Opening Charge

‘Now the discipline referred to here is the responsibility of the change pilgrim but it is an impossibility where he or she does not possess a full picture or vision of the benefits of the change journey to self and community.’

The weekend is here. For me, as I told my wife recently, everyday is like Friday to me. I live INSPIRED. Instead of saying ‘Thank God is Friday,’ I say ‘Thank God is Today,’ as I step out of my bed every day. It is the day He has made and I choose to rejoice and be glad in it. If He made it then, every day holds out unusual opportunities for us to change our stories and those around us. For me every day is Christmas, not in terms of what I go through but in my understanding and interpretation that all things work together for my good. Faithfulness in little brings more.

I promised to share with you in details the Reality Deficiency Syndrome Test™. Please join me as I do one of my longest pieces on this page in recent times. In my interactions with the reality of change, as a lifetime change pilgrim, I have found that except we are at home with our realities per second, we lose self consciousness. Self consciousness is one major ingredient without which the desire for change and the fruits thereof are not made manifest or are truncated at personal and communal levels.

What I have found is that many are not at home with their realities and therefore do not realise the change they need and where to commence the journey. Those who realise the change and where to commence the journey may not know how to keep the steam alive. Some who have even experienced measurable changes become complacent, celebrating false victory. They fail to note that change is lifetime pilgrimage. Some, who do not see immediate results, soon dissolve into despondency, thinking that change is not a possibility.

I once told a young lady, who was 30 and suffered enormous abuse as a child, that she was too distance to the understanding of the message and process of change for he to experience it. Matters of the heart are not easily resolved. Once they are at a point where they govern your action, they have become second nature and as thick as your skin. Have ever considered being skinned alive? Consider how slow the exercise will be and how painful the process will be. I told the young lady, who was becoming despondent because she felt despite all her efforts to change; she was not making too much progress that positive change may be slow, once the pilgrim maintains consistency, victory is sure.

I told her that some of the impacts of wrong upbringing she was dealing with, were 24 years old and that if it is easier to destroy than to build, it may not be possible to remove in two months, what has taken 24 years to entrench. It has been found that in most cases, when a person is confronted with the message of change and the charge to embark on a journey for personal or communal change, there is a natural enthusiasm that proceeds thereof. This initial enthusiasm gives birth to resolutions. The initial enthusiasm only sustains the resolution for change for a moment. As time goes on familiarity and slowness of change begin to encroach on the initial enthusiasm. This is the point where discipline should take over to create the real enthusiasm that will take the change pilgrim to the expected end.

Now the discipline referred to here is the responsibility of the change pilgrim but it is an impossibility where he or she does not possess a full picture or vision of the benefits of the change journey to self and community. A full picture of the benefits of the journey of change answers to understanding of the change process, which gives birth to a carefully articulated map.

The foregoing explains why many New Year resolution subscribers crash out no sooner than they take the decision to embark on the journey of change. Their subscription to the journey of change is borne out of a bandwagon effect and not the realisation of the nobility of change. This is what I call, the mob-action’ attitude to change, and we know that it is a common saying that ‘the mob has no conscience.’

It is my humble opinion that for one to be in top form to take on change and constantly pursue change as a lifetime vocation, which it is, he or she must take the Reality Deficiency Test regularly. The result of the test is like taking an HIV/AIDS test, its never in the middle. It is either positive or negative.

Please join me to take the test. Please take a deep breath, prepare to face the brutal facts as you take this soul-searching test. Please keep your conscience alive and embrace patience in answering the ten questions, which constitute the Reality Deficiency Test:

1.Who am I by my values? That is what are the values that determine the boundaries of my habitations in day-to-day engagements?

2.Is this really what l want to do? That is, if I am not doing it, I feel completely out of order or out of position. The issue here is that is the journey of change a function of personal decision, bandwagon effect or ‘mob-action’ attitude to change.

3.Do I see an end of the ‘cause’ or ‘cross’ from the beginning? That is, what picture of the future do I see?

4. Do I understand the processes of achieving the ‘cause’ or ‘cross’ I have chosen including the suffering involved. That is, what is my motivation? Is it about what I can give or about what we can get?

5. Am I ready to pay the price until I see in reality the picture I saw in my mind when I set out?

6.What kind of influence have I been on my primary area of influence- myself, family members and neigbours, since it is faithfulness in little that produces more.

7.What kind of influence do I want to be from now?

8.Am I ready for the opinion of my close observers, particularly family members, neighbors, co-workers, protégés etc concerning me and my change journey?

9.Am I ready for the well-intended opinion of an uncommon mentor about me and my pursuit of change?

10.Can I defend my journey of change, the principles engaged and all concerning the processes employed and the fruits yielded thereof, first to my conscience, second to God, third to my immediate arrears of influence and lastly to my world?

The Reality Deficiency Syndrome Test is not a one-off test. It is a test which every serious-minded change pilgrim must take from time to time if he or she is to remain fit, proper and updated in the journey to personal and communal difference.

I hope you have been extremely blessed this week hanging out with me on the page doing FIREWorks.

The goal is to ignite the fire of inspiration in you and keep the fire burning that you may pass the fire to the children under your care.

Please feed me back. Thank you and have an INSPIRED Day and Weekend.

I’m Taiwo Akinlami & I Lead the TeacherFIRE™ Revolution

POINT 2 PONDER:

‘…Many New Year resolution subscribers crash out no sooner than they take the decision to embark on the journey of change. Their subscription to the journey of change is borne out of a bandwagon effect and not the realisation of the nobility of change.’

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