Is your will asleep at the heel?

[vil]

Dear teachers,

For some time past I have felt an indelible, painful impression that the mastering of the English language is really an in-come-at-able object for me. Not long ago I read an excerpt from a book, where I got into trouble to ascertain the preposterous fact that I couldn't understand synonymously the proper meaning of two elementary sentences. (please see the mentioned in bold sentences in the following excerpt)

"Once you make start, the world is at your command. Let go of the past. Stop the foolish thinking that conditions hold you, it is you holding onto conditions. Quit your self-pity, blaming others, and saying you are the victims of circumstances. Stop whining and begin singing, then will your feet be loosed from the stocks and the iron gates open outward before you.

Look away from yourself.

If your will asleep at the wheel?= Awake it.

Could you tell me, whether in the last sentence is used the well-known idiom "at the wheel" = "in control", "in command". = "at the helm"?

Could you explain to me, whether in the sentence "Look away from yourself"
the expression "look away" = "avert one's gaze", as in "She looked away when the nurse pricked her arm with the needle." where "avert" = turn away or aside"?

I think, in this instance, it would be more properly to use the phrase verb "look at".

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards.

V.

Please, excuse me for the regrettable misunderstanding in the title where I made a typo. Such mistakes are inadmissible.

[baqarah131]

Go easy on yourself! We all make misteaks.

"At the wheel" means when you're in control of something (often, logically enough, a car).
If you're asleep at the wheel, you're not paying attention to what you're supposed to be doing. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're a leader, or you're in command.

"Look away" is an expression, as you note, for averting you eyes so you don't see something you don't want to see.
But "Look away from youself" is different. It means to stop being self-centered, stop thinking about yourself only, start taking an interest in other things, other people. You can't see other people properly if you're looking at yourself.

The advice is good. It's like what the expression I used to use with my children: "You've got the world by the tail."

regards
edward

Originally Posted by vil

Dear teachers,

For some time past I have felt an indelible, painful impression that the mastering of the English language is really an in-come-at-able object for me. Not long ago I read an excerpt from a book, where I got into trouble to ascertain the preposterous fact that I couldn't understand synonymously the proper meaning of two elementary sentences. (please see the mentioned in bold sentences in the following excerpt)

"Once you make start, the world is at your command. Let go of the past. Stop the foolish thinking that conditions hold you, it is you holding onto conditions. Quit your self-pity, blaming others, and saying you are the victims of circumstances. Stop whining and begin singing, then will your feet be loosed from the stocks and the iron gates open outward before you.

Look away from yourself.

If your will asleep at the wheel?= Awake it.

Could you tell me, whether in the last sentence is used the well-known idiom "at the wheel" = "in control", "in command". = "at the helm"?

Could you explain to me, whether in the sentence "Look away from yourself"
the expression "look away" = "avert one's gaze", as in "She looked away when the nurse pricked her arm with the needle." where "avert" = turn away or aside"?

I think, in this instance, it would be more properly to use the phrase verb "look at".

Thank you in advance for your efforts.

Regards.

V.

Please, excuse me for the regrettable misunderstanding in the title where I made a typo. Such mistakes are inadmissible.

[vil]

Hi baqarah131,

Thank you for your immediate and telling reaction.

I would like to thank you very much indeed because you took the time to correct my inconsiderate intention to jump to a conclusion for a wrong substitution of the phrase verb "look after" for "look at".

Now I grasped the proper meaning of the mentioned above excerpt.

Thank you again for your attention.

Regards.

V.