Dr. Parnerkar
Life Management
Foundation

Age increases in proportion to time, but the mind’s development doesn’t automatically keep up. This misalignment is a key flaw in human nature. For instance, the reason children behave inappropriately for their age - too immature or too grown-up - is because the children can’t align their minds with current times. Unlike the time, which is beyond one’s control, people can control their mind to fit current circumstances. Few are aware about their minds misaligning with time and fewer strive for it.

Contemplation, deep reflection and critical thinking, has to be learned. Humans have the capacity to think, but many don’t know how to think effectively according to the circumstance; that’s why it’s not an inborn quality. Many times, the mind is stuck in a loop of excessive thinking and nothing fruitful results. Other times, people forget about their accomplishments because they believe they could do better, or people praise not-so-worthy accomplishments to make them feel better about themselves. Deep reflection is crucial at this point because being too complacent or critical of oneself isn’t leading to growth.

In schools, children learn vocabulary words to build the capacity of memory. However, memory alone does not lead to success: observation is also required. Observation leads to thinking. Science projects focus on the observations during the experiment, helping students to practice their critical thinking skills and derive a conclusion.

There is a dissonance between the steady pace of time and the inconsistent state of the mind. Our minds tend to drift away from the time - either in memories or anticipation of the future. However, that isn’t the main problem; it’s that people don’t realize that their minds aren’t in the moment, and it’s their job to bring their minds in sync with time.

In reality, the mind itself is obedient and focused in its natural state. However, we fail to realize this as we lack physical ability and mental capacity to focus and complete tasks/activities at hand. Without completely finishing one task/activity, our minds jump onto another. This is due to a lack of discipline, consistent efforts, and focus, but we blame the mind’s fickleness. Because the mind is obedient by nature, we need to be able to use that to our advantage and discipline ourselves.

‘Young age nature’ are desires and impulses that are common in childhood. People who continue to follow that nature become adults behaving like children; they allow their younger impulses to take over. This hinders personal growth/development and makes the person ‘mediocre’. A common weakness of such people is that they get too caught up with superficial pleasures. This is the struggle teens face today; many are going back to their childhood nature and struggle/refuse to develop it.

Trying to change the nature you were born with to create your own nature is difficult. Building your own nature doesn't happen overnight; it’s a journey. There are a lot of obstacles in the way and to overcome those obstacles, one needs persistence. Adolescence is a stage of life where those obstacles are immense, and that is why teenage years are one of the most important and difficult periods of one’s life; teens have to face and overcome the pressure and influence from outside.

“Incapable of decisive thinking” means that a person doesn’t know what they really want; they are uncertain. Because that person is unsure what they want to do, someone else’s perspective and thoughts influences them. Due to this influence, the mind is vulnerable to what other people say. This is very common in teenagers because many don’t know what they want, so they seek help from their peers. From this help, teens listen to what others are saying and forget to think for themselves.

Human nature is formed from the initial stimuli and responses to the environment since infancy. The environment is affecting every aspect of life, and the mind responds to whatever the environment gives. This response eventually becomes automatic, and builds Human Nature.

People who are open to others’ knowledge and change their young-age nature allows them to achieve development. Learning from others is equally important to listening to your intellect. Along with changing one’s young-age nature to the time of today, both lead to a progressive life. Teens usually don’t seek advice from others and solely rely on their intellect, which, in the long run, hinders their progression.

If one can conquer their impulses through their intellect, they would be able to grow in every aspect of their life. One needs to use their intellect as a guide to outgrow their young age natures. This is very important for everyone, especially teens, to understand because teenage years are a crucial time where emotions are driving decisions instead of intellect. Once people learn to take charge of their intellect, they are able to develop their character without much trouble.

Humans have the ability to transform and expand their mind, nature, and intellect the way they want; they have the potential to change what seems ‘unchangeable’. Even if people know their potential, they find it difficult to modify their mind, nature, and intellect because they have to overcome habits and resistance to change. Due to this difficulty, many people think it’s nearly impossible to change themselves.

‘Mastery’ in this context means perfecting the skill of adaptation or being in control of circumstances. Success comes from being flexible and persevering through challenges that come our way. ‘Being in control of circumstances’ means being able to handle challenges and overcome them by staying resilient. Success comes from having an open mind and being ready to face difficulties.

People, especially stubborn teenagers, think that they are born with the nature they have. However, that’s not true; people aren’t born with a nature, rather, they develop their nature over time. Developing one’s nature means enhancing, altering, or changing their qualities and traits to become the best version of themselves.

Ego and vanity both are about people thinking and doing things from their perspective or vantage as they want to protect their self-image and seek admiration from others. Hence, ego and vanity doesn’t allow them to see what is occurring around them because they aren’t considering other perspectives. People have the tendency to only focus on themselves and only look at problems from their point of view and not even glance at someone else’s perspective.