Brining it all home!!!
Many of you have been anxiously waiting to know the reason behind the title of “World Population” series of blogs. I think it is time to share the meaning with you. Thank you for being patient.
The title meant to indicate how I have decided to focus on what Stephen Covey, the author of the best-selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, calls “Circle of Influence”. He writes, “Proactive people focus their efforts on their Circle of Influence. They work on the things they can do something about: health, children, and problems at work. Reactive people focus their efforts in the Circle of Concern--things over which they have little or no control: the national debt, terrorism, the weather. Gaining an awareness of the areas in which we expend our energies in is a giant step in becoming proactive.”
What I noticed was that I was starting to allow myself to be influenced by “external forces”, such as the news media, which resulted in me having a negative perception of our beautiful world. Everything started to bother me: Traffic gridlock in China
This is not to say that this transformation took place overnight. Quiet the contrary! This transformation was a result of 39 years of personal experiences, which included witnessing the infamous “1979 Iran Revolution” firsthand, living under oppressive and dictatorial government, immigrating from country to country until finding a home, watching parents struggle to provide a comfortable life for their children, viewing live-feed of natural disasters from all corners of the world, etc.
So I decided to do something about it: I shrank the world population to just under 1,000. This group includes my immediate and extended families, friends, colleagues (past, present and future), and those that will have a positive impact on my being, including Stephen Covey, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Sir Richard Branson, Walt Disney (I know I’m going to take some heat for this one), the 14th Dalai Lama, and all religious books including the Bible, the Qur’an , the Torah and the Talmud, The Analects, Bhagavad Gita, Five Classics, Tao-te-ching, Upanishads, Veda, and the Guru Granth Sahib.
I think this will be a great start to the next 40 plus years of my life and beyond!
Thank you for reading,
Armin
PS. The above list of my “Circle of Influence” is not limited to those individuals that I have named or the books that I have listed. It will be an evolving list, hence the title “World Population: Just under 1,000 and climbing”. So I look forward to your recommendations on other writers, influential people, etc.
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