I really enjoyed reading Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid’s book “Reflections on Happiness & Positivity.”
I found it incredibly important for our time and day. The book’s ideas, as the title suggests, center around the ideas of happiness and positivity. The reason I found the book incredibly important is because it felt nice to read something about our time, for once, that made me feel enlightened. Whenever you read anything nowadays, it’s very negative, and critical of everything. Criticism is a right, but it is being abused. Yes, criticize, but do not criticize every little thing that someone does. On that point, this book is very important.
The book will also make you think about a lot of your preconceived ideas. No matter where you’re from, you will find yourself wondering if what you have always known is right. You will find yourself changing your ideas and thoughts very soon after reading it. If you’re not used to keeping an open mind, this book will definitely open your mind into accepting new ideas.
You will also see, from Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid’s book, a different perspective. He talks about “happiness & positivity from a leader’s point of view. At other times, he talks about it from a father’s point of view. He also talks about it from the point of view of a son, and at the same time a student, to his father, the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. He also talks about it from a motherly point of view, how his mother raised him, and taught him well, all because of the positivity in her. There are so many different perspectives on “happiness & positivity” that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid speaks from, reading this book will show you another side to how you yourself can be a positive influence if you stand from any of these perspectives.
You can see how Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid gets inspired from the simplest things in life, and the most difficult challenges in his different roles in life. You will see how he sees things in a futuristic way, regardless of the criticisms.
You will read about how he received so many criticisms for his goals and visions, yet persevered, and proved the critics wrong. This is why so many leaders (in companies, organizations, and countries, all over the world) respect and look up to Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid. He did not let the negativity of those who did not have his hindsight to pull him down.
It seems, to me at least, that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid had an audience in mind with this book. He has clearly stated in this book the importance of the Arab youth, and he emphasized on their “happiness & positivity.” He believed we, the youth, can overcome the challenges of today, only if we possess characteristics of “happiness & positivity.” No wonder he set up a Youth Council, and a Minister of State for Youth, and invested in creating programmes that help the youth. He does not only want to empower the youth, but set an example that this is possible.
You would think that Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid, being from the ancient tribe of Bani Yas, would talk a lot about tribalism, traditions, and closing ourselves off from the world, and only stick with each other. But he did the exact opposite. My favorite example that he gave in this book about this topic is Al-Ma’mun, who was the 7th Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate. He said of him that he had a “positive and nontraditional” perspective to the achievements of the civilizations around him. He discovered the achievements of those civilizations, he learned from them, and built upon them. He learned, and took from those around him. He embraced the knowledge that they had to give. He, Al-Ma’mun, did not close himself off and fight those around him. Instead, he celebrated their knowledge, and welcomed their geniuses and scientists.
In my opinion, as Emiratis, we should aspire to be, and think like our leader does. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid here shows us that we should accept ideas from other societies, and to not be too prideful to think that we are better in knowledge, or tradition than those around us. Instead, we should be accepting, and we should learn from the positive things that other cultures, societies, and nations have to offer. Whether be it in science, literature, culture, or heritage.
Reading this book, as I first mentioned in this review, was very enlightening to me. The positivity in it itself is a lesson. For that to be mixed with other lessons is an even greater lesson. I believe that anybody—leader or citizen, teacher or student, CEO or employee, father or son, old or young—should read this book. We can all learn great lessons from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum.