‘The Thinking Revolution’ by Dene Stuart

Nursery, Primary School, Secondary School, University and then what?

Practically all of my life up until 2015 has been in education. Despite those 17 years of being taught, lectured and prepared for the ‘real world,’ when I finally left university, I felt  totally unprepared to enter the unknown. I didn’t want to venture away from the safety net of learning and being guided.

Something here struck a cord with me. Why, after all, would I along with my peers – want to stay  in this controlled, regimented, educational environment? Sure, some people leave school as soon as possible. However, lots of us don’t and are in fact scared to.

Has our education system failed us? What is missing from the curriculum that would help us make that jump into the big wide world easier?

In my case I turned to traveling in a bid to continue gaining new experiences and learning. While away, I spoke with people from numerous different cultures about thinking, spirituality and the mind.

My new Indian best friend, opened my eyes to meditation, yoga and mantras. While one night a group of Mexican friends spoke to me about death and how it was the ultimate goal – nothing to be fearful of. A family I stayed with in Guatemala had next to no money. What they did have was love, god and a positive outlook. Their benign and accepting nature actually had a powerful and calming effect on me.

Returning to the UK was hard. I had experienced and seen so much. I was beyond excited to be reunited with everyone but this soon wore off. I felt myself returning to my old ways. I was getting stressed with the small things again. While away, my mind was clear, I was happy and open to everything. Back home, I was agitated and lost.

This is where Dene Stuart’s book: ‘The Thinking Revolution’ proves invaluable. What is indeed missing from the school curriculum is understanding our physical bodies and the way we use our minds to become self aware. This integral part of our daily lives, namely thinking, is not taught in school.

Understanding our emotions and why we feel certain ways enables us to achieve our full potential. Dean teaches us this in his enlightening book.

Before reading The Thinking Revolution I had a basic idea of the importance of living in the moment and listening to our emotions, but I had no idea how everything linked together. Dean beautifully connects the dots for us.

Dene highlights how our centre of gravity determines the direction of our lives. This encompasses our resourcefulness, need and wisdom. All things which can be brought into our conscious thinking and changed to create positivity and success in our lives. Reading Dene’s book these concepts will all be explained.

He also demonstrates how we can live in the present by celebrating small successes. He says that instead of celebrating just the end goal, we can rejoice in the small steps along the way. For example, rather than just focusing on the outcome of learning an entire new language, give your self credit when you learn new vocabulary. Rather than being harsh on your self for not being fluent yet, enjoy the journey.

Interestingly, Dene applies well-established facts and theories to his own life; and the personal examples he gives us really do help to bring the theories of famous philosophers to life.

At the end of each section Dene asks us some questions and prompts us to think about our own lives. So keep a notepad nearby and enjoy doing the thought-provoking exercises.

With our busy lifestyles, habits tend to form and negativity very often seeps into our thinking. By reading Dene’s book I have come to learn that with hard work we can change the way we go about doing things. He shows us that we can all change our mindset if we really want to. We just have to work at it; take responsibility, stop blaming others and take charge. You can grab a copy of The Thinking Revolution on Amazon and it is worth checking our Dene’s  website.