Link for participants

 This is a link for participants to file questions, doubts, clarifications in Google Form on the day of the session.

Link to form

https://forms.gle/fMmPVrxEvR4rL1Z58

Avoiding engaging in Gossip

Avoid Engaging in Gossip. 

Here's why you should not GOSSIP.

In Ancient Greece, Socrates had a great reputation of wisdom. One day, someone came to find the great philosopher and said to him:

- Do you know what I just heard about your friend?

- A moment, replied Socrates. Before you tell me, I would like to test you the three sieves.

- The three sieves?

- Yes, continued Socrates. Before telling anything about the others, it's good to take the time to filter what you mean. I call it the test of the three sieves. The first sieve is the TRUTH. Have you checked if what you're going to tell me is true?

- No, I just heard it.

- Very good! So, you don't know if it's true. We continue with the second sieve, that of KINDNESS. What you want to tell me about my friend, is it good?

- Oh, no! On the contrary.

- So, questioned Socrates, you want to tell me bad things about him and you're not even sure they're true? Maybe you can still pass the test of the third sieve, that of UTILITY. Is it useful that I know what you're going to tell me about this friend?

- No, really.

- So, concluded Socrates, what you were going to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor useful. Why, then, did you want to tell me this?

"Gossip is a bad thing. In the beginning it may seem enjoyable and fun, but in the end, it fills our hearts with bitterness and poisons us, too!"

- Pope Francis

A touching poem from an old dying man

An old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home. He had nothing left of any value except this poem in his belongings.

The nurses who found it were so touched, that they made copies and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One of them got it printed in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and in magazines for Mental Health. 

This old man is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem.

Read it and share it like I have.

_____________________

*Cranky Old Man*

What do you see nurses?

    What do you see?

What are you thinking

   When you're looking at me?

A cranky old man,

    not very wise,

Uncertain of habit

   with faraway eyes?

Who dribbles his food

   and makes no reply.

When you say in a loud voice,

   I do wish you'd try!

Who seems not to notice

    the things that you do

And forever is losing

   A sock or shoe?

Who, resisting or not

    lets you do as you will,

With bathing and feeding

   The long day to fill?

Is that what you're thinking?

  Is that what you see?

Then open your eyes, nurse

   You're not looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am

  As I sit here so still,

As I do at your bidding,

  As I eat at your will.

I'm a small child of Ten

  with a father and mother,

Brothers and sisters 

  who love one another

A young boy of Sixteen

   with wings on his feet

Dreaming that soon now

  a lover he'll meet.

A groom soon at Twenty

  my heart gives a leap.

Remembering, the vows

  That I promised to keep.

At Twenty-Five, now

   I have young of my own.

Who need me to guide 

   And a secure happy home.

A man of Thirty

  My young now grown fast,

Bound to each other

  With ties that should last.

At Forty, my young sons

   have grown and are gone,

But my woman is beside me

  to see I don't mourn.

At Fifty, once more,

  Babies play 'round my knee,

Again, we know children

  My loved one and me.

Dark days are upon me

  My wife is now dead.

I look at the future

  I shudder with dread.

For my young are all rearing

  young of their own.

And I think of the years

  And the love that I've known.

I'm now an old man

  and nature is cruel.

It's jest to make old age

  look like a fool.

The body, it crumbles

  grace and vigour, depart.

There is now a stone

  where I once had a heart.

But inside this old carcass

  A young man still dwells,

And now and again

  my battered heart swells

I remember the joys 

  I remember the pain.

And I'm loving and living

  life over again.

I think of the years, all too few

  gone too fast.

And accept the stark fact

 that nothing can last.

So open your eyes, 

  people open and see.

Not a cranky old man

Look closer 

  see ME!!

_________________________

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!

Non Violent Communication

Peaceful Communication Skills

(An Online Session by Prasanna Raghunathan)

Training Fee Rs.3999 for 8 Sessions

Benefits:  

1. It is a powerful process for inspiring compassionate connection and action

2. It provides a framework and set of skills to address a wide range of concerns in intimate relationships as well as professional relationships

3. It can help to prevent conflicts as well as to peacefully resolve them

4. It helps to sharpen the awareness of our language so that they can express what really matters to us, and also hear what really matters to others

5. It involves empathic communication whereby we can attune ourselves to both our own and other people's real needs.

6. It provides the clarity and empathic connection needed to find inner good-will and solutions that work for everyone.

Schedule for Feb batch: 

Session 1 0f 8: 4th Feb Saturday 7-8:30 pm

Session 2 of 8: 5th Feb Sunday 7-8:30 pm

Session 3 0f 8: 11th Feb Saturday 7-8:30 pm

Session 4 of 8: 12th Feb Sunday 7-8:30 pm

Session 5 0f 8: 18th Feb Saturday 7-8:30 pm

Session 6 of 8: 19th Feb Sunday 7-8:30 pm

Session 7 0f 8: 25th Feb Saturday 7-8:30 pm

Session 8 of 8: 26th Feb Sunday 7-8:30 pm

Energy exchange/Investment: 

Training fee: 3999/-

Not sure whether it is worth a try?

Try at no cost!

Pay 499/- and attend 2 sessions. If you dont seem to benefit, then take back your money. No conditions. 

If it makes sense, then pay the remaining 3500/-. Sounds fair?

We would like to have a peaceful relationship… 😊

Quotes of Ratan Tata

Quotes of Ratan Tata taken from navi.com from google.com Site

1. "I admire people who are very successful. But if that success has been achieved through too much ruthlessness, then I may admire that person, but I can't respect him."

Respect needs to be earned. Your ethics, morals and values define them.

2. "I have been constantly telling people to encourage people, to question the unquestioned and not to be ashamed to bring up new ideas, new processes to get things done."

Think outside the box, your ideas could lead you to the journey that you always dreamed of.

3. "Businesses need to go beyond the interest of their companies to the communities they serve".

Business is not all about profit. It's also about helping people and giving back to society. And that's exactly what Ratan Tata has been doing.

4. "Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going because a straight line, even in an ECG means we are not alive."

Success and obstacles are a part of life. The world is not perfect. But, you have the power to turn those obstacles into motivation not destroy you.

5. "If you want to walk fast, walk alone. But if you want to walk far, walk together."

Teamwork makes the dream work. We all need the help of others at some point so don't walk too fast, you will need them again.

6. "A person who is trying to copy others will be a successful person for a while, but he won't be able to succeed further in life."

Authenticity will lead you to greater success even if that success takes more time.

7. "Take the stones people throw at you and use them to build a monument."

Listen to constructive criticism to motivate and inspire you. It will encourage you to be better and more successful.

8. "None can destroy iron, but rust can. Likewise, none can destroy a person, but his own mindset can.""

A winning mindset will always lead you to a positive pathway. Be conscious about what you think and always look out for others. It's your mind and you are the only one who has the power to control it.

Source : navi.com on Google Site

On forgiveness

Link to source : https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/30/violet-forgive/?amp=1

Forgiveness Is the Fragrance the Violet Sheds on the Heel That Has Crushed It

Mark Twain? George Roemisch? Sophia May Eckley? Ella A. Giles? Elizabeth Reeves Humphreys? Apocryphal?

Dear Quote Investigator: The following evocative metaphorical definition of forgiveness is often attributed to Mark Twain:

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.

But I have seen the quotation below credited to someone named George Roemisch in the popular advice column “Dear Abby”:

Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet which still clings fast to the heel that crushed it.

I find this example of figurative speech fascinating. Is the ascription to Twain accurate? Would you explore the history of this type of saying?

Quote Investigator: There is no substantive evidence that Mark Twain said or wrote this statement. It is not listed on the TwainQuotes.com website edited by Barbara Schmidt, an important reference tool for checking expressions ascribed to the humorist. Also, it does not appear in the large compilation “Mark Twain at Your Fingertips”. The unsupported linkage to Twain was printed in newspapers by the 1970s. See details further below.

This metaphor does have a very long history and a variety of plants with aromas have been substituted into its framework. In 1794 a prominent scholar of ancient India and languages named Sir William Jones delivered a lecture titled “The Philosophy of the Asiaticks”.

Jones discussed the topic of forgiveness and its figurative representation in a work he credited to a pandit. The sandalwood tree has a close-grained wood that is prized for its long-lasting fragrance. In the following passage the destructive force was provided by an axe and not a foot:[1]

…the beautiful Aryá couplet, which was written at least three centuries before our era, and which pronounces the duty of a good man, even in the moment of his destruction to consist not only in forgiving, but even in a desire of benefiting, his destroyer, as the Sandal-tree, in the instant of its overthrow, sheds perfume on the axe, which fells it…

An 1812 a book by Reverend Charles Colton discussed forgiveness and employed the same metaphor while citing the words of Sir William Jones in a footnote. Colton presented a “sandal-tree” as an example of a plant which had been “wronged” but reacted with “forgiveness” and “kindness”:[2]

The falling Sandal-Tree sheds fragrance round,

Perfumes the axe that fells it to the ground;

Some through their tortured trunks a balm supply,

And to give life to their destroyer—die;

In 1845 a poem titled “Father! Forgive Them!” used the symbol of a “floweret” which had been crushed beneath a foot to represent forgiveness. The overall context of the work was Christian:[3]

“Father, forgive them!” As a floweret fair,

When crushed beneath some rude and careless tread,

Breathes forth its fragrance on the balmy air,

Regaling him who hath its beauties shed

Here are additional selected citations in chronological order.

In 1847 a Sunday School lesson included rhyming verse that was based on the sandalwood tree example:[4]

The sandal-tree perfumes, when riven,

The axe that laid it low;

Let him who hopes to be forgiven,

Forgive and bless his foe.

In 1848 the verse above was attributed to the “Persian poet Sadi”, but this ascription may have been based on a misreading of the lecture by Jones who mentioned Sadi but credited him with different words unrelated to the sandalwood tree:[5]

FORGIVENESS.—One of the most beautiful gems of oriental literature is contained in a passage from the Persian poet Sadi, quoted by Sir William Jones, the sentiment of which is embodied in the following lines:—

The sandal-tree perfumes, when riven,

The axe that laid it low;

Let man who hopes to be forgiven,

Forgive and bless his foe.

In 1855 a metaphor employing trampled flowers appeared in a journal called “The Sacred Circle” which contained articles about spiritualism:[6]

Forgiveness is the perfume which flowers give when trampled upon.

In 1863 a “poor mute” was credited with an instance of the figurative statement based on “a bruised flower”:[7]

There is poetry in the answer of the poor mute, who, when asked for a definition of forgiveness, wrote on his slate, “Forgiveness is the fragrance which a bruised flower yields to him who tramples on it.” There is poetry, too, in the explanation which some one has given of the simple Christian precept, “Love your enemies.” He who loves his enemies is like “the sandal-tree, which sheds a perfume on the axe that fells it.”

In 1869 the poet Sophia May Eckley employed a geranium in her verse to illustrate forgiveness:[8]

A Rose Geranium Sings

You may crush us and break us at will,

But forgiveness may hide in a grief;

Forgiveness! sweet unction of fragrance,

Bruised from a geranium leaf.

In 1890 the poem “Forgiveness” by the poet Ella A. Giles appeared in a compilation titled “Local and National Poets of America”:[9]

FORGIVENESS.

Forgiveness is the fragrance, rare and sweet,

That flowers yield when trampled on by feet

That reckless tread the tender, teeming earth;

For blossoms crushed and bleeding yet give birth

To pardon’s perfume; from the stern decrees

Of unforgiveness. Nature ever flees.

In 1898 a Sunday School lesson plan credited a “little blind girl” with an instance of the metaphor:[10]

Let the children tell you what they understand forgiveness to be. A little blind girl when asked what she thought it means said, “It is the fragrance of a flower after it is crushed!”

In 1916 a short item in “The Judge” magazine credited a “blind Indiana child’ with an instance of the popular saying that employed a violet:[11]

Definition Elaborated

If, as a blind Indiana child once wrote, “forgiveness is the perfume of the violet on the heel that crushed it,” gratitude may safely be characterized as the perfume of the rose on the hand that caressed it.

In 1935 an instance of the saying with a violet appeared in the syndicated newspaper column of O. O. McIntyre:[12]

A recently headlined gentleman, unjustly bruised, sends this definition of forgiveness: “The fragrance of a violet lingering on the heel that crushed it.”

In 1954 “Think” the magazine of the International Business Machines Corporation printed a poem by Elizabeth Reeves Humphreys titled “The Fragrance of Forgiveness”. Here is an excerpt featuring a hyacinth:[13]

Think on this saying from the East:

“Forgiveness is the fragrance

Of a trampled hyacinth.”

Sublime thought,

Repaying injury with the sweetness

Of a crushed flower.

In 1965 the widely distributed advice column “Dear Abby” printed the saying. The columnist Abigail Van Buren, a pen name, would reprint the statement several times in the upcoming years:[14]

Confidential to Wronged in Fort Worth: Forgiveness is the fragrance of a violet on the heel of the one who crushed it.

By 1971 the saying had been reassigned to Mark Twain. An advertisement section called “Shop with Sue” in a Spokane, Washington newspaper printed the text below. The section contained more than a dozen adages, quips, and quotations most of which were unattributed:[15]

Forgiveness: The fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it. —Twain.

In 1973 the saying was linked to Mark Twain again. This time a syndicated columnist named Hal Boyle actually credited the phrase to “an asylum inmate”:[16]

It was Mark Twain (quoting an asylum inmate) who observed, “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.”

In 1981 “Dear Abby” printed a note from “Donna Smith in the Bronx” who asserted that the statement about a crushed violet was contained in a poem by a schoolmate named George Roemisch. Smith sent the full poem to Abigail Van Buren who immediately published a section. In a later column the full poem was printed. Also, in future columns Roemisch was credited:[17]

DEAR ABBY: You told ANONYMOUS in a recent column to resolve her anger, and then you quoted a line from a poem that was written by George Roemisch, a former schoolmate of mine. The quote: “Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet on the heel of the one who crushed it.” That is only part of his poem titled “Forgiveness,” which I am enclosing in its entirety.

In conclusion, the metaphorical framework has an extensive history. The earliest examples known to QI were based on the sandalwood tree and an axe. In 1844 an instance with a floweret crushed by a “careless tread” was published. Multiple poets have been attracted to this imagery, and flowers such as geraniums, hyacinths, and violets have been featured in verses.

There is no substantive evidence that Mark Twain crafted this metaphor. Poems using this symbolism are following a well-trodden flower-filled path. Please be careful where you step.

(Great thanks to Pamela Thompson whose inquiry gave impetus to QI to construct this question. In addition, Thompson identified the interesting 1916 citation. Thanks also to “eagle pelican” @pelicaneagle who asked about this saying.)

Pope Francis Retirement Views

Pope Francis Retirement Thoughts

POPE FRANCIS RETIREMENT SPEECH

Family and Forgiveness

There is no perfect family.

We do not have perfect parents, 

you are not perfect yourself.

We do not marry a perfect person 

or we do not have perfect children.

We have complaints from each other. We can not live together without offending one another.

We are constantly disappointed. Yes for so many reasons at different times we are disappointed by one another.

There is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the medicine of family joy and happiness.

Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. No matter the offence or who is the offender. Without forgiveness, the family becomes an arena of conflict and a fortress of evil.

Without forgiveness, the family becomes sick and unhealthy.

Forgiveness is the asepsis of the soul, the purification of the spirit and the liberation of the heart. No sin is too big to be forgiven. He who does not forgive does not have peace in his soul and can not have communion with God.

Unforgiving is Evil and a poison that intoxicates and kills the one who refuses to forgive.

Keeping heartache of unforgiving in your heart is a self-destructive gesture. It's autophagy.

Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill. And they will suffer in two ways.

For this reason, the family must be a place of life and not a place of death; a place of forgiveness, a place of paradise and not a place of hell; A healing territory and not a disease; an internship of forgiveness and not guilt.

Forgiveness brings joy where sorrow has brought sadness; of

Healing where sorrow has caused disease.

A family is a place of support and not of gossip and slander of one another. It must be a place of welcome not a place of rejection. Shame to those who plant evil about others. We are family and not enemies.

When anyone is going through a challenge all they need is support.

By Pope Francisco