Sean Covey’s way of explaining the 7th habit of highly effective teens could not have been a better way of ending this book. The concept consists of renewing yourself, which if I learned anything from this book, it is anything you want to change or improve in your life begins with YOU. YOU must know what you want and what’s better for you. YOU must take action.
Covey uses a metaphor throughout the whole chapter which describes us trying to cut down a tree with an unsharpened saw. If we would just sharpen the saw, we’d finish must faster. Sean Covey uses A LOT of metaphors throughout this book but this one caught my attention because without reading much, I already felt like it connected to me. During the school year I’m always busy with homework, projects, after school activities and balancing a social life at the same time I never truly stopped to sharpen my saw. In my head I would tell myself, “keep going, you’re almost there. Keep working hard because good grades equal a good college, don’t lose focus.” I recently realized I needed to stop and reflect about everything but, how? If I stop to change my way of being, where do I start? This is where I must thank Sean Covey, because he introduced me to the four key dimensions that I need to turn my attention to: my body, my brain, my heart and my soul. My body represents the physical dimension. This is where I wiped the sweat off my forehead and said, “phew”! This whole key dimension is about eating healthy and exercising, which I practice regularly. Of course, I’m not perfect. I like pigging out occasionally with my friends but as the author put it himself, this is okay. But listen, this doesn’t mean I am completely happy with my body image but as the book saids, “It’s all about how you feel, not how you look.” And I agree with this completely. I feel as though my day is not complete if I don’t exercise which is a good habit my body has grown to have. I don’t make a big deal out of exercising. After trying out a lot of new things, I know what I enjoy doing, so I don’t have to dread anything when I decide to go workout, I actually look forward to it. I play soccer and go the gym and also love going to some occasional yoga classes. If you find what you like you won’t have to think of pain each time you hear the word “exercise". My brain represents the mental dimension. This part of the book gave me a clear idea of what is truly important in life, which is getting a good education or having an educated mind. There are so many ways we can stimulate our minds, such as playing challenging games, watching documentaries or learning how to play a musical instrument. But what caught me off guard was that the simplest, most straight forward approach to expand your mind is to read. I was completely aware that this was a fact but it opened my eyes up to my own reading habits lately because in the last year I’ve only been reading books that I had to read for a class. You see, about two years ago I used to finish a book everything month so after reading this part in the book I’ve decided to make it my new goal to read at least one book every two months. And as for educating my mind, I made another goal to read the top stories on the news everyday to be more aware of what’s happening in the world today (I’ve already downloaded the CNN app on my phone!). My heart represents the emotional dimension. “Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile.” (Mother Teresa) This key dimension opened my eyes to the relationships in my life and how I am in control of how I want them to be. As the quote explains above, once you have a relationship with someone else, you are now in charge of listening to that person when he/she needs to talk to you, provide laughter when he/she is sad, or just be present when he/she is not feeling themselves. By doing this, when the situation is vice versa, you will also have that person by your side and most importantly, when you put a smile on someone else’s face or give service to someone else, you will feel happier inside. My relationship with a good friend of mine is stronger than ever because we listen to each other and give each other advice whenever one of us needs it. We find time to put things aside to talk to each other which is a huge relief when things aren’t going as smoothly as I hoped they would. It’s those small acts of kindness that I read about at the beginning of the book that fill your heart with warm, positive energy. My soul is the spiritual dimension. This key dimension begins with a few questions, “What moves your soul?”, “What deeply inspires you?”. As a human, we need to feed our souls. By this I mean we need to take time out of our busy schedules and do something our mind and bodies not only enjoy doing but often times are very necessary. Things like meditating, writing in a journal, praying or helping others. My way of escaping is playing piano. When my fingers touch the keys my mind immediately goes elsewhere, somewhere it is not allowed to think about anything else aside from the music coming form the instrument. I crave this feeling so badly when I become too stressed or sad. It is important to find something that inspires you and fills the empty space you feel inside. Nature often helps as well. Try waking up early and seeing the sunrise or finding a quiet place to watch the sunset. This will allow you to appreciate where you are and will literally fill your soul, leaving you feeling more complete than ever. The ending of this book could not have been more perfect. I’d like to thank Sean Covey for giving me hope and direction. Hope that will allow me to want to change the way I speak or listen to my parents. Hope that will allow me to let go of bad habits. Hope that will deposit 1,000,000’s of dollars into my personal and relationship bank accounts. And finally, direction for guiding me through the step by step instructions and tips on how I will get there.
1 Comment
Bon
2/14/2016 10:50:37 am
Stig, to some degree, we all have to put in the effort to fight those habits that don't help us grow as we'd like. From your writing it's clear that you have a solid core that allows you to live a healthy and balanced life. I'm still trying to connect it with the concept of sharpening the saw. In what way will you need this when you start second semester and what will it look like?
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