WIDE MIND
As mortals, we are often left with two choices and the most pathetic of this is when you just have many options, each leading to the same destination, more often than not, unpalatable ending. To be smart in dealing with such situation is therefore great, which doesn’t happen overnight. All boils down to what the mind has been fed with over time. In this case not just thinking ability but what good content is the mind made up of worthy of reckoning to. The desire to be smart is therefore necessary, more important is creating habits that will groom your intelligence and nourish your mind.
Notably and worthy of mentioning in this piece are some of the reminiscences I have of those days when I used to be tossed up and down, left and right, looking for a way out of tight conditions. Most times , the decision I took have a way of opening up to what happens next, finding myself in another critical condition, just like games, having another thing to battle with which makes “decision making” very important. So one day, this strategy crossed my mind “having a wide mind” which I believe will open new ground in the act of making decision in life, which is principally inevitable.
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In view of this, I want to make clearer at this point on what I actually meant by this concept “wide mind”. Have you ever thought of having an endless source of knowledge of what to do per time? That you don’t even have to waste time in making good decisions. Wide mind is just a means in achieving this. It is often said that “no one is an island of knowledge”. Only the supreme being "God" the centre of everything and God is more than able in helping you because He is interested in your decision making. There are so many strings attached to our decision making be it physical, emotional, spiritual and all sorts, tending to narrow our mind.
However, we never can say never until we try. Some people are born smart but most smart people out there do daily rituals to get to this point and maintaining the smartness and wide mind. I will highlight some salient habits we need to cultivate to possess this wide mind, which can only get wider by the day with discipline. A strong mind with a lot of space to negotiate arising matters, not in any way narrowed to some silly stuff. Discipline is very important in all we do in life and as such cogent in taking all these points I will be discussing as habits and we will never have a cause to regret our actions, not again.
First on this list is ‘Question everything. Do not assume anything or subscribe unthinkingly to the conventional wisdom. Keep your eyes and mind open. Everything you see is very important to the development of a sound mind because there is this connection between the eyes and your mind. Question everything, most especially what you are not clear on. The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Questioning and curiosity are the keys to coming out of these illusions to reality of knowledge. By so doing alone, you have a lot of stuffs to reckon with on your mind’s database.
More so, read as much as you can. Make reading one of your hobbies that you can't even do apart with reading in a way daily. The wealth of knowledge you accumulate when you take reading as a habit is priceless. Surf net and read about those things that are more beneficial to you than just wasting your precious time following celebrity’s gossips all the time. Even if it’s just part of a chapter each day, be committed and stick to your reading schedule and your mind will be enriched on daily basis. This is about starting from somewhere, the scratch. As time goes you step up your game.
Likewise, think of new ways to do old things. Thinking to a reasonable extent is a food of the mind. Getting more methods to solve a problem in different dimensions is a great gain because when you are faced with such a problem, not necessarily same but similar that messed with your head because of the decision you made then, you have a better approach to tackle it well now. When you take risks, make mistakes and have fun instead of slogging through the same routine. You will definitely have a daily reminder that imagination and creativity can change the world.
Moreover, do not be a loner; there are a lot of people out there that are smarter than you. Spend quality of your time with them and do not let this tamper with the time you spend alone. You collate everything you learn from those smarter ones when you are alone. Sorry for the digression but it’s important I make things clearer as we go. Smart people have interesting things to talk about. They know how to expand their mind and feed their brain, so spending time with them is good for you on multiple levels. Seek them out at work, in service organizations, and socially, thereby making mind flexible and not rigid as foolish and narrowed mind.
To a large extent, making time to reflect is a great idea. As much as it is necessary to keep moving no matter the circumstance, it is equally important to look back at some point. When standing up from a fall, you look at the causative agent of the fall. This goes a long way in preventing such occurrence in future especially when you’ve come up with idea to circumvent the cause of your fall. Reflection is an important part of the learning process. There is a way of reflection tending to push you to become more productive. “Being busy and being productive are two different things”. Be vigilant.
Finally, do something that scares you. Facing your fears makes you braver, smarter and better able to withstand what life throws at you. Sometimes the greatest rewards in life come from doing the things that scare you the most. This also have a way of giving you new ideas daily. One of the qualities possessed by people with wide mind is ‘not running out of ideas per time’. Conclusively, I will leave you with this; push yourself to be creative and to think in new ways. Review your ideas weekly and edit them as you go.
