Sunday, 22 January 2012

The Power of Contemplation Part 3

Continued from Part 2
 
3.       Poor Associations: The people you relate with constantly tend to influence your mental habits: Evil communication corrupt good manners. Who are your buddies? Are they deep thinkers? Do they talk reasonable or sensible talk? If your answer is no, it may mean you may have to change your associations: Seek the company of thinkers. Listen to their tapes, videos or read their writings if you cannot reach them physically. It will influence you positively. You will start developing thinking habits and you will be on your way up.

4.         Sexual Fantasies: When your fantasize about sex, there will be no space in your brain for productive thinking. A mind preoccupied with sex thoughts soon become a sex toy! You become a servant to your sense of sight. Every woman that walks past becomes a thought project! Friend this makes your imagination stifled and you only think in a unidirectional pattern. It stifles your positive creativity and mental power. You need to break free from the habit of sexual fantasies otherwise you remain a fantastic non-achiever! No genuine, original results to show forth in your lifetime. The truth is that the habit of sexual fantasy reduces a man’s time and mental power for productive contemplation. Sometime ago, in the city of Ohio a prominent judge, respected citizen, family man, wound up on the front page of The Akron Beacon Journal and in prison, as a child molester. He was interviewed and he had this to say, He described a “process” – he said, “One day, years ago, I was out watering my lawn, a little girl in a sundress went by and for a fleeting millisecond I thought about what it would be like with her – then, of course, I pushed it from my mind. But a year or so later, at a mall, another little girl, and I held the thought for maybe a minute.” He went on to mention another incident, 15 or 20 minutes of thought. “Then one day,” he said, “I woke up and found it was all I was thinking about. For days, it dominated my thoughts. Then I did it.”

5.       Poor Reading Culture: A renowned and influential senator in bible days named Daniel, made a statement centuries ago, he said ’’ ... I Daniel understood by books’’. A poor reading culture is a major bane to developing the power of contemplation. You must prop yourself to develop this habit. As physical exercise is to the muscles, so is reading to the mind. When you read, you exercise your mind, and an exercised mind result in a progressively exercised life. A man, who does not read, gathers dust on his mind. With time all sorts of useless and vain ideas grow in his mind, which he eventually manifests. Learn to develop a reading culture. Read good books, good magazines. Read Articles that stimulate your mind to think and you will improve your mental power.

6.       VI.   Low Self Image: how do you see yourself? What mental picture do you have of yourself? The picture that you carry in your mind of yourself is your self-image. Do you always see yourself as a nobody? Do you always think you are a no-good? If you do; that thought pattern is stifling your power of contemplation. There is no human being that does not have something good to offer the world. That low or poor self- image has to be worked upon by you. You need to change your self- image. Go get information to help you do that. Once your self-image improves, it will help you enter into a world of positive contemplative power.

7.       VII. Low Self-esteem: Closely related to low self-image, is low self-esteem. Low self-esteem has to do with how you ’’feel’´ about yourself. When you feel ’’good’’ about yourself, it enables your contemplative power to be stimulated. One of the benefits to feeling good about yourself is that it helps your thinking process internally. Great men and achievers have found ways to constantly feel good about themselves. You must find your own key to unlock this “feel good” feeling, practice it:, it is  vital to your overall success in life.

Event and people may make you feel low but understand that it is up to you to work on feeling good. Learn to feel good in spite of your position, predicaments and painful perspective that others may have about you. Poor self- esteem blocks the flow of contemplative power and a block of this power, prevents you from getting the ideas to make productive progress. The Holy writ said ’’ ..let no man despise your youth’’.


8.       Religious Mind Set: A number of folks have a mindset that ascribes all responsibility to God. They think because God is omnipotent, He runs everything on the earth. But this is an error in scriptural application. God has given man dominion to run the earth. However we can engage God’s intervention via prayer; this does not relieve men of his duties on the earth. God created man, put him in the garden and asked him to dress it and keep it. In other words, God expected man to put all of his resources to work, physical (to dress it) and mentally (to keep it) in order to make the garden fruitful. Productivity always involves the physical and the mental. One without the other will not yield desired results. There is a spiritual side to it. However to think it is only spiritual is to become religious in your mind set. While you can get direction from the spiritual to know what to do (as in Adam), God then expects you to put your mental and physical resources which he has given you to bring about productivity in the job which he has shown you to do. So to engage the innate power of contemplation, you must break free from religious mind set and play your role as a man.

Dr Edugbo, O.P. is a medical practioner by profession, and has a ministry towards men. Over the years, he has been involved in numerous medical, church, parachurch, non-governmental and corporate organizational work and development. He conducts consultancy, speaking and training engagements for churches and corporate organizations.
You may reach him on 08130105533, pauledugbo@gmail.com
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