As A Man Thinketh
Assessment by Adekunle Adekoya (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

The author in his book or his write up tries to make man see the inner potentials by discovering the strength in their thoughts

Viewing man as the makers of their own destiny who determines the pains and joy experience in a view of achieving a purpose for his life, on the basis that man holds the key to every situation in transforming his life unto perfection, through thought analysis application and experience, what we secretly harbor in our minds is what gives birth to our desires and the circumstance that we experience. every act of man is as a result of his thought. Because he is the maker shaper of his condition and things that happens around him, this happenings gives right to thought therefore man should be conscious at all time. Man make room for personal interest on how to make sure the thought and ideas of other didn’t make him/her change the lineup life achievement set for his set goals to be achieved

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.?

The seven ideas view the essence of thoughts and character its effect. on circumstances which reveals man to himself which have effect on his health and body reaction and the purpose for which it was thought and the essence on though in achievement, through vision and ideals and serenity, in which the combination of the above underlined are experience. These are ideas are ideas are personally important to me, in triggering the power of thought in me and the ceaseless strength in me.

i. Thoughts and character

The thought of a man determines his character. Because these thought transform and regenerate man by building a level of confidence in such man, these thought will be the anchor of response to situation. That man is the maker of his character, the molder of his life and builder of his destiny. For instance, there is a neighbor who has always thought of himself to be a god who controls other neighbor, but this day have thought that there shall be a situation which will involve the two of us and I will react and the day come and I was able to place, who now regard me as a small god.

ii. Effect of thought of circumstances.

This explains that what is in the thought of a man will have effect on circumstances, this is because circumstance are in evitable. Since circumstance grow out of thought and our minds secretly harbors the likes and fears of man until its reaches its highs of aspiration, following the above example ,the situation has been in occurrence but has not involved me initially but the situation later surfaced then I really had to come out to stand my grounds and put the naughty neighbors in his place which was possible because I had already thought about it so when the circumstances appeared, I quickly applied my thought.

iii. Effect of thought on health of body

Thought has a lot of effect on our health and body, what we think reflect in our action and body language thus, leaving some words unsaid, when a good thought amorously runs in our mind, the body is ready to show it of. The body is delicate and also readily response to thought which produces effect. For instance when some issues disturbs a mind, my reactions to people around are often wrong, because it expresses unhappiness even at a happy situation. this is because thought is the fountain of action Invariably thought and body language are inseparable.

iv. Thought and purpose

There is a reason for a particular thought either positive or negative thought and purposes are interwoven. When this purpose is recognized, it should be the central point of thought thereby not giving room for unnecessary thought this purpose give strength of fulfillment. therefore at all times man should make his purpose a point of duty and he should devotes himself to the achievement of his thought.

v. Thought factor in Achievement

Thought determines achievement because as a man think so he remains, most achievement has been beautifully thought of, thought gives an insight to achievement the success of a man his limited by its thought, therefore the higher a man lift his thought the greater his success. When a man thinks big, his success begins to rise. All that a man fails to achieve can be attributed to his thoughts, just as achievement of any kind is the total effort of a man’s thought.

vi. Vision and Ideals

Man must have vision, the desire to achieve, man most visualize what he want for himself and also have ideals to go with it, a man that lacks vision is a failure” glorification of vision and ideals will be a key factor into achievement. the vision a man has is what guides his thought into achieving his desires

vii. Serenity

This is understanding one self in other to adapt, learn from any situation that one might find himself or herself, it helps in controlling situation even in the most difficult situation it gives wonderful wisdom on how to handle situation. It gives balance to attitude and reduces anxiety. it is also the power to control ones attitude which puts one in control and allows them influences of other peoples attitude or action in this regards self control gives strength and power of influences to man. It is the most important factor in the line of achievement for a man that can not control himself is not different from the wild animal that lives live in the bush forever

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas will be helpful in daily activities because it will give room for consciousness in one’s thought in handling situations that may or might occur within one’s environment. Also in regulating thought and ideas towards achieving a goal, either within one’s environment or over the world

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.?

“Body is the servant of the mind”

This quote is true in all sincerity, this can be said as “the mind controls the body” because, for every thought there is a body reaction either to achieve or to fail. The mind controls the body in all circumstances, for instance when you do not like a person no matter how expert you are in pretence, your body reacts to the person negatively and if the person is such that knows of body action he or she will be able to define the likely thoughts of the person. therefore this makes the body submissive to every instructions passed on by a mans thought and since they are inseparable the body expresses the thought in action, until thought is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment . a man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart and set out to accomplished it. Whichever it is, he should steadily focus his thought forces upon the object he had set before him. man should make this purpose his supreme duty and should devote himself to its attunement not allowing his thought to wonder away.

“Man the master gardener of his soul”

The author as carefully used this quote to touch a better part in me, on the fact that situations i found myself are often what i had thought of at one point or the other which made me to understand that man must put a check on his thoughts, for this thoughts determines the hurdles, joy and pains one will need to go through in other to make success.

Men are anxious to improve their circumstances…

This quote personally attracts ……men are anxious to improve their circumstances but are unwilling to improve themselves, because humans been who they are wants to improve their standard of living without having to do much, in achieving their aim.

We humans wants to achieve so many things in a particular status without having to make little or no sacrifice, in other words, human beings wants to do nothing but achieve so much .

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

“Dreamers are the savior of the world”

In my view, the idea that dreamers are the savior of the world is not realistic my opinion is that planners are the savior of the world, this is because a planner is a person who is systematically carrying out his thought thereby putting his thought into actualization.

A dreamer only imagines, dreams on the other hand is full of illusion and fantasies but the planner only strategies which way or step to move take next.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Yes, I found the book very helpful for my it has increased the level my style of thought and in taking and making decision that affects me directly of indirectly of teachers the ethics of consciousness in thoughts and also improvement in character.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.

The issue of thought in planning is not emphasized on by the author he only considers the ideal of thought and over viewing the need for plan to carry out this thoughts, and for all the afford mention to be useful, one must develop a plan to carry out the ideas.

A. How interesting was it to read? 8
B. How helpful were the contents? 7
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Adekoya Adekunle (Nigeria)

1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is about a rebellious young seagull that desires to fly like no gull has ever flew; this young seagull believes there is more to life than filling ones belly there by giving amending to its life. This seagull desires to rise above the ordinary, in a flock where individual is frowned upon.

This seagull pushes himself into learning everything he can about flying, until finally getting a result.

He learns to fly in a way no seagull ever has, Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a free thinking gull who wants is not content to fill its belly with scraps scavenged from the fishing boat like the rest of the breakfast flock, he wants to experience the freedom of flight which is enjoyed by other bird, which was opposed by everyone including his own family.

The author in his book tries to reveal the inner strength in man using animal rather than human in it real self it reveals that the success of man involves series of step and determination in other to make success out of his work.

The author expresses that for achievement to take place one need to take bold steps and even when convictions begins to come from around and within one must over look this words and carry on. Most time when discouragement come from within or outside ones family, the best is to carefully pay attention to ones desire so as not to loose focus.

2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life

The idea the author is trying to pass out is the fact that what ever you are doing don’t be discouraged as long as you have a purpose for doing it and when you are not discouraged, don’t limit yourself because when you do it affects the level of purpose or achievement, when you are not discouraged you must also stand your grounds that is, knowing what you want and going for its and as you stand your grounds endeavor to take a step after the other so as not to make mistakes white doing this it is also important to put ability to test in order to ensure continuity and constituency and whole you are doing this control yourself in other not to over do things. Which can be distractions for achieving goal. Attitude produces reward of a man’s thought and this was of the Jonathan Seagull every thing of his thought comes with an attitude and the attitude ones posses to its desire determines the form at which one achieve its goal.

i. Have great thought

From the book it is seen that Jonathan seagull have a reason for flying which is not majority to eat but to survive even in the most difficult situation, putting man as a replica of seagull he tried to explain that we must have a reason, we must be focused and for we cannot afford to be like most people who do not have a reason rather that to just move with the but here it is about giving one’s life a meaning. This thought allows one to forge ahead even in the darkest environment.

ii. Don’t limit yourself

When a man begins to compare himself with his fellow man then he his limiting himself for he begins by putting himself in the position of that man, probably, the other man was unable to achieve a particular task, then he believes he can’t perform the task either, then limitations have set in, this is what the writer tries to explain when he used Jonathan (seagull) who sees himself like every other gull and wants to fly like one .

iii. Don’t be discouraged

Just has bad thought produces bad results so is the power of discouragement, discouragement can come in any form but, when a room is not given, it builds a new ground. Jonathan livingston seagull ignores all forms of discouragement because lie was focused, he knew the essence of his thought, he new the value of his idea and didn’t let go and this paved way for him to discover his inner strength by achieving what ordinarily no gull has ever achieved. At a point in time, discouragement will come over what a person does but when this is ignored then, a person’s goal is at a point of realization this is because, discouragement does noting good to a person’s desire than to condemn and destiny, discouragement kills the spirit of achievement or rather attainment in what we do any these was seen when the seagull was discouraged it made the seagull loosed focus of why he was flying, but the moment he ignores the discouragement, he was flying and learning.

iv. Stand in ground

When the seagull was called to stand to centre for shame he thought it was impossible he could have pleaded for his mistake, for violating the dignify and tradition of the Gull family but no, that was not the case, he stood his grounds to show them, what he has learnt was not shameful, but was of honors, this shows that when you stand your grounds, this will make people have interest in what you are doing.

v. Take a step after the other

What has been the major problem is the act of moving two things at the same time, such is what the seagull trying to fly to the highest at a point in time before he got to a climax and derailed this teaches that one must take a step which leads to the other because taking up two steps at the same time does not make you see the lapses that might surfaced from the mafia step. The author tries to explain that though we might be focused, but, we must take a step after the other which follows the parable that road was not built in a day, which means things are made step by step

vi. Put your ability to test.

At all time a person must try to put its ability to test in other to know the weakness one might experience in the course of achieving future purpose so as not fail in carrying out task and to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in other to achieve a goal. When you put your ability to test it help you know how far you can go and in developing ur ability. Putting ability to test gives room for a person to learn new things that has not been known to such man, that was what happened when the two gulls that appeared to Jonathan seagull in the high night air was doing and Jonathan was thrilled by the skill with which the gulls flew and with a word Jonathan put this skill to his test, a test that no gull has ever passed. He twisted his wings, slowed to a single mile per hour above stall and the other two gulls had to join him because they knew about flying.

Vii. Have control of yourself

This is the major thing about human being that at everything we do, we must team to control our self because it with helps us see through other people and learn through them in the sense that, controlling yourself is about beer patient and letting things takes its form before you are able to give response to it this is because your patience will let you see why an incident has taken place, apart from knowing why an incident take place there is need to control one’s self because it gives a better understanding of one’s nature in responding to people around this was what Jonathan seagull understand about himself and use it in other to achieve its desire. Having control of yourself makes you go ahead than where you thought yourself to be, it allows you discover truth about life and that is the case of Jonathan Livingston Seagull who discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gulls life is so short, and with these gone from his thought he lived a long and fine life indeed.

3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?

The ideas will be of great help in my dashy activity because it will change my perspective about thing around me and also build a level of confidence in me, in taking up a task or been responsible for every action and reaction I take.

4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.

“It always work when you know what you are doing”
This quote I will say is true because when you know what you are doing it will give you an insight of what to do next and this make things easy by making this next step works according to plan and even if there is default in the plan it will still be a form of alternative step to be followed in achieving a goal. This is what made learning easy for Jonathan seagull because he new what he was doing and this made it easy for him to learn how to fly.

5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?

The flock might as well have been stone. The phrase seems difficult to comprehend, the idea that the flock might be stone makes the passage indefinable.

6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?

Sure I did, such that I have to apply them in my day to day activities.

7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.

No

Rating
A. How interesting was it to read? 5
B. How helpful were the contents? 8
C. How easy was it to understand? 7
D. Would you recommend it to others? 5
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 8