As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Eze Emmanuel Chukwudi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
That our thought defines who we are and in other terms as we think, so are we. He emphasizes on the power of our thought, that if we can harness and understand its powers and relate we would have peace within and outside. And that our thoughts are like a garden where we weed out unwanted grasses from our flowers so as to beautify it and make it blossom but if we allow the bad weeds around it corrupts and defaces the garden. Like it was said in the book that you cannot change your thoughts without changes your life in the process either for good or for bad. ,it also states that if you immerse yourself in the right thought you will become the person you long to be just as surely as the planting of an acorn yields an oak tree and not a pine tree.
2. What were the seven ideas which were most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you, Use personal examples from your life.
A. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances but can choose his thoughts.
It is important to me because In my life circumstances have always determined the way I think but now I understand that if I channeled my thought towards good then good comes to me but If for bad then bad things come or is made manifest. It also explains to us that we ourselves can choose want we want to happen to us if the can be harmony between our inner thought and the external then we can achieve what we desire and that the principle that an acorn produces an oak,so if our thoughts are of good then good happens to us and that it cannot change that if we stick to good evil happens to us that it cannot happen.
B. The body is the servant of the mind.
What happens to the body is a function of the mind; it is what the mind thinks of is what the body reacts to. I have always thought of myself of been great and my body has been acting in that capacity because my mind is the conceiver of what my body reacts to. And that what the mind doesn’t conceive nor doesn’t attract doesn’t happen to it, and that whatever happens to our body is in one way or the other related to our line of thought in whatever way we see it. Our body bows to what the mind conceives and the body is a dummy without the mind.
C. He who conquers doubt and fear has conquered failure.
That if I can defeat failure if I can conquer doubt and fear and in my life that has been my major setback to greatness because am a victim of fear but now I have been working on my fear and it has been an awesome experience.
D. Out of a defiled mind proceed a defiled life and a corrupt body.
That our actions are as a result of what our mind has conceived, my mind several times has conceived thoughts of harming a friend or someone close to me and because it has been something I didn’t bother to remove from my strain of thought, it accumulated into something really bad and a day came when I acted out what has been going on in my mind and I regretted it.
E. Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves therefore remain bound.
It really says a lot about me because several stages of my life where I wanted to change some certain things in my life but I found it hard to give it up those that if I stopped, it betters my life and also changes my position for the better. There was a time in my life when I had problems with sugar really affecting my health but I had issues with stopping things like chocolate and too much sugar in whatever I wanted to have and at the same time I was complaining about my health but I couldn’t stop what was in a way killing me.
F. The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
This point really got me because the planes, ships and architecture and even the Seven Wonders of the World were all dreams in someone’s head which was later translated into reality.There are things in my life such as getting through the university was at one point in time in my life was a dream I had when I was young and today it’s a reality and it has given me a boost to know and believe in my dreams that they actually do come through. And if you work towards it, nothing can stop you from becoming an achiever.
G. None but ourselves can alter our condition.
This is one of the greatest lesson I think I learnt from the book, it teaches me that I am the decider of what happens to me and who I become and also the condition I find myself or choose to be in. In so many instances I have been in some certain conditions if not because I move to change my condition and took steps towards it I got better but there have been times when I was I some conditions which I didn’t know what to do and was expecting someone or something to change my condition not knowing that I am the only one who can change what happens to me or what doesn’t. And that if I don’t change nothing changes.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you create a better world? If so, how?
It will help me in determining what I leave in my thought process and now I understand the power of my thoughts and that good thoughts brings forth good actions and bad actions brings about bad actions and all what goes on in our thoughts comes to bear either planned or unplanned .
4. Quotes: are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.”
Because it inspires me to do better and believe in my dreams and that if I work hard at it, it will come pass.
It also gives me fillip to know that I can achieve my dreams and that what we see today was once an imagination.
5. Is there anything in the book you do not understand or are unclear about, or are the ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find it helpful?
Yes it was extremely helpful it gave me the opportunity to re-access my thoughts and also analyze the things I say are the laws of thoughts in my mind and life.
7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
Yes, there was a part that infers that none but ourselves can change our conditions, but there are times in our lives and also my own life where all I needed was just a push and I got it and then my condition and also position changed for good.
My ground now is that at times in life and sometimes also most times some people are needed to push some people to do great things and in turn also through that given help they also get to learn something in turn which in one way or the other betters them, so I would say to an extent none but we ourselves can change our condition holds water to a very large extent but also there are some people tied to our destiny to help give us that needed to put achieve our desired goals or vision, for example the CEO of Facebook, at the initial start when he wanted to start he wanted to change his condition but didn’t have the financial strength to do so, his friend was there to help him change his condition that I would call a push and a college undergraduate went from obscurity to stardom and great success.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor
A .How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful was the content? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 8
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E .What is the overall rating you would give it? 10
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Eze Emmanuel Chukwudi (Nigeria)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
That limitation is only a thing of the mind and also because everybody accepts to be ordinary doesn’t mean you should also accept that, you can be extra-ordinary amongst the ordinaries. It also emphasis on the power of persistence and determination that these two things can take you far in whatever you set out to achieve and that you should always be opened to learning and also try to learn new things.
2. What were the seven ideas which were most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by explanation after each one as to why it was important to you, Use personal examples from your life.
A. Limitations are only a thing of the mind.
We are only limited by the limits we place on ourselves, as long as we say to ourselves that we are limitless then we are limitless. It is important to me because it has upped my moral to know that the only limits I have is the limit I place on myself, at different stages in my life I have placed limits on myself that I can’t do some certain things and it was something that if I put my mind to it I would have been able to accomplish it if I had taken away the limitation of fear and doubt.
B. We should never accept limitations because other people or because majority accepts it.
It is an inspiration to me because I have limited myself several times because my friends, family tried some certain things and were not successful at it, I automatically believed that I cannot do it because the people whom I respected were unable to achieve it. And there have been scenarios where the people who I thought were better than me in something we take up something’s together and I out-perform them. I have never been good at public speaking but I have been working on perfecting myself personally and I have taken lessons too on it but if I had looked on the mistake I made when I was young because I tried public speaking and it was woeful and when I am around some friends and I tell them I get words such as why can’t you just blend in, what is there in public speaking that you want to do, that just accept that you can’t speaking in public and work on other things, but thank God today because I chose not to be limited by the limitation they placed on me and fixed my mind and told myself that I cannot be limited.
C. Never be afraid of trying new things.
I have personally never really been afraid of trying new things but at the initial stage of trial, I am always a bit skeptical but after trying it then I realized that there was nothing to have been skeptical of in the first instance and I end up been grateful I took the bold step of making that decision and the new things I end up trying helps it bettering me and also the people around me.
I have learned that if you don’t learn new things you cannot see new things and also nothing new happens to you.
It puts me into deep thought by imagining that if the great inventions and all sorts of magnificent things that we celebrate in the world today were kept as just thoughts in their head and didn’t work towards changing things and accepted to just take things the way they were we won’t have what we have today or even celebrate their inventors as legends and great innovators of our time.
It challenges me to do new things and try things in ways other people have never done before and be celebrated like no one has ever been, because the world celebrates novelty in all spheres and that great minds and thinkers have never been scared of trying new things and breaking news grounds in achieving what they believe will change the world for good and leave a lasting impact.
D. Obstacles shouldn’t deter you.
In life I have taken chances and at the same time I have missed a whole lot of chances but for me this is a boost that I shouldn’t be deterred by obstacles because obstacles are just stumble blocks hiding our greatness from us and some obstacles are there to help make us better and stronger as a person and to also help us appreciate the desired end we have in mind.
And so many beautiful things are hidden behind the obstacles we see and as long as we are focused and we are willing to go the extra mile to achieve want we want. In the course of reading this book, I have been faced with obstacles and I with the knowledge from the book it’s been extremely helpful and insightful.
E. People will always hate what they don’t understand.
Because people don’t understand some certain things you do and have never tried some certain things before they begin to hate and also because by world standard they feel they cannot just do some things, so if you try it they feel you are not normal. I have been blessed to be able to combine multiple things together and it has been working pretty fine for me but when I tell friends and some family about it, then they begin to hate and also words such as ‘Jack of many trade master of none’ and there are people who exist who delve into so many things and have been extremely successful in all of their endeavors .but because of world standard that ‘jack of many trade and master of none’ but don’t know that it was a human being that made that statement and it could have been said because of his experience with several things he tried and wasn’t successful.
F. Never be comfortable with a particular position you can be better.
G. Learn to forgive those who hate you for not understanding what you have comprehend and be willing to show them or better yet try to make them understand what you understand with love and not putting in mind what they have done to you.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you create a better world? If so, how?
It has already began to help me because I am used to pleasing people and when I make some decisions and people around don’t like it or say something negative ,I tend to change my decision to suite them but after reading this book I have learnt not to accept it and that majority of people say a thing is wrong doesn’t mean it is because you don’t have their support at the initial stage or you were rejected by them for choosing a part different from what they understand doesn’t make your decision or your choice to do what you want to do wrong.
4. Quotes: are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“The gull sees farthest flies highest”
It was important to me because it tells me if you don’t try new things or if you don’t seek to go beyond where you are, you will never move beyond where you are. And until you broaden your horizon to learning new things and bettering yourself you will remain at the level where you are not different from others and you hidden potential is not harnessed or made manifest and also the potential hidden within you is to bless millions of people and until you reach into it, you remain at the level you are and the people who you are supposed to take to greater heights and also make them better also remains at the same level too.
5. Is there anything in the book you do not understand or are unclear about, or are the ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find it helpful?
No.
7. Was there anything in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A .How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful was the content? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E .What is the overall rating you would give it? 10