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I am happy to welcome Tomi Akinyanmi, author of A Worthy Legacy to my blog today.

About the book:

The quiet last words


The Harmattan wind scorches across Nigeria, and an old man lies dying. His community gathers to pay its respects; their haunting songs echoing in the warm twilight. Tomi Akinyanmi, his eldest granddaughter, is present along with the rest of the family, and as she listens to Grandpa’s last words, she feels a resonance deep within her heart. For Grandpa doesn’t talk of regrets, or petty grievances, instead he talks softly about life; how to survive, how to be happy, how to achieve self-respect.


A year on from her Grandpa’s death, Tomi returns to his village. The family bonds have crumbled, no longer held strong by their patriarch. Searching for some link to her Grandpa, in the hope of understanding more, Tomi looks for the journal she once wrote and in which Grandpa would set thought-provoking essays. She finds the journal, but instead of one last essay, she finds Grandpa has left her his thoughts, a continuation of those spoken on his deathbed.


He explains to Tomi that life is a gift, and that it should be treated as such. He also writes of love, and the importance of giving love to others to allow them to love in return. His final words speak of happiness and how it can be achieved through four different disciplines, each balanced and working together.


“Hard work does not mean wealth; Neither does wealth mean class. Age does not mean wisdom, And Love does not mean bliss. Hard work drives vision. Class comes with confidence. Wisdom is found in experience, And love is but a shelter for him who finds it. Amid all the life storms, A man would wade through; Confidence and vision, wisdom and love, Together pull him through.”


“A Worthy Legacy” is a book far greater than its sum of parts; a moral guide that does not preach or command, but simply presents a code for life with a confidence and credibility that allows the reader to relate to and apply its philosophies.

Now onto the author's guest post:

There is a lot to learn from life and each day, I am reminded of that. For instance today, while driving and running errands, I saw two different instances on that stretch of 8 mile road that once again reinforced the lessons of life.




First as I came to a stop at a red light, I tried to grab a pen lying in the middle console of the car to add something I just rememberered to my grocery list but as I reached for the pen, I mistakenly pushed it into the leg space on the passenger side. I immediately bent down to grab the pen and as I lifted up my head, from the corner of my eyes, I saw the car beside me start to move. At first, it seemed like I was going on reverse. If not that I was driving and I was pretty sure I had not put the gears into reverse and that my foot was jammed tight on the brakes, I probably would have panicked since there was this huge truck right behind me. To tell you the truth though, I did check the gears just to be sure. Anyways, I looked up and saw that in that brief moment when I bent to pick up the pen, the light had changed. As I drove away, it occurred to me that there were times in life when it seems like we are on the reverse when everyone seem to be going full speed but really it does take for us to realize what measure we are using to gauge our success. If we look at the pace at which someone else is going, it is quite likely that we would be led to believe that we are not doing as well as we ought to but if we look at focus on ourselves and see just how far we have come from where we started, we are most likely to celebrate our success.



As if to complete this lesson on life, not too far from the lights, the single lane road I was driving on turned into two lanes I decided to go in the right lane and the car behind me sped up on the left lane. Suddenly a bolt of truth seem to hit me: Many people (friends, siblings, cousins etc) start life from the same starting point however, most times, they continue on different momentum and the person in the back might outrun the those that are ahead. Also we all choose different parts and things might just happen for you in a different way than someone who had started on the same path with you. Like the adage in Yoruba language “Ika ko dogba” which translated literarily means fingers are not equal. Just look at the fingers on your hands and you see that even though they all belong on the same hand their width and length are different and it is the same way with life, siblings, friends, colleagues, you might have a common root but each person still ends up been different.



Every situation and circumstance in life has a lesson for us; some are plain enough for us to see and some of them are discovered. The book “A Worthy Legacy” contains a lot of advice and thoughts on life giving guidance and helping us identify learning situations in life circumstances in applying them we can change our lives for the better and also make a difference in the lives of other people.




From the desk of......

Tomi Akinyanmi

Author - A Worthy Legacy.

www.aworthylegacy.com