Live The Best Possible Life Ever

Quote of the Month:

“We soon passed from the reading to the thinking stage, and finally to the working stage.”

Mr. Wilbur Wright.

Who would have thought that one day, humans would defy the law of gravity and fly in the sky? The over achievement story of the Wright Brothers continues to inspire hope, determination and encouragement for current and future generations to become great dreamers. Historians tells us that on a cold day on December 17, 1903, Mr. Wilbur Wright flew their biplane for a distance of 852 feet for 12 seconds. With that feat, the birth of air travel was born. According to google, on any given day, there are over 45,000 Domestic and International flights in the United States . The advance in Air travel has resulted in safer transcontinental flights, and shortened the duration in flight, resulting in more time for enjoyment on vacations and the ability to safely attend conferences and business globally. When you get a chance visit the Wright Memorial Museum at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the United States to experience the work habit of the Wright Brothers. There is a saying that “your attitude will determine your altitude. “

Interestingly, Summer break from school affords both parents and children time to embark on more travel and other extracurricular activities . Our family visited the Wrights Brothers Museum in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. At the museum Exhibits, it became apparent that true success in life is a slow, progressive, determined effort that requires precious time, commitment and our indomitable will to achieve the impossible.

One of life’s greatest satisfaction is the observation and metamorphosis of our noble ideas into transformative realities. Examples include Thomas Edison’s invention of the light bulb, Henry Ford ‘s invention of the Model T vehicle, and the invention of the iphone. Such inventions started with a simple great idea that forever changed the world.

In conclusion, if possible, spend time every day thinking of one new idea and work constantly to improve, and transform your idea from its visionary stage into the productive stage.

Cheers!

From Dr. Amo-Mensah.

Quote of the Month:

“I will drink the ocean says the preserving soul.”

Mr. Andrew Dellimore.

Good day Friends. I hope all is well with you and your family today. Happy July 4th and Happy Independence Day to the United States of America. May God bless her and may she continue be a beacon of hope to all. May the United States of America continue to set good examples to the World and shine from “sea to shining sea”.

Merriam-Webster defines Masterpiece as a work done with extraordinary skills, especially: a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement.

Masterpiece. They can be Inspired work like the Bible and also literal or artistic works from men and women that have stood the test of time. Names such as Handel, Bach, Beethoven, Picasso, The Last Supper and Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel , William Shakespeare, etc.

These Masterpieces speak to the fiber and core essence of our souls, by providing hope, inspiration, guidance, peace, to navigate throughout life as we make passage through this hard world.

How do I create my own Masterpiece with the time that I have on this earth? As mortals, according to USAfacts.org, the average lifespan are 73.5 for men ,and 79.3 for women living in the Unites States of America. These allotted years gives us approximately 7 or 8 decades to apply our talents, opportunities, guidance to create a transformative legacy that will bring positive change and become a catalyst for goodness, hope and security for future generations. Technological advances have resulted exponential growth within the multi-factorial spherical sectors such as E-commerce, Healthcare, Financial, Space Exploration, Business, Automotive, Education, Social Media, Literature, Agriculture, Real Estate, just to name a few. For example, 40- 50 years ago, If I wanted to buy stocks in a given company, I would have to go to a physical Stock Broker’s Office, or use my telephone to tell the stock broker to purchase certain shares, or use paper to mail in my order. Fast forward to today, electronically trading enables investors to use computers/personal smartphones on financial platforms such as Vanguard, Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Robinhood, to place orders.

We continue to observe economic opportunities in many parts of the world for the driven, yet many more people , due to lack of economic progress or available platforms, live below the poverty line. According to Global Citizen.org, we live in a world where the top 1% richest people control almost 50% of all the wealth, while the poorest half of the world own just 0.75%. However through history, most economic Historians have suggested that Capitalist societies gives better opportunities for progress when compared to socialist and communist governments.

Total change almost always start with individuals. We all must be driven to create our masterpieces. History teaches that some individuals created their masterpiece in their early years, some in their mid career years and some in their later years, like Mr. Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Read about him when you have a chance.

We all can do more. The richest in our societies, while they are alive, must do more for all the members of our societies. Likewise, the poor and the middle class must not squander the financial opportunities that Rich Private foundations, government assistance programs provide to them. Collaboratively, as human beings, we all must be good steward of our resources which is our time, our money, our health, and influence. We must learn to live and spend below our means, save for our retirements, educate the less educated about building multi-generational wealth for their families because when we have stable families, we have stronger and stable societies.

As individuals, we must also learn to have fun and enjoy some of the money that we acquire on this earth. The Good Bible states that to enjoy the result of our labor is our reward from our great God. (Ecclesiastes 3:13).

Moreover, as adults, we must remember to teach our children to have the drive to succeed. As your already know from books like The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley and William Danko, some wealth obtained in the first generation are squandered and lost after the third generation due to many reasons including the lack of drive for success.

Unfortunately, we continue to observe the lack of accountability and integrity in our societies. For we all know of and have read about, trusted individuals who inappropriately used, abused, and stole organizational funds allocated for the poor and the needy in our societies for their own personal and selfish good.

On a good note, I applaud those who have created their masterpiece. Well done. For those still trying, don’t give up and keep going forward.

Finally, our God-given talents, coupled with time, our vision and perseverance will allow each one of us to search deeper into the depth of our beautiful souls to create our own genuine perpetual masterpieces, which will trans-mutate into our transformative legacy.

I encourage you to continue to work on your masterpiece today.

from Dr. Kofi Amo-Mensah.

Quote of the Month:

“To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift.”

Steve Prefontaine.

Good day friends. I hope all is well with you and your family. Thank God it is June and that we are currently half way through the year. Happy Father’s Days in advance to all the wonderful Father’s around the World. For most of us, the past 5 months, were filled with surprises, normalcy, challenges, victories, setbacks, hopes and changes. Wherever you find yourself, I urge you to keep going forward and press on for more victories for the next coming months.

In the United States, school is officially out, and my children joined my wife and I in completing yard work around our house. Interestingly, using trimmers ( especially Husqvanna trimmers and Electric trimmers) really made it much more easier and efficient to complete our yard work. We completed a 2 day backyard work in a single day. Maybe the job was completed quickly because we promised the kids that we will all go to the beach for the weekend if all the task were completed . Honestly, the work was completed efficiently because we had more hands to help and possessed the burning desire to finish what we started.

We headed to the beach and the kids swam. Personally, it was so relaxing to walk bare foot on the soft therapeutic sand. The sound of the waves beating against the rocks, the songs from the birds made me once again appreciate the beauty and essence of life.

Vacations are important to each of us. The goal of vacation is to allow rest, invigoration of the soul and re-calibration of the mind which is required to facilitate the achievements of set goals and dreams. I hope you plan to take a good vacation with your family this year to retool your mind for better self optimization.

Metaphorically speaking, sharper tools (books, rest, vacations, comprehensive education, preconditioned state of mind) help us to make good decisions.

In conclusion, we sharpen our tools daily through rest, reading, planning ahead, by having the burning desire to achieve more and retooling our state of being with a preconditioned state of mind . A preconditioned state of mind is the training of our consciousness to deal with difficult and unpleasant situations in order to prepare ourselves for what tomorrow’s surprises may bring.

Cheers!

From Dr. Kofi Amo-Mensah

February is a Leap Year and according to the records, it will take another four years to repeat this cycle. Wow, imagine what can happen in four years. I will leave that to your imagination. 

Great thinkers ,past and present with enormous talents, took on the world and won by stepping forward with the opportunities of their lifetime. To name a few, Jesus Christ, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mother Teresa, Dr. Charles Drew, and finally you!!!

History teaches that the industrial revolution changed commerce from an Agrarian to a capitalistic society.

The amazing dilemma is that tomorrow opportunities may present themselves in ways that the true winners must pay attention and position themselves in optimal positions in order to ride the waves to success. Such examples include The information age, the social media wave, the promise and dilemma of artificial intelligence, digital currency, etc. In their book The Sovereign Individual–Mastering The Transition to the Information Age, James Dale Davidson and Lord William Ree-Mogg stated” You cannot depend upon conventional information sources to give you an objective and timely warning about how the world is changing and why. If you want to understand the great transition now under way, you have little choice but to figure it out for yourself.”

Having Self Control at all times, is also another key quality necessary to make your dreams come true.

I sincerely hope you continue to keep your eyes open and mind searching for ways to discover the sea of possibilities that awaits you. 

Cheers!

From Kofi Amo-Mensah, MD.

Happy New year my good friend! It is great to be alive and thank God that we have made it safely from 2023 to 2024. One of the interesting ways to know you are at the beginning of a new year is when you suddenly write the previous year date when dating a document, a note, a letter for the first few days of the new month. I know for sure, that you have well adjusted into the year 2024. When was the last time that you and your family went on a great trip? Perhaps you drove a car to your destination, flew on a plane, took a train, a boat, or you walked there. Interestingly, when traveling to a new destination, the experience is fun, because you have simply not been there before. Your mind gets excited through the journey imagining how the place will actually look like. Sometimes, the place is less exciting or otherwise, better than what you imagined. If you are the one driving, the kids may ask you “are we there yet? The next 12 months is a journey. 

Good navigational system is a must to get there safely to your destination. A wrong move will delay your progress. A mediocre system will prolong your goals, but a great navigational system will get you there on time.

The ford of life literally means how well you are crossing from where you are today to where you want to be with your interpersonal relationships: emotionally, financially, spiritually, and psychologically. The goal for this year is to make a GIANT Progress.

Stay motivated and as one mentor told me “finish strong.”

From Kofi Amo-Mensah, MD.

Each year, as I grow, one of the most striking observations is how different life continues to change progressively right in front of my eyes. Some of the changes are good, but some of the subconscious ideas, are in fact dangerous for the well-being of children and our youth. If you ask some or most adults living today to compare their childhood to how children are growing up today, one of the answers you may get is that children growing up in today’s society are exposed to too much ideas than they did at a younger and fragile age. As we all know, we are living in the information age.

For a better change, it will be great if as parents, we can continue to increase outdoor play time for children and decrease screen times on phones and computers. Studies have shown that too much screen time may negatively impact the cognitive learning process of children.

It is also essential for each parent to teach our children about God and what God expects from each one of us. Micah 6: 8 states:” He hath shewed thee, O man what is good: and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humble with thy God ?”

For example, it is a great idea for the family to have daily devotions with God every morning before the children go to school. This personal time spent with the children and God will strengthen and remind the children to behave themselves well at school, the time spent will increase the family bond, and most importantly will allow children and parents/guardians to spent time with our Heavenly Father, who gives guidance, purpose and protection for our lives. While growing up as a teenager, I remember during our devotional studies , my mother and my father will pray for their children to have retentive memories to study at school and the prayers of my parents have gone a long way into making all their children successful adults.

If possible, it is important for parents to read stories to children at bedtime for as long as possible to enhance our parental- children family bond.

Economically speaking, it is also important to teach children slowly but progressively about savings, investing money and about how money works, so they can use money as a positive tool that will help them build a brighter future. Ideas to be taught include telling our children to take advantage of opening a Roth Individual Retirement account once they start working. One advantage of a Roth Individual Retirement Account is that since it is an aftertax money account, it gets the opportunity to growth, and compound interests on the childs behalf, which will lead to money the child will not have to pay taxes on when they take that money from their account. As Parents and Guardians, it is our duty to teach each child early about the positive and negative impact of credit cards. It is also important to teach children about ways to manage and avoid unnecessary debts.

Thank God, there are many responsible young adults doing amazing things for our society and they should be acknowledged for their positive impacts on our society.

However, in our modern society, there is an increased opioid and alcohol endemic going on across our nation.

As parents, we must continue to be vigilant and pro-active to warn our children about avoiding illegal and unprescribed drugs such as Marijuana, oxycodone, cocaine,meta- amphetamines, etc. As a physician, I had to managed a young adult in her twenties who had overdosed on illegal drugs. We as parents must reach our children first before the sellers or friends of our children get to them. There are many programs available to help young adults addicted to illegal drugs, such as narcotic anonymous. However like they say, prevention is better than the cure.

Positive parental guidance shields our children from unnecessary headaches and points them towards building a future that will benefit the child, his/her family, and most importantly the society as a whole, because every one responsible young male or female can contribute to the stability of our society.

Last week, one of my patients was admitted to the hospital for uncontrolled Hyperglycemia and Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome. He plainly told me Doc, I have been an alcoholic since the age of 18, and am still trying to fight this disease at the age of 50. He had been to numerous alcoholic anonymous programs but relapsed many times in the past. Prior to his discharge from the hospital, thankfully his brother and sister had arranged with the hospital Social Worker and enrolled this patient in an intensive alcohol rehabilitation problem to help him. Sadly his case of alcohol dependence is one example of many alcohol addiction problem facing our nation.

In conclusion as Parents and Guardians, we must commit the time to spend and teach our children about the importance of God, virtue, stewardship, accountability, personal investment, and the avoidance of alcohol use and drug use. Proverbs 22: 6 states: ” Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. “

If you or someone you know is addicted to alcohol or illegal drugs, there is help to change your life around. You can contact this national hotline number at 1-800-662-4357 for information on programs for drug addiction and mental health programs. You can also contact your local town community service board for more help.

from Kofi Amo-Mensah, MD.

Wow what a month in August. For our family vacation we visited Ghana. It was very exciting to go visit my childhood home, visit my grandmother and for my son and daughter to meet their cousins, great grandmother and experience the ways of life for people in Ghana . The time spent visiting families, old childhood friends, worshiping God, created lasting memories that I sincerely thank God for.

When I was in school, my French teacher Mr. Morgan stated in our french class” when I discover who I am, then I will be free”. As individuals, we all have great strengths and weaknesses. Self discovery is one of the greatest turning point in achieving greatness. Discovering the meaning of life, discovering the importance of marriage, discovering the key to happiness, discovering the intent behind your friends questions, discovering the path to financial independence are all momentous steps that moves all of us as individual to accomplishing our goals.

I sincerely hope you discover yourself and know your strength, your weakness, your short comings, find the diligent paths to your dreams, and endeavor to keep your ambitions alive. At the same time, In the process, I hope you find time to be nice to yourself. I have discovered that some of the key components to true happiness is to trust God, be nice to self by treating self sometimes, be diligent, and have the courage to take the necessary risk needed to achieve your goals and your happiness.

From

Kofi Amo-Mensah, MD.