Books and psychology

Born on July 18, 1918, in the Umtata district of the Transkei, at a time when virtually all of Africa was under European colonial rule, Nelson Mandela an  Anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa's first black president has been regarded as one of the great figures of the 20th century. In 1962, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and  sentenced to life  and sent to notorious Robben Island to serve his sentence. On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of South Africa’s Victor Verster prison near Cape Town after 27 years in captivity .   Below are some lessons that can have a profound impact on your lives. "A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special" Education played a key role in Nelson Mandela’s life, even though his own parents were illiterate. He attended a mission school as a child and then ...

One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that more than 40 percent of the actions people performed each day weren’t actual decisions, but habits. If we settle on 50%, we are on autopilot half the time.  For this reason, our habits have a tremendous influence on our existence and our future. What exactly is a Habit? A Habit is a behaviour that starts as a choice, and then become a nearly unconscious pattern that we repeat in our daily life, For example, Swearing, Biting Fingernails, Smoking Cigarettes, Consumption of Liquor etc. Habits scientists say emerge because the brain is constantly looking to save efforts.   Habits influence not only our routine activities but also our professional activities like Designing, Teaching, Presentations etc. So most of the  Rational or Irrational decisions  we make in a day might actually be influenced by our habits.   The Cue-Routine-Result Process As mentioned by auth...

When was the last time you read a book?  Do your reading Habits gyrate around Facebook updates and tweets? Even if you have completed one good book in your life, you know it gives you a feeling of transcendence. By the time you've completed this post, you should be encouraged to pick up the last book you have been meaning to finish or start afresh, and successfully develop the habit of reading in a day. "We can have innumerable Mentors" Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, Bill Gates had Warren Buffet, Warren Buffet had Benjamin Graham. Mentors have this phenomenal power to influence our lives in a tremendous way. Unfortunately, some of the great mentors namely Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, Sam Walton, Nelson Mandela are not alive. But, their wisdom has been articulated with finesse in their autobiographies and biographies.  "Reading is to mind what exercise is to the body" Studies have found that becoming engrossed in a novel enhances con...