Freedom and Peace - Joy Of Learning Program Session 8

Freedom and Peace (Session 8 for the Happy Teachers JOL Cohort 2022)

Present: Anvesha Rana, Arav Agarwal, Guneet Kaur, Jugjiv Singh, Jyoti Tadiyal, Kunal Rajpurohit, Laxmi Kant Bhatt, Monisha Dutt, Mridula Renjit, Preeti Mahajan, Rishona Chopra and Roopa Bhattacharyya.

The takeaway from the learning session:

1. Students need to understand what Freedom is in its true sense and how Freedom makes us different from animals, adding to our humanity. Freedom means to be able to do what we want but within the limit of the social fabric.

2. Freedom is a state of mind where you have the right and Freedom to do what you can think of, but at the same time, we should remember that our Freedom should not disregard the rights of others. Freedom in its most proper form should not affect or alter the needs of others. 

3. When we have to be culturally unique, some amount of Freedom takes courage to disregard the current norm and beliefs of society. मनुष्य स्वतंत्र जन्म लेता है परंतु सर्वत्र बंधनों में जकड़ा होता है।

4. Freedom, to some extent, is contextual also; what a child is free to do in sports, period, may not be allowed in an academic one. We are born free, but the constraints that we allow are: 

• Be non-judgemental and let others also be free 

• Be responsible for your decisions, for your choices

• Be clear about what you want to be free about 

5. Humans do not need Freedom, but animals, birds and trees need Freedom. For example, if we keep an animal in a cage for some time, it will start feeling uncomfortable and making noise, but when we let it out, it will be happy. So, with Freedom comes joy and Peace. Facilitates individuals in realising their true selves and is crucial for pursuing happiness. 

6. With great Freedom comes great responsibility, but to be free, you need to return to society in some way or another. Ask the students to do whatever they want in these margins for specific rules and regulations.                                                     

7. Responsibility makes you accessible; let them ask, think, and do, but let them be themselves. Try to find out the problem, accept it wholeheartedly and work on it, giving Freedom to the children for their reflections. The definition of Freedom is ever-evolving. 

8. Freedom of thought and Freedom of choice gives us confidence. The aim of Freedom should be to provide us with Peace. Freedom from disturbance, anxiety, war and distress, tranquillity. Peace makes us confident. तनावमुक्त, भयमुक्त वातावरण ही शांति प्रदान करता है।

9. It's a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, fulfilment and joy. Peace is Freedom from the noise and disturbance in our minds. Peace is to be in harmony with yourself, with everyone around you and with the entire world. "The more in harmony with yourself, the more joyful you are, and the more faithful you are. Faith is not to disconnect you from reality. It connects you to reality."— Paulo Coelho.                          

10. Peace cannot come without Freedom, and Freedom cannot come without the ability to make your own decisions and choices. Nobody can give us Peace. It is something we create. Peace and Freedom are our choices, and we can be peaceful and free only by choosing to be. 
    

"I really loved and enjoyed today's session! Discussing Freedom and Peace has brought me a lot of joy and calmness. Looking at the current scenario and the kind of pressure that people of all age groups feel, trying to bring about Freedom and Peace in our lives and others is the need of the hour". - Guneet Kaur, Mussoorie Public School
- Big thank you, Anvesha Rana, for this report. Our Interns at My Good School do us proud.

Freedom and Peace - Rishona Chopra

Freedom as we know, of course, is the joy of feeling free & and doing what we want, to simply have freedom. We can do what we want, but freedom has its own limits. It's not that we cut the wings on the bird, but it's like a summer-adapted bird goes to Antarctica. Can it? It might die... Similarly, freedom is to have the initial and foremost rights and the right to do good deeds, not bad ones.

When someone says, "you are not good at drawing at all. I am much better." These things hurt us, and then when people say things that hurt us, they capture our thoughts. We usually start criticizing ourselves. Their thoughts about us capture our thoughts. What people say about us is not necessarily who we are. 

We are who we think we are, so if we start thinking about ourselves as someone else thinks, our thoughts are not free. We are not free at all. So people can say what they want to, of course, if they say something we must see if what they are saying is true but if not then don't think about what they say because if your mind doesn't have free thoughts, then you are not free and if you are not free then how will you be happy and if you are not satisfied then how will you feel peace and if you have no peace then you don't have a wonderful, happy and peaceful life. And I'm sure all of us want a happy life. Don't we?

Freedom in the classroom is quite essential; the Montessori teaching style aims to make the child more thoughtful and independent. Freedom for thought and doing. In the book "Lord Of The Flies" a group of boys are left alone on an island for the first few days the enjoy, but after a few days, they need someone to guide them. So freedom doesn't just depend on you but the proper process with which we need some guidance.

Freedom and peace are pretty related; peace starts when space starts. Peace, in my opinion, is something you can't describe. It's a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, fulfilment and joy. Peace is freedom from the noise in our minds. Today let us pledge, "Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me". "The more in harmony with yourself, the more joyful you are, and the more faithful you are. Faith does not disconnect you from reality; it connects you to reality." — Paulo Coelho Rishona Chopra Grade VI Gyanshree School