Merry, merry Christmas and happy holidays my dearest readers. I would keep this short and sweet. Source   December is one of my fave months as well as my lazy month. From somewhat pleasurable weather to the holidays (Christmas and New Year) to the general feeling of bliss and ease as the year rounds up, December definitely earns that title. Christmas is just some hours away, with the hazy weather, it's beginning to look and feel like it. Sometimes though, it feels like people forget the true essence of Christmas and get carried away by the festivities and event hopping. Source    All over the world, I believe, Christmas season exudes a sit-back-kick-your-feet-up kinda vibe. People get engrossed in the mundane; from home decor, shopping, looking one's best to the delicacies that accompany this season and forget unfortunately that Christmas is more than these. I have tried writing poems about Christmas and it always, always leads me back to reflection. The ess...

   Hey guys, I’ve been keeping a date with the radio on late Sunday mornings of recent. If you are in Lagos and a radio listener like me, you would have an idea what goes on about that time. It’s series of gospel shows on most stations, interrupted by adverts and music breaks. Well, most times, I shuttle between frequencies 99.3fm and 96.9fm. I like the messages aired on 99.3fm. This post isn’t really about my Sunday morning schedule, around 12 though, the countdown (Rick Dees, weekly top 40) goes up. So, there’s this song that has been on the chart for quite a while (heard it made Platinum), 1-800 by Logic (it features Alessia Cara and Khalid) . This song set off a series of thoughts in my head and I’d be sharing them with y’all as always. Source    Some people may find this song weird or  cringeworthy and for some, it ultimately gives them the creeps. For me, however, I like the song and will listen anytime, any day. I like the song cos there’s a message...

  The year is fast winding to a close and one thing that I readily associate with this time of the year is retrospection. With most TV stations airing shows dealing with the activities that occurred in the earlier parts of the year, it’s rather difficult not to. I never fancied those shows right from time but I just couldn’t avoid them hence it would forever be in memory. Looking back, I realize I didn’t fancy those shows due to the fact that they sometimes highlight details that I’d rather forget and wish never happened. What’s the use recalling what you can’t change. With the above in view, it’s rather funny and ironic that I’d be doing a retrospect post of my own. This is my first, so don’t expect much. (WARNING: Picture overload)    2017 is a year I’d not forget in quite a while, it had its highs and lows, events I’d rather forget and some that would always be in mind. The year was tough in some respect but it only made me tougher. There were lemons and pepp...

   It’s the 12th month of the year already and over the months, some realizations have hit me and pretty hard I must say. This post is just to get my somewhat jumbled thoughts and realizations out of my mind palace hoping it would make an iota of sense. Here goes nothing: Every day seen is a privilege: At times, we as humans are so used to the idea of sleeping and waking on a daily basis that we fail to realize it’s a privilege—a great one at the least. I’ve realized that every new day I see is yet another reason to thank God even though things I plan to achieve may not go as planned. I’ve realized and accept that I see each day not because I’m too good or better than the person that didn’t but just because of God’s grace and mercies.  Pain/hurt can be good at times: Barely thinking of this sounds screwed up but it feels true. Some of the best things that happen to us result from pain. Same as some great ideas and best deeds are birthed from hurt. It sounds weird,...

   I guess it’s no news that I’m a bibliophile and I’ve given my somewhat fair share of book reviews on this blog well, I’m here with another. Drum roll please. ***  Ever since I read THE SUMMONS by JOHN GRISHAM , I don’t think I’d pass up a chance to read any other book of his. Overlooking the fact that a majority of his books deal with lawyers and law-related ideas, I’m a fan of his works even though I personally have nothing to do with law. He’s a great storyteller from my POV. This post isn’t about John Grisham per se but one of his books that I read recently.    So, I’m the kind of person that prefers hardcopy over softcopy anytime any day—call me archaic, I don’t mind. When I had the chance to request for books and Grisham was available, I just couldn’t resist though it was an e-book. It was a good thing though I’m still a hardcopy person. Away from the softcopy experience, let me dive straight into the review.     THE BRETHREN copy...

Known majorly for its sense of taste (thanks to the taste buds) and role in the digestion process, the tongue is also very instrumental when it comes to speech –I can’t imagine how words would be voiced without the tongue though it’s not the only part involved as far as speech is concerned.    Growing up, it was often mentioned that our words were seeds, that one should be careful what one wished or said. Over time, it has been discovered and proven that indeed the tongue is powerful, having the capacity to build or destroy, heal or hurt—little wonder it’s the largest muscle in the human body.     With all the history above in view, it still shocks me when people make use of their tongues “anyhow”. By anyhow, I mean not speaking words that would yield good fruits or words of edification. Or speaking words that one would regret sometime in the future. For me, I feel our words are meant to build up, instill hope and quicken the faith of those listening. I f...

    It's another lovely day and the mini-series continues. It's still all about the book: THE POWER OF YOUR WORDS that was featured in the previous part. Whenever i read certain books and publications, I like to take note so that I can make further reference to them in the days to come. Below is the concluding part of the snippets of the book aforementioned. Enjoy!! 14) When we confess the Word with joy, it brings conviction to listeners. Faith’s confession is always a joyful confession.  15) Our words should never bruise or hurt but should bless and heal. Let Jesus’ love rule your lips.  16) Cultivate the habit of thinking big things, and then learn to ise words that will react upon your own spirit and make you a conqueror.  17) The Word in your lips not only make you free, but it sets others -John 15:7 18) What you confess in faith is what you possess.  19) An affirmation of doubt builds unbelief. An affirmation of faith builds stren...

     Hello guys!  I remember mentioning that I'd be starting a mini series this week in my previous post . I read this book a while back (can't remember which month it was) and I'd say i was literally blessed. The book just basically expanded my knowledge on how much weight our words carry. The book titled THE POWER OF YOUR WORDS written by E.W KENYON and DON GOSSETT was an awesome read and also inspired me to start this mini series.    So to kick off the mini series, I bring you some snippets from the book aforementioned hoping they'd bless you to an extent. Enjoy!! 1. Faith holds fast to the confession of the word, sense knowledge holds fast to the confession of physical evidence. 2. Hold fast to the confession of the Word even in the face of apparent contradictions – EW Kenyon 3. Our confession centres around several things: -    What God in Christ has wrought for us.  -    What God through His Word a...

    My!!! Its been a while since I posted and for that I apologize. I was busy with some stuff and—posting up here woulda affected my productivity a bit cos my attention would have been divided—I really needed a break. Anyways, I’m back and hopefully would stay around for a while.      Though I was away from this space, I still had post ideas penned down and I’m pleased to announce that I’d be starting a mini series soon. I read other blogs and have seen quite a number of series that have inspired me to have at least one of my own—aside the fact that three of my future posts just happen to be carry the same idea. The series would be in three parts; one every week. I’d be revealing the series in my next post so watch this space. PS: I’d leave a hint though: WORDS. Till next week. Mina 

 Oh my, I’m in love!!! I got this soap as something I’d call a gift sometime in June. I’m not really one for trying & testing any and every soap or product people talk about unless I see true to life proof of its proficiency (though I’ve not really heard anything about this product). So as you might guess, I go with any soap available being that I don’t react easy too.    Truth be said, after using this soap for two days, I just couldn’t stop gushing about it. My mom was like what would I expect from a FOREVER LIVING product and very likely an expensive one. The fact remains though that it isn’t every expensive product that would work well.   Enough of the story, let me spill what enchants me when it comes to this soap. It’s a big bar: I feel this may sound weird but I’ve always had a preference for big bars when I have a choice.  It lathers like crazy: tbh, even the lightest stroke of one’s skin foams surprisingly well. Lathe...

Rain, rain go away, Come again another day, Little children want to play. source  One rhyme that we consciously and unconsciously sang as kids whenever the clouds gathered and wind caused leaves to rustle—sure you remember. Rainy season may not be my fave Nigerian season but it isn’t all that bad. Honestly, rains are refreshing because they have a way of dampening the heat from the sun plus they make our crops grow and flourish. At times too, they make we humans less irritable being that too much heat makes some of us irksome.   It has been pouring quite a lot this year and I thought to write about rainy season and me, plus it felt like one way to get out of a slight creative rut. Rains can be awesome and annoying sometimes. Awesome due to the fact that it makes the weather temperate and it affords me the opportunity to indulge in layering. Annoying because of how it rains at times; showers too light to carry an umbrella but can equally drench you, rains re...

Over the week, I’ve decided that it would be nice to add my thoughts and musings to this blog hence, I’m here with one today. What am I thinking of today? You may wonder. Nigeria. I read a book a while back and I couldn’t help but feel some sort of sadness and it wasn’t because the book was uninteresting— here is my review of the book BTW. My sadness was majorly because of the huge difference between Nigeria then and Nigeria now. It was saddening to see how much more value the Naira had then even though the author noted that prices were on the increase. Consider these: # A bag of cement costing 6naira. # A storey building being rented at 9000naira/year. # A bottle of whisky costing between 4 naira 50 kobo and 6naira. And I must say that the list is beyond these.   This book got me wondering where it all went wrong, when we started heading for the deep and why it seemed like nobody cared to salvage the situation. My mom would at times mention being given HALF A KOBO...

I am a natural haired girl circumstantially and as most already know, being natural feels like a whole lot of work on its own. From the washing process to detangling and then protective hairstyles and updos, the whole show can get pretty stressful. For me though, wash day can be really tedious—because I can be lazy at times—and one of the few ways I go through successfully is MUSIC . Yes, music helps me on wash day so I don’t even realize how long I’ve spent in the bathroom because I’m trying to wash in sections and ensure my scalp is almost squeaky clean.  I have songs that I put on play whenever it’s wash day. Below are a couple of my songs on my WASH DAY PLAYLIST —not like I actually have a playlist named so.  •    Barcelona by Ed Sheeran : upbeat and leaves me singing along and smiling. Plus it has a verse in Spanish which seems cool to me.  •    Despacito by Daddy Yankee, Luis Fonsi and Justin Bieber : I may have not an inkling to the ...

  Hello peeps, how has the month been? I’ve been playing coward for a while now, let me tell you why. I read a book some weeks back—which I stumbled upon by the way—and I was like it’s something I’d like to make a blog post about but I have been “shifting post” ever since. I have decided to take the bull by the horns and do it anyways.     Hmm!! Where do I start? Okay, this book I’m talking about is titled VIOLENCE written by FESTUS IYAYI and I’d say it was a good—real good—read. The time in which the story was set wasn’t really stated but I figure it was set sometime in the 70s going but the copyright and an account somewhere in the book. The storyline spans roughly 2-3 weeks, my guess being right.     The plot revolves basically around two couples, one affluent and the other poverty stricken. The story tells of the things that being poor can make one do and things that the affluent can use to lure the poor as well. It also shows how manipulati...

It’s been a while since I posted, so let me just leave this here.  People often relate learning to school but it’s beyond that. We learn everyday, we learn to be better people, we learn to laugh, we learn to give life more meaning,we learn to love, we learn to impact our circles, truly if we stop learning we die (stop living). Show me a person who’s accomplished and I’d show you a person who never let opportunities to learn slide by. Willingness to learn opens up does of opportunities, it opens our mindset, it changes our person. Everyday comes with its lessons, it’s your choice to either learn of dismiss them. Learning precedes upgrade, people perish for the lack of willingness to learn. I admonish you to learn something new today, from what you read, from human relationships, all I ask is that you don’t let opportunities to learn something genius pass you by. You never know where your breakthrough /change might originate from. Stay blessed.

   So I remember saying in one of my previous posts that this blog would be taking on new forms now. Well, as a follow up to that I made this post.     Travelling can be fun, interesting and eye opening but it also can be pretty stressful when it comes to getting ready. A crucial part of travelling is organizing the things needed for the trip. This part is a variable as it depends on the cause of travel—that is; a vacation, an event or business purposes. I have travelled interstate quite a number of times and I’d be sharing a major tip that gets the pressure of preparing for a trip off of me.  *drum roll* CREATING A TRAVEL CHECKLIST    Once I’m aware that I’d need to travel and the occasion, I begin to make a list of things I’d essentially need for the trip so as not to forget anything in the rush of getting ready. Often times, minute and equally important things like a toothbrush or a change of clothes can be forgotten hence the need...

Beauty comes in different sizes, it’s not a one size fits all kinda situation.  Beauty doesn’t depend on color, neither does it depend on frame.  There’s different shades to beauty; dark, light, white, brown, and the list could go on. You don’t need to be a certain shade to feel beautiful.  There is more to beauty than looks, beauty is of the heart. Beauty is about character. Beauty can be tall, beauty can be short. Beauty can be fat, beauty can be skinny. Beauty can be found in the midst of acne and rashes. It all depends on what you choose to see.  Don’t feel sorry for the way you look. Be confident, smile, laugh and live beautiful. All you need to be beautiful is to be you, nothing else.  Mina

  There are a lot of woes in the world right now, from economic crisis to terrorism, from indiscriminate killings to kidnapping, all of which are but a few. Hard times are almost certain to come but one thing I’d say is; don’t let hard times mar you. They may hurt, they may cause distress and maybe lead to a lot of tears however, don’t give up because it’s just for a while. It’s just a route to your place of glory.    Hard times come to teach us lessons and other times to rest us. They come to evaluate how much we have grown, how much we trust in God, how much perseverance we have in us. I’ve realized that even in the hardest of times there's something—no matter how small—to be grateful for. It may be the little jokes, care & love from one’s family, it may even be one’s health or an area of one’s life that has not been affected by the raging storm. Before you murmur or complain that the darkness is getting to dark, remember that some don’t even know how light looks. ...

So I've been thinking a lot of recent but let me tender my apologies for not updating all this while, had some major academic related stuff doing hence blogging had to be on hold. Back to what I was saying initially... I've been thinking a lot of recent and I've realized that streamlining myself to one blogging niche isn't for me and here is the reason: God has blessed me with so much creativity and I'm not certain blogging about one side of me would work.  I want to write great poems and prose, read books and write reviews, talk about my faith in God and my views on some things going on around. I want to write about all the stuff my heart beats after, I want to write about fashion, my DIY experiences all at once and on the same platform. I've realized that the only niche that probably defines me and my style of blogging is divergent cos that's really what describes me.  Hence the need for another blog makeover. It isn't going to be so much of a differe...

   Hey guys, so I have quite some time on my hands now and I have been experimenting with turning my poetry to images and I must say it hasn't been easy. The thing is; I'm tired of the monotonous look to my poetry whenever I post them here. I want my poetry to have some color-- I mean this literally--not the plain old black and white as I normally do post.    So I did some research and asked some questions and then Microsoft word popped up. The effect of Microsoft word has not been much but it sure has added some life to my poetry though I'm still fingering my way around it.   The image below is a screenshot of the poem titled the same as above. This is all me and microsoft. And then I took it to instagram and gave editing a thought, and made use of a filter.  That screenshot below is what I came out with. It hasn't been a bad trial if I must say so.  What do you think of the images? Which is better? Do you have another app you th...

Happy New month house, I’m honestly so sorry for not posting for such a long while had quite a number of things on my neck. So where do I start, first I had some kinda major academic stuff going on and thankfully it all went well. I also realized from the whole process and time away that God does still answer prayers only if you honestly ask— yes I said it—and keep holding on to him.  I also thought up quite a number of things whilst I was away and some of them would manage to find their way here. One thing I thought of was giving the blog another uhhmm facelift and I’d explain the reason in the following post. I sometimes feel I don’t take this blog that serious but hopefully all that would change soonest. That’s all I have to say for now.  PS : lookout for my upcoming post in which I’d explain the newest turn of events here.  Much love. Mina

   Hey guys.. I'm back. I know I promised this earlier but stuff happened and I was unable to update. Anyway, I'm here now. The second chapter of this book was straight to the point and below are my takeaways from the chapter. Enjoy. Chapter 2: The simplicity of faith. # Faith is not complex, faith is simple. 2 Corinthians 11:3. # God's word produces more result than human wisdom.   Examples of simplicity of faith 1. Believe Him. Like 1:45.    *Every word of God that comes to you will bless you if only you can believe and obey it, no matter how simple it may appear. 2. Obedience. John 9:1-7, John 2:1-9. 3. Giving. Proverbs 11:24, Like 6:38.   *The size of your seed determines your harvest. 4. Healing. 1 Peter 2:24, Matthew 8:17.   *Stand on the integrity of God's word and sickness would flee. 5. Thanksgiving. John 6:11, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Habakkuk 3: 17-19, Psalms 67:5-7. Thank God in all situations. # To believe and act on every in...

Chapter 1: The operation of faith     Hey guys, I know I said to expect a highlight of the first chapter of the above mentioned book on Sunday but I was just unable to type. Anyways, that's past -hope you can forgive me- and I'm here with the highlights as promised. Hope you enjoy. # You are not born again to suffer again; thus redemption is not to reduce your life but to make it worth living for. # Faith it total dependence and absolute confidence in God and His word, without wavering until his word is fulfilled. It commits the integrity of God to perform what He has spoken. # Faith connects you to God and moves God. Hebrews 11:6 Importance of faith.  *We are born again by faith. Ephesians 2:8 *By faith we live. Habakkuk 2:4 *We walk by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7 *We stand by faith. 2 Corinthians 1:24 *By faith we are kept. 1 Peter 1:5 *We obtain a good report by faith. Hebrews 11:1-2 *Healing comes by faith. Matthew 9:27-29 *We overcome by faith. 1 John 5:4 ...

   Hey guys, been quite a while. As I said two posts ago, I'd be writing reviews of books that I read this year and my first review is on the book WONDERS OF FAITH.     To be honest, for this book it'd be more of things that caught my attention in the book and highlights of the book per chapter. I started reading this book in January but found it difficult completing it possibly because I was doing a lot at a time. Anyway, I struggled to complete the book but decided to read it again as I didn't really feel the impact of the book (because I read it in a staggered manner).  An overview    The book is in eight chapters and really can be completed in a day or two unless you are like me. As you might know already, it's a Christian book authored by a Nigerian pastor (as stated in the title).     The book contains scriptural references to backup points made and also some testimonies on what faith can do. I really enjoyed reading th...

This morning I had a dream, A dream I consider good 'Cause it's about a future known by few. A future where colour doesn't matter, Where we'd all live as brothers & sisters Descended from the same father & of one lineage. A future where love is at home as well as revelry. A future of togetherness, Tribe & ethnicity regardless. A future of great peace. Yes, that was the dream.

   Hey guys, so sorry for not posting in a long while, was trying to sort things out within myself and as regards this blog. So, I thought of a few changes to make to improve my blogging experience here and here's what I came up with: 1. This blog would be more literature based than any other thing.   Would include various personal write-ups (poetry and prose)  as well as reviews of books that I read, possibly interviews with some literature affiliates. 2. I would also involve a little bit extra of myself. Maybe include reviews of places I've been to, and some personal lists as well as recipes. I really hope this turn of events would make my blogging experience better not to forget your reading pleasure too. Thanks so much for hanging in there all this time. Hugs.

If we shed tears every time we got sad or happy And they all ended in one place, it would make a sea, A sea saltier than the Dead Sea A sea of sad-happy memories One that if drank of would be bitter-sweet in our bellies It would be a sea unending A sea that if swum in, would pull people into the memories and experiences held by it. The sea would overflow its bank if every one of us shed only drop Just a teardrop -Regardless the one’s shed in our hearts.