Making Others Happy - Prerna Rathod

The foremost important thing to make others happy is to be happy with yourself first. Because, if a person is not happy with themselves, they won't be able to make anyone else happy. It is well said that happiness comes from within. So try to make yourself happy, cheer yourself up. For that, you should not hold any grudges or feelings of hate in your heart for others. Spread happiness among all. Forgive people not because they deserve forgiveness but because you deserve peace. Happiness is a state of mind. If you think that you are happy, life will give you more and more reasons to be satisfied. I recall an excellent quote which says:

"What we think, we create.

What we feel, we attract.

What we imagine, we become."

Not only this, if someone is happy because of us, it will, in turn, make us happy. And that is the magic of happiness. Happiness does not lie inexpensive gifts or surprises; it lies in the small efforts put by others for us. To make others happy, we need not buy them expensive gifts. Instead, we put in small efforts like knowing how their day was, asking them about their problems and insecurities, understanding their silence, not judging them, and being there for them whenever they need us.

Happiness is a vast word that can be achieved by small efforts. I recall an incident from my life. I was travelling on a bus. I was sitting near the window. After two stops, an old lady climbed the bus. The bus was packed, and there were no empty seats. The lady looked tired, and she had difficulty standing. Seeing her condition, I felt terrible and offered her my heart. She was surprised, but she sat on the seat. Then she thanked me and had a big smile on her face. She blessed me and was very happy. Seeing her even, I felt comfortable, and I, too, had a smile on my face. Thus, making others happy gives us happiness.

Prerna Rathod

The Fabindia School

prd@fabindiaschools.in

Be a Dreamer - Prakash Dangi

Everyone has a dream in his life which they want to achieve when they grow up. Some kids want to become rich to buy anything ande want to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. But only you know that for achieving these goals, you have to work hard and stay attentive to them. In this essay on my dream, we will discuss the basic things that will help achieve my dream.

Some dream requires time, and they follow a process without following it you cannot achieve that dream.

1. Staying Motivated

Lack of motivation is one of the main causes that force a person to leave his dream behind. So, staying motivated is also part of the goal. And if you can’t stay positive, then you won’t be able to achieve the dream. There are many people out there that quit the journey of their dreams mid-way because they lack motivation.

2. Keep Remembering Goal

For completing the dream, you have to keep your dream in mind. And remind this dream daily. There come hard times when you feel like quitting. At those times, just remember the goal. It helps you stay positive. And if you feel like you messed up big times, then start over with a fresh mind.

3. Take Some Breaks

Working towards your goal does not mean that you work day and night without stopping. Apart from that, due to continuous efforts, people soon start to become de-motivated. So, taking a break will help your body and mind. For doing so, take a break in between your schedule for some time and Take Some Breaks.

4. Don’t Hesitate to Make Mistakes

We human beings fear making mistakes but e forget an important point that is a mistake that that helps us learn. Whenever you make a mistake, you face a tough time, but these tough times helps you to polish yourself and be more determined.

Prakash Dangi

pda@fabindiaschools.in

The Fabindia School

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves - Shivani Rao

Courtesy: soulveda.com

Self-help is the best form of help. When we do our work instead of depending upon others, we align ourselves to receive divine help. It is better to rely on our efforts and then pray to God to help us succeed in our hard work. Many things are shaped by prayer, but not merely by prayer.

Our attempts and efforts are very much essential, and our prayers will strengthen our purposes. Our foremost responsibility as God's creation is to do our best in whatever we strive we do. Only then God lends a helping hand. But if we choose to be lazy, waiting for someone else to do our work for us, God will not help us in any way because he has given us the ability to help ourselves, and we should be using it constantly.

If we observe, we will see that the most successful men are the ones who are the most hardworking as well.  We know success awaits those who work hard.  Hence, we can say that God helps but helps only those who help themselves.

Shivani Rao The Fabindia School sro@fabindiaschools.in

SUCCESS - Byju Joseph

Success is something that we dream to achieve which is totally different for each one of us. It gives us a feeling of happiness or satisfaction when we gain it. It provides true meaning to our lives.

In order to succeed, the first thing that you need is to have a goal which needs to be attained. It can be anything towards which you have a particular interest or passion.

Secondly, you need to strive for it, being a passionate dreamer. Concentrate more and take up all the risks and pains to achieve it. Work damn hard for it. Give up everything for your dreams but never give up on your dreams. Everything starts with a small dream, so you have to be a dreamer at first. You know that just being a dreamer can do nothing because dreamers cannot be achievers but just dreamers. Only a few achieve their dreams or goals.

You need to be a believer because nothing will happen until you believe.  Others won’t believe but they will somehow make you doubt on your dreams. Always remember those dreams belong to you and it’s your responsibility to turn it into your reality. Others may or may not support you, you will be all alone but just know the path towards success is less crowded and you will be the one there and no one else.

The next thing you need to know is that hard work pays off. If you want to get something you need to give something at first. Here what you give is your hard work, your energy, your efforts, your time, your tears and it is going to pay off. You need to have your courage to handle, your patience and persistence. 

Nothing happens overnight. Everything takes time. Everything starts from nothing. So you need to make it out of scratch. You cannot build an empire in just one day. You need to hold on through your hardships and pain. Successful people know they are going to be successful no matter what,  that’s the faith that they have in their hearts. You should know that success is destined and your goal is your final destination.

Byju Joseph

The Fabindia School, Bali

bjh@fabindiaschools.in

Managing Your Emotions - Ajay Vijayvargi

Courtesy: Learning Life Skills by Goyal Brothers

Success in life does not depend on what you have but on the ability to manage your emotions, how you relate to others. It helps in understanding others, their feelings and handling relationships. Social competence will have the biggest effect on everyday life.

Emotions play an important part in memory, imagination and all mental activities. Like our IQ, we have EQ. It also involves thinking about how you feel. You become aware of how you feel just by thinking about it. EQ helps you in using emotions in achieving goals. They not only help in finding out what we feel but also what we want to feel.

For example, if you know that you are feeling very angry at the moment, you would want to control your anger. If you are feeling sad at the moment you would want to control sadness and try to be happy. If you are feeling lonely now, you would make efforts to find friends. What you want to improve in your present state of mind will become your goal. 

Look around you and see how many facilities are provided to you today. But strangely the present generation is emotionally more troubled than the generations of the past. Children, especially teenagers, today are more troubled, more angry, more unruly and more prone to anxiety and worry. Why is it so? 

Teenagers or adolescents need more grounding in emotional management.

It means you should have the ability to choose the right emotion for the right occasion. For example knowing when it is necessary to be more angry or less angry. Wise teachers and parents maintain calm, do not lose their tempers easily when dealing with rudeness, laziness or rebellion of their wards. They remain calm but assertive, cool but confident. It has a better effect on correcting an errant child. Their maturity has given them a balance, they manage their emotions. Thus, what is important is the emotional management and control over thoughts as it is the key to happy and successful life. 

Ajay Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

avi@fabindiaschools.in

Keep Trying with Determination - Monika Vaishnav

newtondailynews.com

We all want to do something great in life, we have different dreams to achieve but we see that only a few of us could achieve, why?

Some people always think they will start tomorrow, and tomorrow never comes, so if you want to start something good for you, start now. Some people start things with great energy but give up soon. So it requires constant self-motivation and hope. 

Having dreams or wishes is easy, it doesn't require handwork or efforts. But it requires a lot of efforts and determination to achieve our goal. Determination plays an important role on the way to our success because it helps us to stay motivated every day and be hopeful until we reach our destiny.

There will be obstacles or challenges but if we have strong will power which gives us inner strength, we can achieve what we want and make it happen. We don't get everything easily in life and it is not necessary that we will get success in the first attempt, there can be rejections or failures but we need to try again and again if we want to achieve something no matter how difficult the situations are. 

Monika Vaishnav 

The Fabindia School

mvv@fabindiaschools.in

Hope and Friendship - Sharmila Vijayvargi

Hope means holding onto things for a good outcome and remaining positive in any situation. One

should always be hopeful for a better time to come because it is the driving force behind everything. Every person at every level displays hope. Students when in school and class are hopeful for small things like getting an opportunity to become a monitor, being able to play outside and regular appreciation. It is this hope which always motivates them to keep working harder and harder. While one should always be hopeful, one should not forget to keep trying and making efforts towards achieving goals.

The virtue of hope is also displayed in friendship. Friendship is a beautiful bond between individuals and friends always there for each other in times of need. While the family plays an important role in an individual's growth, so do friends. Good friendships are always a treat and so it is equally important that in early childhood years, children explain the true meaning of friendship and particularly, distinctions between good and bad friendships because children are too naive to be misguided and fall into bad places. 

For everyone alike, it's always better to decide on friends because spending time with bad people can lead to mental set back. While dealing with students, teachers should also step into the shoes of a friend and understand a child's needs and hopes and thus, help grow holistically. More the comfort zone between teacher and students better will be the learning outcomes and hopes at both ends will be met. 

Sharmila Vijayvargi

The Fabindia School

svi4 fab@gmail.com

Lockdown: Pressure Management: Jitendra Suthar

Adaptation is basic attribute of human being. We are meant to adapt all the situations we

come in contact with. Everyone around is trying to accept this condition and are making efforts to get back on track. While doing so, there has been a lot of pressure on each individual to tackle this pandemic situation; pressure like food, shelter, work, water and many more.

Many a time, we keep on working with the thought that there will be some relief but load increases accordingly. For this, it is better to schedule a time for each work. Do not give extra efforts to one work as the other might get delayed. By this, a person might start getting frustrated.

In these situations, we should have some stress buster activities. Such activities like taking a break from such pressure and spending time with family, Playing fun games, reading comics, listening to music, drawing etc.

What is the best way to stay happy in this lockdown period? Many a time we think of doing something but are not able to do because of the daily busy schedule. This is the best time to utilize and keep ourselves busy.  We should get engaged in activities like exercise, cooking, gardening and many more.

Jitendra Suthar

The Fabindia School

How to Maintain Concentration - Prakash Dangi

Most of the time we get motivated by others and make new plans with full excitement,

collect some books and notes, etc. Sometimes we even take admission in some institutes and make a new routine. We think of never giving up until we reach our destination and promise ourselves to start the study with new expectations. But gradually, the excitement seems to get weak day by day. And after some days, we even stop putting in efforts in our studies.

This situation is faced by most of the students. It is not only in academics but also in many other sectors. When we don't concentrate, we lose our patience. It is very essential to be determined towards our goal to succeed well. You should choose the subject of your interest so that you don't regret selecting the subject suggested by others.

Sometimes we see the children choose the subject under parent’s pressure. Parents tell the students to choose a subject without even knowing their interest. Every person is unique and has different qualities. To know the inner talent of yourself and to maintain the concentration for a long time, it is important to find our inner qualities and proceed forward in that field. We don't understand immediately any subject. But we should learn a subject from the start and the basics. After that, we can solve problems easily and improve the subject slowly- slowly. To maintain the concentration, we need to have a big dream and some role model. Every day we should stay focused and think to complete our dreams. So, on the basis of my experience, if you follow these tips, definitely you will achieve your dreams.

Prakash Dangi

The Fabindia School

Play, Curiosity & Enthusiasm: Byju Joseph

Being educators we are handling students with different capabilities daily. There are many students who are brilliant. They learn whatever the teacher teaches or individually by their efforts. But there are students who are not interested in learning at all. Teachers and parents put their maximum effort in these students. Then also no visible changes occur in them. This is a serious case that we face nowadays. As Educators, we need to think about this matter and to find out a proper solution.

Interest is one of the important factors to do or to learn something. If there is a curiosity to do something, a strong interest will develop which is the enthusiasm. At this point of view, the teacher has the role to create a situation to develop curiosity in students. The teacher should be able to keep the developed curiosity in students throughout the learning process for better outcomes.

Recent studies have revealed that learning is possible before birth also. The fetus can identify some sounds and is able to respond to them. When a baby is born, it is able to understand many things. A newborn baby can identify its mother easily by smell. If any other person reaches to the baby, it quickly responds.

If we observe children of below 5 years we can realize that they are more curious about knowing many things. They are more energetic and having intense feelings Parents and teachers should carefully handle their queries and eagerness to know.

Albert Einstein says, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” A curious student can be more attentive, which will help them to learn, understand and explore more and more.

Byju P. Joseph
bhj@fabindiaschools.in
The Fabindia School, Bali

Courage and Patience - Sensing SHS

Courage & Patience

Shalini joined us 3 years ago. A bright young girl, who got along with her classmates and teachers well; she adjusted just about perfectly like any other student would in school.

As we gradually progressed with her academics in the first year, I often noticed her gazing out of the classroom window concentrating on people walking, the birds that flew around and children playing. I had to be in a constant process of bringing her attention back to the board and to my conversation. As days passed, I started noticing her careless mistakes, unable to follow instructions, her inattentiveness even on speaking to her directly and above all not being able to focus.

As I started speaking to her one on one basis, slowly but surely she started opening up that she could not manage her thoughts properly though she tried her best to do so.

I along with other teachers started working on her with the utmost patience to turn her limitations into a possibility. We started listening to her needs, working on smaller projects where she could remember and recollect easily; we started creating goals together, Ignore mild misbehaviours and academic mistakes and above all praising her for all her efforts.

The advantage we had was that she had the spirit and great courage to fight her limitations. She showed tremendous improvement each year, even as she studies in Standard IX today…she fights each day with the courage that she has. Her hyperactive behaviour, inattentiveness and concentration have improved tremendously and as teachers, we have grown with patience each day to make yet another life blossom.

- David Biswas <davidbiswas1971@gmail.com> at Sacred Heart School Siliguri

Happiness and Tolerance - Optimizers SHS

Nurturing the plant of Happiness

This is a story of a girl named Pallavi who had to give up her freedom leading her life completely by herself. She was sent to the boarding school against her wish for which she had become aggressive, rude, disrespectful and impolite. She didn't find happiness in anything around her as she faced a lot of difficulties to adjust in the boarding environment. 

We as teachers faced a lot of challenges to convince her to be happy. There were moments where things were difficult to tolerate as she refused to accept any help given to her. She completely refused to follow the rules and regulations of the school. Being rude and arrogant girl she didn't want to listen to anyone. We were compelled to tolerate all her misbehaviour. 

This is a story of a girl who had to give up her freedom leading her life completely by herself. She was sent to the boarding school against her wish for which she had become aggressive, rude, disrespectful and impolite. She didn't find happiness in anything around her as she faced a lot of difficulties to adjust in the boarding environment. We as teachers faced a lot of challenges to convince her to be happy. There were moments where things were difficult to tolerate as she refused to accept any help given to her. She completely refused to follow the rules and regulations of the school. Being rude and arrogant girl she didn't want to listen to anyone. We were compelled to tolerate all her misbehaviour.

We as teachers, took a lot of time in counselling and motivating her to make her feel comfortable and understand the reasons behind her strange behaviours.

Secondly, we made her make buddy friends for her to get more involved in all the curricular and co-curricular activities. She lacked the motherly love and affection which we imparted towards her.

Gradually, we could see the changes in her behaviour she started accepting her friends, teachers and the boarding culture. It was a tough journey but with all the hard efforts being tolerant and patient. We were able to make her a 'HAPPY CHILD'.

- Rosa Rai <rosarai2020@gmail.com> for Optimizers at Sacred Heart School Siliguri