Noel Manuel
Every child needs to have a steering wheel in their life to ensure that they remain on the right track to a productive and meaningful life.
A steering force guides every object and living thing that moves. Be it a car, a ship, a bird or for that matter a train needs to be stirred to a particular destination. When something drastically goes wrong with the steering, we know the results are an unavoidable crash, boom and bang.
Without the ‘steering’ we keep moving around with no apparent destination or significant purpose. With it, we tend to personalize our objectives and remain on the right track. Our goals gradually become more vivid and success creeps in almost unnoticed.
When we are in control of our steering wheel, we know that our physical, spiritual and mental development is inevitable. It happens almost spontaneously. When we are not in control of the steering our vision becomes blurred and objective remains out of sight.
What is the steering wheel? The steering wheel is the positive approach that we develop towards the cultivation of morals and principles in the mind. The mind can only retain what has been cultivated over a period of time. As much as seasoned flowers need a particular climate for their growth, so does the mind need a particular environment for the conditioning of values and principles. When our mind is conditioned with appropriate values, we develop a steering wheel to take us through the journey of life. But to remain in control of the steering wheel, calls for regular conditioning of the mind. You neglect to condition your mind and your body and soul suffer the brunt.
There are many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in life that we seek to educate ourselves on through some source or the other. Some of the answers to the following questions are convincing while others are not. We seek to know what makes our life happier? We also seek to know how we could live longer? We also seek methods to look young or more attractive.
Making some purchases at a convenience store in the capital earlier this month, I chanced upon this peculiar middle-aged man. He was virtually turning the cosmetics counter upside down in his pursuit for a lotion that could make him look younger. Despite the salesman’s best efforts to convince the man that pharmaceutical products would be the better option, he was in no way prepared to change his mind. Finally, the man, out of desperation, settled for a branded lotion.
Do you think that lotions and pharmaceutical products really help us to look young? Well, I don’t really think so.
The best anecdote that I believe can help you turn your life upside down or make you look happier, younger and give you a longer life is the medicine of positive thinking. A person who thinks positively does not allow worries, tensions and anxieties to take root in his mind. His mind is full of positive thoughts that is akin to a field of daffodils. Values and principals are naturally cultivated because of his mind set and he remains in control of his steering wheel. He knows where he is going and is always alert to what he is doing.
I’ve often wondered why people who live in remote and far-flung areas live longer than those who live in cities and towns. Is it the pollution that does the damage? Partly maybe. However, surprisingly, the real harm comes from family problems, social troubles, job tensions, financial difficulties, insecurity, medical ailments and what not. We are victims of our own dilemmas. We allow troubles and tensions to take root in our mind. Our positive thoughts are choked by our negative opinions. We lose focus of our principles and values. The steering wheel goes out of our control. We end up becoming a victim of our own circumstances.
A boy who had been taking drugs for six years had allowed a whole lot of negative thoughts take root in his mind. The negative ones choked his positive thoughts and he virtually lost control of his steering wheel. As a result, he faced many mishaps in life. And eventually when his near and dear ones tried to take control of his steering wheel, it was far too late. He died.
We need to help our children steer their own vehicles in life because ultimately they have to take the driver’s seat someday. And they need to take it early so that they get adequate experience to navigate themselves in a world that is plagued with many temptations that seem hard to resist.
Interestingly, many parents love to navigate their children’s life. So much so, they become dependent and find it difficult to maneuver themselves on their own when their parents leave them on their own. This is when they turn to their best friends who may turn out to be the worst enemy to influence drugs and alcohol in their lives. It is imperative that in order to make our children take the driver’s seat early in life, we need to train them on positive thinking. And that too, early.
Ultimately, it is the mind that has a direct control over the body and the soul. And to influence positive growth of the body and soul, the mind needs to be cultivated with positive thinking conditioned with values and principles. After all, it is the steering wheel that will maneuver the body and soul to its destination.
The writer is the Coordinator of the Northeast Region (Poetry Society of India) and Life Member of the Poetry Society of India. Journalist and Correspondent Eastern Panorama (News Magazine of the Northeast) Phonetics Teacher.
