Happiness And Tolerance - Tarang JMMS

A mind is like a parachute it doesn’t work if it is not open. The parachute may have to go through some intolerant weather but it knows that a little push of the air of happiness will help it reach its defined destination. 

What is happiness?

“It is not about how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness “- Charles Spurgeon. 

Happiness is the emotion we feel when we are content. When we start to appreciate and acknowledge what we have, we are bound to be happy. Every person feels happy in a different situation. A person who enjoys life start to appreciate it and eventually lives a happy life. Happiness does have an important role in our lives and it can have a huge impact on the way we live our lives.

Tolerance is permitting others to practise their beliefs and make their own choices. You don’t have to agree with them it’s a matter of respect for individuals as fellow humans. When we practise tolerance, we accept others ideas and beliefs. If you respect someone’s opinions – even if you disagree you display tolerance.

Here is a story by one of our group member where she tells the importance of happiness and tolerance.

The boy studying in her class was a little shy and had some speech problem because of which he finds it difficult to express himself and usually remained quiet in the class. The boy used to get angry and frustrated when he felt that other students are ignoring him or not understanding his thoughts. He used to scribble on others notebooks and even tore the notebooks out of frustration. Other students also distanced themselves from him because of his behaviour. The teacher also noticed this and was worried about his behaviour.

The teacher discussed the issue with other teachers and decided to have a meeting with the child’s parents. The parents informed that the child was advised by the doctor to have regular speech activities in order to better the speech. But the boy didn’t interact much in the class so the teacher then decided to conduct an interaction programme every day in the class where the boy was given more chances to interact with other students so that he could overcome his inhibitions and also his speech can get better.  It also helped other students to get to know one another and also get closer to the boy and thus understanding him in a better way. The programme really helped the child though he didn’t get fluent in his speech his behaviour changed towards others, he became more polite and tolerant as now he felt heard and accepted.

Tolerance and happiness are necessary for every species. As humans, we are very diversified and different so we need to tolerate one another in order to move forward in our journey of evolution. Happiness is not only in achieving the goal one can be happy during the process of achieving it. Your happiness is in your hand try to grab every moment that makes you happy.  

The story is based on the experience of the group members. The photos are taken as reference from Google images and are drawn by the members.

 - Tarang JMMS @ John Martyn Memorial School, Salan Gaon, Dehradun - Neelam Bhardwaj, Shalini Gurung, Dolly Pharasi, Laavanyaa Joshi

Honesty and Respect - Monika Vaishnav

Respect can not be defined in one word, we can see respect in many things. Respect is giving values or admiring other's views even if they are totally different from yours. Respect is appreciating the differences. Every person should have self-respect for herself or himself. It helps us to maintain our dignity. We should have respect for our elders as well as for our younger. We can show respect for others by taking care of them, being polite and honest with them.  

We can give them respect by listening to their opinions and understanding them.  We can't ask anybody to give respect, it comes with good deeds and good behaviour.

Honesty means being true to ourselves as well as others like friends, family, work etc. We should have respect for our work, that will make us punctual towards our work and will qualify it.

Honesty and respect are like reflections of each other because when we have respect for something, we become honest towards that and it doesn't matter, whether it is a person or work.  It also makes our relationship stronger. Same as if somebody does his work honestly, respect comes automatically. 

We must motivate children to be honest in life and respectful towards others by giving them small tasks. We should set an example in front of them so that they can see and learn from us. We should encourage the children to speak the truth even if they are wrong and when they confess their mistake we must appreciate their courage and also correct them so that they don't repeat it and can avoid such lies.

Monika  Vaishnav

The Fabindia School

Simplicity And Trust - Optimizer BHIS

Leadership is an achievement of trust

We must be the poets of our own lives and of a new generation. Every teacher works hard to instill the values of simplicity and trust in the lives of his/her students. Have you noticed that simplicity and trust go hand in hand? The story of Rahul upholds both the values which are the greatest treasures of a human’s life.

Rahul was simple and kind but lacked good communication skills, was academically poor and had illegible handwriting. Ms. Ritu, his class teacher, tried using simple strategies to improve his weakest areas since the exams were approaching. However, the outcome was not encouraging. She had a counseling session with Rahul and realized that he wasn't afraid of hard work but was terrified of failure. The complexity of the subjects just added to his fear that eroded away his confidence.
            

Ms. Ritu decided to explore alternative ways of helping Rahul. She tried simple methods by creating situations where he could rely on her. She first made him realise that she trusted him completely - a slow but steady process. Later, she analyzed his study pattern, gave practical suggestions and then reminded him to read the lessons thoroughly by creating mind maps.

The simpler she began to make the concepts, the more it helped improve Rahul’s efficiency and focus on studies. He started scoring good marks in weekly tests as well as improved his communication and writing abilities.  The class began to notice and appreciate his efforts. Ms Ritu often reminded him of the famous quote “It is always the simple that produces the marvellous”.

Rahul believed in those words strongly and it encouraged him to thrive as a student in the class. When he shared his story of transformation with his classmates, he never forgot to highlight his teacher's trust in him. The teacher praised his simplicity, his patience and faith which had brought him success.

“Be all in or get all out. There is no halfway.”

Optimizer@Billabong High International School Thane - Madhubala Saji, Kalyani Chaudhuri, Ajita Bhoir, Rupal Trivedi, Kshama Rajgor, Momita Banerjee, Sanket Patel.