As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Dunu Nneamaka

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss why they were important to you, using personal examples.

Personally, I’d say ‘As a man Thinketh, so is he’. This book has made me understand that a man’s visions can become reality, simply through the power of Thought. This book is already self explanatory.

I now know that I am what I think, where I am today is as a result of what I thought yesterday, my character is the complete sum of all my thoughts.

The act of every man springs from the hidden seeds of thought. This means that every act or every thing (consciously or unconsciously) you do today is as a result of your thoughts. “Act is a blossom of thought”, so if you think right, you act right and if think wrong, you act wrong. What you sow you shall reap; you can not sow mangoes and harvest oranges.

“Man is made or unmade by himself”.
Man is the master of his thought, the molder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny.

This means that I am the master of my thought; I choose what I want to think when I want to think. I hold the key to every situation in my life, its either I open the door and let it in or I don’t. I own my thoughts, I am my master, I can choose either to be wise or to be foolish.

My thoughts determine my character/act. “A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will bring forth”.

To keep a garden clean and healthy, one has to water it every day, weed out all the unwanted plants etc. this also applies to a man’s mind(where he thinks), you take out all the bad and useless thoughts(weeds), you planting useful, resourceful, good, healthy thoughts(water & sunlight). Tendering to a garden makes it grow beautiful, healthy & strong. By doing these things to the mind, one’s character or act tends to be more beautiful and radiant everyday. By pursuing this process, “a man discovers that he is the master-gardener of his soul, the director of his life”.

A fruit can not be good on the inside and have a foul odour on the outside; also it can not be bad on the inside and have a good odour on the outside, it has to be good to smell good and it has to be bad to smell bad. “Good thoughts bear good fruit and bad thoughts bear bad fruit”.
Basically, I’d say, you emit / radiate what you think i.e. character.

Thought and character are one.
Every man is where he is by the law of his being.
“A man’s circumstance at any given time is not always an indication of his entire character”. This means that one should not always judge another by the outward appearance.
Since thought and character are one, a man can be going through problems in his life, but that does not mean that he does not think the right thoughts. Learning takes processes, and this also means that there are different phases; a man has to go through different phases in his life to achieve what he wants to achieve. Rome was not built in a day.

‘As a progressive and evolving being, man is where he is that he may learn that he may grow; and as he learns the spiritual lesson which any circumstance contains for him, it passes away and gives place to other circumstances’.

Circumstances does not make a man, it reveals him to himself.
Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.

“Not what a man wishes and prays for does he get, but what he justly earns”. This means that a man should not just wish and pray for miracles when he is doing nothing about it. You don’t just sit there and pray for a job, when you are not even applying for one or doing anything about it.

The only times wishes are granted and prayers are answered are when these prayers/wishes harmonize with one’s thoughts and actions. This is to say ‘Nothing happens by chance’, somehow you would have thought about it consciously or unconsciously.

Learn to make sacrifices. Like the saying goes ‘you can’t eat your cake and have it’.
People keep whining about how their situations are, how bad the economy is, how they can’t get a job etc. but they are anything but willing to change themselves. You have to be ready to make personal sacrifices in life to achieve any goal that you have set.

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results.
The sole and supreme use of suffering is to purify, to burn out all that is useless and impure.
Suffering is an indication that an individual is out of harmony with himself.
Lastly, Suffering/poverty/sickness is a state of mind.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationships, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation

Becoming a member of IIGL is a goal I have achieved in my life. I have always believed in there is nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.

I have always believed I was not good with words, most of the time when I am expected to talk to someone or to write an essay, I find it a bit hard, well its not like I don’t know what to say its more like I have got it all figured out in my mind but I don’t seem to figure out how to express my self.

I heard about IIGL, and I made up my mind that I was going to be a member, I got my self registered and here I am, expressing myself and I know I am not doing a bad job at that. So I know that you can do anything you want because you are the master of your thought and the molder of your character.

In my first year in school, there was this dance group in my church that I was in love with, I would go for their rehearsals and just watch them, I would even give up my sleep to just watch them because sometimes they had all night rehearsals, I so much wanted to do what they did but I just couldn’t get myself to even think of doing it.

Then one day I was asked to come and take a role in a dance drama during the next rehearsal, but I did not show up for that rehearsal all because I was shy and scared, but one day I made up my mind that I was going to do it and lo and behold I became a member of that group and figured out that it wasn’t so bad after all. I am still a member of the group. I can do all things.

When you are tired and stresses out, and you go to a spa or any other place to get a massage, the first thing they tell you is to close your rise and think of a place that is so peaceful or a place that they are so happy to be in etc because it actually helps you to calm your nerves an relax

The body is the servant of the mind.
I want to be remained blessed so I have to think the right thoughts.
If I think sickness, I will become sick and if I think healthy I will be healthy.
I am what I think.

I have also learnt not to blame others because no one is responsible for my problems but me.
I have also realized that for me to have a beautiful and loving person my thoughts have to be fine tuned with beautiful and loving thoughts because my thoughts can’t be kept secret, because it gradually becomes a habit and then it becomes a circumstance

Also my body is a delicate plastic instrument which responds to thought. I can determine my health status. I can determine how long I want to live, I can determine my future.

I will not give into fear because fear holds you back. Do not say ‘can not do it’. When you are asked a question, don’t just say ‘you don’t know’ the answer, because by saying ‘you don’t know’, you are sending signals to your brain and you are telling your brain not to even try. There is a chance you would have known if only you tried.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from this book? Please explain.

Serenity
Calmness of the mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. This is the last phase in the process. A result of the long and patient effort in self control. For one to duel in serenity, one must have a high level of tolerance/self control. You must be ready for any thing life pushes your way, in any circumstance, you stand firm.

He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or sheltering rock in a storm. People will come to you in there time of trouble, they will need your opinion when making their own decisions.

Think the right thoughts, it does not just end by thinking the right thoughts, u think and then you put your thoughts to work. Act on your thoughts, trials and temptations like doubts and fears will come your way but it’s the ability to aver come them that matter. Thoughts of doubt and fear can never accomplish anything good, they always result to failure. Once your doubts and fears have been conquered, failure too has been conquered.

The strong man cannot help a weaker man, unless he is willing to be helped. You can’t help a beggar you see on the street by giving him money, even if you give him a million dollars, he will end up squandering all the money and then resume being a beggar, unless he is willing to quit being a beggar, he will invest the money into something that will yield fruit. This is to say that no one but you can alter your condition.

Give up selfishness in order to succeed.
There is no achievement without sacrifices.
You can not eat your cake and have it.

I also learnt that all your acts/actions are as a result of your thoughts whether consciously or unconsciously. Every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought because they could not have appeared without them.

Act is the blossom of thought and I can choose my thoughts and this makes my life a lot easier.
I am responsible for I even in my weakest state. If I think right I act right and if I think wrong I act wrong.

I will weed out all the useless weeds growing in mind and replace it with water, sunlight and fertilizers.

Dreamers are saviors of the world. Humanity can not forget its dreamers. It all starts with a dream, the grease achievements in the world today started with a dream. The greatest inventions started with a dream, Independence in your country started with a dream, Your favorite musician started with a dream, The use of cell phones started with a dream, IIGL started with a dream, The world evolves around dreams.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how.

This book has not challenged my way of thinking but it has enlightened and inspired me.
It has thought me that self control is strength. Right thought is mastery, calmness is power. I’ll try to be calmer because I tend to be very impatient at times. It has also thought me that I should not judge a person by his present circumstance. My future lies in the palm of my Hands. Think right, live right.

5. Are there any ideas in the book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Of course not, how can anyone possibly disagree with any of the ideas, they are all motivating and mind blowing. Thumbs up to James Allen!

6. What did you find most helpful and least helpful in the book?

A whole lot of sayings that one can look at for moral support;

“As a man is Thinking is his heart, so is he”
“Act is a blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits”
“A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking”.
“Man is made and unmade by himself”
“Man is the master of his thoughts, the molder of character and the maker and shaper of condition”
“For only by patience, practice, and ceaseless importunity can a man enter the door of the temple of knowledge”.

“Man is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life”
“Every man is where he is by the law of his being”
“The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors”
“Circumstance does not make a man, it reveals him to himself”
“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”
“Suffering is always the effect of wrong thought in some direction”
“The circumstances which a man encounters with suffering are a result of his own mental inharmony”
“Law, not confusion, is the dominating principle in the universe”
“Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and the entire world will soften towards him”

“The body is the servant of the mind”
“If you would perfect your body, guard your mind”
“Clean thoughts make clean habits”

“Until though is linked with purpose there is no intelligent accomplishment”
“They who have no central purpose in life fall an easy prey to petty worries”
“A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart and set out to accomplish it”
“The will to do springs from the knowledge that we can do”
“Thought allied fearlessly to purpose becomes creative force”

“A strong man can not help the weaker unless he is willing to be help”
“The dreamers are the saviors of the world”.

All these things have really helped me in this book; they are like guidelines that will guide you through life.

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

Basically, the summary of this book is “as a man thinks, so is he. You are what you think. It tells us that we have the power to determine your future just by thinking. There is power in our thoughts. And these thoughts whether good or bad reflects on the circumstances of our life. So think healthy

Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Dunu Nneamaka (Nigeria)

1. What Ideas were personally most important to you in this book? Do not simply list the ideas, but explain or discuss.

The most important thing is ‘U are what you think’. We all have thoughts, we are different human beings and therefore we have different thoughts. For example, there are two students in a classroom, they are Alex and Kyle, and they receive all their lectures together, they have the same teachers and they both have very good grades. Alex is thinking of working in a company after he is done with school but Kyle is thinking of buying up that company when he is done with school.

The thing is, both ideas are good ones and they are also two different thoughts, so when Alex is done with school, he starts working in the company, and when Kyle is done, he owns the company. These are their thoughts and dreams and they accomplish it.

Don’t THINK ‘I can’t afford it’, THINK’ how can I afford it’. Think the right thoughts, say the right things, channel your ideas to positive thoughts and you’ll achieve in 2yrs what it took others 20yrs to achieve. Its not just about having these ideas and dreams its also about putting them to work.

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT.
….’Why is it so hard for u to be like the rest of the flock’? We all know that seagulls are all about eating and fighting, that’s the only thing that matter to them, how to get from shore to food. but Jonathan dared to be different, he didn’t want t to be like the rest of the flock. he knew there was more to life than eating, he wanted to experience the feeling of flight and was not afraid to express it. Of course he knew that the rest of the flock was going to have a problem with that but he didn’t let that bother him. He refused to accept that he was an ordinary seagull, he stood out of the crowd. Be that ‘one in a million bird’ out of thousands and thousands of gulls. there will be of condemnation, criticism and doubt on your way to the top but don’t give in to them.

Like when people use the saying ’all fingers are not equal’. don’t give in to that, why can’t you be the longest finger?

LIMITLESS POSSIBILITY
…. ‘I’m a perfect, unlimited gull “. The sky is not your limit. There is no such thing as limitation. You a perfect idea of freedom and fight limited by nothing at all.

Most people hold on to their pasts and that prevents them from their future. leave the past where it belongs because you can not create a change in the past but u can in the future.

2. Can you relate the ideas or concepts in this book to your personal circumstances in life such as your relationship, your beliefs, your goals, your values, etc? Please use personal examples in your explanation.

As a Christian, I believe that I shall lack nothing, I don’t do failure, I’m a success etc. and all my thoughts have been channeled to being positive i.e. my mind have been fined tuned to all these things, and my life has been this way since I started thinking in those directions. i believe in my thoughts and they work for me. I also believe that my ‘today’ is a result of what I thought about ‘yesterday’.

Amongst my peers, like in school, I dare to be different in anything I do, I don’t limit my ideas to only the things I learn in the classroom, in my assignments, in projects etc. I speak up whenever it is required. I try to be the best of the best. It’s better to face your problems than to avoid them.

There is no such thing as impossible. I can do all things. I can attain to any height I want because I know who I am and I know my capabilities. Most people say experience is the best teacher, yeah I believe that and I learn from the mistakes of others.

In my country Nigeria, most citizens complain of how the government is bad, corruption, etc. but we fail to understand that we are the ones that will effect the change in our country. It starts by one person.

3. What are the most important new ideas or concepts you learned from the book? Please explain.

Most importantly, I’d say Freedom, ‘each of us in truth an idea of the Great gull, an unlimited idea of freedom’.

I now understand that everyone is entitled to his or her freedom. You are free to do what you want when you want it, don’t let any one hold you down. Express yourself, express your thoughts and express your beliefs. The way you live your life is your choice and no one else’s, you shouldn’t displease yourself because you want to please others.

There is such a thing as ‘Perfect’. Most people say there is no such thing as perfection, but this book made me understand that perfection is a state of the mind. Our purpose for living is to find that perfection and show it forth. Perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfection comes first, by admitting /accepting it then lastly to believe.

Love & Forgive. Like I said you can never move forward until you let go of the past, because holding on to those memories will only make life harder for you. Learn to forgive and move on. As a Christian, you must make the uncompromising choice to walk in love always.

4. Has this book challenged or changed your thinking in any way? If so, explain how.

Yeah, it has changed my way of thinking; I’ll really have to start working on my forgiveness. I find it hard to forgive when I’ve been strongly offended. I’ve already sent messages to a few of my friends I’m not speaking with. I’ll be more selfless in my decisions. I want to be able to look into my life and confidently say that I hold nothing against anyone. I want to be able to love the most difficult people in the most difficult situations because I CAN. I certainly wasn’t born that way, but it’s a choice I’m making, to love everyone.

It has also reinforced my beliefs that ‘I am what I think’. I’m going to start thinking the right thoughts and saying the right things. The greatest and richest men on earth today all started with an idea/ a thought. I’ll follow my dreams no matter how many because I know I can do all things and that I’m Unlimited. I believe that I am fully endowed with all that I require to live a healthy, vibrant and prosperous life.

5. Are there any ideas in this book that you totally disagree with? If so, why?

Yeah, the idea that ‘there is no such place as heaven’. As a Christian, I strongly believe in heaven, heaven is a place where we will spend eternity, a place where we will go to after our physical life on earth. Saying there is no such place as heaven to me, is as good as saying there is no God.

6. What did you find most helpful about and least helpful in this book?

This book was written about seagulls, but mainly this books reflects on our daily lives as human beings, activities that go on in the world not necessarily about flying but also applies in our work, schools etc that gave it a little more light and made it more interesting

7. In 50 words or less, please describe the main idea the whole book is trying to convey.

I believe the main idea this book was trying to convey is, you can be/do anything you want to be/do only if you put your mind to it. Don’t let anyone/anything hold you down; believe in yourself and every other thing will fall in place. Its only by love and forgiveness that you have a better relationship with others and also help them to realize who they are.

Please rate the following on a Scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.

A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. What is the overall rating you will give it? 10