Spend Time with Your Heroes

First of all, do you have any heroes? Someone you look up to. Someone you idolise. Everyone who wants to achieve something in life needs to have a hero. The reason is as follows.

Primarily, we need to have a goal. Anyone who ever wants to achieve anything in life must set a goal. Once we have a target, it is inevitable to come across countless obstacles. There will be times when we become confused as to which of the several choices to make in front of us. There will be moments when we break down, lose self-confidence. There might even be times when we stray from the goal. In order to keep these in check, and lift the cloud from such negative thoughts, we need some positive thinking. In such times of mental distress, the mind needs to see some light. In such times of questions, the mind requires answers to move forward. The source of this light and answers are the great people of history, physically living or dead. The explanation is simple, logical and yet powerful.

We face many difficulties in our day to day lives, many anxieties and many questions. These issues have been faced by people who existed on this planet before us, and they have written about their experiences. They have written about the toiling they went through, the solutions they found, the lessons they learned. We need to read about their teachings and their lives. If we are to live an efficient life, make progress toward our goal and make the most of our time then we should try to study the lives of those who have done the same. Is a person not a fool if they continue to make the same mistakes repeatedly, despite knowing that the solutions to their supposed problems are lying in the pages of books (or on the Web)? All we need to do is open these sources up and read (or listen in the case of, for instance, audiobooks). Technicalities aside, it is very simple—a person can choose to lament in the same issues and allow themselves to be knocked down by the same problems time and time again, or a person can actively find the answers and apply them. We decide which of these persons we choose to be.

Diving deeper into the explanation, those revered characters of history are revered for a reason. They have done amazing work for the well-being of people in different respects. They have disciplined themselves to build mental strength and robustness of character. Their character and personality are very powerful, which is the reason we still remember them, or will still remember them, long after their physical death. At this point, it is essential in the macro explanation of this text to present a micro explanation of how the mind works. Similar to how water takes the shape of its container, the mind adopts the metaphorical colours of the objects it concentrates on. In this regard, ‘metaphorical colours’ refers to qualities or virtues or characteristics. The reason that many people report feeling relaxed after sitting next to flowing water (e.g. a stream or river) for some time is that the mind picks up the quality of flowing, it learns to let go of things and flow a little. The mind learns to adopt the dynamic nature of flowing water.

In the same channel of thought, spending time with our heroes means thinking about them, studying them, and concentrating on their character and personality. If we have given them the status of a ‘hero’ in our life then it is because they have done something good in their lives that we admire. They have put in effort to build a strong character. We give them importance because they have sacrificed their time and energy to work selflessly for the welfare of others. It is these personas that over the years take their place in history and become the kings of hearts of the masses. It is these personalities which become idols.

For exemplary purpose, let’s think about Nelson Mandela. If you were to regularly and consistently study the life of Nelson Mandela, over time you would gradually learn to be compassionate, calm and patient. Of course, it is a different matter if, when studying Mandela, you decide to block everything positive about the man and not let anything in. In that case, likely no positive change will happen. For those who think about the character with positive intent and open mind, their qualities are sure to seep in.

This is the process of becoming your hero by focusing on your hero. In the end, the mind becomes what it entertains.