As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Kingston Ombweke (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The author is conveying that our mind is very important asset that we have to tame it in all ways, it is the power that shapes, makes and mould a man, through our mind it give out results on how we think and we see the power of mind through our critical thinking and the results our the outcome of what we do. Our pattern of thinking determines who we are and we should control the way we think, our mind is the only thing that we can control internally without informing others, but they will finally know what we have been planning from our action, it is very important to think positive if we want positive results, when we convince ourselves that we are unable to do something, and we believe that we cannot do it, there is no way we can have any good results.
One of my friend when we were sharing about what we attract through our thinking and through our mind he told me that when he was working, everyday it was his wish to stop working for the people and start business, he manifested it in his thoughts and mind and through savings, one day he had to resign from his working place and started the business he had thought for along time, after being in business he had a thought of buying a car to make movement easy, he started creating a picture in his mind what kind of car he needs, and how much it will cost, being that he was not conversant with cars, he spoke with other friends to advise him the kind of car he will buy, someone suggested to him that he can go for a cheap car, that doesn’t also consume a lot of gas, and a used car. He kept it in mind thought about it and strategize on how to get it, sure enough through the power of thinking, the idea come to a reality, only the mistake he says he did is thinking and manifesting on an old used car, which finally he got but gave him a lot of troubles, if he had thought about buying a new car maybe it could have served him better. So in short our mind is very important and we should be careful on how we think, because for sure we will attract it.
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 have the keys to every situation
In life we have the key to every situation that nobody can control it, we can do whatever we want without blaming each other, because we have independent mind, it is very wrong when we blame people for our failure, mostly in our African culture we believe that without assistance we cannot make it, we have trained our brain and mind that we need support in order to achieve our goals, even we blame people that they didn’t help us enough to achieve our goals. Our leadership structure and country depends on well wishers to construct roads, without an international community African will be nothing, and that is how we have trained our mind, some people are superior than others and it is passed from one generation to the other.
ii. We determine and make of ourselves
We have seen people coming from a humble background and be an icon of the society, they have made their way in life to the top most achievement, here we have street boys, who have used their brain well and talent to make a living and come out of the street and live a flashy life, we decide what we want to be and work on it and make ourselves, the same way we make ourselves is the same way we destroy ourselves, we have seen people with brilliant ideas, good future but make a silly thinking and action, that ends up destroying their lives completely, it is important to know that we are the makers of ourselves.
iii. Feeding our mind with the right information
It is very true that our mind is like a garden that needs to be cultivated every time, if you don’t remove weeds from the garden you don’t expect bumper harvest, it need to be fertilized and watered get enough sun to make crops grow well and healthy, this is common sense that we need to do this in order to get good harvest, and we forget that even our brain needs the same, if you don’t tame your mind whatever information you get and do not filter it, it will at the end of the day destroy your destiny and you will end up being a nobody, so we need to read good stuff, practice and train our mind in a positive thinking everyday and time and again.
iv. We are where we are by the law of our being
Any situation we find ourselves it is through our own making, being poor or rich is a choice that we make, we all know the process of being poor and being rich, if we are determined to be good people we will automatically think positively but if we are determined to be bad people also our thinking matters, the situation we are currently it is our own doing, never blame people for your failure, it is your choice nobody will tell you how to think and how to act, it is inside you and it is your decision to do what you feel is good for you.
v. Thoughts and action goes hand in hand
Good thoughts and action never produce bad results, but bad thoughts and action can never produce good results, this is just common sense, you can never plant maize and harvest beans, or rice and harvest potatoes, whatever you plant is what you harvest, you think negatively your harvest is negative you think positive your harvest is positive
vi. Our body is the servant of the mind
The body is the servant of mind it obeys, the operation of the mind whether they be deliberately chosen or automatically expressed, we have suffered in the hands of our mind, the mind operates our body, we think or we do something wrong through our thinking the body suffers the blow, we have sometimes spoken words that cause conflict and even made people kill each other just through our bad thinking it causes life, so we need to be careful with our mind because it is more dangerous than any weapon made in the world.
vii. Efforts and results
By our strength and effort we get results, we have fruits of the effort which are character, power, material intellectual, spiritual possession, they are thoughts completed, objects accomplished and vision realized, when our mind is put in proper use we get good results, and we are happy about it, we should utilize out thinking in an height level to get better fashion of ourselves, the ,more we tax ourselves the more we outstand the community, we can distinguish the person who is intelligent from the action he is taking, same way the person who works harder and smarter in his farm produce more, by following all the principles of farming. We have also to make use of our brain in a proper way.
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 make me be more alert with what I think and how I operate because my brain is all I need to be who I am and be where I want to be.
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.
“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.”
“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.”
“Strong pure and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace.”
“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.”
“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 well covered and easy to understand.
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 brain needs a lot of practice and good thoughts should be cultivated. We need to keep vigilant on our thinking to make us grow positively.
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.
This is a wonderful and well book and very interesting to read
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
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Kingston Ombweke (Kenya)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
Jonathan Seagull conveys that we are only limited to do what we have to do if we listen to people who don’t hold our dreams and aspirations, if we focus on our own ways we can do much better in life, do not be reduced to nothing because of what people think about you. The animation that the author uses, it is not really about birds it is about us, how many times have we been discouraged by our own family members?, friends? And even colleagues. Practically a friend told me who is a teacher in a private school being that he loved what he was doing he could go extra mile to do remedials for the learners to understand more, this made him even get out of work late and arrive early, but he was mocked with other staff members, calling him all sorts of names, and even becoming a lone ranger, none wanted to associate with him, same way when seagull was trying hard to learn on how to fly higher and higher, the other flocks distanced themselves from him, calling him all sorts of names, and even he become an outskirt, but after a long run, the flock realized that indeed what he was doing was beneficial and even requested to be part of his success, so same to my teacher friend, they told him the purpose of teaching was to get salary and not anything more, you teach and get paid and go home there was no need for them to go extra mile. However my friend kept the pace and after some time, the parents and the owner of the institute recognized his good work and he was awarded and promoted to higher level. Anything we do there is a reward either positive or negative reward.
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. Do not accept to be defeated keep on pushing
Nothing good comes easily, so in whatever you do give it your best, trust in yourself, i am a seagull and limited by my nature, such thinking should not be in your mind, we usually see our failure as the obstacle to succeed, i don’t have what it takes to be a teacher, to be a businessman, i am not well educated to do such a task, this are limitation that makes our lives move backward.
ii. Set your goals
In life it is good to set your goals and break your own world speed record, the moment you focus on what you really want you will achieve it, everything we do we should set our goals otherwise we will not know if we are doing good or bad, have a timetable on how to operate, when to start and stop, how far you want to go and the time you will take, this will allow you to have clarity on what you want, and aim to something, if you do not know where you are going any road can do, so you have to set your speed to anything you want to achieve, even in education we are given when to start and finish school and we have to work hard to fulfill with the time frame given to us.
iii. Get focused
In whatever we do we have to be well focused and spare no time looking backward, like an athletics they focus on the track understanding very well that what matters is time and speed to achieve a medal, same way seagull focused on flying higher and higher, trying hard to get good fresh air, and even flying past sunset, when you do something and you get a fulfillment you feel more energized and motivated, we should do what we love to do most, what makes us happy and what we enjoy.
iv. We are created differently, we are all unique in different ways
We might look the same in every manner but we are unique in different ways, that is why you cannot be me and i cannot be you, once we understand this, then we will not be in any conflict as to why other people do things differently, you cannot be good in everything, but you can be good in one thing, so the moment we realise that we cannot be like another person we will stop copy cut things, and focus on ourselves, seagull concentrated in flying and he didn’t listen to others when they told him that we are only seagull and limited to fly higher and our only reason of flying is to get food.
v. Independent
When you are independent you can do what you want without any limitation, without depending on others, seagull being able to fly higher he could go any place without any limitation at any time, same to us, when you are independent, probably self employed you can do what you feel is good without apology and with confident, nobody controls you but you are the master of your life, you gain that freedom of doing what you feel is good without being remorseful and without asking permission to do what you like to do.
vi. Ignorance
Most of the people perish because of ignorance, ignorance to learn, to take risks but fear which makes people stagnant in their situation, people are not ready to learn new techniques because of ignorance, most of the good opportunities have bypassed people due to ignorance and not wanting to move outside the comfort zone.
vii. There is a reason to life and being a life
The other seagull their reason to life was eat and be content however for him it was more than eating he wanted to learn more and achieve high skills of flying, same in life, we are here in earth but mostly we do not know why we are here, some people just exist while others are living, with purpose, so we need to set our legacy and state why we are here and why we are alive, some have achieved their reason of being a live by having supportive organisations in charity fields, others are inventing medical solutions to help people and on the contrary others are in this life to destroy the world by making explosive and killing people so it is very important to know why we are here in the world.
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 and the book itself makes me understand that I am unique and can achieve whatever I want in life without giving out excuses, without listening to others, they have no power to control me in whatever i want to do and accomplish, it is an igniting book to make me be who I want to be.
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.
“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
“We can lift ourselves out of ignorance, we can find ourselves as creatures of excellence and intelligence and skill. We can be free! We can learn to fly!”
“Jonathan was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all.”
“To fly as fast as thought, you must begin by knowing that you have already arrived.”
“Your whole body, from wingtip to wingtip, gives you freedom of the sky.”
“You don’t love hatred and evil, of course. You have to practice and see the real gull, the good in every one of them, and to help them see it in themselves.”
“You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way.”
“Break the chains of your thoughts, and you break the chains of your body.’
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom.”
“Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.
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 a perfect book and direct to the point anyone can understand it
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 an awakening book to our own life that makes us think on how to do our aspiration, the exercises in this book is continuous since it is all about our life.
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 stated very clear
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