Sentilong Ozukum
Mr. Sahu, our social science teacher back in school always used to bombard our ears the day before vacations with his analogy, “Remember that your mind is like a Dao and will get rusted if you let it sit idle. Please make good use of your holiday with your books.” We the last benchers had our own analogy, “No! Our mind is like a TV voltage stabilizer and will stop responding if the tube is viewed continuously…..” To support our theory we referred the example of a well known mentally challenged man in town who was rumored to have become mentally disabled because he tried to memorize the English dictionary. Therefore we concluded, “Vacation means a break- a break from studies; a time to give rest to our tiring brain.” So we let our books gather cobwebs because our mind needs to be rested for better performance. After the vacation would come the test of our theory. Standing in front of the principal’s office for our poor show at the after summer test, we would mumble, “Everything seems new to my head…… I cannot just concentrate in my studies……..Nothing goes inside my mind even if I read….” Our Voltage Stabilizer seemed to be malfunctioning even after a full month’s rest. ‘Perhaps the wires inside were rusted’ I thought. “Wait a minute! Did I say rusted? Could it be that our class teacher words were right. Perhaps they were……Yes they were….”
Our mind needs to be stretch to stay sharp. It needs to be prodded and pushed to perform. Let it get idle and it will become a pitiful mass of flab in an incredibly brief period of time. So how can we stretch our mind? Charles R. Swindoll (American Pastor and best selling author) offers three suggestions. May they serve as the required mental exercises needed to sweep away the cobwebs?
1. READ
You may be too crippled and too poor to travel- but between the covers of a book are ideas and insights that await the joy of discovery. The power of your perception will be magnified through reading. Read wisely. Read slowly. Read widely. Scan- history as well as current affairs, magazines as well as periodicals, classics as well as poetry, biographies as well as novels, newspapers as well as devotionals…..
Don’t have much time?
Neither did John Wesley? But his passion for reading was so severe he made it a part of his schedule- he read most on horse backs. He rode between fifty and ninety miles a day with a book propped up in the saddle and got through thousands of volumes during his life time. Knowing that reading attacks thickness of thoughts, Wesley told many a young minister either to read or get out of ministry.
2. TALK
Conversation adds the oil needed to keep our mental machinery running smoothly. But far too much of our talk is surface jargon- shallow, predictable, obvious and pointless. Talk is too valuable to waste. Leave the discussion of people and weather to the newscasters! Delve into issues, ideas, controversial subjects, things that really matter. Ask and answer Why and How rather than What and When.
Remember- Ordinary minds discuss people. Average minds discuss events and Great minds discuss ideas.
Socrates was considered wise not because he knew all the answers, but he knew how to ask the right questions. Few experiences are more stimulating than eyeball- to eyeball, soul – to- soul talks that force us to think and reason. For the sheer excitement of learning of learning-TALK.
3. WRITE
Thoughts disentangle themselves over the lips and through the finger tips. How true! The old gray matter increases it’s creases when you put it down on paper. Start a journal. A journal is not a diary. It’s more. A journal does not record what you do- it records what you think. It speaks out your ideas, your feelings, your struggles, your discoveries, your dreams. In short, it helps you to articulate who you are.
Who Knows? Your memoirs might make the bestseller list in the year 2025. And speaking of that, why not try writing an article for your favorite magazine or newspaper? Editors are on a constant safari for rare species like you.
