My QUOTES

THE POWER OF THE MIND (3)

            Personally, I believe that the best and most important asset in the human body is the mind. This is because it is responsible for every action we take. In other words, our mind determines, to a large extent, what comes to us and what we become in life. Therefore, it is very necessary to keep our mind active and productive.

            The importance of the mind is held in high esteem in our world today in that an individual is addressed by the state of their mind. That is to say, you are your mind and your mind is you. A perfect example is seen during any census exercise embarked upon by countries. During this exercise, people whose minds are deranged are not counted because they are seen as unproductive citizens. Their minds are ‘dead’ and this automatically makes them unproductive. Furthermore, when an individual has lost their mind, they are not taken seriously because the instrument necessary for facilitating their speech and actions is ‘absent’. That instrument is their mind.

            In the light of the above, we can succinctly opine that the mental state of an individual determines their overall wellbeing. That is, a sick mind will result to a sick individual while a healthy mind will account for a healthy individual. Again, we can metaphorically ascertain the health of one’s body by examining the state of health of their mind. In fact, Merriam-Webster sees mental health as “a state of emotional and psychological wellbeing in which an individual is able to use his or her cognitive and emotional capabilities, function in society, and meet the ordinary demands of everyday life.” Deductively, it can be said that inability to meet the ordinary demands of our daily living automatically means that our mind is not healthy. In addition, we are expected to exercise our mind by putting it to work so that we can function well in our society and as well meet life’s daily demands. In a nutshell, we must use our mind productively.

            At this juncture, it is also important to note that the human mind cannot be affected by any form of physical deformity or bodily challenge. By this I mean that having any disability does not negatively affect your mind. You can maximally utilise the potentials inherent in your mind, your disability notwithstanding. That is why some people with physical disabilities still make positive impact and thus command maximum respect from able-bodied people because they recognised that their bodily challenge does not hamper the quality usage of their mind. They see the ability in their dis-ABILITY and made the best use of it. They are not overwhelmed by their bodily challenge.

            The implication of the above is that the worst disability any person can have is mental disability. Mental disability may be the only excuse why we might not engage in productive thinking. Fortunately, the number of people who are mentally able in Africa is far more than those who are mentally disabled. If you are reading this, it means that you are among those who are mentally able. Therefore, we can achieve more and make our continent much better if we productively put our mind to work. The world is changing at a very fast pace and this is as a result of what other people are doing by engaging their mind productively. The question is, what are you going to contribute to this fast-changing world?

Americans built America;

Europeans built Europe;

Africans CAN and SHOULD build Africa.

It begins with YOU.

***Watch out for the next article***

Written by Godspower Chidiuto Onwudiwe (@gonwudiwe),

Master’s Degree student,

Faculty of Humanities,

School of Education,

University of Cape Town,

South Africa.