Anger is a tool for power struggles, not a spontaneous emotion.

Read And Lead - Sandeep Dutt’s Masterclass 2026

Discussing Adlerian psychology on competition, anger, and life tasks.

Key Takeaways

• Life is not a competition against others; it's a pursuit of superiority over one's past self. Comparing yourself to others creates an enemy mindset, preventing genuine happiness.

• Anger is a tool for power struggles, not a spontaneous emotion. To de-escalate, disengage from provocation and use language to communicate, as anger clouds judgment and leads to poor decisions.

• All problems are interpersonal. Adler's "life tasks" (work, friendship, love) are unavoidable relationships that require courage to face. Avoiding them is the root of unhappiness.

• A "tree with solid roots" is a metaphor for resilience. It stands firm against storms (life's challenges) by being deeply rooted in its own values, embodying the "courage to be disliked."

Topics

Review of "Second Night" with a review of the session. The session began with a review of blog reflections on the "Second Night" chapter.

• Shalini Gupta's reflection: Interpersonal problems stem from comparison. A healthy feeling of inferiority (vs. an ideal self) drives improvement, while an inferiority complex (vs. others) is destructive.

• Akanksha's 10 insights (read by Shalini Singh): Key points included changing the meaning of weaknesses, understanding arrogance as pain, and recognizing that true confidence is quiet.

Life Is Not a Competition

• The group read the chapter "Life is not a competition."

• Adler's "pursuit of superiority": This is a forward-moving mindset, not a competitive one. The goal is to progress past your past self, not to be better than others.

• Equality vs. Sameness: People are not the same (in knowledge, experience, etc.) but are fundamentally equal in value.

• The "Enemy" Mindset: Competition turns others into rivals, creating a "perilous" world view. This prevents genuine celebration of others' happiness.

• The "Tree with Solid Roots" Metaphor: A tree with deep roots withstands any storm. This symbolizes the resilience gained by being rooted in one's own values, embodying the "courage to be disliked."

From Power Struggle to Revenge

• The group read the chapter "You are the only one worrying about your appearance," which details the escalation of conflict.

• Personal Anger vs. Righteous Indignation:

  • Personal Anger: A tool to make others submit.

  • Righteous Indignation: A logical response to injustice, not a personal grudge.

• The Escalation Cycle:

  1. Power Struggle: A challenge to prove dominance.

  2. Revenge: The next stage if one party "wins." The loser seeks retaliation in another form.

     • Example: A child's problem behavior (e.g., self-harm) is a goal-oriented act of revenge to upset parents, not a direct result of past trauma.

• Breaking the Cycle:

  • Disengage: Step down from power struggles immediately.

  • Use Language: Communicate logically instead of relying on anger.

  • Admit Mistakes: This is not defeat; it's a sign of strength that allows for correct choices.

The Life Tasks

• The group read the chapter "All problems are interpersonal relationship problems."

• The "Courage to be Happy": The inability to see others as comrades stems from a lack of courage to face life's tasks.

• Adler's Life Tasks: Three unavoidable categories of interpersonal relationships:

  1. Work: Relationships with the lowest hurdles, focused on a common goal. Avoiding these tasks leads to issues like NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).

  2. Friendship

  3. Love

• The Core Issue: It is not the work itself that is disagreeable, but the fear of criticism and the injury to one's dignity from others.

Next Steps

• Sandeep Dutt: Share meeting notes and recording.

• All Participants:

  • Attend the Brewing Knowledge Friday Meet and Greet with author Dr. Manu Kapoor on Friday, Nov 28, at 5:30 PM.

  • Prepare questions for Dr Kapoor, including those related to Adlerian psychology.

  • The link will be shared in the group.

Read And Lead - Adlerian Psychology: Interpersonal Problems

To read and discuss Adlerian psychology concepts from The Courage to Be Disliked.

Key Takeaways

• All problems are interpersonal: Adlerian psychology asserts that all personal issues, including self-dislike, are rooted in social relationships.
• Feelings of inferiority are subjective: They are a healthy, subjective trigger for growth, not an objective fact.
• An inferiority complex is an excuse: It's using a perceived weakness (e.g., "I'm not educated") as a reason to avoid effort and change.
• A superiority complex is a cover-up: It's a fabricated display of confidence (e.g., boasting) to hide deep-seated inferiority.

Session Logistics & Community

Format: A small, interactive reading group (ideal size: 20–25) focused on reading, reflection, and relationships.

Resources:

• Recordings: Full sessions are posted to a YouTube playlist.
• Newsletter: A Monday 7 AM email summarises all weekly sessions with video clips.
• Blog: The Teachers Academy blog (happyteacher.in) hosts participant reflections and session summaries.

Participant Engagement:

• Reflection: Participants are encouraged to write and submit reflections for publishing on the blog.
• Author Access: Direct message Sandeep Dutt for an author handle to draft and publish posts.

Adlerian Psychology: Interpersonal Problems

• The session began reading "The Courage to Be Disliked" (Night 2), which challenges the youth's belief that their self-dislike is an objective fact.

• Philosopher's Argument: Self-dislike is a chosen goal to avoid interpersonal hurt.

Mechanism: By focusing on shortcomings, one creates a justification for avoiding relationships.

Benefit: This allows one to remain in a "shell" and rationalise any social snub as a result of those shortcomings.

• Core Principle: "All problems are interpersonal relationship problems."

Rationale: If one were truly alone, concepts like loneliness, language, and logic would be meaningless.

Conclusion: All worries are inherently social, as they involve the "shadows of other people."

Adlerian Psychology: Inferiority & Superiority Complexes

The discussion distinguished between a healthy "feeling of inferiority" and an unhealthy "inferiority complex."

Feeling of Inferiority:

Definition: A subjective value judgment, not an objective fact.

Function: A healthy trigger for growth and the "pursuit of superiority."

Inferiority Complex:

Definition: Using feelings of inferiority as an excuse to avoid effort.

Logic: "A is the situation, so B cannot be done."

Underlying Purpose: A fear of change and a lack of courage to alter one's lifestyle.

Superiority Complex:

Definition: A fabricated display of superiority to compensate for intense inferiority.

Manifestations:

Giving Authority: Associating oneself with powerful people or brands.

Boasting: Flaunting past achievements to hide a lack of self-confidence.

Bragging About Misfortune: Using one's suffering to gain special treatment or control others.

Next Steps

Sandeep Dutt:

Post the session recording to the YouTube playlist.

Share the Monday newsletter with the WhatsApp group.

All Participants:

Order the book, The Courage to Be Disliked.

Read up to the bookmark for the next session (Nov 22).

Consider writing a reflection for the Teachers Academy blog.

AI-generated notes thanks to Fathom.

What Makes a School- Mizan Ali

"Where minds are moulded, and futures are forged."

A school is not merely a physical space; it is an intellectual sanctuary where the seeds of potential are sown and cultivated. It is the confluence of knowledge, character, and purpose where young minds are honed, and hearts are enriched. A school does not simply teach facts — it imparts wisdom, fosters critical thinking, and encourages self-discovery.

Within its halls, failures become lessons, questions spark exploration, and ambitions take flight. The classrooms echo the spirit of inquiry, collaboration, and perseverance. Teachers become architects of thought, mentors of morality, and catalysts for change. Friendships are forged, values are instilled, and resilience is built, preparing students to navigate the world's complexities beyond its gates.

A school transcends the confines of curricula; it becomes a beacon of transformation, where education is not just a process but a lifelong pursuit. It moulds citizens who are knowledgeable, compassionate, adaptable, and visionary. In shaping minds, a school ultimately shapes the future of humanity itself.

Mizan Ali 

Sunbeam Indiranagar

Brain - Urvish Singh

The brain is the most complex and mysterious organ, and still, scientists are researching how it works. The brain is two per cent of our whole body weight, but it uses approximately 20% energy of our body. As our body is made up of cells, the brain is also made up of neurons called brain cells, and approximately three billion neurons collectively form our brain. If you talk about the structure of a neuron, it has different parts like dendrites, axon, and terminal bottom, where dendrite is a hair-like structure, the axon is the middle part of the neuron, and the terminal bottom is the tail. Whenever we see something, listen to something or feel something, our sense organs send electrical signals to our brains through these neurons only, and the brain interprets this information. 

The brain is divided into two parts-left and right. Whenever we do something with our left side, our right brain works, and whenever we do any work with our right side, our left brain is working again. The brain is divided into three parts which are the forebrain, midbrain and hindbrain. The brain constitutes the cerebrum which is the biggest part of our brain and approaches 70% of our brain. This part and decides our thinking power and behaviour. It also controls the contraction and relaxation of our muscles. Another part is telecasters and the hypothalamus, which gives us information about temperature and the hypothalamus, which controls our feelings.

It consists of two parts which are Tectum and Tiguan. These parts receive information from the outer area and send it to the cerebrum. The hindbrain consists of three parts, the medulla oblongata cerebellum and pons, where the cerebellum controls the balance of our body. The medulla oblongata controls involuntary actions like a breeding heartbeat, etc.

Urvish Singh

The Fabindia School

ush@fabindiaschools.in

Unity and Caring - Byju Joseph

Our life is full of adversities. So survival becomes more complex. There are many circumstances in

our life where we need to stand together to achieve certain things. Sometimes we may think that we are capable of handling the situations ourselves but that may be much easier to accomplish in collaboration with others. Thus comes the feeling of togetherness which is unity. It means to be joined with each other having the feeling of oneness.

Unity is very important in a family, in a society, in a workplace or in a country. Each human being is entirely different from each other in belief and opinion. This makes it more difficult to be united. But there is a chance to be united if different people have common aims. Friendship is a factor which helps different people to remain united. We all need to have the acceptance of our differences and more understanding and love for others.

In our country, we have different languages, different religions, different cultures and different traditions. Even though we are Indians and that spirit is our strength. If we are united no one can defeat us. We should work together for the betterment of our citizens and our country. This unity must be properly utilized for the development of the country in all areas. 

We know that Britishers came here for trading only. But gradually they came to know about the lack of unity among the kings who were ruling here. They utilized that occasion tactfully and they started to engage in politics. Finally, they succeeded in achieving their goal. They carelessly utilized our resources. Later on, the dedicated action of our leaders helped to keep the Indians united and that unity only helped us to send Britishers back to their country. Dedication and caring nature of our leaders as Indians helped to build unity among people and thus their attempts lead to success.

Caring is a feeling of concern, an act of protection and an expression of love. In fact, it is an emotion that we carry in our mind and heart. We care about others, anything that really matters to us or something we value. It can be a good or a bad thing depending upon the circumstances. For instance, caring about a person to help them out is a wonderful thing that gives us satisfaction. Caring connects different people to each other. As a parent, we do care for our children. As a teacher, we take care of our students. We take care of others as brothers, sisters, friends, doctors, nurses etc. it is entirely divine that always provides positive energy.

Being educators we are familiar with the unity among students. The unity among students is very strong because it is formed from deep affection and friendship. Parents, teachers and students should always be united and do caring for each other to create a better learning atmosphere. All educational institutions aim for maximum possible learning outcomes which come in reality by hard work, dedication, unity and caring. All educators have the responsibility to make understand the importance of unity and caring among their students and promote them.

Byju P. Joseph

The Fabindia school

bjh@fabindiaschools.in

Simplicity and Trust-Ajay Vijayvargi

Simplicity means less complex, more communication, more effectiveness​ and trust means

when actions meet words. While going through life sketches of great personalities, I was greatly influenced by Mr.Ratan Tata, a person, a living legend who possesses both the attributes under discussion i.e Simplicity and Trust.

The pic of this great person which exhibit simplicity - imagine the person behind the Tata empire, in his factories where everything from salt to planes are manufactured, owner of one of the biggest steel plants showing trust in Indian traditions by lightning the lamp against the darkness of pandemic and showing trust in the leadership of India like millions of other Indians. A person who donated INR 1500 crores to Prime Minister's relief fund to fight COVID19 and once was denied check in a hotel during British times laid the foundation of The Taj at Mumbai.

  

This great personality who was a pioneer of industrialization of independent India. His leadership is unprecedented and a beautiful combination of simplicity and trust and a demonstration of the values of simple living, high thinking. Likewise, one should always try and remain simple and easy to understand which will help one to gain others trust and respect. Similarly, teachers who are responsible for nurturing the students should also be simple in their dealings and teaching as that's how they will be able to earn their students' trust and their relationship will go way longer. 

Ajay Vijayvargi, The Fabindia School

Simplicity and Trust - Prakash Dangi

Simplicity is the most important part of human nature. It is the state or quality of being

simple. Something is simple or complex depending on the way how we describe it. That means we should be simple with our personality and ideas without any showoff. If we talk about school life there also we adapted simplicity to achieve the goal in a short time. And opposite to it, we can show off anything that we move away from our goals. 

When we talk about simplicity, there are some people who come in my mind such as Mahatma Gandhi, APJ Abdul Kalam, Mother Teresa etc. Mahatma Gandhi was a very great freedom fighter but he was a very simple man. The most important proverb that we remember is Mahatma Gandhi " Simple living, high thinking". I will share one incident of APJ Abdul Kalam's life. In 2013, APJ Abdul Kalam went to attend the graduation ceremony in IIT Badlapur. He saw seven chairs arranged on the stage but the centre chair was different from the other chair. Kalam was disappointed and told the organiser to change the chair immediately and bring it to the same chair, then he attended the ceremony. So this incident shows the simplicity of APJ Abdul Kalam. We should tell the stories of great people to our students to build simplicity in life.

I think simplicity and trust work together. If people are simple, then we can trust them. This is because we feel quite comfortable with them. I will share one story on trust. It's about a pilot flying a plane. Lots of people were travelling on the plane. Suddenly, the weather was bad and the pilot could not see the way. All people were frightened but there was a small girl who was playing with her doll. She was very calm and people could see no fear on her face. Everyone was shocked to see the girl. After some time, the weather changed and the sky was clear. 

One man  came near a small girl and asked her, "Why you were not scared when the plane lost its control?"The child replied, "Because the pilot of the plane is my father and I am sure that he will put all his efforts to save me and he will not let anything happen to me". This story depicts the trust of a daughter on her father. So I think to create a healthy environment in the classroom for learning, we should listen to students carefully, try to solve the problem of students,  give equal opportunity to every student, etc. If these things are applied, then we will definitely build trust in students. "Trust doesn't need any verification, if things are to be verified, then there  is no trust."

- Prakash Dangi, The Fabindia School

Writing: The Power of Thought - Urmila Rathore

Writing is an important virtue to put all the thoughts and ideas clearly. Through writing, we can communicate clearly because this helps us to build a structure that will allow to express ourselves better and communicate complex ideas in a simple way. This way we gradually progress towards effective writing. Mistakes of grammar, punctuation and structure spelling are all progressively eliminated. Since these basics are more essential for good writing so automatically it improves our language skill and vocabulary.

Effective writing also demands thinking and imagination skills which improve by practice. I remember a line of Bacon's writing "Writing makes a man capable of thinking with logic and reason". He also describes that our thinking, speaking and writing abilities add charm to our personality.

Nowadays people don't have much time to listen to someone's concern but writing gives us the freedom to share good or bad thoughts. It reduces our stress effectively and later we feel joy and satisfaction.

Writing can even make us feel nostalgic through carving out childhood poetry, essays or letters to our dear ones.

When asked of its importance, I exemplify it as, “What if Shakespeare wasn’t a good writer? Perhaps, we never would have been able to understand the tragedy that occurred with Caesar, or literature itself would not have enjoyed its virtue as it does today.”

Urmila Rathore

ure4fab@gmail.com

Nikita Rajpurohit: Courage

Well, talking about courage is a complex topic, and at the same time, it is important as well. In the long run of dragging students from a lower class to higher class; somewhere in between, we have seen students losing courage in their lives.

Let us discuss, what is courage? Sounds something like bravery. Well yes, it is bravery in a sort. But there is much more to explore in it. Today, students seem to be too tensed, too pressurized regarding book knowledge and results, that they show the least interest in other co-curricular activities. Just suppose, if a student is informed to deliver a speech in the assembly, he gets so anxious about it, that the speech seems to be mission impossible for him.

Now lets put an eye over some initiatives that could be taken by teachers to motivate the students and make them realize that there is no reason for hiding their weaknesses or feeling inferior. Teachers should build trust among students and create an environment where they don’t hesitate to share their problems and at the same time, the teacher should help them get over it. Teachers should let students know that if they make a mistake while taking a step forward towards something, then it's not just a mistake, it's a lesson. 

Just like every expert was once a learner. Courage can be built by motivating the students to participate in various activities keeping in mind the strength, not the weakness.

Nikita Rajpurohit

rajpurohitnikita123@gmail.com