As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by James Wambua (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author states that our thinking is very important in our day to day life, the way we think makes us, our brain is a very crucial part in anything we do, it is a master power that moulds and makes a man who he is, we can tell what a man is by the way he thinks and behaves, our thinking forms our character, if we think positively the result will be seen through our actions, anything good or bad can never be before it is thought about, the actions tells all about our thinking.
What we see people doing it is the outcome of thinking, it is an end product of our thinking, so we need to take good care of our brain and our thinking, what we feed our brain matters a lot, when you read more booking for a particular course, be it health books, leadership books, they will broaden and strengthen our thinking capacity and we will be logical in our thinking and the outcome will be impressive.
What we share with people, what we allow our brain to consume or even what we teach our children matters a lot, we mould our children and our well being through our brain, there are people using abusive words, it is not a big deal to them, because they have trained their brains like that and also their are people even using polite language they don’t use it because the way they think and reason is different, so, it defines their character, a well mannered person is a person who tames his thinking and allow is brain to grow in a positive vibes.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you, use personal examples from your own life.
i. We mold our lives by ourselves
Though our thinking it makes who we are, if we think positively we become positive if we think in a negative way all we create in our lives is negative, so our thinking makes us who we are, it may create or destroy our lives and we should nurture the way we think if we want to be good people in the society.
ii. Efforts and results
By the strength of effort that is how we get results, in anything we do we have the outcome which might be good or bad, for instance the fruits of the efforts are character, power, material intellectual, spiritual possession, this are completed thoughts and objectives accomplished whereby the visions are realised.
The effort we put on something will determine the results we get, if we put more effort in our jobs, families we will get good results but if we put less effort we will get less results, even in our brain if we train it with more energy and feed it with the positive materials we will have good thoughts and good outcome in the society.
iii. Thinking brings the outcome of a person
When a person talks that is when we know what he or she as in the brain, so when we share with people our ideas, they define who we are how intelligent we are, before a person speaks you cannot tell whether he is thinking positively or negatively, so we have by all means to take good care of our thinking, because we will be define through our thinking and be put in a specific category of people, the wisdom we spread to people will attract them to us or repel, that is why when you have issues you look to people who can give you a genuine advice concerning your problem because you trust that person and he thinks in a positive manner.
iv. If thoughts are not linked by purpose there is no intelligence and accomplishment.
Well articulated thinking and action makes us accomplish something, in anything to happen first there must be a thought and a positive one in that matter, if you want to accomplish something meaningful, that ideas is what makes things happen, anything we see today it was somebody’s idea, the cars we use it was someone idea, the ship, the aeroplane the houses and many more it was though positive thinking also the crimes we experience in the society it is evil thought that leads to that, someone sit and think on how he can manufacture bombs and destroy the world or kill people, through wrong thinking the out come is disastrous.
v. A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in the right thinking, the effect of long cherished association with God-like thoughts.
This is more evident in our Christian teaching whereby we are thought of good behavior caring to others, assisting one another and loving one another, the Christian way impacts good moral and thinking right from childhood, and that is why in church you will find sunday school for young children to learn the word of good and also to give them good morals basically training their brain to think in good morals and develop it to be a norm in order to be good citizens and portray God’s character, same to Muslims having madras to teach young children on their believes.
vi. The is no progress, no achievement without sacrifice.
In order for us to achieve anything in life we have to sacrifice whatever we are doing, if we need our brain to develop we must sacrifice to read more books and in that case good books that will expand our thinking, we need to practise time and again to be good role model in the society and try to avoid negative thoughts, it is a process but with time it becomes a lifestyle, you will be used to do things in the right manner, we can fail in the process but through constant and persistent practice we will achieve what we want.
vii. All the person achieves and all that a person fails to achieve is the direct results of thinking.
It is though thinking we achieve what we want and at the same time we fail to achieve what we want, whatever we want starts from thinking, our good life, the kind of car you need to drive, you think about it, you visualize it and though action you actualize it, by working hard towards that goal, same to the house what you want, the type of house you want the style and the fashion, all we see today it is the way some thought and put it down, someone defined it in his brain, wrote it down and worked upon it to deliver it practically. Everything in life starts from our thinking and becomes a reality.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
These ideas will help me understand that my Brain and thinking is a powerful tool that i need to take good care, because what a man thinks makes him to be that person.
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.
“Circumstance does not make the man, it reveals him to himself.”
Any circumstances we go though be it bad or good they reveal to us who we are and how we handle them
“To desire is to obtain, to aspire is to achieve.”
Whatever we desire we can obtain it by aspiring to achieve it.
“It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes comes to those possessing these blessings for they are always sweet, serene and calm.”
“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
“Clean thoughts makes clean habits.”
“Until thoughts are linked with purpose there is no intelligence accomplished.”
“Strong pure and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace.”
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors, that which it loves and also that which it fears.”
“The so-called saint who does not wash his body is not a saint.”
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
The book is easy and well covered.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
Our thinking and our brain is a powerful tool in us, so I will train my brain to be thinking positively time and again.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
The book is well covered and easy to understand.
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? 9
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 9
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 9
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by James Wambua (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author Jonathan Seagull conveys that we are capable of doing anything in this life without any barrier, nothing can stop us from achieving our dreams if we are determined to achieve them, he uses animation features to elaborate that all we need is to focus on our big dream. The seagull was determined to do extraordinary thing in flying higher and higher, whereby at the end of the day he achieved it, it was not easy to reach on top, he was mocked and even became an outcast, but that did not stop him from pushing harder and harder, sometimes we have to move from our comfort zone to achieve what we want, he hard to move from those other gulls who were pulling him down and showing him how it is impossible to achieve high skills of flying.
When he met the right flock, they help him and trained him more skills of doing it right, in our daily life, many dreams have been cut short because of discouragement, people have been rendered useless because someone said that they cannot make it in life, it becomes a death sentence in our lives, it is high time that we do not listen to those who don’t believe in us and follow our dreams, it might take time, resources and full commitment but it will come to materialize, I have seen people uplift themselves from grass to grace, from beggars to establish empires, from the streets to acquiring more and more in life, we have the power to shape our lives, the people we share our goals, vision, dreams matters a lot some can push us near our dreams or pull us away from our dreams.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why?List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you, use personal examples from your own life.
i. “Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock”
Mostly in the society when you do something unique people tend to see you like someone who is going against the norms of that place, they are used in a particular way of doing things, so when you try a new thing you will encounter resistance from others,
In our practical life, when technology started streaming to the society not all people embraced it, there was resistance and misconception on how bad the technology is, but when people saw how effective it was, they start embracing it, same seagull who where negative and discouraging once they saw how higher he could fly they also started admiring him and wanted to learn the skills, so we have to change from what we are used to do and do it in a different way.
ii. Concentrate on what makes you happy and learn on how to achieve it no matter how hard it will be to do that.
In life it is better to try doing what you love most than doing what you do not want to do, many a times we are forced to do things we don’t like, may be by our parents or an institution, we are not given a chance to do exactly what makes us happy, and that is why in the society we have problems, people have been forced to do what they don’t want and at the end they do it wrongly, we need to encourage people to do what they love most especially our children, once they do what they love they will be productive and we will have a happy world, once gull discovered how to fly high he was happy and there was that feeling of satisfaction.
iii. You cannot eat the glide
Seagull reasons of flying was to get food, other things for them didn’t matter flying higher was not there lifestyle, sometimes we have to set standards that are not comfortable to us and others, the moment we set them we have to trying achieving them no matter how many times we fail, anything good doesn’t come easily, you have to toil and moil to get it, people will see you like a lost person when you do things contrary to what they expect, when, they see success that is when they join you.
iv. Set your own record
In whatever you do, do it to your level best, set your own record not for others, i like the athletics spirit even when he knows that he is the one leading he won’t stop or reduce the pace, he will keep on running to his level best to break the record even the one he had set, flying was normal of other seagull, but after the gull had set his high standard of flying they envied him, something in our lives when we do something and the results are positive that is when you will see most of the people want to associate with you, you become more popular and example to other people in the community.
v. The gull sees further who flies higher
Every success there is a story to tell, there are sacrifices made to achieve a unique thing in life, people will celebrate the outcome but not the process, the process contains ups and downs, failing time and again without giving up, but at the end of the day we make it because we had a purpose and focus on what we want, the outcome is already in our mind set only the strategy to achieve it, we do it constantly until we become successful in whatever we want, most of the people will not believe it but once the outcome is seen that is when they want to join you and be part of the successful story, even the haters will join you and try to brag how they tried to assist you. Discouragement is one why to make you fight and be determined to do what you are supposed to do in a better way.
vi. Everything that limits us we have to put aside
We have to encounter obstacles in our journey of achieving our goals, but we have to be wise enough to put such limitation aside in order to focus on our goals, sometimes our friends can be the cause of limiting us by discouraging us that it won’t be possible to achieve our goals, we need to put them aside and work with people who support our ideas and make us victors, even if it is our family we need to do what we have to do to get what we want, let them be aside and wait for the outcome of our results, if you are the driver you focus on the road and the journey so many obstacles can be on the way but you don’t have to pay attention to everything including the birds and monkey when driving they will distract you and at the end of the day you won’t achieve your goal to your destiny.
vii. You can go to any place and to any time that you wish to go
Having the power in your hands and mind once you achieve what you want you can do anything, for example if you had issues with finances and you have made it right and have the business you wanted in life, and made more money, you can travel to places you wished to at any time without asking or borrowing any body, you have set the key to open other many opportunities because of the sacrifices you made, once you do that it will help you to gain more skills, and be productive to the society.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
These concepts and ideas will help me be determined, to achieve my life time goals without listening to those who discourage me.
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.
“To stall in the air is for them a disgrace and it is dishonor.”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom.”
Freedom is everything. Once you have freedom you will achieve anything in life and you will do it perfectly.
“Break the chains of your thoughts.”
Our thoughts are powerful. We have to tame them in order to have good results.
“You will begin to touch the heavens.”
Once you have achieved what you want in life, you feel more satisfied
“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”
“Jonathan sighed. The price of being misunderstood, he thought. They call you devil or they call you god.”
“Overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now.”
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip,” Jonathan would say, other times, “is nothing more than your thought itself, in a form you can see. Break the chains of your thought, and you break the chains of your body, too.”
“We choose our next world through what we learn in this one. Learn nothing, and the next world is the same as this one, all the same limitations and lead weights to overcome.”
“Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect. -And that isn’t flying a thousand miles an hour, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”
“Sully,for shame! Jonathan said in reproach, and don’t be foolish! What are we trying to practice everyday? If our friendship depends on things like space and time, we’ve destroyed our own brotherhood! But overcome space, and all we have left is Here. Overcome time, and all we have left is Now. And in the middle of Here and Now, don’t you think that we might see each other once or twice?”
“Why, Jon, why?” his mother asked. Why is it so hard to be like the rest of the flock, Jon? Why can’t you leave low flying to the pelicans, the albatross? Why don’t you eat? Son, you’re bone and feathers!” “I don’t mind being a bone and feathers mom. I just want to know what I can do in the air and what I can’t, that’s all. I just want to know.”
“He spoke of very simple things; that it is right for a gull to fly, that freedom is the very nature of his being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form.
“Set aside,” came a voice from the multitude, even if it be the Law of the Flock?”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom, Jonathan said. There is no other.”
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
The book is good and well-stated.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?”
This is a lifetime exercise, and changing my mind is a process that I will keep learning day by day.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
The book is well covered and easy to understand.
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 were the contents? 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