TWO WORDS FROM ANTIQUITY

I saw a quote somewhere, someday and it goes thus, "With your eyes, you have sight, but with words, you have insight; you could see with your mind."

Wow! Powerful. Up until then, the best I always had with words was ignore them, but from then on, I developed an insatiable love for words and the result for me has been immense growth.

Wonderful readers, here is what I hope you would find in the lines below: some powerful, sincere words filled with insight. I hope your mind receives expression after reading this.

Let's talk about two of the greatest words antiquity left us with. In its mysterious wisdom, it passed down to us two powerful contrasting words; one is BEHOLD and the other is BEWARE.

The former encourages us to dream and the latter serves as a warning. It says, behold the opportunities, but beware of what you become in pursuit of what you want.

All our lives, we have to deal with behold and beware but let's start with the positive.

1.) BEHOLD - Here is what life demands of us: life demands that we behold the opportunities that lie in front of us and see the progress we can make through them. Life demands that we behold and see what we can become as a result.

Life does not ask that we sit still, safe in the corner and pass on all of the opportunities and talents presented to us.

Remember what the Parable of the Talents in ancient scripts said about the servant who cowered in the corner and did absolutely nothing with his talents. He was called a wicked servant and his talents were taken away from him! So, behold!

Behold the rainbow and its many possibilities; behold the opportunities; behold the future and give it design; behold and look at the chances you have got; behold spring has come; behold the day has arrived and the sun is shining; behold the next person you can meet might be your confidant for life; behold the light at the end of the tunnel!

In the months to come, I ask that you behold; seize the day; be adventurous; try out many things; see how many skills you can learn and how many conferences you can attend. Just behold!

2.) BEWARE - Beware is a word from ancient times that serves as a good warning.

Beware says: Behold the seed and its many prospects but beware not to plant it on rocky ground lest it withers; Behold the possibilities but beware the unknowns; Behold your well designed future but beware the temptations.

There are four parts to beware in the pursuit of your dreams - they are called the four horsemen of true success and they include INTEGRITY, HEALTH, FAMILY, SOUL.  Let's take a quick look.

a.) INTEGRITY - Integrity simply means living by the same set of values in the totality of your life.

Pity the overly ambitious man with the poor philosophy who cons his way to temporal success but loses his integrity along the way. Little does he know that Integrity is currency. It is cash. Better tell him to BEWARE!

The wise ancient philosopher, Democritus once famously said, "Hope of dishonest gain is the beginning of loss." So, Beware!

Beware not to lose your integrity in the early days in pursuit of your dreams lest you cripple your future.

b.) HEALTH - One of the best lines on health in ancient scripts encourages us to treat our bodies like a temple. You may ask, what is a temple? A temple is a holy ground - something of importance; something attended to.

"Health is wealth," the popular saying goes. Quite ironical though, that a lot of us neglect our health in pursuit of wealth, but starting today, I ask that you turn the coin around.

My favorite teacher, Jim Rohn once said, "if you want to be healthy, study health." That is a good note to jot down.

Make your health a study. Amongst your lofty goals for the coming months, why not include, "I will not fall sick once" and then go to work on it. Do not leave it to chance or prayers alone. Remember "faith without works is dead."

Your health; beware leaving it untouched!

If you would have asked the personal computer and I-Phone legend, Steve Jobs at his deathbed what he wish he had taken more seriously while he was younger, there is a likelihood he would have said - my health.

c.) FAMILY - I was once known for saying to myself and anyone who cared to listen, "it is cool to be a rebel; I do not need my family to achieve my goals and fulfil purpose; if they do not gravitate towards my ideas and ambitions, then let them be."

I was once known for that until I realized there was a better way; a better philosophy. The day my philosophy took a revamp in that regards was probably the day I heard the story of one of my role models, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika and how she was able to get her family to support her lofty dreams while trying to start her furniture company at the age of 25.

You see, it is probably true that you can achieve all of your goals and fulfil all of your dreams, yet conflicting with family, but I dare to state that you don't need that reputation. The neighbour next door whispers, "he is a valuable man in the eyes of the world, but to his family, he stinks." What a pathetic lifestyle!

Why act small when you can be bigger? Why not walk the high road and bring your family along? It only takes some determination and willingness on your part to convince them to buy into your vision and ideas. Remember, you will still have to do a lot of convincing down the line. So, why not start with family?

The love between parents and child is described by the wise as unconditional while the love between husband and wife is said to be sacred, hence you don't need to visit the seven continents in search of ideas to bring them on your side; you only need to find and use the right words to convince family to brave the storm with you.

In the end, family is all you have got, so beware leaving your family behind. That is a good philosophy.

d.) SOUL - Here is a good philosophical question from one of the greatest books of history to ponder...it is called food for thought. It says, "what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?"

Kids should be asked this question right from the nursery level so that it goes into the depths of their subconscious from the tender age.

Someone said Judas Iscariot - the betrayer in the bible - got the money. Yes, he got the money but the story further says, he was so unhappy with himself that he killed his worthless self!

He gave his soul - his essence, his innermost self and personality - away in the pursuit of money.

Remember, you can have all the material things in the world but if you have lost self respect, what have you really got?!

If Judas were invited to give a speech at a conference today, I am sure the word BEWARE won't be far away from his lips.

He would say, "Beware! Beware not to lose your soul in the pursuit of dishonest gains as the only way to ever attain success and enjoy it is to achieve it honestly and with pride in what you have done."

So friends, in the coming months, take good inventory of these two words: BEHOLD and BEWARE.

One says, "Behold the new horizon appearing on the distant hills" but the other says, "beware the dangers that lie ahead."

Cheers.