Being Grateful - Tenzin Nyingsel

If you talk about being grateful, there will be a whole book written about it and still, the list will not be finished. Being grateful for any small things shows our values and importance towards it. It can be felt or expressed by any person to a person or any animal to a person. Sometimes it happens that we are not able to show our gratitude towards one thing that means a lot to us. Still, it always remains in our hearts that we will always try to fulfil it. Whether by our affection towards it or by proving our hard work for it. Let me take an example of a situation that happened a few days back.

It was 8 in the morning when I was dressed in my school uniform, standing in the school assembly hall with the history book in my hand. It was the exam day and just a few minutes were left for the exam to begin. It was cold in the morning due to which the roof above my head was covered with dew. Suddenly a drop fell on the book. To my surprise, it fell exactly on the topic that said, 'JUDICIAL REVIEW'.

For me, I really believe in fate, destiny and luck. At that moment, I felt it might be a sign for me. So I revised it very well. It was not long before the bell rang for the exam. After some minutes, the question papers were laid on my desk. I checked the paper slowly, turning the pages. In the middle of the crowd of questions, I saw a familiar question that asked about the 'judicial review'. For that very moment, I felt really grateful towards that one drop of water that fell. Since that question carried four marks, I wrote the answer in a very happy mood.

That is why, being grateful can be felt at any particular time and for any particular thing because sometimes it is not always a 'person' towards which we feel grateful. 

In the end, I would conclude by saying that ' I am grateful for everything I have. The highs. The lows. The blessings. The lessons. The setbacks. The comebacks. The love. The hate. Everything.' 

Tenzin Nyingsel
Class 10
Pestalozzi Children's Village Society

Life - An Unexpected Journey! - Saikiran Sahu

                               

The journey of life doesn’t go as how one thinks

It goes what it's destined for

But what is it destined for?

Fame?

Money?

Or Power?

It is what fate really holds for you,

And your fate is to steer it in the direction you want it to go in

Travels just like a wave

Sometimes still as a statue and sometimes

as ferocious as a lion!

It is not what you think that’s coming in future 

But what you were least expecting to see

Let me clear it out to you

There isn't any fixed path or a map that tells you 

where to go or how to go

It is upon you,

It is you who grabs opportunities passing by and you who 

losses it because you didn't pay attention  

Nevertheless, in this unexpected journey 

there are always ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys

But we need to remember 

 with every dusk there is a dawn ready to rise again! 

-Saikiran Sahu, IX

Gyanshree School

Illustrated by istock

The author of my story; the master of my fate - Rishona Chopra

I have always believed that we are the author of our tale. We are the ones that create our story and decide how it shall conclude. The pen is in our hands and it is our wish to decide how things shall go. 

We are the master of our fate and we can decide which path we choose and go on. Yes, there will be numerous challenges on our way. Yes, there shall be a few earthquakes and floods and things that bring us down. But, its the way one soars after being pulled down each time that matters. 

There are lot of people or rather characters that influence our story. They may influence our decisions or bring about a plot twist or setback in our story but again the pen is in our hands. We are the captain. The final decision is in our hands.  We have the power to control our thought. We have the power to control our attitude.

A thought that comes to my mind is that what about instances when something bad happens? Lets say one gets fired from their job. That may not be one's destiny. This is just another flood in our life; something influencing our story. Some people may go down and drown with the flood and some may swim through it an survive. It's all about the attitude and thought in life. Someone may come across a serious injury and accept it and happily pass away to heaven abode; nothing bad in it at all, they wrote their ending and it was what they wanted,that was one's happy ending. Some may try and try to survive this earthquake and yet fail but I'd say that's not failure; giving up because you think its too tough is failure because nothing is impossible. 

Another thing is death. People don't want to die but eventually they have to. Its just the way it works. You may live as long as 400 years but it has to end. One day it has to. That is the all eternal end but fate here is how you live your live. The future of all the small events in our life. 

There are a few lines from a song I would quote:

"He said,One day, you'll leave this world behind
So live a life you will remember"

What matters is how we live our lives. With happiness and glory or sadness and misery.

We all can surely make our fate better. Better and happier. We have the power to do that. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Reflection on I am the master of my fate - Shristi Khulal

When I consider the word fate, I think of luck and fortune. The above line talks about controlling our fate. A person born into a royal family becomes king even though he doesn't deserve it because of fate. He is not loved by the people of his kingdom. On the other hand, a person born as a common person who has all the qualities of becoming a king becomes a king by fighting and winning the throne, is loved by all, and is the real king.

We can see in the above story that the person who was born into the royal family got the position by fate and was not a true king by virtue. On the other hand, the person who was not born into the royal family was a real king who was loved by all; this shows that fate is not as powerful as hard work and qualities.

We can either be the first king or the second; it all depends on us. Whenever a person gets success by chance, the person never knows the meaning of hard work and cannot taste the real success in life. The other person knows that he and his actions are responsible for whatever happens in his life.

At last, I want to say that mastering our fate is important, as it gives us confidence and improves our way towards life.

Shristi Khulal
Pestalozzi Children Village Society
Image Courtesy- Story Planets

Gratitude - Arfa Khan

We all are familiar with the feeling that life is not as we want; our relationships are not deep enough, we are not successful enough, and we don't have the things we crave. This is the feeling of dissatisfaction, a feeling that makes you at others with envy and at yourself with shame. Social media makes it worse by showing us the picture-perfect life others have, unlike us. We have seen many people laughing and enjoying their lives...but their lives aren't perfect too. Then why are some people happier than others? Can we also apply their methods to be more comfortable and more satisfied? It all sums up to one thing - Gratitude. 

Gratitude is a feeling that connects us with the positive side of the world. There are many ways to practice it, like gratitude journaling, where we write about the things we are grateful for. There are many everyday things in life for which we should be grateful, and we might be taking them for granted, like:

1. Recovery/ Post-Crisis -

Life can feel fabulous after recovery like an enormous burden has been lifted off our shoulders. We can do many things that we couldn't do earlier. Objectively, our life would be the same or maybe slightly worse than before, but we compare the present to when life was terrible and react with gratitude.

2. Our Relationships-

We might feel lonely or want more friends, but there might be one or multiple people wanting to spend time with us. We might feel this is not enough and feel bad. If we're grateful for our relationships, we might accept the offers or take the initiative. Many people don't have anyone and suffer from mental illnesses, but we have many people who care for us.

3. Anyone who means a lot to you-

There might be someone significant in our lives, and we can't imagine life without them. By comparing our life with and without them, we feel grateful that they are with us.

4. Fate-

We have many things in our everyday life many don't have, like clean water and food, money, access to the internet, limbs, eyes, ears etc. We should be grateful for these things.  

Scientists have found many benefits of gratitude journaling. Many participants showed more happiness and life satisfaction after practising for a few weeks and even a change in brain activity after a few months. It's pretty mind-blowing that something as simple as writing about a few things you are grateful for can help fight dissatisfaction. We know our life is hard, but it might not be as bad as it seems if we look from a different perspective.

•  Arfa Khan 

  Ahlcon Public School

Sources:

https://leadchangegroup.com/daily-gratitude/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPPFqsECz0&t=15s

 

'If I'd Known It Then' poem by Malvika Mishra

'If I'd Known It Then.'

When midnight dawns and I lie in my bed,

When all is quiet, safe yet dark,

I travel to places near and far

But perhaps my favourite is a land called 'The Past',

Where there are no deer, no ponds, no trees,

Many and much has been lost here, for here it floods memories.

And as I swim my way through the past, I wish I'd known it Then

That a merry day too shall face an end,

For Fate and Time will take it away

That later, I'll wish but every day

'If I'd known it Then ….'

And I think how selfish of Time it is,

For it keeps what is gone, all to itself

And what is to come, it refuses to tell

And yet how generous of Time it is,

To give us what we have Now, to provide us with what we have in hand,

We can choose to make it a mere 'now' or decide to make it grand.

And this I shall not forget,

So, for now, I'll be happy, I'll smile,

I'll take a step down a road that is long a hundred miles,

For I know, I'll wish I'd been happier Now,

When I'm on my last step and in pain,

But, alas, I can not do that now; for now, I wish I'd known it then.

To whosoever is reading this,

This poem is incomplete; I did all that I could do,

But although I poured my heart out, there's not much a poem can hold true…

Malvika Mishra, 9F,  Ahlcon Public School

Appreciation - Miraya Bhatia

Let us let us appreciate
Let us believe in appreciation’s fate
Let us appreciate things now
You may ask how should we appreciate 

For being appreciated, you need to appreciate
Always remember you need to believe in its fate
Let us appreciate every blessing
Trust me, it is worth expressing. 

Miraya Bhatia
Class IV F
Gyanshree school