What do you really want?

 Do we really know what we want in life?

My children always ask for what they want. They know that when they ask, the probability of them receiving it, increases by 50%. When I say no, and they are aware that it is within my capability if providing it (not a helicopter for a school event of course), then they persist. More often than not. I give it to them.

Why do I do this? It is because I know that what they are asking for is important to them and it will actually be useful for them in that moment or in the near future. And also, it is because I am able to give it to them. I also enjoy watching them learn the power of persistence.

There is a difference between whining and persistence. When they whine, I address the whining as a parent. When they request and persist, I will address that and when able, give it to them. I am proud that they are growing up not to be fearful of what they want.

I am proud that they are aware of what they want and able to explain to me why it is important that they have it. I am glad that their father and I are able to discuss it together.

Many of us, as adults, do not know what we want. It may be because growing up, whenever we asked, we were not given. It may be because we grew up with limited resources and when we asked our parents, we were reminded that money does not grow on trees.

Unfortunately, this may also affect the way we negotiate contracts at work. We feel unworthy of asking for a salary raise. We feel unworthy of negotiating better working conditions. We accept the bare minimum and because of that, we are treated with minimal respect even when we do our best and outperform others.

Ask for what you want. Do not whine. Just ask. Persist. Request politely. Negotiate. Speak maturely. Address your concerns with facts.

According to the Daily Mail, Before they won a $2.76 million lottery jackpot in 2005, Lara and Roger Griffiths, of England, reportedly never argued. After winning it, they lived lavishly before their house caught fire. Lara also suspected her husband of cheating on her and that ended their 14-year marriage.

The lottery win is not to blame for this. When you ask for what you want, be prepared for what will happen when you get it.

In another story, William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery in 1988, but he was $1 million in debt within a year. His former girlfriend successfully sued him and his brother allegedly put a hit out on him. Before his death, Bud said he was happier when he was broke.

The lottery win is not to blame. When you ask for something, be prepared for it. When you get what you ask for, do you really know how to handle it?

Keep on asking for what you want and more importantly, be prepared to know what to do with it, once it arrives.

Bless!

Beverley N N 

Feed Yourself Before You Feed Others

 Just like a plant needs sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to flourish, you too need enough food to flourish, as a speaker. And you need to the right type of food.

What food do you take, before you speak? Water is necessary and so is fruit, because the natural sugars will provide the right energy.

How about a positive mindset? Get rid of what makes you angry, or what triggers your deepest fear and when you are on stage with the audience, provide them with the correct light, air and water that they need.

They rely on you to provide the right food and if you have not fed yourself well, how then will you feed others?

As speakers, we must take care of ourselves. If you are an emcee, a moderator, a news anchor or presenter, take care of yourself so that once you are well fed, you are then able to feed others, who rely on you.

Bless!

Beverley N Nsengiyunva

Louise Nakayenga In Concert-2 August, 2024

 E-G-B-D-F-Every Good Boy Deserves Fun.

These are the notes on the Treble Clef, which lie on the right side of the piano. This mnemonic is a clever way to make sure that beginners remember how to read the notes from the music page.

When I was 10 years old, I learned the piano with an Italian teacher. She told me to sit upright and then told me to imagine I was holding an apple in my hand, when I was playing the keys.

This was good advice for posture and for positioning of my ten-year-old hands. She advised me to never play with my hands flat against the piano.

When I am typing, I imagine that there is an apple between my hands, or maybe a small overripe mango.

My younger sister, well, for her not only does she play piano, the music that cascades through her fingers is like the dancing waterfalls of Victoria. It as if the clouds are hopping from one desert to another providing rain and the people are in jubilation.

There are those who play piano and then there is Louise Nakayenga. Dear Friends, are you in need of a unique evening laced with orchestra and opulence. Transformation Through Time, with pieces from the old maestros of centuries ago to the contemporary artists amongst us.

Save that date! Friday 2 August, 2024.

I'll see you there.

Bless!

Bev

The Invention of Digital Photos in Uganda

 The invention of digital photos. It was as if Disney land had colonised the analogue world.

It was in 2003 or 2004 when I was working as a morning show host on radio in Kampala and a young Ugandan gentleman who had been living in Australia, returning to Uganda, introduced us to megapixels.

That was my reaction. What?

His name was Richard.

He walked into the morning show upon invitation. We had heard of a Ugandan whose fingers held the midas touch and he was able to remove all traces of acne with one flick of his camera and also turn yellowed teeth into dashing white pearls.

With curiosity mixed with doubt, he sat in the guest seat opposite my co-host and I and started to explain this incredible invention called digital photography, which removed wrinkles, fixed cavities and reduced photo delivery time by about 99%.

We remained skeptical. I noticed the other staff at the radio station peeking in to see if he was some sort of wizard. He was not. He was a young ambitious Ugandan who wanted to change the world of photography. And he did.

Introducing digital photography to many sectors in Uganda, Richard unveiled an inconceivable world of photography. We witnessed as he reshaped our photos into glamour, removing creases, facial dents and even managed to add sparkle and shine to our skin tones. It was indeed mystical.

Megapix, his studio, became a hub for digital photography and now ever single photographer applies it. For our wedding, we applied the analogue texture and we still pore over our wedding albums to this day. Our children have become their own amateur photographers and have found other enchanting delights in the digital art world.

Coupled to that extraordinary creativity, he began placing our phots on boards, a fascination which many of us still hold onto today , to keep memories of loved ones and cherished events.

Innovation creates convenience, cultural creativity and offers a new world of job opportunities and service efficiency. Keep innovating.

Bless!
Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva
Below is a digital photo on a board, taken while I still worked on radio.

Ripped from Sapphire

 Money Is Everything, if you have the wisdom to know how to use it.

If you studied in a missionary school in Uganda and then went on to offer your time and service at an Anglican, Pentecostal or a born again church, you may have been raised to believe that money is evil. You may have been raised to feel guilty for earning money, driving a car or owning a home and in many ways, you may have squandered either all of one of them, in the name of fanatic folly, giving all of it to religious programmes that never manifested or giving it away to prevent a make-believe prophetic doom.

It was in my early forties that I realised that money is actually everything. All you need is the wisdom to apply it. 

It leaves me puzzled when I meet people with so much money, with loving spouses who lavish them with anything that they want, and children who lack nothing, look at me with obvious envy.

What do I possibly have that they want? They have everything. With half of what they own, I can turn my life around and the lives of so many people who are under my care. I can travel to all the countries of my desires and make worthy investments.

And then I pause and go through my diaries, through my blog posts and through comments on my work, from clients and customers.

I begin to understand the root cause of some people’s envy. My confidence. My ability to articulate. My resilience. My ability to not dwell on things and take on another project with so much gusto, it is as if I have other-worldly capacity.

Money will not buy any of the above qualities, and that is the cause for envy and misguided resentment. I have spent days, weeks and years building myself to become a person of unrivalled resilience. I wake up early, read a lot and spend time learning from whom I perceive as the best in the industries I am growing in. The internet is so useful and I resourcefully spend time listening to particular people and applying their qualities.

If you focus on building the person you want to become and building your life, then others around you will be able to shine their light as well. There will be no time for envy, because you will be so busy doing the things that matter and you will enjoy it.

In the same way that people invest and build their business empires, is the same way I build myself.

Now, all I need is to become Billionaire Bev. How about that?

Keep Yourself Busy In The Things That Matter

 Keep Yourself Busy 

There are things that are sacred to you. Your work, your family, your physical health exercise, your meals and your leisure time. In those things, keep them sacred. You will not be in control of how people treat you in those spaces. You do have control over the way you respond.

Do not over react when someone shows consistent level of unacceptable behaviour towards you. Your time with them is for a season. Focus n your vision in life, which will be with you forever. They have made that choice. You should choose to keep busy with the work before you and make sure you have a daily period for unwinding.

This photo was taken in 2008 at a wedding.

Focus on your goals and not on other people's flaws. Since you have your own flaws, work on elevating yourself to become an enormity, invaluable, an asset and not a liability. It is not your job to save everyone from their own deliberate and unfortunate choices. 

Maintain your boundaries and do not interchange kindness for being gullible. Do not become so gullible that you believe everything that someone tells you. Be kind but be firm as well, otherwise people will mistake your kindness for weakness.

Keep busy. Keep on the target and when you feel weak and delusioned, when the target seems to be drifting away and bobbing into an impossible distance, then rest. Do not let anyone interfere with that rest. Do not become consumed with other people. Focus on yourself. Take a rest.

I learned that some of my lessons are meant for me alone. I learned that not every personal test in my life needs to be shared. It will not help people. If I truly want to be valuable, then I must allow people to learn on their own just like I learned on my own as well.

We can unmake some choice. We can drag ourselves out of any dark pit. If I have done it, then let me allow others to find the light as well.

Keep Busy. There are people who depend on you. If you're busy wearing yourself away with what is temporary, then you let yourself and others down.

You will grow stronger if you build yourself and the purpose into which you were born.

Beverley N Nsengiyunva

Review of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, Reviewed by Beverley

 'My Words fly up. My thoughts remain below. Words without thought. Never to heaven will go.'

King Claudius, in Hamlet.

Speak from your heart. Lead from your heart.

There is a copious amount of knowledge from Shakespeare's play, Hamlet, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601.

The tragedy befell the characters in this play, reflections of our own lives, all because of envy, rage and revenge. Had King Claudius not been envious of King Hamlet in his position, he would never have plotted to kill his very own brother.

If King Claudius had not been filled with such untamable lust towards Queen Gertrude, his sister-in-law, neither he nor the Queen would have wiled their time in plotting to kill King Hamlet.

Envy and revenge are such forceful elements. They appear and disappear in our lives like the sun, wind, moon and stars. They're almost seasonal and are triggered when we are at our most vulnerable, weakest and desperate of places.

We have lived through it, we have experienced it and we have partaken of it.

This is a real scenario.

A dynamic, enterprising and innovating individual joins an organisation and the moment this person does so, a new light appears. The person proposes positive change and the entire establishment witnesses a shift after years of monotony and pointless meetings.

Within the organisation though, are those who have been part of it for long and they have enjoyed the status quo because it has given them an unlimited sense of bravado, only because the members were too afraid or too exhausted to propose anything new. 

It is therefore unsurprising that when this new individual steps in, the members' hearts are filled with gladness and lightness. A leader with a people mindset, has come to create history. They are delighted. Their energy is restored. They are enamoured by the courage and genuine empathy and leadership of this new individual.

The former leaders who have enjoyed the status quo, filled with envy and towering rage, are contemptuous at the thought that their false security and the intimidation that they had ruled with is coming to an end. They have been treating the organisation as if it is their own little family hub. They then plot together and start a series of acts of revenge, poisoning the minds of everyone against this new charismatic individual. 

In the tragedy Hamlet, it is the seed of envy that caused unspeakable deaths, either by poison or by the sword. The tragedies rippled one after the other, just like what happens when a a glass breaks. The pieces scatter and become a potential danger to those around.

The moment you start acting upon your envy, you become a danger to those around.

We have all been envious. Most of us are able to check it. Others are too contemptuous to even acknowledge it.

This charming individual continues in their pursuit of excellence, mostly unaware of the repugnant behaviour of others, or is too busy to consider it. This person's mission is to revolutionise. Their mission is to strategise. Their mission is to lead with positive influence. These people are unflappable, unstoppable. It is better for everyone to just either sit by and watch or join their crusade of diligence and virtue.

And of course, read Hamlet.

Bless!

Beverley N Nsengiyunva