Reflective Seeds by Counsellor Seyram

Family is important. Whether one is considering the family from the nuclear or extended scope, there is an undeniable vital role members of the unit play in the lives of each other in the journey of life. According to Ooms and Preister (1988) , a family refers to two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption. Families exist to support, love and care for one another in the family. They also provide security, a sense of belonging, avenues for open communication and make each person within the family feel important, valued, respected and esteemed. Every individual on earth can be traced to an ancestral root whose members are his or her family; thus, no living mortal is an Island. As young members of a family age, their roles and responsibilities change. There are higher expectations of them especially as they mature and start their own families. One key aspect of such expectations is one's work or career and how it affects their family life. It is therefore essential to ...

Starting a new project or business is a bold and courageous decision. It is so because usually, you are setting out to carve a niche for yourself or probably following an existing trend with a unique selling preposition or value added service provision. It is a bold initiative because it is a fearless choice of sort to set a pace and explore something others can identify you with. It is courageous because it is a risk you psych yourself to take regardless of the outcome. Project or business here spans educational, career, personal life, profit or non-profit making businesses, social initiatives among many others. It is common to see one have some high level of enthusiasm and drive when setting on a passionate journey to create a new project or business. It cannot simply be well explained in words but it surely keeps one up at night and challenges the individual to think outside the box, design and develop a brilliant concept that can stand the test of time and sometimes the unfavourabl...

Whereas it has been observed that individuals across the European continent are independent and expressive about emotions, that is joy, sadness, anguish, pain, frustration, excitement among others, their counterparts in Africa are more conservative and interdependent; that is, emotions are most often hidden behind deeds rather than in words. However, it is interesting to note that for most individuals in Africa, particularly Ghanaians, public expression of inner emotions unreservedly is considered as not normal. It is commonplace therefore to hear an expression such as “Men don't cry”. Again, it seems quite unusual to hear parents express love verbally to even their children or spouses publicly. Perhaps except for some upper class families who have some foreign influence and as such, identify with such expressive behaviours, the masses generally consider it unnecessary and somehow even inappropriate to be that affectionate. In most instances, the times when one can observe an open ...

A virgin may loosely be defined as someone who is naïve  or/and inexperienced about sexual relations because he or she has never been engaged in it. According to plannedparenthood.org, the description of a virgin is relative because sexual relations and orientation differ thus the act of having sex (penetration between the male and female reproductive organs) means different things to different people.  Also, further reading on the site indicates that many people believe that sexual assault is not sex thus anyone who suffers it may not consider that as losing one's virginity. Admittedly then, the phenomenon of virginity is broad and somewhat relative based on different factors. It is a cultural and perhaps moral principle that may not always have scientific evidence to support it. As indicated above, there are many ways to describe virginity. However, this reflection is centered mostly on the primary consideration of the word in relation to the penetrative act involving the m...

In a publication dated October 13, 2023 on the Share of global population affiliated with major religious groups 2022, Einar H. Dyvik revealed that in 2022, around 31.6% and 25.8% of the global population were identified as Christians and Muslims respectively. This was followed by 15.1% Hindus. According to the 2010 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service, approximately 71% of Ghanaians are Christians, 18% Muslims, 5% adhering to indigenous or animistic religious beliefs, and 6% belonging to other religious groups or has no religious beliefs. Smaller religious groups include Baha’is, Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, and followers of Shintoism, Eckankar, and Rastafarianism. This invariably means that globally as well as in Ghana, Christians as a single religious group form the majority of the population. The Christian denominations in Ghana include Roman Catholic, Methodist, Anglican, Mennonite, Presbyterian, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, African Methodist Ep...

Esra was a middle-aged public servant who had worked diligently for over two decades. He was excellent at his job and a family man with children. As the breadwinner of the home, he took his role and responsibilities as a father seriously and ensured that the needs of his dependants were provided for. However, his employer suddenly asked him to proceed on early retirement. This was met with utter shock and disbelief; he was yet to complete the family building and prepare adequately for his exit from the job. He had so many unanswered questions but the decision was final. Together with his family, they had few months to pack out of the government home facility. With his wife Emi’s support, they quickly prepared to relocate to their new home. Eventually, the deadline given them elapsed and Esra was compelled to exit the home and profession he had known all his life to begin a new chapter. Esra later got employed in a private company. The salary and job satisfaction was not close to his fo...

The institution of marriage is one considered as unique and often sacred in many societies. It involves a union between a man and woman who have consented to live together as a couple with common or shared goals, responsibilities and aspirations. The marriage ceremony is considered a happy occasion not only for the couple, their families and friends but also for the community at large. This union is one where a certificate is given before the actual married life begins thus the merit of whether one deserves the certificate or not cannot be determined especially in hindsight. Every marriage is novel thus no two marriages are ever the same. There is therefore no particular format to determine the success of one marriage over the other. The sustainability of any marriage however depends almost always on the two individuals involved and their choice to be committed, consistent, honest, and true to their decision to share a life together. The survival of the union also rests on some essenti...

In the discourse about the subject of integrity, focus is usually placed on the aspect of it being a virtue of honesty driven by a strong will. In other words, we may say that a person purported to have integrity is someone who has strong moral principles. In most instances, the description of integrity ends there. An interesting dimension to the personality of an individual with integrity bothers on the individual’s ability to be firm on his or her position and decision regarding issues of interest to him or her. Such individuals refuse to change their stance irrespective of any coercion or circumstances they may have to endure in upholding those morals. Perceiving integrity from the above angle therefore is quite thought-provoking. It draws attention to the question of how much integrity we have as individuals. Before we rush to claim that we are high-scoring in issues of integrity, we need to sincerely assess our ability to stand firm in taking decisions on pertinent issues of inter...