Posts

Life Positive 101 - Weeding Out Negative Influences

Image
Image Courtesy: shareyourwallpapers.com The story goes that a frog fell into a well that was several hundred feet deep. His friends sat on the wall atop the well and croaked stuff like, “Oh, that’s deep!” and “Poor Todd, he’s done for!” The frog at the bottom of the well though, just jumped and jumped and after a long time, made it out. How did he make it out? It just so happened that Todd was deaf. Because he couldn’t hear his friends, he did not know just how “hopeless” his situation was. So he did the only thing he knew how to do: He jumped and jumped and in time, found himself out of the terrible predicament he was in.  One of the things I always try to stress in Social Therapy meetings is the need to weed out negative influences. What do I mean by negative influences? 1. People who always criticise  For better or for worse, they are friends or family. But they never notice how you react. They never acknowledge how far you’ve come. They simply keep point...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Wisdom Of The Ancients - The Peepal Tree And It's Social Significance As A Meeting Place

Image
Image credit: traveltalesfromindia.in You have probably seen it in countless Indian movies. The peepul or banyan is the centre of the village’s social life. Pretty much everybody has to stop by them in the course of a day’s work, and people stop by to chat and exchange news and gossip. The village vagabonds, sleep underneath it. The gamblers sit and play their cards over a glass of tea. Often times, this is where the sarpanch (village headman) holds his meetings. This is a place where everybody is recognised. It is a place where everybody’s story is told and heard. It is a place where everybody has a voice.  We often woefully bemoan the loss of the wholesome foods, fresh air and healthy lifestyle of country living and of days gone by. But we completely forget that one of the reasons why our forefathers were strong and resilient could be this social system. In their day, not everybody was part of a joint family - there were people even then, who went elsewhere in se...
Post a Comment
Read more