One of the first things you learn about writing articles for a blog is that you should pick only one topic and know what you want to write about. But this article will break the rules. I am writing whatever is in the top of my head right now. So here goes:
- Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first and the lesson afterward.
As I reflect on the last 12 years of my life I find that I have not grown spiritually because I allowed past grudges against some people who treated me badly to dominate my thinking. The Buddha said:-
“We are what we think, All that we are arises with our thoughts, With our thoughts we make the world, So speak or act with a pure mind and happiness will follow, Like a shadow, unshakable.”
It is said in the Bible – Vengeance is mine.
If only I had focussed on something constructive during the past 12 years when I was younger and had some money I would have found myself in a much happier position now.
- American Self help books
I find myself reading Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill after a gap of more than 30 years. In the interim I had read Philosophy, Spirituality and Fiction and I had turned up my nose against Self Help books as I thought them shallow. But Now I am flat broke and at age 54 I must learn and use what I had discarded as a teenager.
But there is a difference between what I was when I first read these self help books and what I am now. Now I know the value of the teachings of Carnegie and Hill and I am motivated to use them instead of reading for entertainment. It is also humbling to know that I am not yet ready for high philosophy or spirituality. I want to make money and lead a worldly life and these are the books that will help me do so.
- The way to read
I am quoting below from Bob Proctor’s website (http://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/6483/six-books-to-read-this-year)
But I don’t just read a book; I really study it. It’s not unusual for me to read a paragraph a thousand times. Right now, for instance, I have a book on my desk that is open to a page where I’ve read the same two paragraphs every day for the past 6 to 8 months.
I read this way because I want to really understand the truth of what the author meant, and to do that I have to really think. It’s a habit I picked up from Earl Nightingale, and it has made a huge difference in what I pick up from books.
This is a lesson I would like you to learn especially if you are young. Choose the books you read carefully and then really study them. Read the Classics of Spirituality, Philosophy, Literature and Fiction or whatever subject you are interested in. Winston Churchill said that one should not read too many books when one is young. Confucius also made this point memorably in his quotation below:
“At home, a young man should be a good son, when outside he should treat others like his brothers, his behaviour should be one of trustworthy and proper, and should love the multitude at large and keep himself close to people of benevolence and morality. If after all these activities, he has any energy to spare, he should read widely to stay cultivated.”
There is more to life than reading books and our time here is limited. So read only a few books – the classics – and read them repeatedly, over and over. That way you will imbibe the lessons of the classics; it will change your thinking and make you a better person and thereby change your life.
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