Jagriti 55th Batch

Explore what happens when you empty your boat, empty your cup, empty your house (or burn it) . Explore what happens when you empty your boat, empty your cup, empty your house (or burn it). One sign that you are operating from your FULL CUP is when you start defending your point of view, arguing about it and even feeling upset if somebody challenges you. We feel emotionally or socially hurt ONLY because we have an image and that image is getting poked at. Some people call it EGO. Keep a small diary of where you felt hurt by others comments or actions and use them as light bulbs to enlighten the dark hut inside. warmly Aditi- Ratnesh  (Ph: +91-98450-45833) Aarohi Website |  Aarohi on FB Aarohi is a community of self directed learners - Children who decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn, when they want to learn and use self assessment. We do not follow any philosophy, we follow the child. Aarohi offers an open learning environment at: Aarohi O-Campus: Bodichipa...

For certain technical reason we needed to change the zoom link for  Jagriti 55 This is the new link and this will stay the same for rest of the sessions https://zoom.us/j/92095604259?pwd=dFNPbk9qQTdyUGxuREI5QS92Vi9RZz09 Meeting ID: 920 9560 4259 with passcode  awaken Kindly save the new link / meeting id for quick reference. warmly Ratnesh  (Ph: +91-98450-45833) Aarohi Website   |   FaceBook    |   Instagram   |   Twitter Open learning  group on Telegram Aarohi is an Open Learning Community for learners of all ages: Open to all kinds of interests, abilities, styles and content areas. Learning by doing what one wants, how one wants, and self reflection. Community to co-live, co-learn and co-support each other. Aarohi's Campus is in a village near Hosur in Tamil Nadu (55km fm Bangalore). 

Hi All We all use terms like respect, self-esteem, confidence, etc. But do we understand them deeply enough? If we have only one idea about something- then we merely know it. Understanding to us means , having many views of the same thing - the more views, the more I understand something. Hence, it can be freeing and  rewarding  when we understand what beliefs we have about ourselves, what beliefs society is selling and what beliefs advertisers are using to laugh their way to the bank. What images I have bought, what images I am selling to children and what images I am running after. All we need to do is understand each of these images.  What, for example, patience means; How I am patiently waiting at the doc for half an hour, but impatient if I have to wait for half a minute at the supermarket checkout line. What would happen if I LET GO of some images, of all images, of myself ... what will that do to me and the world around me. Let's explore . Self. At this link you will find...

Here are some beliefs (about feelings) which we explored on friday. I t would be a good idea if you can spend some time noting down what are your BELIEFS about emotions - for example - see if you consider the below dozen statements as true or false: Some feelings are positive, some are negative. If somebody is feeling low we should cheer up the person. Feelings are automatic, they cannot be controlled. What others do causes feelings in us. If we want to feel a certain feeling, it is possible to feel that way. I am very emotional. Children are emotional. Feelings are not important, one should be rational and logical to lead a happy life. We need to take care of the behaviour, not the emotion. Emotions are clear indicators of underlying needs. I know what my children / others are feeling. I am responsible for my feelings <add one of your own here> The idea is not to say - my belief is wrong or this statement is right. Rather to explore what would happen if I adopted - just to play ...

The Session #4 preparation is also available on Jagriti Blog at this link 1. Think of  5 adjectives that you would use to describe yourself. W rite them on a piece of paper (or card) and stick / pin them on your dress when you come to the session 2. For each of the following - Pl choose ALWAYS (all the time, in every situation) or SOMETIMES or NEVER (ever) I lose patience I am organised I speak sweetly I am angry I am friendly I am lazy I make good decisions I am sensitive I  manage my emotions I dream I lie 3. Think of a few people who you can put in each of the following four categories People I Respect and Love People I Respect, but Not Love People I Love, but may not Respect People I neither Love Nor Respect Be Aware of your thoughts as you do the above exercise. 4 . Write what beliefs you have about your child / children / yourself being Beautiful Confident Intelligent Imperfect Successful 5. Check out this story: The teacher asked her class what each wanted to become when they gr...

Often we're asked this question: "So After I have considered and respected and accepted the child's feelings, and I have even acknowledged the m , what next? Our response : It's like me asking you, after you have won a million dollar lottery, "What next"? Well nobody asks this (after the lottery) question - because we do not care, what next. We celebrate the lottery, that's it. It's assumed after the lottery, 'they happily lived ever after' In a way it's similar with emotions. By acknowledging, accepting and respecting the child's feelings - we have got the lottery. The lottery is the connection to the child. We have a relationship going! Who bothers ' what after that ' ! You will say, "Ya all that is fine, but what do I do next? What do I do about, say the child's behaviour" And I say, "What's the hurry? If you want to fix the child or fix the situation or get the outcome you s...

After you have enjoyed Rumi's thoughts,  Read this article: All feelings are okay http:// aarohilife.org /home/resources/are-all-feelings-okay warmly Aditi- Ratnesh  (Ph: +91-98450-45833) Aarohi Website |  Aarohi on FB Aarohi is a community of self directed learners - Children who decide what they want to learn, how they want to learn, when they want to learn and use self assessment. We do not follow any philosophy, we follow the child. Aarohi offers an open learning environment at: Aarohi O-Campus: Bodichipalli Village, Kelamangalam, 16km from Hosur, 55km from Bangalore (in Tamil Nadu) Google Maps: https://goo.gl/maps/JQx0H

Listening and looking for feelings, accepting and acknowledging them and receiving feelings is a NEW language for many of us. Learning a NEW language, one of the feelings, does not mean that our other languages, of denying feelings, giving solutions, doling out gyan, reprimanding, sympathizing etc, was wrong. It only means that we are learning a new language while keeping the old languages with us. Learning a new language of understanding only means we are increasing our choices. We have one more way of connecting to the child .   At this link you will find a workout for the session on feelings (workbook in PDF format). Please download it or save it in your google drive or print it. You can either just refer to it or fill it on paper or online using an online PDF editor or simply use it to do your own thinking in a notebook. You need not share with us in email, though parts of it you can share in Whatsapp group as per your wish.

When we see through one window - we only see a limited view. The view itself is neither good nor bad, though we may like it or not. To change the view, one option is to change the view itself (eg change my behaviour, change the child or change the world) To change the view, another option is to change the window - which will give us another view. Also, Sometimes, I may change the window not to change anything, but just to enjoy another view. In which case now I have two views to keep. and so on. Some of us, once we open another window and get a new view, like to share the same with others. These are called bloggers, authors, poets, scientists, journalists, social workers, activists, and FRIENDS Posting your thoughts/experiences in our telegram group  helps you open your windows as well as helps others see new ones. That is why it i s called jagriti community. That's why we want you to be our friend.

Session #3 - Feelings (this friday) 1. Look at the comic strip below. What are your thoughts? 2. Think of an y unacceptable behaviour of your child. If you do not have your own child - this could be anybody else behaving with you in an unacceptable way - but preferably a child. Now fill up this online form . Please use only 2-5 words in each line. You can fill the form multiple times for different unacceptable situations. After submitting , what are your thoughts? 3. Watch this video (of a girl who does not want to go to school)- what specifically you learn from this video. 4. Watch this video (a clip from the movie I AM SAM) - think what would you say or do if you were the waitress . 5a. Today, the whole day, carry with you a small card or a notepad (or use your smartphone) and keep making note of the different feelings you experience during your day. Keep writing against each of the feelings - what/who was responsible for the feeling. 5b. In the same diary, against each of...

Many times we justify our beliefs based on our experience. But experience is a deceptive teacher.  We can never be sure what we have learned is valuable or not. Maybe what the experience has taught to us is relevant and meaningful. Maybe the experience is only causing us to adopt beliefs which are blocking, limiting or hampering us. Maybe. Which is why children - who are yet not contaminated or conditioned can often throw completely startling beliefs at us. But we think we are wiser. Really? Or is it that we simply know more and knowing can be such a block to exploring . No wonder children learn much faster than us. Is the belief we get from exp erience more valuable than other beliefs? How can we be so sure? One way to look at experience is to call it stale learning. How will it be if we discard our experience as just an occurrence? What would happen if we emptied our cups to accept fresh learnings? Or maybe we kept many cups and kept taking new 'thoughts', neither as superior...

I do not want to be tied down with my own beliefs. I do not want to imprison myself within my room of truths. I want to be FREE. All I need to do is to question, challenge, doubt myself. This makes me aware. Then I could play around with my views and experiment with my beliefs Also, I can open myself to others to question me, poke me, push me, pull me and I can do the same to others. Maybe all I need is a mind ready to learn, unlearn, relearn Or all I need to learn is to say (to myself): ? Maybe ? At this link you will find a workout for the session Beliefs (workbook in PDF format). Please download it or save it in your google drive. You can either just refer to it or fill it online using an online PDF editor or simply use it to do your own thinking in a notebook. You need not share with us in email, though parts of it you can share in the telegram group as per your wish. Recordings of all sessions are added to  this  YOUTUBE PLAYLIST   We will not be sending individual recording...

A man who wants to learn ZEN gets redirected to a small tea shop that an elderly lady runs. He goes and asks her, "Can you teach me Zen?" The elderly lady, in response, SLAPS him hard. Shocked, the man runs aways only to come back the next day, disguised, just to find out why she slapped him. He quietly sits in one corner of her shop, afraid that he may get slapped again. As he sits there, he observes . He observes how she makes the tea, how she serves her customers and how her whole shop is and he observes every little detail about this lady and her tea shop and thereby he learns  ZEN. When somebody tells us that he or she wants to learn about children or how to facilitate them, we recommend three things you must do and those are: Observe  Observe     Observe   Most of what we have learned about children has actually come about because we observed and are still observing and learning. Which is why when people want to learn from us, we gently, but firmly turn them to learn fr...