Principles-Foresight”-18/6/2016″

   When talking about journey of success, Jeffrey J. Mayer said that you should be foresighted and don’t settle for being shortsighted. However, being “foresighted” is not only a condition to success. It is should be a lifestyle and an influencing principle that promotes your life and increases your wisdom, discretion and deep insight.

   Foresightedness includes acting carefully and recklessly. A foresighted person looks thoroughly at the end of situations and studies them carefully. He will follow the golden rule that “Before doing any work, wait a minute and think about its consequence and what things would ought to. Don’t be shortsighted.“ Little moments of thinking may change people’s reactions, situation and words, thus change their future. Sometimes, these moments may be the dividing line between life and death which may induce man to work hardly to control his reactions, emotions and not to allow them control his life. This way he gives a chance to his mind to think more clearly. Plato once said “Think more than once, then talk and take actions. Matters are changeable“. He also said about angry man’s recklessness “Don’t haste to anger, so it turns to a habit that controls you“. It is not easy to be a foresighted person who controls his emotions, trains his mind on thinking clearly to understand what lies behind situations and feelings. This can’t be obtained by wishing, but rather through patience and constant training. Here are some suggestions:

• Little serenity:

   One of the crucial matters in life is finding some quality time to be alone for a while to distance your heart and mind from hustle and bustle of life. During quiet times, you can evaluate matters, reflect on problems and take decisions in the light of a thorough study away from hustle and bustle of life. Professor “Arthur Asa Berger“,Professor Emeritus in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts at San Francisco State University, confirms this idea, saying that “We live in a world of photo electronic images. As the result of developments in printing, photography, and video, images play an increasingly important role in our lives .With sight exercising hegemony or domination over our other senses “,Thus eventually our ability of taking rational decisions fades away. Don’t let work time prevails over your quiet time that will regenerate your mind, help you manage what you feel about yourself and others. Here are some suggestions:

• A lot of reading:

   Reading is one of the important sources of knowledge. It opens new worlds, trains mind and encourages thinking. As some say it is the sport of mind. Being open to other ideas, opinions and events would turn you into a broad-minded and flexible person as you agree with some ideas and disagree with others, thus earn the ability to understand others, without having to agree on all of their opinions, and deal with them positively.

   We can’t deny the fact that the more broad-minded a person is, the more rational he can be and the less controlling his emotions become. Therefore, train yourself to have some quality time of reading everyday to have the chance to learn from some experience you may not live in your real life. Training yourself on reading daily will form your own vision and that will help you to respect the other, deepen and broaden your insights of life.

Anba Ermiah,
General Bishop& President of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center