A Positive Quote for Now

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


Finding Inspiration

A True Story
by
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With permission, I've extracted this picture-quote from Pinterest. All rights reserved worldwide.

In his book "Be Inspired Before You Expire", Pepe Minambo said blessed are the inspired, for they shall make the world a better place. He adds that expired people are as harmful as expired products because they can contaminate our dreams with the virus of discouragement and self-doubt.

While I agree with Minambo on that, I think he should have mentioned that inspiration comes and goes. If we rely on it, we will never achieve our dreams.

As for me, I'm glad I started writing when feeling uninspired. Had I not done so, I would still be the lazy fellow I was some years back. Boy, didn't I lack inspiration!

When I was re-applying to three top American colleges in 2009 for instance, I dozed while revising for the SAT exam. No wonder the colleges didn't accept me.

Then after I dropped out of the University of Nairobi in 2011, my family let me stay in Nairobi. Though I planned to spend my days growing in knowledge at Kenya National Library, I often dozed at daytime due to lack of inspiration.

Writing, as I've said, has helped me find inspiration. When I write a story and share it on this blog, I feel on top of the world. And it's not just writing that makes me fully alive. I also delight in music, reading and walking.

I urge you, my beloved reader, to also find ways of feeling inspired if you aren't. Maybe you can think about the activities you enjoyed doing before things happened to you and start doing them again.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story on finding inspiration, you might also enjoy "How I Have Gotten My Mojo Back".
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The Story of My Book-Filled Home

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Jun 11, 2023
Copyright ©
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With permission, I've extracted this picture-quote from Coburg Commons. All rights reserved worldwide.

Dad bought us books when we were growing up but it wasn't until December 2007 that I realized how plentiful the books were. I was on a university holiday then, looking for something interesting to read.

Reading grew into an obsession as the years wore on. I would even get at loggerheads with Dad for ransacking his bedroom in search of books to read. When he scolded me, I would ask him, "What are books for if not for reading?"

One day in 2014 when he scolded me, I wrote a blog story about it. A Canadian called Norman Brown read the story and sided with Dad. He told me quite frankly that he would also not take kindly to anyone violating his personal space.

I don't think I ransacked Dad's bedroom again when we lived in our old wooden house. Because the house was infested with rats and termites, my brothers did our parents the world of good when they built a brick mansion we moved into in December 2015.

Some time in 2018, I asked Dad if I could transfer the books in our old wooden house to our new brick mansion. He gave me the green light to do so. Wow! At last, I could peacefully see all the books here at home.

Transferring the books turned out to be a taxing task that took me three or four weeks. But I thoroughly enjoyed it, like moths do when flying around bright lights.

I did find some helpful books, like Cambridge international dictionaries of idioms and phrasal verbs that have made me a better writer. But some, like Toni Morrison's Beloved and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, had been nibbled by rats and termites beyond repair.

My brother Bob Njinju was impressed with the way I arranged the books in a room next to mine. He took a video of the room, which we now call "library", and shared it in a WhatsApp group of ours.

And the library has many books - more than you can shake a stick at. So I'd like to thank Dad for filling our home with books and apologize for disturbing his peace when I ransacked his bedroom some years back.

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RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "Reading to Understand".
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Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just for Laughs

There was this drunkard called Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tips

"So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

The Kind of Leaders We Need

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)