Saturday, March 7, 2015

The Mind is Powerful Gift So Use It!


What I love most about my little friend is that she is very quick to light up any room with her wit, humor and unfortunate responses at times. She is at times too smart for her own good. I see my little friend probably 4 times a week so I always ask her about how school is going. Too often I discover that she has gotten into it with her teacher who she ends up verbally haranguing. The difficulty as I have told her is that adults don’t like being put in their place by a little kids regardless of who is right or wrong.

We live in the Valley of the Sun, which means that without an ample supply of water, we would be a barren wasteland. Yet, because we steal most of the Colorado River there is lots of green in Phoenix. Our minds are much like a garden where our thoughts become seeds and what we do with these seeds determines who we become. The reality is that a mind that doesn’t have ongoing seeds being planted becomes like the desert where there is only dust in the wind.

So what has to happen for anyone regardless of age to become a life-long learner? Why is it the case that too often people, kids, youth, adults or seniors just stop caring about life and learning? Is it really ever possible to discover everything in life and know exhaustively the mysteries of the universe? Clearly the mind is the most powerful computer! Yet, most of us use less than 5% of our brainpower.

I have been fortunate to have some incredible friends in my life who have inspired me to be a learner, reader and doer! I have learned so much in my life through being exposed to a very diverse group of friends from highly educated PhD types, hands on craftsmen, business entrepreneurs, street smart types to my little friend. It was my dad that would overwhelm my mom with having too many books to store in our house. It become a matter of tension latter in their lives when my dad had to rent storage units to keep his prized possessions. What I discovered was that these were what inspired my dad through out his life to be an ongoing learner.

I was also taught how not to be afraid of hard work and be willing to knock myself out in becoming a craftsman. It was after finishing my Biochemistry degree that I learned through the school of hard knocks about what it takes to be a concrete finisher. My wife was a year behind me in school and where we lived there weren’t any jobs in my field so I ended up learning how to do concrete work with a small Hispanic Company. Initially I was ridiculed, laughed at and pushed to the edge of quitting because I was the gringo college graduate doing manual labor. I don’t think the guys realized that I was making 2.5 times the salary of being an entry level chemist so I wasn’t afraid to get dirty, screamed at or be pushed to the edge.

One of my passions is to push at risk youth to get off the couch, turn off the PS-4 or whatever and do something with their lives that will make a difference. What would happen with my little friend who has a vocabulary of a college student if she exercised her brain and became even curious about life? What if she discovered how to become a learner, team player and someone who engages her teacher instead of attacking her teacher or fellow students? I tell her often that she could be the next president in 2035 if she doesn’t become a drop out!

Clearly our minds are like computers where what we put into them determines what comes out of them. My dad the bookworm was also an amazing gardener who gave me a green thumb.  He taught me so much about cultivating the dirt in my backyard to see giant zucchini grow. As I reflect on my life I could honestly say that my dad gave me my brain power and it was my mom who taught me common sense! So the mind is a power gift so use it otherwise you will waste it!



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