Every man, woman and child that is old enough to reason should have a picture of a desired future in their minds. If man stopped thinking positively and creatively, most of the inventions and creations that make life easier would not exist.
Everything in this world is created twice: First in the mind of an individual and then there is physical manifestation. No man can rise above his thoughts and so the central question for us today is: what are we thinking? A human being’s success in life is measured first by his thoughts before his achievements. Albert Einstein said “imagination is everything”. He described imagination as “the preview of life’s coming attractions”. What are those thoughts that dominate your mind? For personal actualization, we have to be certain that our thoughts are our own, and that we are not focusing on another person’s dream or desire. Another part of our thoughts, dreams and desires are their veracity. Are they good? Who do they benefit? What would people think if they could see our thoughts, dreams and aspirations in the daily papers?
It is good for us to live our lives with good purpose. Our thoughts are so important that they affect our attitude and actions in life. Of all the concepts that make up the very existence of the human being, the attitude that is determined by our thoughts is very important. If our thoughts determine out attitude, then our thoughts better be good so our attitude can be good. Thoughts and attitude culminate in dreams and desires. A person who stops dreaming has no hope in life. The very fact that you have a desire or a dream in your heart possibly means you have the capacity and ability to achieve it, if you try hard enough.
To bring our dreams and desires to reality we need focus: a determined concentration that does not waiver and creates a path of possibility for us. On a broader scale, society is divided into two groups of people: the larger groups of people spend their thoughts and imagination on highlighting negative things: Complaining, cursing and condemning a great number of situations and circumstances they see. This group is made up of pessimists who always look for faults in things. They are over cautious people who will not venture into anything that has a level of risk. Many a times they are the worrying group who worry about everything and eventually do nothing. There are those who specialize in doubt. Tell them your dream and desire that you have been thinking about and they will kill it with words of discouragement and doubt. A big dream told to a small mind receives instant death.
There are also those people who are indecisive or indifferent about things. Not being able to decide which way to go and not taking things seriously is a terrible malaise. Now if you belong to any of these groups here is my appeal to you: Resign now! Join the smaller group of optimists who are always thinking about the way out, the way forward, success and progress. Remember an important fact we mentioned earlier: a man cannot rise above his thoughts. If you think doubt, complaints, indecision, pessimism, indifference, worry, and over caution, progress would be difficult in life. Resign now and join the smaller group.
The smaller group of people in society is those who predominantly think good thoughts. They are solution prone. For every problem that is real or manufactured by the other group, they think solutions. Their activity does not stop at the thinking phase, it proceeds to the doing stage. Their thoughts begin with: how can I? And they follow through. Here is my appeal to you, if you belong to the larger group, resign now! Join the group of positive thinkers and achievers. Begin to think about a positive way forward for your health, your wealth, your family your comfort, your progress. Do not stop there. Think about society at large. Think improvement, expansion, success, progress, prosperity. Don’t think just for today; think for tomorrow, five, 10 and 15 years from now. Begin to draw up plans and methods to implement them. If you must share your thoughts with someone, make sure they are not small minded. Fatigue will dominate the mind of a man or woman who lives without direction or dreams. Imagination is more important than knowledge because knowledge alone does not drive us forward. We think in pictures and those pictures are a representation of our desired future.
Often, I get to share my thoughts with my wife, who is my closest friend and most dominant critic. At the beginning, it was not like it is now. I would share a thought and she would say: “Come on, be realistic”. But soon, when many of those plans and situations that started as a thought begun to materialize, anytime I share a thought, her reaction is slightly different. Every man, woman and child that is old enough to reason should have a picture of a desired future in their minds. If man stopped thinking positively and creatively, most of the inventions and creations that make life easier would not exist. So join me today and refine your thoughts, make sure your dreams and desires are salutary. Devise a plan to bring them to fruition and you will succeed.
By Alex Ogundadegbe
