BY DANIEL ALEMAYEHU
Planet earth provides plenty to the species of human beings. Science teaches us that our planet is the only place that can be suitable for humans to live in. In this case, human beings should show gratitude to nature for blessing us with everything we need to survive.
The Holy Book teaches us that everything created is good and beautiful. Though our ways of using the creations, for good or evil, are different, by their nature, every creature is noble. Trees, flowers, fruits, everything has something to contribute to the well-being of the planet earth.
Having been accommodated by nature and its blessings, we, human beings, have the responsibility to keep safe the entire planet. Humans are responsible for every disaster that happens in this world. Likewise, before talking about preserving the world and looking after the bigger planet, we need to start working on the little ones. As a single person, we need to start asking ourselves where to begin to be part of the solution for the problems that the world encounters. Here, we need to understand that we could be the part not the whole of the solution so that we are playing our parts.
It is hard to list down the most precious things in the world. Is it money or gems that make our hearts melt? Or is it landscape or water that makes us open our eyes wide in surprise? This is because we have different tastes in life and the variety of gifts that nature provides. I believe that it might be easy to start with the things that we own personally.
To start from the self, which part of our body is the most precious? Is it our eyes, our heart, or our brain? Which one is the most precious? Those questions should be aligned with our part to play in the world. In other words, which part of us could take a part in the world’s solutions?
One can believe that there has to be a part of us that might be the most powerful and important. I agree with most of the ideas that the book written by Robin S. Sharma. The book says we, human beings, have the best gifts from nature that must be guarded very carefully. It is called ‘Our Garden’. Like the gatekeeper to look after every move in and out of the compound, and like the gardener who always finds a way to beautify his garden in a way that can attract everyone it is the gardener’s job to clean the weeds and the pests out of his garden to make sure everything in the garden is safe.
Just like the duties of the gardener, every single human being has the responsibility to safeguard his garden. Our private garden is called the brain. We are very much responsible to control what should enter into our minds. Like the gardener, we need to nurture our minds in a way that can lead us to the right track of life.
The book also mentioned that no one is comfortable with the luxury of a single negative thought. That’s why every person must start to work as one’s mind’s gatekeeper for the overall peace and tranquility of one’s life.
In the modern world, numerous books were written and a lot of speeches were delivered on cultivating one’s mind. To the surprise of many, all the books and speeches are connected and concur in the idea that every idea and action starts from the mind. Besides, as to the book, “Things are always created twice: first in the workshop of the mind and then, and only then, in reality.” So, everything should be first created before it is implemented. Therefore, we must work tirelessly in our mind’s workshop to get the best out of it in reality. We cannot afford to lose our minds for little negative thoughts.
When it comes to positive thinking, many have conducted research to make life enjoyable in a bid people live together in peace. The basic is thinking positively, but how? That needs to be answered. All the ways lead us to our minds. The book also disclosed that discipline is the key to a comprehensive outcome.
Based on the idea raised in the book, it is important to remember that the quality of our life is determined by the quality of our thoughts. As mentioned earlier, the first place to create things is our minds. Those ideas profoundly lay the foundation stone for the type of life we want to live in reality. By spending more time and thorough focus on thoughts, we can live the life we want. “The boundaries of our lives are merely creations of the self.” Hence, it is better to overcome those hurdles that we created for ourselves to cherish the gifts of life.
In order to master our mastermind, we need, as to the book, to spend more time cultivating it to acquire our share in life’s abundance. Stillness and calmness are the ways to unlock the doors of nature’s magical and mystical energy. Teaching one’s mind to concentrate on a specific thing at a time means living neither in the past nor in the future; rather, accepting and living the present. To practice stillness and calmness to train our mind, the book recommends a technique called ‘the heart of the rose’. This technique is all about staring at a rose and start thinking only about the rose. Through time and practice, our mind begins to think and concentrate on a specific thing as we want.
Moreover, the book discloses that an average person streams sixty thousand thoughts in a day on the average. To – our surprise, 95 percent of those thoughts are similar to the thoughts that we were thinking yesterday. This implies that most of us spend our precious time dwelling on the anxieties of the past. The best way to beat the obstacle is better to guide the mind to the route we want it to go. Our mind is trained to entertain only an idea at a time. In this regard, we can substitute the negative thoughts that drain our mind’s energy for positive ones that have the potential to boost our energy and peace.
To conclude the ideas mentioned above, the best way to take our share in nature’s abundance, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to guard our mind and train it with possible energies that bring more joy and peace to our life. Our weapon for every move we make is our mind and the thoughts we entertain. Let me finish with a quote from the book, “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other person. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.”
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 25 NOVEMBER 2022
