The greatest gift - Rishona Chopra

The greatest gift we want to give to our loved ones every day, at every moment, is happiness. We spend time with them, buy them physical comforts, and support them, yet they are sometimes unhappy. Most likely, it is because we are unhappy. Happiness is energy, not matter. Just by being happy ourselves and being happy while discharging our responsibilities, our happy vibrations radiate and trigger the happiness frequency in our loved ones and uplift their state of mind to happiness.

Have you sensed that you need to make much more effort in sustaining your roles and responsibilities if your mind is unhappy? Despite your extra steps to care for and provide for them, are your family and friends unhappy with you? Does it leave you wondering what more you should have done? We often quantify our efforts and measure our loved ones’ happiness against it. The truth is, how much we do for people doesn’t matter. What matters is how happy we were while doing everything.

While caring for people or doing something for them, let us not create thoughts of stress, fear, anxiety, anger or pain. Otherwise, our negativity is sure to deplete people we do so much for, not allowing them to be happy with us. Without being happy, you cannot give happiness to others. Be happy and do everything that you need to do. It’s your energy which influences their happiness.

Remind yourself – “I am an embodiment of happiness. Being happy myself and taking care of people keeps my loved ones happy.” When you experience unconditional happiness, you have nothing but happiness to give everyone. You don’t even have to offer; it automatically radiates. From today, let bliss be your natural way of living. Let nothing and no one pull you down. In every scene, contribute towards creating a happy family, workplace and world by always being happy.

Rishona Chopra
Grade VI
Gyanshree School

My Little Sin - Vani Pandey

I woke up at five to see,

A little flower waiting for me. 

Just outside my room's window,

On a quiet tall, and bushy willow.

It danced along the breeze happily,

As if asking me to join too!

So I stretched my arms to get it in,

Oh god, but I wish I knew!

That it would turn out to be a sin.

I brought the flower inside,

And asked it to dance with me.

But it just said nothing rather sighed,

Thinking it was tiring, I let it be.

The next morning I visited it again,

Just to find it dying in pain.

"Oh, poor flower, how should I save you. How should I dance just the wanted me to?"

But it said just said nothing,

For its breath had been taken away.

I woke up at five just to see,

A little dead flower who died for me.

Vani Pandey 

VIII C 

Gyanshree School 

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