161. The Measure of Your Strength

The venom of a man's enemies is a measure of his own strength. - Winston Churchill

160. Good Company

It is useless having a mind like a machine-gun without having ammunition to put in it - Winston Churchill.

It is vitally important that you feed your mind with fine material (ammunition). This is keeping the mind in Good Company. Good company for the mind is that which elevates your mind to higher ideals than the mere mundane. It includes such diverse sources of inspiration as the music of Mozart, the writings of Marsilio Ficino, Shakespeare, Schiller, Goethe, Descartes, Voltaire and other philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Marcus Aurelius etc. as well as the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci. Good Company means being in the presence of those who meditate and who are otherwise saintly. It means reading scripture an vedas. It alsomeans working with like-minded people on projects for the greater good of mankind.

159. Practicality

Without execution, thinking is mere idleness. - Winston Churchill.

If you have thought out a plan of action, the next step is to write it down. Making written notes of your plans, poems ideas etc., is creating a physical bridge between your mental world (the intangible) and the physical world (the tangible). This is the first stage in realisation (the making real) of your plans and goals.

The advantages in this are :

1. It makes your ideas visible.

2. It provides a written record.

3. It can protect your copyright (intellectual property).

4. It gives a standard against which you can measure your progress.

5. It helps you to remember what you have created.