Philosophy and religion believe that the human soul is the immaterial essence of a living being. It comprises of conscience, reason, imagination, mind, emotions, choices and will.
The mind is one of the most studied faculty in the soul. Even though there are a lot of unresolved conclusions from these studies, the importance and effect of the mind over the years have been greatly felt by every living soul.
In order to live long and healthy, one major thing you must be conscious of is what goes through and in your mind as an individual. We as humans tend to pay more attention to other parts of the body than our minds. Our minds affects our lives and well-being in general.
“It is important that what thoughts you are feeding into your mind because your thoughts create your belief and experiences. You have positive thoughts and you have negative ones too. Nurture your mind with positive thoughts: kindness, empathy, compassion, peace, love, joy, humility, generosity, etc. The more you feed your mind with positive thoughts, the more you can attract great things into your life”
-Roy T. Bennett
The human mind can actually be developed and worked on. We have often misunderstood the mind with the human brain. The brain is in the head and it major function is control and coordination of the human organs in the body, while the mind is invisible and solely responsible for our thoughts, feeling, and intuition.
There is a great need for us to develop our minds. Failure to develop our minds does not only affect our mental health but also our general well-being. Mental growth entails a deliberate and conscious effort taken by an individual.
How do we develop the mind?
- The first way to develop the mind is by reading good books.
“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body”
-Joseph Addison
Now not just any kind of book, but positive books which will help you grow mentally and in various areas of life. This has a great positive impact on the mind. The mind has no limit and it can be developed to whatever capacity you want it to be developed.
- Speaking positive things.
Most people are so negative and they say negative things all through their life but they expect a positive outcome in life. That is not possible! Unconsciously, every word we utter takes root in our minds.
There was a man who was very poor and had nothing. He had the habit of declaring positive things despite the circumstances around him. He was visionary and hardworking but he did not let his current situation define who he was. He had a map of nations pasted on the wall in his room. Every morning, he would look at it and say, “I will go to all the nations on this map”. He did this every single morning. Today, he has been to almost all the nations of the world. That man is Pastor Enoch Adeboye.
Challenge yourself. Refuse to think small. Increase the capacity of your mind. Just like in a factory, raw materials are provided and they go through processes in order to become finished product. Our words are raw materials that have effects on our minds. You can decide to use your materials (words) positively or negatively. Learn to speak good words daily. Words that will shape your mind and your life.
- The company you keep
The company you keep has a way of affecting your mind either positively or negatively. A bad company can corrupt good manners and a good company can influence bad manner either consciously or unconsciously. A foolish man can simply become wise if he mingles with the wise. Association plays a key role in mind development.
“Attitude is greatly shaped by influence and association”
– Jim Rohn
“Be picky about who keep around you. Personalities, words and traits do rub off naturally”
– Sonya Teelat.
The fact that you are human makes you prone to influences either in good or bad ways, we need to watch who and what we give our listening time and attention to. We are products of influences and decisions made. Maintain good relationships and this will help your mind and you will become productive and proficient.
- Environmental influence.
The kind of environment you stay has a way of influencing your mind. If you are always found in calm and a peaceful environment you will see that it will always affect your comportment and perception about things generally. Quite different from an environment full of chaos and violence.
Let’s consider two scenarios.
A child who grew up in a peaceful and loving environment will tend to be calmer and sympathetic to those around him. But a child who grew up in a tough and violent environment will tend to act and reason like the influences around him. From the day we are born, we are trained to receive information from our human senses. These in turn affect our mind responses to the outside environment.
- What you watch.
This is very important but most times, we are usually carefree in this area. We just watch anything that comes our way. It’s not supposed to be so. We are supposed to regulate what we watch because in the long run, the effect will be on the mind. For instance, if you are fond of watching horror movies, these movies have a way of affecting your mind and sometimes you will discover that your mind starts playing funny images for you to see. This can result to nightmares for some people and they will be thinking that someone is after them. But it is simply their mind playing tricks on them simply because that is what they fed their minds with the previous night before going to bed. So not every kind of movie must be consumed.
We must look after ourselves the best way possible. Remember, we do not live for ourselves alone. We also live to make huge impact in the lives of others and the world at large.