THOUGHTS TO CHEW ON

“It is chiefly through books that we enjoy intercourse with superior minds. In the best books, great men talk to us, give us their precious thoughts, and pour their soul into ours. God be thanked for books. They are the voices of the distant and the dead, and make us heirs of the spiritual life of past ages. Books are true levelers. They give to all who will faithfully use them, the society, the spiritual presence of the best and greatest of our race.”
– William Ellery Channing

THOUGHTS TO CHEW ON

“Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them, masticate them and digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it.

A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes of hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading, let your motto be “much, not many.”” (CHARLES SPURGEON, 16TH Century preacher)

WORDS TO LIVE BY

“Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding!” [Proverbs 4:7 The Message]

5 TIPS FOR GETTING MUCH MORE OUT OF YOUR READING

Hello, hope your weekend was great! Welcome to a new work week. What will you be reading this week that will impact your life and career? Let me help you with some tips for getting much more out of your reading. Have an impactful week. YOU WILL SUCCEED!

Francis Bacon has been quoted as saying that reading makes a full man, but he gave further advice:

“Read, not to contradict or confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”

To get more out of your reading here are my suggestions:

1. RECOLLECT : This is mental recall. When you read, try to remember what you have read. The where; the who; the how and the why. Use your imagination. Picture what you’re reading.

2. REFLECT: Reading without thinking is like eating without digestion – it does no good. When you read, analyze and process the information being fed into your brain. Think!  Ponder deeply. Allow the judgment of the Holy Spirit. No author’s opinion or interpretation of scripture is final. Use the Bible and the witness of your spirit as the final arbiter before you digest any information; that’s why getting conversant with your Bible is supreme. To enhance your thinking process, (i) you could seek the counsel or opinion of an older Christian, a mentor. (ii) You could also cross-reference or juxtapose different authors on a singular subject. Finally, be objective, not biased. Don’t fall victim of the sin of a closed mind.

3. RECITE: Recitation is part of the meditation process. The Hebrew root of the word ‘meditate’ means ‘to murmur in pleasure’. Recall to yourself the things you have learnt from the books you have read. Memorize facts. Memorize scriptures. It will help you in dire moments. “The memory is a treasurer to whom we must give funds, if we are to draw the assistance we need.”

4. RECOUNT: Share your knowledge with others. It helps retention of facts. “You will always remember what you teach.”

5. REVISE: Go back to revise and review that material. It will be well stored now. It also helps to cultivate the habit of writing down what you read. The faintest pen is always sharper than the sharpest brain. Information that is not documented will never be implemented! (Excerpts from the yet-to-be-published-book, READERS AND LEADERS by Yomi Olufiade)

ARE YOU BUILDING YOUR CASTLES IN THE AIR?

This is a vital question. Before you ask what I meant by that, read on:

Building Castles in the Air

Change your dream and you will change your world.

Dream wild! Dream big! Dreams do come true. Yes, but not until they are ‘dreamt’!

“Are you proposing “building castles in the air”?” you may say. Yes and No! I say Yes, because we must first have castles in the air before we can have castles on the ground. But I say No, considering the fact that dreaming dreams without taking concrete steps to bring them to pass will lead to events far worse off than we were saddled with in the first case. Idle dreams will not take anybody beyond their nose! “Foolish dreamers live in a world of illusion; wise realists plant their feet on the ground.”⁵

Ralph Waldo Trine, the American sage had this to say: “Much is said in regard to “building castles in the air” and one who is given to this building is not always looked upon with favour. But castles in the air are always necessary before we can have castles on the ground – before we can have castles in which to live. The trouble with the one who gives himself to building castles in the air is not that he builds them in the air, but that he does not go farther and actualize in life, in character, in material form, the castles he thus builds. He does a part of the work, a very necessary part; but another equally necessary part remains still undone.”

Dream Your Dream and Work Your Dream

The Bible says, “Wisdom is before him that has understanding; but the eyes of a fool are at the ends of the earth.”⁶ A true dreamer has his head up with the stars while his foot is on the earth!

Dream your dreams but get up and work on actualizing them. Anything is possible in the arena of dreams. There are no limits to what you can achieve with your life except the boundaries you set by your dream.

We live in a dreamers’ world.

Every nation is a product of the dream of her founding fathers.

Every school is a product of the founder’s dream.

Every book was once a dream in the author’s mind (including this one.) Everything is created twice: first the idea, and then the invention; first in the heart and then on the earth.

Every invention first existed as a tiny thought – a dream – in the inventor’s heart. No life, in fact, nothing on earth, is an accident. Every life is a product of a dream – God’s dream, your dream. If you change your dreams, your world will change! (Excerpted from the book YOU CAN CHANGE YOUR WORLD!  by Yomi Olufiade)