Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
All qualities—wisdom, positive thinking, love, generosity, forbearance, and so on are innate in man. Given a chance to grow, just as a seed grows to become a complete tree, a man would also grow into a complete man. p. 321
In truth, man is born with unlimited potential. As soon as he is born, this potential starts to unfold on its own. This potential does not require any additional endeavour for its unfolding. p. 321
An allegorical reference in the Quran clarifies this further: p. 321Qur'an
Have you not considered how God sets forth a parable of a good word (being) like a good tree? Its root is firm and its branches are in the sky, it yields its fruit each season with its Lord’s permission—God makes such comparisons for people in order that they may reflect. (14:24-25) p. 321Qur'an
Tree is a unique phenomenon of nature. It is a self-growing phenomenon of creation. The entire tree is potentially hidden in a seed and when the seed unfolds, it turns into a tree. So is the case of man. Man is born as a child, which is like a seed. The child has unlimited potential to grow and if given an opportunity to unfold, it will go on growing and become a mature and complete person. p. 321
All qualities—wisdom, positive thinking, love, generosity, forbearance, and so on are innate in man. Given a chance to grow, just as a seed grows to become a complete tree, a man would also grow into a complete man. p. 321
What hinders the growth or personality development in man? Man has to live in society and there he always encounters unwanted situations, which can disturb him. He may thus develop anger, hatred, malice, and negative thinking. These obstruct the natural course of growth of man. In such a scenario, man’s personality development has just one condition—that he develops in him the quality of patience. He must learn to remain unaffected despite facing unwanted experiences. In other words, he must learn the art of unaffected living. p. 322
Now the question is how to lead an unaffected life? The method is very simple. It is all a matter of thirty seconds. You need to become Mr. Thirty Seconds or Ms. Thirty Seconds, and the remaining job will be done by nature. p. 322
Whenever you encounter an unwanted situation, you tend to become impatient. If left unchecked, it would reach the state of a breakdown. If you want to put a check on your unwanted reaction, you need to empty your mind for thirty seconds by observing silence. As a result, the anti-wave that had arisen, would break and disperse. It would not become a part of your personality. p. 322
If you practice this, you will realize that although for the first thirty seconds you were very disturbed but after thirty seconds, you became absolutely normal. After thirty seconds, you return to your normal state of mind. p. 322