POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS Series 25

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

Man is essentially a spirit being, who has a soul and lives in a body. With his spirit man relates with the spiritual realm, and with his body he connects with his physical material environment. The soul is a link between the spirit and the body. It consists of the emotion and the mind.

The mind is the faculty for thinking, reasoning, and decision making. The mind is the powerhouse of the human system. It is like the central processing unit of the computer, controlling all activities going on in the systems.

The mind cannot be physical seen or touched, but it is safe to think of the brain as the physical representation of the invisible mind. The mind can therefore be defined as the brain of man at work. The mind is the workshop of the soul where things that make the man are produced. If a man doesn’t have a working mind then he doesn’t have a productive life. The mind is the planning room of destiny, the laboratory of all inventions. The mind is a fountain, out of which spring issues of life. The mind of a man is the true worth of the man in the society. In order to appreciate the power of the mind, we shall attempt to describe its functions and characteristics.

1. The mind is the faculty for thinking. We think in the mind. Thinking is the ability to ‘see’ with the mind. When we think we form mental pictures reeling across the mind. The series of images we ‘see’ when we are thinking is called imagination.

2. The mind is the seat of imagination. The power of imagination is located in the mind. We think in pictures, not in letters. The power to create mental pictures reside in the mind. Imagination is the power to create mental images of what is yet to be. As you can see the present with your physical eyes, so you can ‘see’ the future with your mental eyes. You can turn ideas to pictures in your mind; and when those pictures settle in your subconscious mind, they become part of the driving force of your life.

It shall be given to you as far as you can ‘see’ in your mind. If your mind can ‘see’ it then your hands can seize it. Nobody can stop you from doing what you have imagined to do.

Somebody said, ‘Imagination is the voltage that powers your life to your future.’ There’s so much power locked up in your mind. You can unlock it with your imagination. Little wonder a wise man said, ‘The most powerful nation in the world is the imagination.’

Your mind is the workshop of your destiny. Imagination is the tool you use to fashion your destiny. Unfortunately, many people have made a mess of their destiny through abuse of their imagination. You abuse the power of your imagination when you use it to create pictures of evil desires. And when you abuse your imagination, you actually limit your life.

3. The mind is the faculty for reasoning.Reasoning takes place in the mind. The mind allows us to think logically and conclude wisely. Knowledge is great but it takes reasoning to understand and store a piece of knowledge. Your success in life also depends on your ability to take in, reason and apply facts. Reasoning is a process of thinking logically on a piece of information until it settles in the subconscious mind. It’s like the process of eating, digesting and assimilating food. You keep working on it until the nutrients nourish your systems. That’s how facts make you fat.

As you think on what you read, you tend to understand it better, and the information is stored in memory for easy retrieval in future.

The mind is analytical, critical and logical. We use the mind to analyze and criticize for the purpose of clarity. By using the mind to reason, analyzing and criticizing, we make plans to achieve targets and goals.

4. The mind is a storage system.The mind is retentive in nature. The conscious mind is like a screen – a kind of computer monitor – on which is displayed the information stored in the subconscious mind, which is a kind computer memory. Through the mind, we can bring up information stored in memory for remembrance. So then the mind is a device for storing and retrieving information stored in memory. We use our mind to remember the past, store the present and project into the future. Unfortunately, many people use their mind to remember past failures and defeats more often than they use it to prepare for the future. Wise people use their mind to remember the past in order to organize for a better future.

5. The mind is the seat of wisdom.Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge effectively. The benefit of knowledge is in the ability to use it practically. Wisdom is the ability to deduce from available facts. Let your mind work in such a way as to apply knowledge without injury. Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge profitably. Wisdom gets things done effectively. When wisdom is at work nothing remains undone. You need wisdom and, interestingly, it comes from the mind.

The mind is the faculty for creativity. Man has the capacity to think creatively. To be creative means to produce, invent, bring out something from nothing, use what is available to make what is needed, and initiate solution to problems. Through creativity, the mind can be used to change things, events and situations.

6. The mind is the center of habit formation. Habits are formed and transformed in the mind. If you have formed a negative habit, you can deform it right in your mind. If you have created a negative picture of yourself in your mind, you can destroy that picture in the same mind.

7. The mind is the center of conviction. The mind is also the place where convictions are made. When you’re convinced you cannot be confused. One is said to have faith when he is positively convinced. Faith is born in the mind. Faith begins from hearing or reading. As one hears, the mind thinks to accept or reject the facts. The more one hears the greater the possibility of accepting what she hears. When faith is born then one is fully persuaded, and the information becomes one’s personal belief. Positive mental attitude therefore clears the mind for the birth of faith.