Month: September 2016

Life Classes

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Okay so when it comes to writing about something, it is a bit difficult but yes growing out of problems and learning new experiences is what this class was all about.

I’m in awe of how well the course was assembled. It was far above my expectations and learned more than I ever realized I would. 7 habits have been really effective for me in my professional career and that in itself solved a lot of my internal issues which I was struggling to express. While discussing our life’s difficult moments as well as happy moments, we get the clarity that where we were in the past and where we are today. Through this sharing and understanding I have made better connections with my colleagues and my batch mates. I now feel they have become my support system.

After learning and practicing these habits I am now able to make rational decisions as they are equipped with adequate information, skills and desirable attitudes.

Thank you FS for this wonderful opportunity!

Choose Courage

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“I know fear is natural! But don’t get caught by it. Leave it aside. Move in spite of it. Always remember: the difference between a courageous man and a coward is not that the courageous man has no fear and the coward has fear – no. That is not the difference. Both have fear! in the same proportion. Then where is the difference? The difference is that the courageous man goes in spite of the fear, and the coward stops because of the fear. Both have fears!
“If you can find a courageous man who has no fear, then how will you call him courageous? He will be a machine, not a man. Only machines don’t have fear. But you don’t call machines courageous. How can you call a machine courageous? Courage simply means that something is happening in spite of the fear. The fear is there, the trembling is there, but it is not stopping you, you are not being blocked by it. You use it as a stepping-stone. Shaking, trembling, but still you go into the unknown.
“Both possibilities exist in every human being! Fear and courage. All will depend on which you choose between the two. Never choose fear. It cripples. It paralyzes. It destroys you without giving you a chance of resurrection. Courage will also destroy you, but that destruction is very creative – it will give you rebirth.
“Fear and courage, both destroy – but fear simply destroys. The seed simply goes rotten. When you sow the seed of courage in the soil, then too it dies – but it doesn’t go rotten. It dies…it dies into a new phenomenon. A sprout comes up.
“Courage will kill you as much as fear, but fear will simply kill you without giving you a new life. Courage will give you a new life. Choose courage – always choose courage.”

7th Circle-Exploring the water we swim in everyday-Learning

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Dear All

Thank you very much for your participation in today’s circle. the journey of learning and understanding truth of any matter is at times painful, confusing and at times very joyous one. it will manifest in every one in different ways.
Reflecting back on today’s circle I felt the tension between ‘desire’ to share more and staying connected and walking with  everyone at their pace.
Over stimulation can engross people in their own thought and in the process, getting disconnected.
The trap is that to understand such aspect at a very deeper level needs leisure and lot of time but “desire’ to share more creates misalignment.
Secondly, as we move forward, we will be going into the next orbit which demand time and energy in exploration and inquiry.
It is also time to look back and evaluate life -circles individually, is the format, content and process working for you or it is better to spend time otherwise.
Happy Exploring
In service
Parag

Thoughts on understanding in totality

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Dear All

 Thank you very much for your presence in the circle. There is lot to chew on what everybody shared and suddenly i felt the spot light which up till now was focus on others have shifted to looking  to ‘ourself’ in that light.
Is that good place to be ? I don’t know. Everybody needs to explore on there own and understand facts as they are. What we shared today is just a piece of information, We all need to process that till we are not through it in understanding it in totality. A mere following what others have said will not take us anywhere. Anything that is followed blindly conditions us and does not let our understanding flower.
It would be a wise thing to do, if we start from where we are and start experimenting with small issues and conflicts in our life other then focusing on terrorism or any other form of extreme violence. Mind will enjoy debating on the extreme issues on violence spectrum and labelling it right or wrong, possible not possible, difficult etc…
Needless to add, that me and Mihir are not interested in proving any theory or ideology, but are there just to hold space, learn and enjoy our time being with you all. We would be more then happy to listen to any radically different perspective and learn, so feel free to write or share if are moved too.
We would start with our next theme which is “ Learning” in our next circle whenever that happens.

In service.

Mihir and Parag.

Pre-work for the next circle

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We started with Organizing, then to service and listening as our theme and sharing with you an very interesting real life anecdote which sums it all very beautifully. “holding space for person who didn’t introduce himself”
 
 “Most people look at their suffering and want to suppress it or express it, but in between lies the art of observation. If we observe it, the state of mind that holds the suffering passes away. No state lasts forever.”
 
 
and some additional reading on “Assuming value everywhere”
 
 Author Michael Talbot explains: “In the middle of the retina, where the optic nerve connects to the eye, we have a blind spot where there are no photo receptors. When we look at the world around us we are totally unaware that there are gaping holes in our vision.” So what we perceive to be the whole picture is actually an extrapolation, a projection that fills in the unknown based on the known.
 
When we think we know, we look in the direction of the supposed answer. By knowing that we don’t know it all, we create enough space to be able to withhold conclusion, becoming open to all directions. From an interpersonal standpoint, this kind of humility opens us up to the potential of synergy, and to the benefit afforded by taking in other views. By deepening my ability to listen in this way, I can examine things from multiple viewpoints, and in areas where I need to change my understanding, or even unlearn a contradictory perspective, I give myself that option.
 
 
 
In service 🙂
Mihir and Parag

6th Circle

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“How shall I experience my oneness with creation?” “By listening,” said the Master. “And how am I to listen?” “Become an ear that gives heed to every single thing the universe is saying. The moment you hear something you yourself are saying, stop.” – Anthony de Mello
Dear All
Thank you very much for a very intense and rich circle. The depth of Sharing and Questions left me delighted and I hope the circle was able to create valuable insights for all of us.
Mihir’s sharing about Listening and Human mind was very insightful and must have left lot to chew on for all of us.
I wish everyone dives deep into the insights and do self experiments to internalise our learning, will be looking forward to sharing in our next circle. meanwhile sending you couple of very small articles on the same lines for further reading.
Looking forward to Listen to all of you
Parag and Mihir

5th Circle-Reflections

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Dear All

I am extremely delighted with the way everybody shared in first circle, then listened to the talk, and finally with very meaningful questions.
To deepen our learning and not just to keep it at intellectual level it is important that we internalised it by learning more about it, reflecting and then taking initiatives and act on it.
I am grateful to Ankita for raising a very pertinent question and one that faces most organisations and most are blind towards it. I hope we all go deep into this inquiry and see what emerges. to experience falseness in false is beginning of wisdom. 🙂
Insightful talk by Nipun, which talks about engaging with different forms of capital and limiting ourself with Money or resource for serving others.
As Suparna shared about “connecting with herself”, I am moved to share a wonderful short story that epitomize that connection.
Some more nuances about Serving which will be great reference point to understand it at deeper level.
As we have discussed and Mihir too insisted sharing his profound experiments of service, I request all to create a matrix for different types opportunity  to serve within our campus, how so ever  small it is and experiments with it and observe what happens to us when we serve without any motivation or expectations. Needless to add that we have more then enough opportunity at home with family to serve every moment.
Looking forward to listen to wonderful stories and small experiment of service at home and school whenever we meet.
In Service, sending you smiles till we meet next. 🙂
Parag and Mihir

5th Circle-Service–going further

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Dear All

Thank you for being part of the circle. It is good to see everyone goes through the homework (readings and video) and share there reflection. As we listen to different perspectives deeply, there is subtle learning and shift which are not very remarkable or easy to spot but there is a shift and that is a seed of deep learning to emerge.
My attempt would be to create and hold more QUESTIONS and EDGES to our reading and reflections, just holding different questions enlarges our perspective of any content or worldview. If we can create more questions online and hold it together,  it would add more to our perspective and learning and it would be very synergistic for all of us which is collective creativity.
We are done with our second theme which is “Service” and we will go forward with our third theme in our next circle, meanwhile looking forward to your feedback and suggestion if any as we go forward. I am complete driven by intuition for the content for the circle and will look forward to any suggestion for change or tweaking if any. I would also request all ( a great opportunity to serve) to share online, offline and beyond if you have anything to share which enriches our time together.
Meanwhile to widen our perspective on service, (additional reading and if anyone wishes can share there reflection online)
Howard Schultz, is a CEO of Starbucks and this is what he has to say about the upcoming Presidential election in America.
Peter Buffet, son of legendary Warren Buffet, One of Richest man (in capitalist context) has to say about Money and charity.
Some tidbits around a very dear friends deeply inspiring service journey.
Happy Exploring, Learning and Smiling. 🙂
On behalf of Paragbhai

4th Circle-Service

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A complete act of service in itself is fulfilling and there is nothing to gain beyond that act. It is like an flight of eagle where no traces are left behind in its flight.
Sharing with you all a beautiful profound story which explains the crux of Giving or Serving in 2 minutes.
I have read this story at least dozen times and it still does not stop touching my inner core and filling me with awe. 
On behalf of Paragbhai

 

Reflection on”Being connected”

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On behalf of Shezin

 

Yesterday I experienced a series of joyous moments.

 

First when I sat in bus at 4:50pm, I had a message from student who has given his grade 10 exam this year. He wanted to discuss something and it was urgent. I was worried asked him immediately if he was fine. He just wanted to share his experience of month staying away from family and his friends, in Mumbai (he is shifting to Mumbai for Grade 11). It was very emotional the way he shared everything with me. He said at the end that even though he is not in school now he will keep bothering me with his doubts.

 

Then I got down at my stop and heard two boys shouting Shezin ma’am across the road they came running and met me. Two boys from 2014-16 batch who just completed their G12 exams. They had so many questions. “How is everyone at school? How are you? Do you miss us ma’am? Ma’am please stay in touch!”

 

I was so touched and happy with these gestures.

 

I then went to VR mall with my husband I was just looking at something in over crowded shop (ZARA Sale) and suddenly one of my student whom I met last before a year and half came running to me. I was his mentor teacher when he was in Grade 7. He came and hugged me in the mall and said “I am meeting you after so long. I have missed you so much. Now I am in Grade 10 and doing well. Ma’am stay in touch. Hope to see you soon some day like this.” I was almost in tears. I had no words and I still don’t have words to express what I felt.

 

My husband saw me with tears and hold my hand and said Shezin you are so lucky to have them in your life. To this I replied I am so lucky to work at FS and it is all because of FS and guess what… Whom do you think I saw next????

 

I saw Ankita ma’am… I was clueless. I was so thrilled I went to her and I didn’t know what to say and I asked her “Are you alone ma’am?” I wanted to ask If Vardan sir was there too but I really had no clue of what I was saying.

 

A day full of connections and priceless feelings… Now I understand all that you were conveying.. Stay Connected!

 

Thanks a lot!

 

With permission to post by Paragbhai

 

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