Ode to Og

A very good boss and friend Mr. Benjie introduced me to someone who profoundly influence me on how to deal with life and its let downs.
He among other things was one of the great motivators of the modern era. His books had become so popular that it was translated into many languages and printed in millions of copies just to reach even the remotest of areas around the globe.
His advice on life is so simple that who would have thought that in order to make life worth living and along the way make all our dreams into reality is simply by saying: “Today I will begin a new life,” and sticking with it!
Wait, a new life of good habits and being a slave to it! Yes, a slave! For we are also a slave of our old add sometimes bad habits, one of which is procrastinating over things, and mind you a lot of things!
I almost forgot, before I continue, I am referring to none other than Mr. Og Mandino and his self-help, inspirational and life-changing books!
Books like The Greatest Salesman in the World, A Better Way to Live, The Greatest Secret in The World, and the Twelfth Angel.
Getting back, our old and sometimes bad habits make the most of our miserable lives, and as Mr. Og says often in his books, it is never too late to start over again for he himself started his journey to greatness when he was 35 years old, on the brink of suicide after losing his job, left alone by his wife and kid, drunkard and with nothing but himself.
I just turned 36 and just like him, I am taking a journey from which I hope one day looking back, will also be a treasure of life’s lessons and inspiration for others. Each and everyone owes to himself to be great, as God created us in His own image, with the full capacity to think, to decide and make the most of all the blessings and gifts that comes with the package!
Mr. Og had shared many, many ways to change our lives and make it a better one. He wrote in The Greatest Salesman in the World, a make believe 10 Scrolls in which contain ten “mantras” so to speak, that one would have to remember, recite, feel and live by heart! One of which I am particularly fond of is from Scroll II that says, “I will greet this day with love in my heart,” and according to Mr. Og, this is the GREATEST SECRET to SUCCESS. God also says in 1 Corinthians 13 which also says “And now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Easy to say, but to live it, I don’t think you’d be smiling anymore. Will you love all manners of people that you meet? How about people who cause you pain? Irritates you?
Allow me to quote Mr. Og again what he wrote in The Greatest Salesman in the World,
“I will greet this day with love in my heart.
I will love the ambitious for they can inspire me; I will love the failures for they can teach me; I will love the Kings for they are but human; I will love the meek for they are divine; I will love the rich for they are yet lonely; I will love the poor for they are so many. I will love the young for the faith they hold; I will love the old for the window they share; I will love the beautiful for their eyes of sadness; I will love the ugly for their souls of peace.”
What a mouthful, yet powerful enough for one to think about his ways and start looking into himself and start the change, and yes, Mr. Og wrote that most of all, we have to love ourselves.
Like what I have said, I am taking a journey and I am bringing with me these valuable encouragement and life’s lessons for surely it’s worth to try and the rewards are great.