The Mind; An ability that makes or breaks you

According to wikipedia, "The mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, language and memory. It is usually defined as the faculty of an entity's thoughts and consciousness. It holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions". Now, the mind is very complex and there is debate about what constitutes a mind, whether it includes the human spirit and soul, however, I am not going to delve deep into that aspect, and whatever its nature, it is generally agreed that mind is that which enables a being to have subjective awareness and intentionality towards their environment, to perceive and respond to stimuli with some kind of agency, and to have consciousness, including thinking and feeling and act upon those thoughts and feelings. This proves one thing that, we become who we are because of our mindset; what we think, believe, imagine influences who we are and whatever we become, as an old proverb goes “As You Think, So You Are!”. To further prove this, I am going to mention a real life example of someone who became who he wanted to be because of his mind and the thoughts, imagination, beliefs he sent into his mind.

"It holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions"

Most of us have read or taught in school about Thomas A. Edison, an inventor and a Scientist who invented the Electric Light Bulb and has patents more than many scientists could even imagined. But what we don’t know is the story of someone who was his partner for more than 30 years, Edwin C. Barnes.

Thomas Edison(right) explaining his invention
 "the ediphone/dictating machine" to his partner
Edwin C. Barnes(left). A fruitful partnership that
lasted more than 30 years under the popular slogan
"Built by Edison, installed by Barnes"

The story of Edwin C. Barnes is one of inspiration and a proof that the right mindset could get you wherever you want to be in life. Before He became Mr. Edison’s partner, Edwin C. Barnes had nothing in material, He wasn’t a scientist or inventor and He couldn’t even afford the train ticket to go to Mr. Edison’s office in Orange, New Jersey. But He had one thing though; the desire and vision to be Mr. Thomas A. Edison’s partner in business and He was ready to bet on his life to achieve that. On He went, hiding inside the train and moments later, He was before Mr. Edison’s secretary at her office, his words, “I am here to see Mr. Thomas A. Edison. Tell him He would be very glad to have met me”. Such confidence which will only be with someone with a strong mindset and a desire for what He wants. 

When He met Mr. Edison and after a few exchanges, Mr. Thomas Edison was so impressed that He said “When a man desires something so deeply that He is ready to sacrifice his entire future on a single turn of the wheel just to get it, you should never bet against him”. The rest is history as He became Mr. Edison’s partner eventually under a popular slogan then “Built by Edison, installed by Barnes”, thereby realizing his dream, which made him very rich and in turn, made it easier selling Mr. Edison’s inventions. Edwin C. Barnes proved that there is power in desire, belief, vision and never giving up (all products of the right mental attitude or right mindset). The thoughts, imagination and beliefs whether positive or negative you throw into your mind shapes who you are and you take actions upon them. This, along with many successful people’s story, proves that the mind surely is more than capable to build who you want to be in life. All the successful companies and businesses you see today were all created first in the mind of someone or some people.

In Sierra Leone, many people argue that corruption, bad leaderships, poverty, wickedness among ourselves, are our problems and they may certainly have a point. However, I believe that our biggest problem lies within our mindsets. Problems like corruption, poor leadership, poverty etc for me emanates from our mindsets. Have you ever wondered why suddenly you’ve changed into something that certainly didn’t define you when you were a kid? As a child, you were creative, taking risks everywhere in order to walk, play or do anything. You could build a toy car from peak milk cans or cartons. That risk taking and creativity was in you; it is something we were all born with but some way along our physical growth journey, we lose all of that abilities we once trained ourselves to do by taking risks. Many factors contribute to that; poor parenting, society fixing on us ideologies and beliefs that destroys our mental abilities, Schools and Universities preparing our minds to be job seekers instead of job creators etc. Soon we let society fix in our minds greed, wickedness, selfishness and desire to get things done the easy way. We corrupt our minds and pollutes it with negative thoughts, imagination, beliefs which influences our actions and behavior.
 President John F. Kennedy once said,  "This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease".  So wake up! You have something in you that the world needs. You have a purpose. Start developing your mindset. 

 “This world demands the qualities of youth; not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease.”

True, Society, bad parenting, schools, universities have given us reasons not to believe in ourselves, have the right mental attitude and build something for ourselves instead of constantly seeking and complaining but the good news is, you have your life in your hands now. Destroy that fix mindset that has been fixated on you, by yourself and society around you, and embrace the growth mindset which will systematically take you to greater heights you have dreamt about. It’s not too late, government will not save you nor parents, school or university . You can only save yourself. Your life is in your hands. You only get to live once! Think, imagine and act positively!