Learning about forgiveness in Love classes has brought a vast change in me. Forgiving and forgetting needs lots of courage. I’ve experienced this and understood it’s importance after attending the love classes. Just saying ‘I forgive you, forget it’ is easy but when we say this with inner feelings and really forget, it has a meaning. One feels relieved and overcomes the pain and sorrow he/she is going through after forgiving.

The experience of forgiving and forgetting has improved my relationship and now I don’t avoid meeting those people.  I’m relaxed and patient. I’ve started accepting others views and started thinking on it before reacting. There is no ego clash.

Forgive and Forget was a great learning for me in Love class. Thanks to my facilitators Falguni ma’am and Haseena ma’am for bringing this positive change in me.

“Love class” the name tell us many things about the journey that we are about to finish but there is much more learning than these two words tells us. I learn many things from this life learning sessions. The thing that I really absorbed in my life was ‘Life is difficult’, I accepted this truth and its same for all. It might be a different situation for others but yes life is difficult.

For me life is difficult is because I always struggle with confronting and it requires a lot of courage for me to confront and also blaming myself for any act or problem that arise in my life.

Furthermore, I understood that there are different stages of marriage life and what I am experiencing is one of the stages of marriage life. We need to understand each other more and I have to give more time to my spouse.

Parenting one of my area of interest and I am very keen and attached to my kid. My learning from this class about parenting is I have to give quality time to my kid, I have to understand his requirements and teach him the importance of delayed gratification.

“Love is the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth… Love is as love does. Love is an act of will — namely, both an intention and an action. Will also implies choice. We do not have to love. We choose to love.”

I understood the true meaning of Love, Parenting and most of all Forgiveness through this workshop. Marriage is definitely not an easy ride, its a journey with lots of ups and downs.  A journey in which each phase you learn something new and get stronger with each passing day. I have definitely grown stronger and more ‘practical’ attending these workshops. It has taught me to accept the truth that “life is difficult” and by accepting this, it also gave me the courage to face it and stay “positive”. It also taught me that ‘life is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived’.

I have got better insights to “Parenting” as well. This poem has really motivated me and i would like to share it here:

On Children by Kahlil Gibran

To sum up, this entire journey of Love class has been wonderful, with lots of learning and sharing from my group. Thanks a ton to Nayna Ma’am and Anita ma’am for the patience and concern that you’ll have shown us throughout.

Maria Dahodwala.

These are some of my favourite things: the colour pink, strawberries, and love. But what exactly is LOVE ?

Most of us are pretty sure we know love when we feel it. Yet the emotion, the state of mind, is more complex and varied than any one of us, even a specialist, can describe fully. What you experience depends on which part of the elephant you touch.

Love is too large, too deep ever to be truly understood or measured or limited within the framework of words. One result of the mysterious nature of love is that no one has ever, to my knowledge, arrived at a truly satisfactory definition of love. I define love thus “The will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.” And this is what the “Love Class” has taught us!!

Loving someone can be hard. You have to learn to accept everything that they have to offer, the good and the bad. But, most importantly you have to learn how to love them back in the right way, even when you do not understand why they have not accepted the love you have given so far. If you are giving love in the solely the ways you enjoy receiving it, your relationships could be hindered. Once you learn the two ways in which you and your partner most like to receive love you can begin to foster an even stronger and more in sync relationship.

It’s a tragic reality that far too many people walk away from solid, healthy relationships with partners that they truly love because their experience doesn’t match the cultural expectation. Don’t you think it’s time to change the expectation, to bring it down from the realm of stars and fantasy and present young, formative minds with an accurate and realistic depiction of love, romance, and marriage? It’s time we change “you complete me” to “you inspire me to become the best version of myself” or “with you, I will grow and evolve in my capacity to love.” It’s time to dismantle the fantasy so that people on the threshold of marriage can create the healthiest possible foundation on which to begin their lives together.

I never imagined I would be having a PD on Parenting during LOVE class !! The best part of it was, I got an opportunity to validate my parenting (some part of it) through various discussions and others’ points of view on the same. I also learned many new things.

Kids always imitate you. They often want to grow up fast and be like you. After this session, I can now connect how much I think alike or behave alike my parents. This has really helped me to cope up with several issues pertaining to my marriage and family. I am at least able to console or pacify myself when I get furious on someone. A thought pops in my mind – LET IT GO. Maybe, s/he has a bad day or its his/her upbringing. Through this, I learned to give space and show acceptance and empathy towards everyone.

I am happy that I got a chance to attend this session to improve in this journey called LIFE!!

“Life is easy when you accept that Life is difficult“. This is by far the best take away from this year’s Love classes. This statement stays with me during the tough times. This has helped me stay calm all through. Not just me, it has also helped my closed ones by giving them the understanding of the essence of this statement.

Forgiveness is not an emotion but a decision that we make for our own peace which helps us grow spiritually. Myths of parenting were an eye-opener for me. Vision of parenting showed me a lot of ways how I can be a better son and also work on learning to be a good parent. One thing that I would take away from my childhood is respecting child’s individuality and involving them in decision-making in early stages which will help them grow.

I would genuinely like to appreciate my facilitators, Nayna Ma’am and Anita Ma’am, who strived hard to make us understand the concepts when they went overhead, when we didn’t agree to the definition of Love and contradicted them.

No matter it is parenting or marriage, it has brought about a lot of change in my life. During a conflict with my husband I discuss and try to solve the matter instead of arguing and not talking to each other for days.

As a parent I tried to understand my daughter’s perspective and have change my way of parenting from DO AS I SAY to DO AS I DO. I also have started giving her space and time and give her the opportunity to  explain. I tried to convince her with the logical reasons for doing the right things and that helped in improving her attitude towards life and our relationship.

Why do we find it so hard to ‘Forgive’?

One reason we resist forgiving is that we don’t really understand what forgiveness is or how it works. We think we do, but we don’t.

Most of us assume that if we forgive our offenders, they are let off the hook and get to go about their merry ways while we unfairly suffer from their actions. We also may think that we have to be friendly with them again, or go back to the old relationship.

The first step to understanding forgiveness is learning what it is and isn’t. The next step is giving yourself permission to forgive and forget, letting go of the bitterness while remembering very clearly your rights to healthy boundaries. And this is what the “Love Class” has taught us!!

I really liked this quote “Forgiveness is the scent the rose leaves on the heel that crushed it.”

Moreover, true forgiveness is a choice. Hurting is not a choice but hating is. We don’t get to choose how people treat us, but we do get to choose how we respond. The first to apologize is the bravest. The first to forgive is the strongest and the first to forgive is the happiest.

However, forgiveness is a continual process. Its not a one time choice; its an ongoing decision. Some people feel guilty when feelings of anger or bitterness toward someone begin to arise after they have already forgiven them. These feelings don’t mean you didn’t forgive them; it means you are simply being tempted with that same temptation again. Don’t feel guilty just resist the temptation by renewing your forgiveness.

Let’s choose forgiveness today. Let’s commit to keeping no record of wrongs.

You will be amazed at the joy and peace that will flood your heart..!! 🙂

A lot of us have the impression that Love is for Lovers. But it is important to realize that the word “Love” is much deeper than we think. In the recent few years I came to know, that love is Friendship.  Osho says, “Friendship is the purest form of love. It is the highest form of love where nothing is asked for, no condition where once simply loves giving”