Discussion Questions§
Manu loses confidence in himself when learning to drive turns out to be more difficult than he had expected. He loses belief in himself when his sister outperforms him as they learn together. His father teaches him the power of affirmation, by which he works with his mind to overcome his lack of confidence. Positive affirmations can be used to mold the subconscious in a wide variety of situations.§
- Manu’s problem is caused in part by a miscalculated overconfidence. Have you ever been totally wrong about how you would perform a certain task, either doing worse than you expected, or better?
- What is the skill in your life so far that was the hardest to learn? What made it so hard?
- Have you ever given up on something that you would like to try it again? If so, what is it?
- What is the gender stereotype relating to skills in this story? Have you ever made a false assumption based on gender stereotype?
- Manu was admirably persistent. What factors contributed to this? Why didn’t he give up?
- Manu’s dad showed great patience. Might he have been using an affirmation at the same time? What would it be?
- In your life, what do you think is the next tough skill you will learn? What positive affirmation would you use to achieve your goal?
- Why is it important to put real concentration, visualization and emotion into an affirmation?
- What is an example of a negative affirmation? Would negative affirmations be equally powerful, but in the opposite way? Can we make them without even realizing it?