Importance of forgiveness - Nishan Karki

Forgiveness means letting go of negative feelings and attitudes towards another person. Forgiveness arises when we try to understand other people's feelings and show some sympathy towards them.

It is one of the most important human values.

Forgiveness can help both parties, i.e., the one who forgives and the one who receives forgiveness.

The paragraph written below is the famous mercy speech by Portia in the play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare.

"The quality of mercy is not strained;

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:

'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes

The throned monarch better than his crown:

His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,

The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;

But mercy is above this sceptred sway;

It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's

When mercy seasons justice." 

In the above lines, Portia says that mercy ( forgiveness) is not a quality that is felt or shown under any compulsion. It is shown by humans as naturally as the gentle drops of rain fall from the sky to the earth below. Mercy is a double blessing. It blesses both the forgiver and the receiver, or the one being forgiven. It is the supreme quality that anyone, no matter how great, can possess. It is the most powerful quality in those who have the highest authority. It suits a king sitting on his throne better than his crown suits him. The golden rod of authority in the hands of a king is an indication of the force of his earthly power. The rod of authority is a symbol of the fear that kingship inspires in others, and it indicates the high dignity of the king. But mercy is something higher and greater than earthly authority, which is symbolized by the rod. Mercy occupies a lofty place in the hearts of kings. It is a quality and attribute of God himself. Earthly power acquires a divine quality when a man softens the hardness of the demands of justice by showing mercy.

So, the quality of mercy or forgiveness is one of the greatest possessions of people. In fact, animals also possess the quality of mercy, so why can't humans? The quality of mercy or forgiveness must be in the possession of every living being on earth.

 

Nishan Karki
Pestalozzi children's village society

Image Courtesy- Premium Times Nigeria

Two men looked out prison bars; one saw mud, one saw stars - Rishona Chopra

 Image Courtesy - Twitter

Perspective changes something completely. We can be happy even in the worst times with a positive view of the situation. Every cloud has a silver lining; we just have to find that lining. 

Suppose two men look out prison bars; one only sees the bars, and the other looks beyond it and sees the immense beauty of nature. It is our choice to choose what we want to see. It is our choice to be happy, and it is our choice to look at the good sides of a situation. 

In every situation, there is a choice. Either look at the positive and optimistic sides or find faults and be sad. We just have to see that choice. When something happens that is not to our satisfaction, we get negative feelings about it, but we don't realise that there is always a choice to be happy about it. To rejoice in the smallest of things. 

Two men looked out prison bars; one saw mud, and one saw stars. 

It is our choice to look at the positive things in life. After all, peoples' perspectives and thoughts define who they are. There is so much sadness in the world, and it is easy to find faults, but the real challenge is finding happiness in everything. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII Gyanshree School

Does believing help escape the person out of negativism? - Tenzin Jambey

Picture Courtesy: https://www.calmsage.com/how-to-control-negative-thoughts/

Believing in one has both positive and negative impacts. 

In this writing, I'm sharing two incidents that happened because of believing in others:-

The good impact(s):-

We 'people' don't have any proof of whether ghosts and spirits exist. But still, we have been told from a young age about ghost stories, myths and legends. We have developed thoughts upon that, and when we go into the dark or walk alone in a quiet place, we feel scared. 

We sometimes feel like someone's there other than a human being watching over us. I turn my head here and there when I walk alone because people have made a habit of spreading negative beliefs, which has impacted me. And that can further lead to disasters. 

Sometimes, some people see unusual things and images that we can't see due to psychological reasons or due to a lack of courage and also due to the feeling of fear. They think that ghosts and spirits are roaming around them, and to overcome this problem, they visit temples and take the blessings of gods and spiritual leaders, which makes them feel better and consolidated. 

After offering worship to their deities, people believe the ghosts or spirits have left them. Many psychological problems develop in our minds due to believing in unreal and unseen things and images. Making people do activities like visiting the temple and doing some mental activities helps one to overcome these things, but believing is the most important thing. 

So, 'believing' has both negative and positive results. 

The negative impacts which arise due to believing:-
In this case, I want to share an incident. The incident took place near my Village in Arunachal Pradesh. There are many tribal people in Arunachal, and most of them are really into religious beliefs and rituals. 

I am a Buddhist by religion, and the incident is from the Buddhist committee. In our villages and nearby villages, we have a monk in each who can see the past life of a newborn child by performing rituals. 

One such thing happened when a lady gave birth to a child. The child had two grown teeth, which seemed very strange and even scary to people. When the monk was called upon to look into this matter, he clearly stated that a ghost had been born in human form. And that it was a sign of bad luck. With that statement, the poor lady with her child and husband was sentenced to a lifetime exile. 

How can people believe some spiritual leaders so blindly that they are even ready to agree and declare a newborn child a ghost or monster just because of some disabilities and natural teeth? Whereas science says that it's nothing but just a rare case and the mother who gave birth to the child must be proud and happy that her child is rare.

She really should be happy with herself rather than listening to the stupid shitty things of people who called her child a ghost or a monster just because they had never seen this thing before.

Therefore, I would conclude my writing by saying that we must look beyond the things that appear. We people don't look at things how they are but look at them how we think about them. That's why education is a necessity. 

Moreover, acquiring knowledge and looking for a positive outcome in a strangely difficult situation is most important.

Tenzin Jambey

Pestalozzi Children's Village, India.

Does believing help escape the person out of negativism? - Tenzin Norsang

Picture Courtesy: https://coralspringscounselingcenter.com/stop-negative-thinking/

A wise man once said, and he said it so well - 

“Believing in one’s self is the essential key and necessity if one wants to achieve and acquire higher and greater goals in one’s life.”

The person who believes in himself has the ability and the capability to conquer anything. Robin Sharma said, and I quote - 

“Your mind is a good servant but a tyrannical leader.” 

A person who has faith in himself is one who has mastered the art of controlling his mind. He who believes in himself - has been bestowed with the power that has the intensity to change the world.

What are negative thoughts?
Negative thoughts are thoughts which are pessimistic and demotivating in nature. Such thoughts create a feeling of unrest and doubt in oneself. 

When do such thoughts pop up in our minds?
Such thoughts cloud our minds during the disturbing and dark times in our lives. During such a phase in our life, we doubt our abilities, skills and capabilities, but most of all, we mistrust ourselves, which creates a hindrance that obstructs and blocks our way from achieving our goals. 

In this life course, if someone wants to overcome such thoughts, he should have faith and believe in himself. Many people in today's world are facing and going through tough times. 

When someone's life is shadowed by darkness, he has two choices. Either he could be the one who curses the darkness. Or he could be the one who lights a candle amidst the darkness. Here, 'lighting the candle amidst the dark' - is symbolic of self-belief and driving out all your negative thoughts and emotions from your mind and body. 

Thus, Believing in oneself means self-assurance and motivating oneself throughout difficult times. 

Self-belief transforms a person into being willing, pressure-resilient, confident, peaceful, and the master of one’s mind. He demonstrates the “Never give up” attitude till the end, whatever the unfolded result is. 

Believing in oneself automatically leads to the expulsion of negative thoughts and assists him in escaping out of it.

Tenzin Norsang

Pestalozzi Children's Village, India.

Does believing help escape the person out of negativism? - Tenzin Nyesel

Picture Courtesy: https://devpost.com/software/escaping-the-negativity

Does believing in one help escape the person out of their negative thoughts?

I believe that. 

Sometimes trusting or having faith in one helps to come out of that difficult situation in our mind. It might even free your mind when you have someone beside you to give you that positive vibe. 

I have been through this situation many times - where you feel that you don't have self-love, self-confidence and self-respect towards yourself. 

But having someone with whom you can share all your innermost fears and ideas can heal those negative thoughts. It frees you from thoughts which have been bugging you in daily life. 

Tenzin Nyesel

Pestalozzi Children's Village, India.

Sharpening The Saw - Rishona Chopra

When a woodcutter's saw is blunt, he sharpens it to work more effectively. Similarly, our mind needs motivation and energy to do something effectively. 

Our priorities should be organised and well-conducted. We all need a break and a time when we can just refresh ourselves by pampering ourselves or doing anything that makes us happy. If we keep working all day long without taking a break, not only will we be tired, but the work's efficiency will not come out to its true potential. 

When a lion is about to attack its prey, it takes a few steps back so it can attack with full force. Sharpening The Saw simply means to refresh, energize and motivate oneself to do a task.

I personally don't like the word "workaholic". This is because it is not suitable to work continuously for long hours at a stretch. We stop enjoying the work we do and consider it as something we are forced to do.  In the long term, it affects our work speed, efficiency and, most importantly, our health. 

An even better attitude is to re-energise, not to do work but to be a better person. Motivation and hope include reflection. Reflection in every aspect of life. The sharpener needs to be solid and good enough to sharpen the saw. That means our attitude and positivity matter quite a lot. But how can we maintain a positive attitude throughout the day even when there is constantly a problem? 

First, we will have to come to terms with the truth of life - We will face problems every day and every time. Every situation will have a downside and problem, but we must overcome them. 

While dealing with problems is like a war; one has a stronger army, and the other has a weaker military. In the battle between the issues and humans, humans have the upper hand as it depends entirely on their thoughts and attitude that decides who will win. We must remember that every problem has a solution. 

Second, we need to know our feelings whenever we feel negative, sad or hopeless. We should be on the lookout for such thoughts and not let them control our minds, but if we ever see a valid risk, we shouldn't ignore it. We should be able to understand and differentiate between the necessary and the unnecessary thoughts. 

Lastly, we should replace our pessimism with optimism. 

To conclude, we need motivation and energy to do a task, so it is vital to make time for renewing activities. But, all of that is only useful if we have an optimistic attitude towards life and all our tasks. We need to sharpen the mind, but in reality, the mind is the sharpener!

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

The dilemma between the heart and the mind - Shristi Khulal

A dilemma is a difficult situation in which we must choose between alternatives. We have to make many choices between many things, which can also change our lives. It can have both positive as well as negative impacts on us.

When it comes to the dilemma between heart and mind, I experience it every day. My heart usually tells me to enjoy and do fun things, but my mind tries to tell my heart to do those things at the right time and not to get away from my studies. Recently I experienced a dilemma when I needed to feel like studying. My heart said to me, "Let's sleep. I'm not in the mood to study." But my mind said," No, no study, don't you want good marks?" In which mind is correct, we should make the balance between the heart and the mind to live a good life.

The heart is sometimes wrong and leads to the right path. So we should also listen to our hearts sometimes to lead a happy life.

Shristi Khulal Pestalozzi Children's Village India We are reading the book with Jugjiv Sir at The Sunday School.

Forgiveness - Rishona Chopra

 

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attitude of the strong.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Forgiveness is to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. When we forgive, we are happy. While forgiving, we get this sense of happiness because we are free from all negative emotions.

This quote by Lewis B. Smedes says that To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. This means that when we have a conflict with someone, they are also bound with negative feelings, and so are we. We both are sad and want to solve the fight, but our ego does not allow us to do that. So if we once set the prisoner as in the person we fought with, not only will he be free from the negative feelings, but so will we.

Sometimes we too are hard on ourselves on the most minor mistakes, so we should forgive ourselves.

We should forgive when it is correct. If someone does something terrible, then we should not forgive and forget. Realizing the situation, we should act accordingly.

Rishona Chopra Grade V Gyanshree School

Never Giving Up Hope - Yashraj Sharma

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope”. - Martin Luther King Jr.

Hope. What is hope? How should we not lose hope? Why are we told to never give up hope?

The answer is simple: hope is a feeling or a presence of mind in which you are still firm in doing a task despite constant failures. If we have hope, the sense of continuous determination stays alive. 

For example- If, unfortunately, a person gets infected by an illness, they should not lose hope because, as per psychological research, when a patient is given medicine, if they have a gloomy and negative mindset, the therapy is less likely to be effective than it is supposed to.

Hope keeps us optimistic and gives us the willpower to do our best even in hard times, and also, if we are full of hope, it helps us remain committed to our work and our goals and motivated to take action towards achieving. Hope gives people to be consistent in their work with zeal and enthusiasm.

So, in the end, I would like to say that hope should not be just a feeling that we’d experience in a problematic situation. Instead, it should be a presence of mind that we stay in throughout any situation, be it cool or calm to very challenging.

Yashraj Sharma

Gyanshree School

Grade VII

Beating The Odds - Shambhavi Nautiyal

 

I absolutely agree with the chapter and how it describes our behaviour and self-consoling excuses. This seems quite relatable as I have seen this same thing going all around me while growing up. It still has not stopped, and people still do it. I’m not going to lie;this chapter shall help other students and children in becoming vigilant about how this habit of consoling ourselves of not achieving something because of a reason which may not even affect us.Eventually resulting in becoming a hurdle in the path of success. I too used to do this often whenever I messed up and regret my decision but, in all honesty, I’ll shall now try to not do that and handle the situations while just letting it go and do my utmost. This chapter showed aspects of the lives of different people(such as, Bethoven, Rolls Royce, Steven Spielberg, Jean- Dominique  Bauby) with distinct bodily disabilities which soon turned into their abilities, setting ideals for kids and many other aspirants. In my view this chapter gives the message of believing in ourselves, letting go of the fears and negative possibilities, dreaming about whatever we want to be or wish to do, and just try. 

We should never think that we can’t do something because of a body disability, a financial condition, support system, misfortune or anything which we cannot change.

Thank you!

Shambhavi Nautiyal
Grade VII
Ahlcon Public School

Beating The Odds - Shambhavi Nautiyal

www.JoyOfLearningDiaries.com

My Opinion on the second chapter, 'Beating the Odds' from the Book 'Is your Child Ready to Face the World? by Dr Anupam Sibal'

I absolutely agree with the chapter and how it describes our behaviour and self-consoling excuses. This seems quite relatable as I have seen this same thing going all around me while growing up. It still has not stopped, and people still do it. I'm not going to lie; this chapter shall help other students and children become vigilant about how this habit of consoling ourselves of not achieving something for the reason that may not even affect us. Eventually resulting it becomes a hurdle in the path of success. I, too, used to do this often whenever I messed up and regretted my decision, but, in all honesty, I'll now try to not do that and handle the situation while just letting it go and doing my utmost. 

This chapter showed aspects of different people's lives (such as Beethoven, Rolls Royce, Steven Spielberg, Jean- Dominique Bauby) with distinct bodily disabilities, which soon turned into their abilities, setting ideals for kids and many other aspirants. In my view, this chapter gives the message of believing in ourselves, letting go of the fears and negative possibilities, dreaming about whatever we want to be or wish to do, and just trying. 

We should never think that we can't do something because of a bodily disability, financial condition, support system, misfortune, or anything we cannot change.

Thank you!

Shambhavi Nautiyal

Class-7D

AHLCON PUBLIC SCHOOL