I recently learnt from Stephen R. Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that we (yes, you and me) have two sections in the brain: the left and the right. The left brain deals with words, the right with pictures; the left with parts, the right with wholes and the relationship between the two. All that means the left brain is where we analyse issues while the right brain is where we creatively visualize things.
Given the brilliant stories I have been posting on this lovely blog of mine, I believe my left brain is in good working order. But my right brain still needs to be developed. That's why I have resolved that, beginning today, I'll be setting aside time to visualize the kind of future I'd like to have.
After all, if I don't visualize the kind of future I'd like to have, how will I know that my dreams have materialized? Or to put it in biblical language, how will I know God has fulfilled the desires of my heart?
And what kind of life do I desire to lead? Okay, let me begin with the material world.
Well, I understand from the Scriptures that we don't live to eat, but again, we can't live without eating. So I desire to have enough money to live a wonderful life. And a wonderful life entails eating a balanced diet punctuated with an occasional glass of wine and residing in a comfortable abode.
I envision my abode to be a home here in Kiserian, an area I have come to adore due to its year-long balmy weather and its green landscape demarcated on the western horizon by the world-famous Ngong Hills.
My home shall basically be made up of a magnificent mansion (like the one in the photo above) which shall be surrounded by a manicured lawn and a well-knit kei-apple fence. I will stuff the mansion with books, music, movies, modern appliances and comfortable furnitures as well as with rare and beautiful treasures.
Next to the mansion will be a farm that I shall christen "The Garden of Eden". And in that Garden of Eden, I will set aside sections for an apiary, an aviary, a cowshed, a fish pond and a vegetable garden. In addition, I will plant on the farm numerous orange trees because, as my siblings can attest, orange trees grow robustly here in Kiserian where I am currently living with my supportive parents.
As well as connecting me with nature, such kind of farming will also provide my future family with eggs, meat, milk, fish, fruits, honey and vegetables. That's awesome, isn't it?
Besides building a magnificent home, I also envision having enough money to purchase a sleek car, to travel around the globe and to conduct a colourful wedding, God willing.
That's for the material world. Now let me visualize about the kind of mind and spirit I'd like to have. It's worth noting that the mind and spirit are the most precious assets of a human, more precious than cars and houses. And if well developed, the mind and spirit can bring us the peace we all yearn for.
On developing my mind, I want to gain a lot of knowledge, mostly through reading. I will therefore be visualizing myself turning the pages of a book, getting engrossed in what it's saying and pausing occasionally to reflect on how its message relates to my own world, to historical contexts and to the opinions held by particular authors.
And on developing my spirit, I want to be praying, singing and connecting regularly with nature which is the visible work of God. The wonderful old hymn "How Great Thou Art" puts it this way in its first verse:
I have come to cherish that verse in the couple of times I have listened to it with joy. And it's my faith that I will feel the verse again and again in my heart when I sing it to myself while gazing at the Grand Canyon in the United States, at the Coral Barrier Reef in Australia, at the Himalayas mountain range in China or at any other magnificent work of nature that I may be honoured to see before I depart from this grand and beautiful planet.
O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds thy hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy pow'r thro'out the universe displayed...
Then sings my soul my Saviour God to thee,
How great thou art, how great thou art!
Enough about me. How about you, my dear reader? What kind of future do you envision to have? Join me in this journey of making productive use of the right section of our brains which, as I have informed you, is where we creatively visualize things. Think about your future in clear vivid details. Over to you!
