MY PARADIGM SHIFT
“ Coming together is beginning, keeping together is progress and working together is a success. ”
– Henry Ford
Making a connection with the above quote, Life classes @FS has become the most awaited event for me. We began together, we progressed together and now, we together, are at the successful completion of 7 habits life classes.
Mayur Sir and Khusboo Ma’am were our facilitators and they made these sessions as one of the valuable and cherishable time at school.
Starting with the 7 Habits classes, as a part of Gamma, I had a lot of learning and takeaways. The session began by discussing and taking charge of our actions followed by beginning our plans with the end in the mind.
There was a part with the name DEATH BED activity, I cannot forget that session as it shook me and made me realize that future is unseen, it is unpredictable and we should plan it well, think of all our wishes and dreams we want to achieve and place it in the 4 quadrants.
Life changed from that very moment, my plannings changed, my behavior changed and all these changes were positive. From watching relevant videos to small readings, going out, sharing our problems, seeking solutions, interacting with people from different fields, these all helped us value different perspectives and appreciate each individual. There were times when we actually shared, what we never wanted to, or open up in front of the strangers, maybe with this thought – that who they are and how it will matter to them, but life classes help you to truly absorb its essence.
The book The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People talks about moving from dependence to independence and then to interdependence. The same can be explained through this image.
I did apply a lot of learning from these life classes. My husband is a Stephen Covey preacher and he too kept on talking about all these real-life facts and ways to make life happy, focusing on the circle of concern rather than influence, It has to be a proactive approach and not a reactive one and so on. I honestly ignored all this advice. Life classes, however, had an optimistic approach towards the same, the way we talk with multiple people and share our opinion helped us overcome a lot of problems. That is why I could connect that personal victory has to be achieved in order to attain public victory. As we deal with students, parents and other team members, it is important to understand that we first have to build our roots strong, followed by choosing right route to walk along and that is how we get fruit. It is a fact that recalling any of the habits in a situation where a quick decision has to be made, becomes difficult, but practice makes a man perfect. Unless we apply our learning consciously, it is difficult to achieve the gist of gained understanding. I remember giving a letter to our facilitators, it was written by me and I further added the consent of all participants in the footnote, this was a natural flow of feelings which came from a discussion of EBA ( Come on Mayur Sir, now do not take it as a joke and think that I wanted to make some deposits ….:))). I had a discussion post this session with my son, he too is reading 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Teenagers. He shared how we have made deposits and withdrawals from this emotional account. After having a lot of discussions I realized that maybe I am the only one who is not reading this book or rather not applying these learnings as they are effective.
My AHA moment of this life class was the DEATHBED activity as it surely brought a change in my life. I enjoyed playing games, acting, presenting, going to the beach with the team and many more reflection activities. Every session was well planned. The facilitators made sharing so easy that soon we felt as if we all belong to a common group and it is okay to share our feelings there. From giving suggestions to seeking solutions, it was all under one roof. I believe that learning never stops, we learn new skills every moment and from anyone; it is all about application.
Since the learning for me is a good asset and a lot to share, still, If I have to summarise the book and my learning into a quote, then I would choose to say – “ I used to take all outside – in, but I will now bring my all inside – out.”
Thank you, FS for conducting the life classes and choosing inspiring facilitators.
Puja Aggarwal
PYP HRT – Grade 6