I struggle with how to start this piece, I had a lot of ideas but they weren't matching up. This particular one is a spontaneous one. I'm allowing my thoughts to flow freely.
This publication was a follow up idea from of my Facebook page. I've always wanted to manage a page where I could share my thoughts and opinions with the world but have always been complacent about it. 19 June 2021, I came back from a short trip from Plateau state where I had a short talk with Lengdung Tungchamma - he has been instrumental, amongst others, in making me want more out of my short time here on earth. His recent newsletter "Who is influencing your life?" just came in, and I can say for a fact that he has been influencing me for a long time now.
This leads me to the;
WHY I STARTED THIS PUBLICATION.
Coming back from that trip, I started up my page. On a good day, I was walking through my news feed and boom! I saw a link to read this.
Reading this actually opened me up to a realization, a realization that everyone has a story. The author of the post wrote about books and how to read before now, reading his story led to my very first newsletter. One stroy sparked mine, and it's been a journey ever since. I figured that for the sake of posterity, what I say stays with the listener but what I write might be the solution to someone's puzzle. I write with the hope that there'll be a cross propagation and cross pollination of thoughts and ideas. That people leave "HERE" and are able to get "THERE".
Now that I've gotten out the WHY, this leads to the;
HOW THAT LED TO THIS PUBLICATION.
Remember how I was going through my regular news feed, right?
Well, reading that particular STORY led and introduced me to Substack. I said to myself, "you've always dreamed of writing in a newspaper column". Since I couldn't get a paper to give me a coloum, I jump started and created my own newspaper - through Substack I could write my supposed column articles and share them. I didn't wait to understand the platform or know how to use it properly, the moment I found the sign up button, I just followed through and chose the same I had for my Facebook page for the publication. The "Good Though Advocates" that it now bears is actually a revamp.
The HOW is done, I'll jump into the;
WHEN THAT EVERY PUBLICATION WILL BE SENT.
The answer is simple. This particular publication is a start of a trend. Hopefully as time goes on, and our relationships strengthens, we'll dabble around and find what works better.
But before then, subsequent publications, just like this one will be displayed both on the substack webservice and the app, it will also be sent to your mail on every Saturday by 10:00 am - my apologies for sending this copy late. 1 publication done, 51 more to go.
The WHEN is sorted out, the next road sign leads us to the;
SCOPE OF THIS PUBLICATION.
When I started out my Facebook page - this publication is a proceed from that idea, I was sharing book stuff, just book stuff and a little bit of my thoughts in between. To cut the long story short, I figured that I couldn't keep up. Eventually, I preferred to share about 'what or how I think' and I've stuck to doing that ever since. The entire scope of this publication, simply put in one word is THOUGHT. I've gone through some stuffs at an early age that I wasn't supposed to, life didn't take it easy on me. I grew older than my age, the school of hard knocks activated my prefrontal cortex early. My Amygdala was passive before I turned 25.
Psychology has it that from age 0-25, the human uses the AMYGDALA - the region of the brain responsible for processing emotions, to make decisions, a go to explanation as to why teenagers are making poor and questionable decisions because they FEEL More. From age 26 and above, the PREFRONTAL CORTEX - the region responsible for thoughts becomes activated, a go to reason as to WHY adults are critical in analysis about everything - from waking up from sleep and going to bed and everything they do in between.
I've always been cautions of how I think, that's why I easily get irritated when I overhear people sharing unconventional thoughts or I see people displaying thought patterns that are unsettling, I'm quick to speak up.
I speak not from a place of authority, I merely share my thoughts and opinions with the hope that people find and alternative and realize that there's another way to think. I proffer road signs and not blue prints to how to think.
This publication is standing on the coverage of strengthening 10 thinking patterns as propounded by John C. Maxwell:
1. Big Picture Thinking; the ability to think beyond oneself and one's world in order to process ideas with a holistic perspective.
2. Focused Thinking; the ability to think with clarity on issues by removing distractions and mental clutter from the mind.
3. Realistic Thinking; the ability to build a solid foundation on facts to think with certainty.
4. Strategic Thinking; the ability to implement plans that give direction for today and increase ones potential fir tomorrow.
5. Possibility Thinking; the ability to unleash one's enthusiasm and hope to find solutions for every seemingly impossible situation
6. Reflective Thinking; the ability to visit the past I order to gain a true perspective and think with understanding
7. Questioning Popular Thinking; the ability to reject the limitations of common thinking and accomplish uncommon resukts
8. Share Thinking; the ability to include the heads of others to help you think "over your head" and achieve compounding resukts
9. Unselfish Thinking; the ability to consider others and their journey to think with collaboration.
10. Bottom-line Thinking; the ability to focus on results and maximum return to reap the full potential of your thinking
The scope tells you why this publication is now named the Good Thought Advocates.
The scope is gone, what's next?
THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THIS PUBLICATION.
I was thinking of what to call this publication, at first I named my page "iWrite", the name didn't sit well with me so in quest of optimization I discovered two words "Writ - a formal written document" and "Scriber - a tool used to mark patterns or dots on wood or metal" and joined them together.
Behold, "Writscriber" was born. The idea was simple, use my writings to makr dots in people's thoughts.
As time went by, after due reflection I adopted the coinage, the "Good Thought Advocate". The idea is still the same, Thoughts, Thoughts, and Thoughts.
I draw inspiration from the idea that my articles might be someone missing link to solving his/her puzzle, I share my thoughts with the hope and believe that I'll lessen someone journey and help make better and informed decisions. Decisions as a result of GOOD THOUGHTS.
I am Peter Sabastine Zahu, and I am the advocate of nothing but good thoughts.
Thank you for always being here, it's encouraging journeying with you.
Thank you for spilling out what you could, because you had to. I look forward to your refinement in the long run. I pray you grace to stay committed to the schedule. I pray you find all that you need at every point of this pilgrimage. May you be far better with every subsequent publication - better than the precedings. Cheers to your evolution, good Fellow!