11 Lessons I've Learnt

Lesson 1: So You Want to Save the World

I am a natural dreamer. Oh! I also love tales a lot. Thanks to tales by moonlight and the pretty unending African tales. In fact, some of my favorites  had to do a lot with the terrific tortoise and her rough hatchback. 

But, my stories did not end in the physical world, it followed me into my dreams. I could practically dream about anything. As I grew older, I became more than a dreamer, I wanted to save the world, but in no particular character like Bat or Spider Woman, if there were any characters like that. 

I had dreams, goals and ideas that could save the world in one piece. To me, it was like solving a juggle puzzle. It all had to make sense. Everyone had to fit into it. You just must catch the fire. No piece must be left out. But life did not make much sense in the real world, except in my dreams, where I was a super hero and everyone knew it so. 

It's been long I have been dreaming and I need to tell you these, if you want to save the world too. 

Life is not a Puzzle

You don't have to force every piece of life together. In trying to do so, you will make unstable bonds and compromise the entire foundation you are trying to build in the first place. You cannot be at every place, at all times, making a change at different points with no focus and plan. You don't have to change everyone, every place and make it complete like you think. Probably, impacting a small child out of the whole is the key to the killing the fire of disharmony or reigniting a good cause. May be, paying attention to the negligible few is the answer to world's problem. So why forcing your way to solving the entire puzzle, bring together the eligible few. That's how to make a change. 

I will leave you with a poem by an unknown monk

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. 

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. 

I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

Hello young dreamer, may be all you need is to change yourself. May be, all you need is to additionally discipline to write the path to which that change was made. May be that is all about saving your world. 

8 Amazing Winners for 8 Amazing Books

Announcing the long awaited 8 Amazing Winners for 8 Amazing Books.

"The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer" -2 Copies Available
"Inspirations by Tobiloba Ajayi"-4 Copies Available
"Holy Spirit Diaries: Diligent Waitress - Hadassah's Story by Yewande Lanre Erinle"-2 Copies Available.

Thank you for supporting me, my blog and the favorite @I am Woman/Woman.

To claim prizes, please inbox the following: Name, Address, E-mail Address & Choice of Book. Nigerian residents will be receiving a E-copy/Kindle Version/Audio Copy.

Note: Gifts are claimed on a 1st-come, 1st-served Basis. Valid until October 31, 2013. So hurry now.

Winners

1. Ogunfowora 
2. Mayowa Adebambo 
3. Honey Carew 
4. Joke Oyefesobi 
5. Blessing Ofili Ejiofor 
6. Johnson Ogunlaja Modupeola 
7. Oriyomi Olukunbi 
8. Victor Oluwadamilare Adelanwa 

Say 'Happy Birthday'

Oh My! 

It’s that time of the year. 

Unlike the tradition of populating my Facebook with 100's of Birthday greetings, I have decided to do things a differently and shift this tradition slightly to a win-win situation. 

Unfortunately, I am away today to spend an extravaganza birthday with my husband, so I am not able to follow trends and respond but I do sincerely appreciate your greetings, advice, word of prayers and gifts. And like a heap, I promise to ramble through spaces to say ‘thank you’ when I get back.

If you ever consider getting me a gift, I am a book warmer—any inspiring, christian or motivational book will be great. Every book is empowering me to inspire others and to fulfill God’s given purpose. Don’t worry about me having a duplicate copy.  Duplicate copies get to bless other lives. 

Hey! I am not begging. I am letting out an opportunity.

<All smiles>

Jokes apart!

Please, join me as I set out this New Year to be the ready pitcher to bless lives using HopeDrips, populate my upcoming HopeDrips Book Bank with a book gift and get a teenager fired for purpose. God bless you abundantly as you support.

Also take the opportunity to visit the rest part of My Blog: About Me, About My Blog, About My Love Journey and My CurrentProject.

I have carefully selected seven (7) blog posts. They are Top Popular Posts and are sure life changing notes. 

1. The Crevices in my Wall

2. Stuck in a “Play safe” mode

3. Stranger in my Bed

4. The Thing that held me by the garment

5. Black & White in a Grey World

6. The Costly Dream

7. Meet My Blind Neighbour

Don't forget to show some love. Wish me a Happy Birthday. Share some of my inspiring posts on Facebook,  Twitter and as you please. That’s the ABC before the Z. 

Like they say, one good turn deserves another. I am giving out six (6) amazing birthday give-away gifts. Pardon Me! I can’t afford to meet every birthday well-wisher but someday soon. I will announce the give-away gifts recipients as soon as I return.

Much Love!

Oluwamitomisin

Before you start a blog

"The hardest part of any journey is taking the first step", but the best decision, you could ever take before any first step is making an informed decision and this is based on knowledge. 

It is important to make five good  informed decisions before starting your own blog. Keep in mind that having your own blog or posting an article would not guarantee you success except your blog is properly planned and executed. You have taking the right turn to pick-up tips on what you need to know before you start a blog.  I'm going to provide you tips that are simple, versatile and efficient. They are not just blogging tips. I've applied them throughout my years of blogging and they are universally agreed by top bloggers. 

So let's begin...

BEFORE YOU START A BLOG—

—Decide why you want a blog

In a simple way, why are you motivated to blog? Are you trying to help or develop a people? Is it for your business or on a freelance schedule, to advertise a product, services or to introduce yourself or a product or to increase or update your clients? It is important to be clear about your motivation because it will inform your decisions, your blogging style, your frequency and determine your readership. Remember, “When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable”. ― Myles Munroe. When the purpose of owning or writing a blog is not know, you would loose motivation, passion and focus with time. This is the very first step on starting to blog.

—Decide what you want to blog

You might be tempted to blog about everything and anything. You might get distracted talking about something on your blog that is of no value to you or your blog readers. There is a tendency to turn your blog into a dumping site. So before you start to write a blog, pick-up a note pad, and think clearly by writing a list of interested areas, themes or topics. Follow trendy discussions and decide what you want to blog about and things you will never be caught writing or talking about.  

—Decide who you are blogging for

Your audience determines the success of your blog. If your write-ups are targeted towards children, you will need additional goals to get them to read your blog or follow. You might have to try other options or not to blog in the first place. So is your blog addressing children, women, adults, young professionals, grandparents, teenagers, school leavers? Who are your readers? Even the worst read newspapers have a target audience.

—Decide where you want to blog

There are so many blogging platforms. While some come at a price, others are essential free and a few would grant you a tasting session before asking you to pay. To find a list to choose from and how it applies to your idea, read my post on 'Top blogging platforms you should not ignore'. 

—Decide to learn how to blog

I guess you've started practicing this before you get to read about it. Following the link and reading up to this point meant just one thing. You wanted to know how to start or improve your blog. There is a good and a bad way to running a blog. If you put up content that is of no use to your readers, you have opened an exit way just before you started. You might have so many brilliant ideas and perfect words but if it is not presented well, you've only shut yourself on the foot. Look out for best blogs in your area of interest and observe good things that they are doing and include them in your blog. Get to read more blogging tips. Feel free to ask me questions.

—Decide when to blog

You don’t have to blog everyday and certainly you don’t want to blog once a year. You best understand your time schedule. There is no point updating your blog daily, if your post won’t arrive daily. You should take out time to understand your audience. By following your blog statistics, you can predict the best time to post, type of articles to post and where your traffic is coming from. If your post follows a trend, for example, seasonal, you don’t have to post every day. So decide how often you want to send in a post. Most TV soups are weekly. News or Magazine features are long and requires time for proper editing and development and tweets are just a few bullet point throughout the day. So decide before hand how often you want to write a post. You've got to know when to blog. It is as simple as a ABC. You can add a post to your blog at anytime and create a schedule for publication, especially if you are going to be away for a long time.

I hope you found these tips useful. Please share and don't forget to comment below and share. 

Read more tips here

Oluwamitomisin

Help! I want to write a blog but I don't know what to write

I often hear these words over and over again. 'I don't know how to write'. 'I am not a good writer'. 'I can't write'. 'I don't know how to write'. 'I have no ideas.' 
Really! 
Many of us scaled the hurdles of English essays. Those days, we were told to write something about our favorite teacher, food or how we spent our last holiday. It is as simple as writing that! Even more, some of us have completed a college or university report and thesis. 
That's different! You'd say. 
I think it's essentially the same. 
There is the popular saying, 'Rome is not built in a day'. Even if you were to write a best selling article, you just need to practice the same principles. 
Like 28: 10 says,'For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little'; writing is one letter upon another. 

So I want to write a blog but I don't know what to write, Irrespective of the kind of blog you own or hope to have, these tips always work. Let's begin... 

First, read 'My Top Tips before you start a blog'. 

—Be open minded
Be on the look out for ideas. You cannot be looking for opportunities with your eyes closed. Ask friends what they think about a particular subject. Throw out a quiz or a question on your status. Get feedback on your article from expert before publishing it. Look at trends of popular post. Ask for opinions. Throw out a debate. In business, they would say, do a market research.

—Carry a notepad with you at all times
 By experience, I found out that ideas fly off easily. Some times, I have this brilliant idea or topic to write on my blog. I might even get very excited that I tell a couple of friends or even publish it on my Facebook wall, asking my friends to watch out for that write-up and there and then, I go blank. Many times, I forget the topic entirely or loose the focus that I am left with a blank page for months. So I do advice, have a note pad at all times, when a thought flies through your head, capture it by writing everything in a bullet point what it means to you—related stories, news, quotes, or comments. 

—Find a Theme, Subject or Topic to write on
This could be any of the categories on fashion, health, food, environmentalism, faith, women, children, nursing mothers, children, career, research and development among many others. 

—Write a short outline
Many at times, it is easy to get your thought into one page but other times, you can barely know what to write on a particularly subject. So I recommend an outline and I assume at this point that you are scanning for ideas. For instance, if you are to write about making a breakfast meal. You can begin with a few outlines such as

• -Ingredients
• -Where to source ingredients
• -Food Preparation
• -Benefit of meal to health
• -Varieties of  menu from a single meal

Remember this is just a rough sketch of the ideas you want to ponder upon and expand into a write up. 

—Develop a blogging calender
If you don't set a discipline to write a blog, you never will. Your post will be infrequent and inconsistent. So jot down a post type and create a sequence for a time period.

—Find your voice
Be unique. You might be tempted to write like everyone else. Please don't! You will be hurting yourself. I love to emphasize this fact. Many people don't blog because they feel by 'perspective', that they can't write like someone else. You are unique, you have a unique voice to your writing. This is the entire point on the fight against plagiarism. No two people can write in the same style even when they follow the same standard format. Let your readers know your voice by being your voice.

—Stand tall on the shoulders of giants
Learn from the best bloggers in your niche. Don't forget to ask for their help. The worst would be a NO.

So where do you start from? Clear your desktop or create a free space. Using stick/post-it notes, mind map your way to writing. Write every idea that jumps at you; related or unrelated topics. Under each, write a short outline. Then start with the most interesting to you. Write a rough sketch in whatever way it comes to you at first. Practice, practice and practice. Before long, you would be writing before you even think.

Lastly...

—Write, write, write and don't stop writing.

I hope you found these tips useful. Please share and don't forget to comment. 

Read more tips here

Oluwamitomisin

Photo credit: ideal-helper

The Costly Dream

Once you sat admiring someone who had a dream. Your thoughts were, “I wish I was in His shoes”. You painted the walls of your imagination with “I wish I had a dream”. You searched pages of magazines looking for your dream. They said you just had to be it.

You looked and got confused.

Once you listened to a dreamer, you thought it was a great idea.

You sought it with all zeal, nothing over and over. “Does this mean that I am not in the list of those with dreams”? You asked.

A friend suggested you read books titled “Find your dream”,

Reading lines upon lines, wishing while you purred the pages, hoping you find the dream.

Finally, one afternoon, you found something very close to it.

You also stumbled on a friend who said he found his. He told you he found it on a radio station. You glued your ears; you even became a fan of early news cast.

You attended the seminars & conferences. They said it is what you love doing; what you would love to do at grey years, All you could think of was a house by the beach of Bahamas, flings of awards, fleets of business across the spans of America, Africa, Asia and Europe.

They said it was something you do so naturally; what you rather do without been paid!

The only thing that came to mind was joining the choir. "But that’s just for God and church", you thought.

They said you should look closely within, you knew that was not it, but you decided to do it still. All you could find was emptiness and spaces unfilled. They said it was one of the challenges at childhood, but you look back at them and all you could remember was hunger and thirst in your country, no facility, government with corruption, friends who ran with your money, failed classes, and repeated exams.

Ha, JAMB was the top on your list. You were punched in the face on the streets of Lagos.

You were jobless for months. The list is endless, yet that still does not solve your quest for a dream.

A friend then told you to visit a counsellor, a coach, or visit a motivational church but with all your frequent parades, you just got more and more confused. It seems they are all not sure of what they are saying or they have not seen the exceptional cases. You think you are one of them.

One day, you thought you finally got an answer; an old man told you to ask the manufacturer very deeply and sincerely. You fasted and prayed, pleaded and wept, yet no answers. May be like Elijah, it would come like the still voice or in a dream, or with a deep voice behind, or a knock on your head, a slap by your side but none of these arrived….One night, you were gisting with your friends and a thought suddenly hit you like a ping. Yes, Yes, Yes, I have got a dream! You screamed.

All your friends would no longer be at rest. Days after days they waited. You would soon keep shut, they thought. But you never did. Like your other imaginations, they thought, you would wear it out but the dream grew larger. Some said, you were rather going insane, when you told them you saw it in a dream.

Your mother said she had always noticed the dream in you. Your pastor confirmed it while praying. Like heaven rained down and God has smiled on you. Your heart is jubilating; your feet won’t stop dancing. I have found a dream. People are keen at listening. They keep shut when you talk. Others marvel. Some clap for you. Two persons said they want to be like you. Haa, you are gifted screamed a fan. When you slept you saw it, you read it on the wall. No one had written it, you had just painted it in your mind. You tapped your friends, who looked at you in confusion. You taught your siblings who you thought are in the same quest for dreams. Everyone has a dream, you shouted, you had been the confused one all along, the preachers were right. Oh my, oh my …You could talk about it all day.

Some friends have left you, others called you a dreamer, and you seem to be the only one seeing it. Life is made of this, you thought. Days after days, months after months, it still has not happened. One season has ended another one is concluding. Years roll into years, people are beginning to ask, I thought you said you had a dream. You see those without a dream prospering, they are making it, where am I in the picture, you asked again and again. I thought they said, “You would do better.” I thought the gift of a man makes way for him; I thought I would stand before kings and not main men.

Now, you doubting. They are asking how, when, what. Your mouth is shut, you afraid. You wish you never had a dream. You are confused. You are agitated. You are annoyed. You are jealous. You are about to give up. You hate hearing dreams and dreamers

Oluwamitomisin

See also: The Diary of "Nowhere"

See How Amazing

It's been a long way back. It was a journey beyond me.
Indeed you have brought me out.
It was really a great depth, you drew me out from.
I can't even see where I used to be.
Beyond my strength, you have made me achieve
Lord, it's been a long way.
I thank you for the journey so far.

I look at the the distance and ask how?
My memories aren't short to forget yesterdays pain
I read through my past diaries and I remember times when my heart failed. When I busted in tears uncontrollably. When my feet could no longer carry me, but I look into today and I see smiles all over me. I see your wonders everyday, coming down from within. I behold your marvelous kindness, mercy, grace and truth
I thank you for filling my cup.

You have cleared my ways and brought light to my blurry path
You have made the way ahead clear and simple; it's your wonder
You have made the sky blue and the beauty of it, I cannot fathom alone
You have fed my hungry spirit and brought my dying soul to life

You have not fed me to the swines, see how faithful you are to me
You have not left me all by myself, see how caring you are to me
You have not turn deaf ear to me, see how amazing  you are

Thank you lord!
Thank you Lord!!
Thank you very much, Lord!!!

Read also: Draw Me

Oliver Twist: I ask for one more thing

Lord, I ask for one more thing.
One thing than anything else.
One thing than the world can't ask for.

I ask for more of you. More of everything in You. More of Your Strength daily. More of Your Spirit in me. More of Your All. More of Your Life. More of Your Being. I don't want to be ever satisfied of having You.

Like a child craves for food. Help me to want more of You. Want more of your Words. Want more of your Spirit. Want more of your Wisdom. Want more of all of You. Help me never to get out of Your Cravings.

Like a miner digging for gold. Help me dig daily into your word. Give me strength daily to want to. Help me to draw out of your well. Calling out of the deep daily. Drawing water that's refreshing to the soul and much more to the world around you. Help me never to be satisfied of drinking you. Help never to stop digging your well.
Like a Seeker, Help me find you Lord. Help to be hungry to find you. I don't want to go back to my old life. I don't want to turn back the way I came. Every passing day is one past. I want better. I want more. I want more of you. More than words can describe these moments or ever will. More than my thoughts can imagine or could ever. More each day. More every minute. More as seconds go by. I want to be lost in your presence. I want to have you always. I want more of you

Also read: The 3 Questions that changed my life

The 3 Questions that changed my life

There are three (3) questions that changed my life and changed it forever. It was not an easy route to find, neither was it convenient by human understanding. 

And I am grateful to God that I can answer the three most difficult life questions 

with every assurance and hope.

Whom should I serve?
Whom should I marry?
Who am I?

To rephrase:
Who is Her lord: JESUS. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus...1 Timothy 2:5"

Who is Her lover: Oluwayimika Iyanu Somorin "Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I held him and would not let him go till I had brought him to my mother's house, to the room of the one who conceived me...Songs of Solomon 3:4."

Who is the Lady: : Oluwamitomisin Olumayowa Oluwayemisi Somorin."After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye...Zechariah 2:8"

Read: You created my innermost being-Psalm 139