anything... anything I tell you. I want to be able to share whatever it is that inspires me with you. All my inspiration is influenced by the Holy Spirit. He gives me the words and I write.

S/O to the first readers. I assure you, its gonna be an awesome experience. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Regards, Rubie :)

It is extremely important to write down what you want to achieve, i know how long i have pushed this for, and its finally becoming a reality. I am actually writing in my own blog.

Planning is not completed until it is written down. Do yourself a favor and write down all you want to accomplish, you'll find it extremely funny that your own mind would be tormenting you constantly reminding you of those things you have written down. Isn't God awesome! imagine how the human brain works.