Thoughts become Things
The first step in leadership is self-development and in my opinion, the first step in self-development is thought control or controlling the mind. Thought control means encouraging positive thoughts and rejecting/discouraging negative thoughts. As the famous quote goes, “Watch what you think, it becomes what you say. Watch what you say, it becomes what you do. Watch what you do, it becomes your character. Watch your character; it determines what your future will be like.” Swami Sivananda says, “The mind is like a wheel which revolves endlessly with tremendous velocity. It generates new thoughts with every revolution.” Solitude, concentration, meditation, chanting and good books can slow down the wheel. We are a sum total of two types of thoughts viz. our experiences in life which feed thoughts externally and thoughts which cross our mind without any conscious or direct external influence. Our external experiences (and resultant thoughts) can be difficult or sometimes impossible...