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Welcome to more of my world and mind
This is the most dynamic part of this site. Here, I will share news, events and some of my thoughts in the hope that you can see where the work I create , the talks I have and the life I live emerges from. To stay even closer and reach out to me, you can sign up for my newsletter at the bottom of the page.
https://foundation.app/@ohale/defi-ance-hope-89408
Today in collaboration with my friends at OHALE, I am excited to be launching my first NFT.
10 Years ago, if there were any 3 words people in my close circle would use to describe my disposition to the country, it would have been ; Positive, Patriotic and Passionate. Have these changed? Maybe … It has been a struggle in the last 5 years. It was different when I was younger and didn’t have a child. Regardless of the chaos and dark days, I believed that things were in the process of turning out great. I believed that things needed to get dark before the day sprung. Now that I have a son, I struggle to explain the situation to him while teaching him to become a man of LOVE , HOPE, FAITH and PEACE.
When I was approached by Ohale to create this NFT piece tagged ”DEFIi-ance & Hope”, I seized the opportunity to offer my eyes , voice, heart and hands. This work is my search for clarity. It is my search for balance between my love for Nigeria and the reality of how dark things are. It is a picture of the resolve that I see that so many young people have taken to navigate the floating debris and defy the odds that keep stacking up against them. I got my son to write the words you can see in this piece, in the hope that soon, I would be able to explain to him what happened in Lagos Nigeria on his 5th birthday (20.10.20) from a place of JOY and not PAIN.
NFT Art : DEFI-ance & Hope
Project Lead – Bankole Ojo-Medubi
Ohale NFT Partners – Gbane Choko Okolo and Obinna Ajuruchi
Artist – Akinlabi Akinbulumo “Mr Phisha”
https://foundation.app/@ohale/defi-ance-hope-8940
With this exhibition Akinlabi reintroduces himself as an artist and visual storyteller as he showcases a selected series of portraits and photoarts he has created as commissions over the past 24 months. Enter Exhibition and Enter Full Screen Mode.
The wilderness will show…remind….align you with what is truly important. You will find out that there is enough … but just not enough to waste.
A few months before the pandemic , I had the privilege to teach a few people on a topic I called the Becoming of Kings. Amongst so many points, I shared that kingship is responsibility and not reward. That Kings become the kings they will become through training. That training is not the acquisition of knowledge for action but the repetition of actions for reaction. That reactions are a test of your nature. That the final life altering training that great Kings go through is the “wilderness” training. The beauty of the wilderness is that it levels everyone. No one is more special than the other. Everyone has their day in the wilderness. There is no “I am flower and you are weed”. There is only “We are here and we must align with that which is important to ensure we keep being here.” To survive therefore, everyone … everything … must 1st determine what is important and then modify themselves in such a way that they simply get enough of what is important. They keep doing this (repeatedly) till they not only have become NEW beings but will replicate after their own kind! Kings who have gone through the wilderness not only have a unique makeup, they birth a people who take after their kind. God is such a great creator!
When you consider this, you begin to look at the forced “wilderness training” that the covid-19 pandemic put us through as an opportunity to become … to have an evolved and better version of us emerge. Most times, our wilderness experiences are individual and even in times when it is corporate, the results are individual. What have you been reminded of that is truly important? Have you seen that what you had was enough? Can you now see that if you had what you have always wished for it is extra that you can dip into and share with as a blessing to others.
From thoughts shared on www.instagram.com/mrphisha/
Life is lived in the NOW. The things that happened in the past, happened in a NOW. The things that will happen in the future, will also happen in a NOW. These words hit me about a week ago whilst listening to a podcast conversation between Oprah and Eckhart Tolle.
If this is true, then why are we either always consumed by before or after at the detriment of NOW. Our grips are so tight as we hold on to yesterday that we most often don’t realise that NOW is happening. In other cases, we are intensely chasing tomorrow that we don’t get a chance to see that NOW is going on. I realised that most often, when I am feeling pressured, upset, irritated, excited, stressed or overwhelmed and I act irrationally, nothing about NOW is responsible for it. This is not to say ignore the past or don’t plan for the future. In fact being conscious of NOW will help you make better decisions that affect tomorrow and build on yesterday. But the point of this post is to get you to see how you possibly are missing out on the best opportunities you have to be at your very best.
I don’t know what these words might mean to you but take a second to consider it before you continue with your day. More importantly, consider how this has stood in the way of you being the best version of yourself.
From thoughts shared on www.instagram.com/mrphisha/
We most times are the weight holding down ourselves from lifting off and has nothing to do with haters or our current skill level!
In the past, I have created this mental image of myself that didn’t allow me evolve or progress as much as I should. It didn’t matter whether it was that thought less or highly of myself. In fact, more of the times that I thought I was the best at what I did, was responsible for my lack of evolution. The moment I achieved mastery , I subconsciously believed that I needed to show it off or defend my imaginary “title”. I then found myself getting stuck in that space and loosing out on opportunities to be what I could truly be per time. For example, I chased being one of Africa’s leading brand developers for so long that when it was time to diversify into art and photography, I struggled so hard with what people would think of me. Somewhere in my head, the pursuit of anything other than Brand Master was less. The greater the seeming title, the greater the purpose.
There is no hierarchy with living on purpose my friends! This is a genuine struggle so many people face. They get trapped wishing and dreaming when nothing but the image in their heads are all that is holding them back from lifting off and being what the world needs now!!!!!
From thoughts shared on www.instagram.com/mrphisha/
I used to struggle a lot with the scripture Philippians 4:12-13 that says in summary that “I have learnt to abase or abound . To live in plenty or in little . I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”
My struggle purely came from the fact that I thought that the answer was in resource management and control. In fact, I believed that I needed to be discerning of when “famine” was close, so I could use the times of plenty to store. When I failed, I would blame my lack of spirituality and ability to discern. My struggle with this scripture seemed to end abruptly when I discovered that the answer to this was actually buried in EGO. If I define my life or draw my identity based on what I have or don’t have and I forget that all I truly have is NOW, I will never never understand or experience contentment. It didn’t matter my ability to control or manage the resources I had if these things defined me.
Am I this job, this car, this food , this Netflix subscription, this travel, this girlfriend, this daughter, this church , this sad day, this account balance, this covid-19? Or Am I simply a beautiful blank canvas submitted to an omnipresent God to paint on? I love how the message bible translation captures and ends it up.
Message Bible Translation – (Philipians 4: 12-14)
Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.
From thoughts shared on www.instagram.com/mrphisha/