As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Rachel Giacchero (Thailand)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
I think that the main idea in this book is that we are responsible for the way we are and for the way we will become in the future as we continuously shape our future through our intentions, thoughts and actions. Whatever we think or actually do changes us and those around us, nothing stays absolutely neutral when action is involved. Even if a person does not act, the intentions they have whether good or bad still has an effect internally and externally. Bad thoughts or intentions inside a person will release bad energy that primarily harms the person and the negative energy that emanates therefrom harms other people to a great extent as negativity is an insatiable energy that eventually drains out all good things. We have a saying in Italian that goes something like, holding onto anger or an ill intention towards another is like holding a hot coal in the hand, waiting for the moment to burn the other… we are the ones that get burned… pretty badly.
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.
Its very hard to choose from the ideas in this book as it is filled with wisdom and inspiring words.
i. An idea I liked very much is to think of the mind as a garden… if we just leave it be, it will grow weeds and be filled with trash and useless rocks and all that, but if we regularly tend to it, try to keep it as clean as possible and keep planting beautiful ideas and words and thoughts of wisdom and water it all with fountains of knowledge, we can create beauty and peace inside us and whatever we think or do will emanate from a place of peace and positivity.
ii. Another point is that people attract not what they want but who they are. We are special spiritual beings and we under estimate our creative powers most of the time.
iii. Thinking and feeling positive shows even on our physical appearance and if we are filled with light inside, it will definitely show on our face as we will continuously give out good energy and feelings to all beings around us.
iv. Men are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves; they therefore remain bound. I personally wanted to change so many things in my life but was not willing to make the effort. Its just like having bad habits or addictions, and we fully know they are not good for us, and also affect those around us but keep on doing the acts.
v. Sometimes we also keep complaining about situations we can easily change if only we get on our feet faster and just change it. This can be as simple as, when sometimes we keep stumbling on the same object that we keep in a room, get angry every time it happens, but never bother to put it somewhere else. The same goes for things in my head, sometimes I keep turning something over and over in my head until I finally do something about it but racking my brain worrying will waste so much energy.
vi. An idea that caught my attention is also on focusing on thought-forces on objects we set before us as the road to self-control and true concentration. This has also been my challenge for a long time. I tend to start up a lot of projects and get involved in so many things at the same time that only some of them are finished and the rest will remain halfway done as I can’t see all of them true.
vii. We are beings that can manifest our wishes if we work on them hard enough. We can make our dreams come true through the positive energy we give out to our specific wish and believe in ourselves enough to manifest our dreams and goals in life.
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?
All these ideas and thoughts are extremely useful to me because it will help me become a better person by controlling my thoughts and always channeling peaceful vibrations and energies inside and outside myself. I am very lucky to be a human being as we are the only living beings on earth that can make conscious choices and have a much greater capacity of digesting thought processes. Sometimes we live with chains around us holding us down from moving ahead or keeping us back from making the changes we want while all the time we hold the keys to break free from the chains we put on ourselves. Its still a learning process for me to remind myself again and again that it is I who has to take the steps, no one will do my walk for me.
Being able to make choices does not imply freedom as these days there is simply too much to choose from which at the end of the day only creates more confusion and sometimes also making the wrong choice. As a spiritual seeker, I have traveled to many places trying to find my truth and studied several religions to find my way. I am still on this journey, but as I get older and as the years go by, I am finding that whatever resonates with the God within me will let me know if I only keep listening to my inner senses and feelings. There is truth in everything and peace has a similar meaning anywhere, with all peoples. To make this world a better place, we should understand that no matter what we believe in or what our goals are, we all want a peaceful place to live in, and if we project our thoughts and actions towards that, we can all live together as compassionate human beings.
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.
Thought in the mind hath made us. What we are by thought was wrought and built.
Sometimes we may have all kinds of fleeting thoughts that go through our minds and pass away. But the thoughts we hold on to in our minds can crystalize and stay in our mind process for a long time that it will eventually manifest and becomes our reality. The positive and negative energies that we create and nurture in ourselves are what we send out into our environment and therefore that’s what we will attract to ourselves.
He that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
As a seeker of my truth in all things, this means a lot to me and is the law I try to live by. If we keep searching for truth and love and peace with all our hearts and with the best of intentions, we will get the true essence of it. Everyone wants positive things for himself and even people with bad intentions and deeds want to have the best for themselves and their bad acts are due to selfish motives. If this is so, then if we want the best for ourselves and also for others, our world would be a happy place indeed.
As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both of his suffering and bliss.
I think that there is no better joy felt than making someone else happy, or doing something unexpected for a person in need, the same is true with making someone sad as its impossible to make everyone happy, what matters here is the intention we have. Doing good things and getting them back is a happy feeling, but doing bad things, intentionally or unintentionally also comes back to us. We’re just getting back what we gave out in the first place. And sometimes, it takes tears to wash off the dirt on our glasses to change the way we view the world and makes us see the reality of how our past actions led us to our present state of being or feeling. We learn from the good things as well as the bad things that are happening to us because we will be affected anyway so we have to be careful what we sow so that our harvest will make us happy.
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?
Indigence and indulgence are the two extremes of wretchedness. They are both equally unnatural and result of mental disorder. A man is not rightly conditioned until he is a happy, healthy, and prosperous being; and happiness, …
I don’t agree with this concept because I think these are very relative things. What defines wretched is not the destitute situation or the indulging behavior of a person. These two are extreme cases but the cause of the situation should be understood before making the judgement about these states. Taking happy people to be rightly conditioned is also a tricky thing to me. Some people are absolutely happy in their sad states of existence. I have seen how some sufi masters long for their beloved creator so much so that nothing can satisfy their wish to keep experiencing the divine love they feel. Because they long for something that is not tangible or seeable, they live in sadness but are the happiest people inside as they always live in their inner peace and feel content. Being prosperous is also not a precondition to label a person happy or not, how big our needs are or how much we want in life is different for every individual. Owning a lot of assets and spending for rarely if ever used materials things can matter more to others, while those that are content with what they have are satisfied with their simple day to day lives. I think these things are relative depending on place, culture and reference points of basic beliefs.
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?
None.
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.
None.
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? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
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? 9
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Rachel Giacchero (Thailand)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
the main idea here is that if we believe in ourselves, we can make anything happen. Sometimes, people don’t act or use their potential of creating something new or even using their abilities because social norms do not allow this to happen. Fear of being an outcast or of not being accepted in societies can be a major barrier to endless growth and creativity. Many talents are not used because they might be different from what people are used to. Sometimes, even children are told not to try out different or innovative things because parents think that this would reflect badly upon then and that the gifted child may be frowned upon by others in the community. If we believe in ourselves and if its in our hands to realize our dreams, then we should go ahead and follow our hearts and even teach others how to reach the goals we have achieved. People who think differently have always suffered one way or another but are eventually accepted if there is a higher or better purpose to the different view of their perspective. Some things in life can be proved but some things should be experienced and cannot be verified unless they are given the benefit of the doubt, and as the saying goes, practice makes perfect so we should always give a chance to innovative minds that can push limits to newer heights and horizons.
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. Not giving up: if we truly believe we can achieve something good, we should go after it
ii. Finding a guide: no one is perfect, but we all have our own special qualities or ways of doing things so we can learn from those that are advanced in the ways of making our dreams possibilities.
iii. Helping others: if we have knowledge about something that others don’t, we should readily teach others how to do it as this is the ay knowledge is transferred to coming generations.
iv. Different is not bad: we should not always conform to the rules that exist in our communities as long as we can make them better or easier.
v. We should learn to invite new ideas and actions and try to see the benefits instead of immediate shunning of what is different or new, that comes from fear.
vi. The ultimate goal is to reach a permanent state of continuously feeling loving kindness. Whatever we achieve in life, without love and kindness, it would be meaningless and does not satisfy our souls and inner peace. This feeling makes it easy to deal with our own feelings and we can interact much better with others.
vii. There will be no pride to share what we know or learn from others. The other thing is, we have to believe in ourselves first, we have to believe that anything is possible if we out our mind and effort into it. Everyone one deserves a shot to try out what they want to do in life, as long as it doesn’t harm others or get in others 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?
As I come from a multicultural background and have lived among many different societies, I have learned that there are many different ways of doing the same thing. When someone comes up with a new idea or tries something that has never been tried before, I can accept their point of view and see if their method works, if it doesn’t, it can only open the way to more research and study on how to improve on the idea or action. Change comes from within and that’s the best place to start as we can fully trust ourselves. If we find peace within us and take it to newer heights and expand it and give it wings to fly, many more people will join us in creating a better world and each person will contribute something different to our cause of making our world a happy place for all living beings. It is also very good to consult our elders and also our knowledgeable peers and learn from them as they have accumulated a lot of wisdom and can show is easier ways of achieving things from years of practice and experience.
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 gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere, instantly.
This is important for me because, as a long time traveler, some of my long term goals are cut short or are put on the shelf until I find a better way or better time to do them. But when I give my full attention to projects I start and follow them through, I can make them happen faster. To make most of our dreams come true, we have to be patient and give them enough time to materialize in a good way as things made in haste will only fall apart in a short while, but if we concentrate on making the best of our goals, we can realize them faster and have less stressful lives later.
If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome 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?
All we really have is the present moment as it’s the only time when we can actually act and do something for real. The past is gone and we can never change it and we have no idea what the future holds for us. We have to use the present moment and be in the now as it’s the only thing we can be fully sure of that the only chance we have whether to act and make a difference. The now is not called the present for nothing, it really is a present, a gift and we have to appreciate and use it well while we can.
“Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom,”
“The only true law is that which leads to freedom,”
I believe that we were all created in a perfect form with inborn knowledge and innate values of goodness. These become suppressed as we grow up because we are raised in certain ways and are expected to conform to the norms that exist in the societies we live in. Many of us suppress our inner power, true potential and unlimited energy to make immense changes because being outside the norm is not accepted. So many talents will remain subdued and the free spirit in us will never soar. Mankind is the only creature that has brains to analyze things and contemplate the gifts of nature all around us and if this can be done in freedom, we can all use our freewill to realize our wish to work toward peace and love and make our world a healthy beautiful place to share.
“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 are what we think and our thought process can greatly dictate the way are and the way we act and react to the different things around us. When our mind, which is different from our brain, is free from the limits and restrictions we ourselves force upon it, then what we can accomplish whatever we put our mind to do so. That is how people attain freedom from physical and emotional restraints and prisons of the ‘I cant’ type, to do things that even surprise themselves and those around them. With the proper positive mindset, anything is possible.
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?
As a work of fiction that used sea gulls to explain what goes on in our lives, I accepted it as it is because it touches on spirituality, physical achievement and victory over fear.
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 question is not clear to me…
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 ultimate goal is to reach a permanent state of continuously feeling loving kindness. Whatever we achieve in life, without love and kindness, it would be meaningless and does not satisfy our souls and inner peace. This feeling makes it easy to deal with our own feelings and we can interact much better with others. There will be no pride to share what we know or learn from others. The other thing is, we have to believe in ourselves first, we have to believe that anything is possible if we out our mind and effort into it. Everyone one deserves a shot to try out what they want to do in life, as long as it doesn’t harm others or get in others way.
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? 5
B. How helpful were the contents? 5
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
Keys to Success
Assessment by Rachel Giacchero (Thailand)
1.What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
It’s about self-assessment, controlled determination, of creating sound personal initiatives and steps to attain a definite major purpose. I think the main idea is that to succeed, one must have a very clear idea of what one wants in life. Once we have a vision of what we really want in life and know where we want to be in the not too distant future, it’s easier to walk on our path to success as we already have a light at the end of the tunnel. How close we get to that light, and how fast depends on how much effort we are willing to put in our daily actions and keep walking on until we reach our goal and make our dreams come true. Nothing is impossible as long as we believe in ourselves and our mission in life.
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.
A. Under The Major Attributes of Personal Initiative; The capacity to concentrate attention on one task.
This is important because nothing will really get done thoroughly if we keep it pending all the time. I used to, and sometimes still do, get involved in different projects and associations and then try to make too many things happen at the same time. Not all of them get finished at the end of the day as I try to play superwoman in trying to accomplish too many things. Staying in focus with a few things helps to move faster and decisions are easier to make.
I therefore believe that developing the capacity to concentrate is good but ambitious personal initiatives should not lead to an obsession where it might lead to the exclusion of other duties and responsibilities.
B. Self-discipline calls for balancing your emotions with your reasoning; a happy medium is important.
Yes, the middle way is the best way . Achieving that balance is not always easy as both emotions for everything and reasoning sometimes want to gain the upper hand and one or the other usually wins.
C. You must learn to bend and sway with the rhythms of life, not to stand fixed and immobile against them.
Flexibility is very important in our ever changing environment. There is a time to work and a time to play. We also have to make time to enjoy the good things in life and avoid rigidity. The mind, like the body, functions best when it’s rested and relaxed so we have to find the right balance in our lives.
D. If our friendship depends on things like space and time, then when we finally overcome 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?
E. The past is gone and the future is ahead of us.
The present moment is the only reality we have to do anything at all that will repair mistakes of the past that may affect the future, and its also the only moment we can actually grasp and fully use to contribute to what we want out of life for us and our loved ones in the years ahead.
F. Versatility: Keep yourself acquainted with issues of the day, and maintain a few pursuits other than your business. They will broaden your character and deepen your knowledge of yourself as well.
Pursuing other interests than work helps develop the power and creativity of the mind helps us grow mentally and maintain good health. It helps us to develop multiple talents and analytical skills. It also helps us to see things from different perspectives before making decisions, whether at work or in our personal lives.
G. Make yourself understand that what whips you isn’t defeat, but your mental attitude towards it.
As the saying goes, there’s no point crying over spilt milk. If we spill our milk, we have to clean up the mess and think of how we can get another bottle of milk, in a container that has the least chance of spilling again.
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?
When trying to accomplish too many tasks at once, it’s hard to prioritize as every task has different requirements. What I am now learning is to take it easy and to do a few things at a time by cultivating more self-discipline. This is allowing me to devote more attention to detail and can easily meet priorities at work.
Finding the right balance in life for work and play is also important. A bad habit can hold me back from many things and limit my productive actions. The more I spend my free time to pursue interests that will develop my mental power and creativity, that is time well spent for me. Some of these interests are reading, painting and traveling.
Although traveling takes more time, it gives me the opportunity to give something back to the communities I visit by doing volunteer work and sharing information and experiences, and it gives me the chance of learning new ways of accomplishing even the simplest of tasks from the different cultures and traditions I explore. I also get encouragement and have a stronger will to achieve more, so that I can give more and try to make a positive difference in the betterment of society, at least in my immediate environment, and leave a good legacy and clean footprints on mother earth.
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.
“You come to better understand and influence both your greatest enemy and your greatest friend: yourself.”
No one knows us better than ourselves. The more we know about the capacities of our strength and the limits of our weakness, we learn to respond better to outside stimuli. There is a saying that I like very much which goes something like; “the first person you shake hands with is yourself. I believe that if we can admit and accept all the good and bad traits we have without deceiving ourselves, it is easier to work on our negative behaviors and habits and enhance our positive attributes.
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?
“Refuse to heed anyone’s advice unless that person is willing to give you satisfactory evidence of the soundness of his or her counsel.”
This is possible if we have the time to process the advice we get. In some situations, the advice of people that comes at crucial times are taken as they are. If someone tells me to get out of my apartment because the building is on fire, I go out first and then try to see the evidence and act accordingly. Or if someone perceives an imminent danger like an oncoming accident and tells me to get out of the way, I will get away first and then ask questions later.
“You don’t really want continuous happiness, for then your happiness would seem dull. One of the major goals of marriage counseling is getting couples to understand that there is no such thing as being constantly in love.”
For the first sentence above, oh yes I really do want to be happy all the time, I just don’t think it’s possible. Happiness can take many shapes and forms and what makes one person happy may not have the same effect for someone else. If we are happy people, then its easier to spread that joy around and that’s what creates enthusiasm for success in our life no matter what we do. Being constantly in love is also possible, just because couples have problems doesn’t mean they stop loving each other. Love, like happiness has different colors. True love is not a fleeting thing and can carry many causes forward and keep hopes high. If couples fall out of love, then the heart will not be in the relationship anymore. If romantic love is not constantly felt, then the relationship is not based on true love but on other things like friendship, familiarity, convenience or even other negative motives of personal gain and selfishness.
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?
Page 90: Study RW Emerson’s “Essay on Compensation” to understand the benefits of PMA.
Chapter 7 in general has many helpful ideas and suggestions worth thinking about and applying in our daily 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.
Page 48: The external world; as Tennyson wrote, “the sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills and the plains. Are not these, O Soul, the Vision of Him who reigns?”
I think these lines were taken from the holy Qur’an or are extremely similar expressions.
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? 6
B. How helpful were the contents? 6
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
Psycho-Cybernetics
Assessment by Rachel Giacchero (Thailand)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea conveyed in the book is for a person to know themselves better, have a positive self-image and build self confidence in order to have a happy and successful life.
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.
A. Wittingly or unwittingly you developed your self-image by your creative experiencing in the past. You can change it by the same method.
The different things we personally experience in life through our senses help us understand ourselves better and allow us to improve our personalities to become likeable people.
B. Self-realization is gained by a simple belief in one’s own uniqueness as a human being, a sense of deep and wide awareness of all people and all things and a feeling of constructive influencing of others through one’s own personality.
We are all made different, down to our fingerprints. This uniqueness is to our advantage as we can explore the magic of our differences to learn from each other and continuously find better ways of responding to our environment. It would be a really boring world if we were all made the same way according to standards of being, like factory products made by machinery.
C. Physical relaxation plays a key role in the de-hypnotization process.
I use meditation to relax myself physically, mentally and emotionally and to kind of put my thoughts in order. Meditation helps me to keep calm most of the time and helps to think things through before making any rash decisions or actions
D. Form the habit of consciously responding to the present moment.
The present moment is really the only moment where we can act to make a difference in our lives. We can learn from the past and pave the path of our future with what we think and do at present.
E. Adopt the motto; It doesn’t matter who’s right, but what’s right.
We should always try to get our facts straight without our own opinions of a person or situation get in the way. If we are in the wrong, we should admit this to ourselves and if we are wrong about others or any given circumstance, we should accept the facts, correct ourselves and move on without dwelling too much on what we thought was right.
F. Stop scaring yourself to death with your own mental pictures. Stop fighting straw men.
Dwelling on what if will only make us miserable and tie our hands and thoughts.
This will create constant fear of what might never happen and keep us from taking any action or step forward.
G. Develop an enthusiasm for life, create a need for more life, and you will receive more life.
“We age, not by years, but by events and our emotional reactions to them,” says Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker. We are as old as we think we are. When people guess my age, they always think I am minimum 10 years younger. I never think about my age and feel like a young girl and that’s what people see. I have had a boy that turned 18 tell me that hes now old enough to take me out dancing, thinking I was very close to his age group… I was 33 at the time! I wake up every day with a smile on my face and look forward to going outside and feeling the suns warmth or the rains coolness. Whatever happens, I am alive and well to experience life and life hasn’t disappointed me with its gifts of tingling my senses in one way or the other.
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?
For me, meditation and exercises like yoga and tai chi help me to always keep calm and think before I act or make decisions. The ideas above go well with these exercises that I do as its all about having a positive outlook and better understanding of myself, the people around me and my environment. Living every moment to the fullest and appreciating what I have in my life, being thankful to the universe for the present it gives me every day helps me to go on with a smile in my daily existence and I try to make the best of whatever I have at any given time.
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.
“We have to deal primarily with thought and thought habits.”
From my own experience, I have found that if I keep sending positive action and thought vibrations into my environments and the universe, then that’s what I am going to get back so I never
“Always think of what you have to do as easy and it will become so,” said Emile Coué.
Our thought patterns affect our reality all the time and we tend to attract what we think and I have proved this many times. If I feel down or can’t snap out of any sad feelings, then that is exactly what I will get more of and if I feel happy and consciously try to smile all the time and feel at peace with myself then that’s the way the world around me will respond towards me.
“We are never living, but only hoping to live; and looking forward always to being happy, it is inevitable that we never are so,” said Pascal.
Happiness is not something we wait for to happen, it is something we can create and sustain throughout our lives for as much as we can. This doesn’t mean we will be happy all the time but can come close to feeling joy for as long as we allow ourselves to maintain it as a habit.
“Above all, keep in mind, and hammer it home to yourself, that the key to the matter of whether you are disturbed or tranquil, fearful or composed, is not the external stimulus, whatever it may be, but your own response and reaction.”
One of my favorite quotes is from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, where Captain Jack Sparrow says, the problem is not the problem, the problem is your reaction to the problem. This rings so true with me as the way we respond to things makes a very big difference as what we see as easy will be easier to deal with and the things we see as complicated or difficult will become so.
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?
Page 107: I made a decision right then that in the future I would do all my worrying, all my forebrain thinking, before a decision was made, and that after making a decision, and setting the wheels in motion, I would dismiss absolutely all care or responsibility about the outcome. Believe it or not, it works.
I think that even after we set wheels in motion, we have to keep an eye on what we set off and take responsibility for the outcome of our decisions or actions. Anything we do has an effect on others either directly or otherwise and we are accountable to resulting consequences.
Page 125: Practice Exercise: Form the habit of reacting aggressively and positively toward threats and problems.
I do not agree with the word aggressive used here as it connotes a feeling of violence and forcefulness. I feel that speed, tact and intelligence in dealing with obstacles will give us positive solutions.
Page 207: Practice Exercises: 1. Don’t wonder in advance what you are “going to say.” Just open your mouth and say it.
2. Don’t plan (take no thought for tomorrow). Don’t think before you act. Act—and correct your actions as you go along.
I do not think that these exercises are very helpful as they might work in a few situations but might create difficulty and unwanted consequences most of the time if we are not careful.
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?
Yes, there were many exercises to be completed and the ones I found helpful to me are the following;
Induce physical and mental relaxation while resting
Look for and seek out true information concerning yourself, your problems, other people, or the situation, whether it is good news or bad news. Adopt the motto—”It doesn’t matter who’s right, but what’s right.”
Systematically Practice “Healthy-Mindedness.”
Clear Your Mechanism Before Undertaking a New Problem.
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.
I wish there was more about the effect of spirituality on our behavior and self-image. Our spirit is as much a big part of us as our physical self and the connection we make with our higher selves and the higher consciousness is very important in shaping the world inside and outside of us.
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? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 5
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 7
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 7
Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
Assessment by Rachel Giacchero (Thailand)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea in the book is to develop and have a positive mental attitude in our daily lives to be successful in achieving our goals and lead happy lives. It is about having hope and faith so that we have stronger personalities and affirmative virtues. It is also about our relationship with the universe as the thoughts, intentions and actions we project will come back to us in a more enhanced way. Karma is real.
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.
A. Coué proved conclusively that it as the mind of the patient that subconsciously or consciously made the suggestion to which his own mind and body reacted. Without either unconscious autosuggestion or conscious autosuggestion, external suggestions are not effective.
If we make up our mind that something will be better, it will and if we think otherwise then will expect it to go wrong and it eventually will. Its like taking placebo pills and immediately feeling a whole lot better.
B. Euclid ’s axiom says: “The whole is equal to the sum of all the parts and is greater than any of the parts.”
We sometimes tend to ignore small details that are part of the big picture thinking that we should give more attention to the bigger things at hand. A missing bolt or nut in big machinery is the one that will cause it to eventually breakdown. When climbing the ladder of success, we should pay attention to all the things that are slowly raising us closer to our goal because without them, we would not be able to rise and see the complete picture.
C. You can decide whether you will affect, use, control or harmonize with the changes in yourself and yourYou can ordain your destiny.
I have always loved a saying that has a similar message that is, ‘I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul’. We are responsible for our attitude and the way we react to either positive or negative stimulation from our environment and this will decide the type of experience we will have in our immediate or long term future.
Along with the power of now discussed in chapter 8, I like this statement. Procrastination is something I still have problems with and has been a challenge for me to get over with. I have learned and changed a lot over the years and am still working it. Putting off things we ought to take care of will only make them more difficult and take out the enthusiasm from our actions when we get finally get to it later.
Cleanliness is something that I highly value and the benefits are obvious. Personal hygiene is also very important as it will make a lasting impression on those that meet us and greatly affects the way other people will behave towards us. Last week, a new guy came to visit our projects at work and we were all looking forward to meet him as we have heard that he’s a highly trained expert on a few things. However, it was not easy to talk to him after a few minutes as he had a very strong body odor that he tried to cover up by wearing too much cologne and making it worse. This created great discomfort and we ended up not getting much out of the whole visit.
G. If you are a friend to all and a brother to every living man, woman and child regardless of race, color or creed. If you will not kill or hurt any living creature needlessly, but strive to protect all living animals.
Coming from a very mixed background has taught me a great deal in this regard. We are all human beings sharing the same planet. None of the above things would have mattered if we were all blind and lived in the same country under the same circumstances. All life, animal or plant, is sacred. All living things have a right to survive as they are part of this world as much as we are. We should not take life just as we cannot create it. No one wants to be killed or hurt so why do it? Golden rule applies here all the way, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. We have to admire and value the magic of our differences and live in harmony with nature and all life in order to make mother earth our peaceful home of peace.
H. What? Giving again? I asked in dismay. And must I keep giving and giving away?’Oh no said the angel looking me through, just keep giving till the Master stops giving to you.”
Some of us are born into wealthy families and others are not. Some countries have more natural resources and others might have the genius on how to use these resources for the benefit of all. Einstein was a refugee who came from another place but had the opportunity to use his genius to discover many things in the proper settings. If we all share what we have, we can easily avoid having to fight for things in a negative way and create a harmonious coexistence between mankind and nature and thus become more happy and content with the abundance that is distributed throughout our 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?
As a human being, there will be challenges I will be faced in life and if I meet every day being a wiser person than yesterday, it will be easier to deal with anything I am faced with, whether good or bad, and succeed in whatever I set out to accomplish.
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.
“Some of us go through life seeing very little of the power and the glory around us.”
Yes, we go through life just seeing thing and not really looking and therefore miss out on all the clues we are presented with so clearly. We should always take the time to really look, and be awake… looking takes more than just the use of our sense of sight.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
This has been my mantra since I read it as a child.
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
We all want to be liked and appreciated by others. if we do the same and have positive thoughts and intentions, t hen that is what we will develop to be and we will attract the same positivity, appreciation and love to ourselves by becoming mirrors in our world.
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?
“So you’ve got a problem? That’s good! Why? Because repeated victories over your problems are the rungs on your ladder of success.”
I do not agree with this statement as I do not think problems are good nor that every problem can be solved or that it can have a positive outcome or become advantageous. Victories do not arise from only solving problems. There is continuous victory in something as simple as living a good and honest life every day, and in feeling and spreading positive vibes around us.
“Develop inspirational dissatisfaction.”
Striving to want and achieve more is one thing but to be continuously dissatisfied and to keep wanting something better can ruin our happiness and make us suffer with a feeling of permanent lack in our lives. Contentment and happiness come with being satisfied with what we have and satisfaction should be the basis of our inspiration to do something better. I can understand the whole concept of this idea but not the way it was presented as the paragraph includes phrases like “I would urge that you be dissatisfied” and “I hope you will never be satisfied;” in my opinion, this goes against developing a PMA.
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?
The book contained some exercises and the one I found useful are the following;
Engage in thinking time for the purpose of solving your problems.
When you have acquired a desirable characteristic, substitute a new principle for a new virtue, attitude or activity that you may wish to develop.
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 contains several spelling and grammatical errors. I am not sure if its part of my assessment to point this out but I just wanted to comment on this.
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? 7
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D Would you recommend it to others? 8
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8