 Ufifo, imagine. Thank you for staying with us on Y254 Updates and if you're just joining us we say that tonight we are talking about exactly what I'm holding here. Blessed to be a blessing, this is a book written by one as Samoel Winnamo Asena and tonight, I joined us in studio to help us really understand What does it mean for him probably to sit down and write this book I'm sure you have the intention of making sure that you inform people We give more information about blessings that we do not talk to us across our social media platforms. That is at Y254 channel, you can also reach me at Patricia Muriuki. Thank you very much Samuel for finding the time to be here tonight. The first time when I really got this book and preparing for this interview and went through the topic, just as it says, bless to be a blessing, I just thought that many of us don't really think that we can be someone's blessing. But you're going to be helping us tonight, really understand all that. But before we dive into the book, probably to give us a very brief background about who Samuel is, where did he grow up, probably where did he go to school and how was that? Okay, my name is Samuel Minamo Asena as you have said. I was born and brought up in Kakamega. I grew up under the care of my grandmother. My maternal grandmother to be specific. I lost my dad when I was barely two years old. Six years later, my mother also went to be with the Lord. So the person who's really brought me up and been there throughout my journey has been my maternal grandmother, whom I celebrate. As for school, I was at Kakamega Township Primary School. For high school, I went to Mbali High School. And finally for my undergraduate, I was at Mo University School of Business and Economics. Okay, so let us now get into probably what brother is here tonight. Would you give us an elaboration for a viewer who is watching us tonight? Elaborate on the topic, blessed to be a blessing. And why you chose this title for your book? Yeah, blessed to be a blessing was originated from the book of Genesis chapter 12 from verse 1 to 3. This is God speaking to Abraham and telling him that I am going to bless you. And I'm going to make your name great. And then as you go towards the third verse, you hear him turn the conversation on its head and say, and you will be a blessing through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. So the idea behind this book is that one, everyone is blessed in their own way, in their own manner, in their own interpretation, everyone is blessed. And what we need to be asking ourselves is how can we make use then of that which has been given to us, of that which we have received to make a difference in the life of someone else. So that's the whole idea really behind the book. And how then do we, when you talk about blessings, how do we measure blessings? Can we even measure blessings? Because probably there's someone sitting somewhere watching us tonight and they're like, I don't really understand what you guys are talking about because most of the times we've put blessing on probably being blessed with a good phone, a good watch and all that. Would you tell us really, when you talk about blessing, what can people look out for to really know that they are blessed? From the onset, blessing is first a state of being. Before you look at anything that would come as a manifestation of those blessings, the fact that you are is already an indication that you are blessed. To be alive is in fact the greatest blessing we can think about because before you enjoy anything else, you need life. And so the thing is we should not limit blessings to the definition of any particular group of people or any individual or anything like that. Our focus should be everyone of us in our way and in the manner that we choose to look at it, God has blessed us. Living in the area that you are living in, especially in social media, you've talked about the fact that you wake up in the morning is a blessing but not very many people really think about it like that. People feel like I can only call myself blessed if I am driving the beska and this is something that is with the most young people now. For those young people watching us tonight, and that is a mentality that they have when they think about blessing that it has to be something tangible, that they don't think even probably the clothes that they have even though it's not a new pair of clothes that that alone is a blessing. What advice would you have for such people who have that type of perception? I would look at it as the way we have grown up probably without an attitude of gratitude. With an attitude of gratitude, you learn to appreciate every little thing that you enjoy. Think about the time that we are in and struggling with COVID-19 and all that. Who would have thought that our movement would be limited? It's something you would take for granted otherwise but when you realize there's a kufu and you need to be in the house by a particular time and that therefore means there are certain things you cannot do or you cannot engage in, then you realize that for you to have a healthy nation where there is no pandemic or anything as life threatening as this is such a big deal. So I would look at encouraging young people to change their perceptions to begin with where they are and what they have before they shift their focus to what they are looking for. It's good to have a vision of the kind of future you want but a vision should not be the fact that you still haven't reached where you want to reach shouldn't keep you from celebrating where you already are. Okay. People watching us tonight really must take note of that celebrate where you are before you get to where you want to be. You've talked about in the book you talked about making sure or learning and understanding to know how you can also be a blessing. So how can now people, how can we tap into our own blessing and now stretch out and make sure that probably whatever that we are blessed with does not only get to benefit us, how do we stretch out and reach out to more people? There are many ways in which you can be involved. For example, if you have a skill set that you are very good at, think about people from less fortunate backgrounds. What would it do for them if you took two hours in a week to go and share with a group of them the details of your skill set so that they too have an opportunity to advance and make something of themselves going into the future. For example, if I can do piano, that's just an example. How much does it take me, if I'm good at piano, how much does it cost me to spare two hours in a week to go somewhere in Kibra and identify a few people and teach them how to play piano, classical piano for example. It might look like a very little thing but the kind of doors and opportunities that would open for those people you don't even want to begin to imagine. So it's not about how much money I have in the bank. There is so much that I can still give even if I'm struggling financially. That's very critical for many of us young people to take note of. In the book on Chapter 6 you've talked about the blessing of pain and I'd like to quote some of the words that you've used or rather a statement. When you think about pain, it is difficult to tell how it would be associated with a blessing. How can pain be a blessing? What purpose does pain serve in our lives to be considered a blessing? How many people in this world or rather even people tuning in tonight, most people don't find it very easy to think that the struggle, the challenges and all those things that probably don't look right for them could be a blessing. And we've seen people get so angry with others we've even seen people get angry with God himself because of probably a certain situation. So now how now do people watching us tonight or anyone who gets to watch this interview even later how do they now take that challenge and not only look at the negative side and know that at the end of the day probably this could be a blessing. Just as your statement says that pain can be a blessing. I would begin with the physical pain, for example. What would happen to you, and this is a question I ask in the book, what would happen to you if your nervous system went dead? If you stepped on a piece of coal or on a hot ion, it would be probably 30 minutes before you note that there is something happening to my leg because there is no pain and you can't sense. So wouldn't you appreciate the fact that that pain has saved you from losing your leg or losing a part of your body? That's physical. Think about the experiences that we go through in life. You're only able to advise people or speak from an expert point of view katasi of some of the experiences that you've gone through. However much I would love to talk about the pain of childbirth, I don't understand it. Only somebody who's been there can talk to someone else and tell them this is how it feels and this is how you go through this kind of thing. So in that way, the fact that this person has gone through that experience while they were going through it, it was very painful. But out of that painful experience they are able to advise, to offer somebody a helping hand, to offer somebody guidance to go through a similar experience. Think about this week I was just listening to someone talking about the story of Joseph. If somebody had picked Joseph from the pit where his brothers had thrown him Joseph would never have become the prime minister. The process was very painful but the end result was more than anybody could have begging for, more than anybody could have thought possible. So pain experiences, negative experiences are a blessing because of where they take us, how much growth we experience as we go through that process. So I hope that people really now get to understand or probably have adopted to a new perception or approach on how they look at challenges. During the entire process of you writing this book what is the greatest lesson probably that you got to learn about yourself during this process that probably you didn't know before you sat down and thought about writing a blessing to be a blessing. One of the things that I would say is that it took me quite some discipline and focus to sit down and go through the first draft of this book. Let me tell you that I finished the first draft of this book in 2016 but I shelved it because I was like I don't seem to be ready to get this out there. I was looking at how much money do I have for everything that goes into publishing and a lot of things but then I made up my mind in 2020 and I decided this book has to come out by May. So if there is a lesson that I learnt in the whole process it's that when you make up your mind to do something some people say the universe conspires to make it possible and that is what I would say happened because I was able to find support and help from very many people to make this a reality. I would even dare to say that probably I was in a better financial position in 2016 than when I did this in 2020. Okay, so final thoughts, final comments on this topic as you wind up, what is your message to people watching us tonight? What do you get to live them with? I would say this this is what would be the summary of the message of this book in closing. One, that you are blessed. Secondly, that it is possible to misuse and abuse the blessings of God upon your life. Thirdly, is that there are consequences for misusing and abusing God's blessings. And finally, every blessing is meant to be a blessing to many other people and anybody who uses their blessing to touch the lives of others is guaranteed of eternal rewards. Okay, where can I get if someone watching us tonight where can they get this book? They can order online on Amazon. You can order a copy from Amazon whether it's a soft or a physical copy. They can also reach me personally on 0774-776-413. I will just repeat that again. They can also look for me on social media. Facebook is Asena Samuel Minamo. Twitter is AwSumOne A-W-E-S-A-M-O-N-E at AwSumOne. Okay, thank you very much AwSumOne for finding the time to be here. I'm sure that if you've tuned in tonight I'm sure you've learnt a lot. If probably you didn't know that you can be a blessing to someone then you know it today and go out there and touch lives in whatever ways that you can and you've heard from someone it doesn't have to only involve money. Use your talents. Use whatever it is that you've been given to make sure that you're probably being a blessing to someone. Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you so very good night.