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Are you an Night Owl?

A Learning Leader
Night Owl

If you have been struggling all your life to wake up early to start your day before the Sun rises but haven’t been able to successfully incorporate it quite yet!

Welcome to the club of Night Owls! you must have heard that, to be able to make most out of your day, to be successful, you must get up early and most probably you would have spent some years in your childhood growing up learning the poem… 

Early to Bed and Early to rise!
Makes a man Healthy, wealthy and wise!

Well! it is certainly a debatable topic in todays era, when night shifts, collaboration and travel around the world has made night shifts a commoners life style . A lot of people has their favorite time to work as evening and night time.

Literature often romanticizes night owls. The fact that they keep unusual hours, and that they are most productive in the evenings or even at night can make them seem mysterious — both appealing and somewhat frightening.

Definition

A night owl, evening person or simply owl, is a person who tends to stay up until late at night, or the early hours of the morning. Night owls who are involuntarily unable to fall asleep for several hours after a normal time.

Characteristics of a Night Owl

Usually, people who are night owls stay awake past midnight, and extreme night owls may stay awake until just before or even after dawn. Night owls tend to feel most energetic just before they go to sleep at night.

Some night owls have a preference or habit for staying up late, or stay up to work the night shift. Night owls who work the day shift often have difficulties adapting to standard daytime working hours.

Night owls have often been blamed for unpunctuality or attitude problems. Employers, however, have begun to learn to increase productivity by respecting body clocks through flexible working hours.

Some research has found that night owls are more intelligent and creative and more likely to get high-paying jobs than larks. However, they lag behind larks in academic performance, and they tend to have unhealthier eating habits, as well as higher rates of smoking.

Some night owls, with great difficulty adopting normal sleeping and waking times may have delayed sleep-phase disorder. Morning light therapy may be helpful in shifting sleep rhythms for the night owl.

Given the high number of people who are naturally inclined to go to bed late and wake up late, it is essential to understand what impact their rhythms may have on their health, and why. In more general terms, research about individual body clocks and sleep-wake patterns can help us build a healthier and happier society.

What are the best habits in the night considering you are a Night Owl?

sleep routine
  1. Always brush your teeth before going to bed and if possible, take a shower.
  2. Read at least 10 pages of a book. If it’s not fiction, so much the better.
  3. Stretch before bed. This will relax your muscles and help you get a good night’s sleep.
  4. Always have a pen and notebook near your bed. Sometimes ideas that will change your life can come to mind at 2 AM.
  5. Have a glass of water before sleeping. If you don’t, at least do it first thing in the morning.
  6. Write down 3 things that you are truly grateful for. Keep a journal to track the progress of your day. Also write down your expenses.
  7. Choose the clothes that you will wear the next day.
  8. Pack your suitcase for work or study tomorrow. Make sure you are not missing anything important.
  9. Spend 10 minutes without thinking about anything.
  10. Inhale Exhale.

Changing perception towards Night owls

Researchers say “If, as a society, we could be more flexible about how we manage time, we could go a long way towards maximizing productivity and minimizing health risks,”

“If anything, it’s actually economically illiterate not to offer this as you have a whole host of people working way below their maximum potential, which morality aside is simply bad business,” the same person asserted.

And night owls do have their advantages, which researchers also acknowledge. One study from 1999 argues that “early to bed, early to rise will likely make you anything but wise,” finding that night owls score better on intelligence tests than morning larks.

As an educationalist and parent, I feel that we need to understand that for today’s generation of our children and students we need to understand and accept that Not being a morning lark is not a crime at all and night owls are still Wise owls!

With hopes to have a more positive perception towards night owls, and while this happens, let’s follow what our heart, body and soul says…

“Listen to the night as the night knows your truths, your stories, your aches, your dreams, your cravings, your forgotten memories, not so forgotten.”

Victoria Erickson

“I will always write.
I will capture nights all over the world
and bring them to you.”

Henry Rollins

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Education, Online learning, school

Revival of an oldest University-The Nalanda!

A Learning Leader

Nalanda has been an epitome of education once! Every educationalist should know what was and what is Nalanda?

The story of Nalanda -the first university

Nalanda the oldest university..

Nalanda (ISO: Nālandā, pronounced [naːlən̪d̪aː]) was an ancient Mahavihara (university), a revered Buddhist monastery which also served as a renowned centre of learning, in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern-day Bihar) in India. The university of Nalanda obtained significant fame, prestige and relevance during ancient times, and rose to legendary status due to its contribution to the emergence of India as a great power around the fourth century. The site is located about 95 kilometres (59 mi) southeast of Patna near the city of Bihar Sharif, and was one of the greatest centres of learning in the world from the fifth century CE to 1200 CE. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nalanda flourished under the patronage of the Gupta Empire in the 5th and 6th centuries, and later under Harsha, the emperor of Kannauj. Kumara Gupta was the one who established this university primarily, a Buddhist monastery that worked as a university set up at Bihar was an important center of learning long before Oxford, Cambridge, and Europe’s oldest university Bologna was founded. 

Can anyone believe the array of subjects which were taught in this prestigious institution like Nalanda? The Subjects like vedas, theology, grammar, logic, astronomy, metaphysics, medicine, and philosophy were taught in those times?

Much of our knowledge of Nalanda comes from the writings of pilgrim monks from Asia, such as Xuanzang and Yijing, who traveled to the Mahavihara(university) in the 7th century CE.

Nalanda was destroyed three times but was rebuilt only twice. It was ransacked and destroyed by an army of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate under Bakhtiyar Khalji in c. 1200 CE. While some sources note that the Mahavihara continued to function in a makeshift fashion after this attack, it was eventually abandoned all together and forgotten until the 19th century, when the site was surveyed and preliminary excavations were conducted by the Archaeological Survey of India. Systematic excavations commenced in 1915, which unearthed eleven monasteries and six brick temples neatly arranged on grounds 12 hectares (30 acres) in area.

The university in its golden period attracted renowned scholars from all over Asia, surviving for hundreds of years before being destroyed by invaders in 1193. 

RESURRECTION of the lost most renowned and prestigious university

In 1951, the Nava Nalanda Mahavihara (New Nalanda Mahavihara), a modern centre for Pali and Buddhism in the spirit of the ancient institution, was founded by the Government of Bihar near Nalanda’s ruins at the suggestion of Dr. Rajendra Prasad, India’s first president. It was deemed to be a university in 2006.

The idea of Nalanda as an international center of learning is being restored by a group of statesmen and scholars headed by the Nobel prize-winning economist, Amartya Sen.1 September 2014 saw the commencement of the first academic year of a modern Nalanda University, with 15 students, in nearby Rajgir. 

It has been established in a bid to revive the ancient seat of learning. The university has acquired 184 hectares (455 acres) of land for its campus and has been allotted ₹27.3 billion (equivalent to ₹35 billion or US$490 million in 2019) by the Indian government. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen was appointed as the first chancellor of this operational university.  It is also being funded by the governments of China, Singapore, Australia, Thailand, and others.

Nalanda university today not only speaks of the kind of education we had centuries ago but the importance of having a large education center could ward off all the distraction which could affect a youngster at that age.

As an Indian we should be proud that we were the first in the world to have a university which benefited students from all over the world .We are the ones who brought enlightenment of knowledge and wisdom in ignorance.

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Story credit : Pooja

about me, Education, leadership, parenting, short stories, skills

Be like a lion! Choose your battles wisely!

A Learning Leader
Be a lion! Choose your battles carefully!

Flies don’t spare anyone. These flies even try to trouble the king of the jungle especially when it is resting. Just imagine that if lion decides to teach lesson to these troublesome flies by catching and killing them. Lion will have to forget that it is the king of the jungle and , when it decides to run after them, catch them and kill them. But lion is just not bothered about them. Once in a while,it will lift its tail, swing it to make flies fly and and then just before get they come again gives a strong swish again. It is hardly bothered about the flies. Even if a lion decides to fight with these flies, mostly the flies are near its tail and it would not be able to catch the flies, because it will keep running in circles, round and round, reach nowhere and finally collapse out of frustration.

In our lives, there are many ignorant things and small problems (flies of our lives) happening around and they are bothering us. Quite often we fall in to the trap of chasing these flies around and decide to eradicate them at once, we forget our life goals and instead waste our time and energy on them. In the end, we miss our true goals and reach nowhere because we were trying to teach those flies a lesson and wasted our entire energy while in doing so hence it’s been said …..

Choose your battles wisely !

Use your energy where it is required for example a lion only uses it’s energy to catch its pray or to settle down it’s territory. It might fight a full fledged battle to impress or earn the interest of a lioness but never so it wastes its energy on the flies though they certainly trouble it when its taking some rest after a long and eventful day.

We can translate it in our life by choosing where our focus should be, it should be your earnings, income source to feed you and your family. Secondly your territory means- your existence or or your self worth-how people know you and finally, the loved ones in your family. Rest all are just the flies. Give them a swish here and there but don’t battle against them.

Another important thing to notice is that flies bother the lion only when its dormant. But, when the lion is it in motion and running, no animal, small or big, comes anywhere close. so remain fully active and focused on your goals and the small problems will stop troubling you.

What you choose to focus on will grow!

Be it problems or solutions or the journey towards your goals!

What you choose to focus on will grow!
Be it problems or solutions or the journey towards your goals!
about me, Education, HIndi, Online learning, parenting, short stories, skills

Folktales -6

A Learning Leader

Whatever you want to become in life? Patience and wisdom will always lead your path!

A short story to depict the learning from India’s rich yet simple to understand treasure of stories!

जीवन में जो कुछ भी बनना है?

धैर्य और समझदारी की आवश्यकता हमेशा होती है।

एक बार एक नवयुवक इस भ्रम में पड़ गया कि उसे जीवन में क्या करना चाहिए। उसे यह नहीं सूझ रहा था कि क्या करें, कहां जाए ? ऐसे अनेक सवालों के भार से वह अपने आप को बहुत कमजोर समझ रहा था। भ्रमित और बोझिल मन के आगे लाचार था। जब कुछ भी नहीं कह कर पाया तो उसने सोचा चलो अपनी दुविधा और इस भ्रम को अपने गांव के पास आश्रम के साधु को बताया जाए। ऐसा तय करके वह नवयुवक गांव के पास वाले आश्रम में तपस्या कर रहे साधु महाराज के पास गया। वहां जाकर उस नवयुवक ने बहुत विनम्रता से साधु महाराज को दंडवत प्रणाम किया और अनमना होकर होकर बैठ गया। सरल हृदय साधु महाराज ने उस नवयुवक से पूछा, ‘बेटे विचलित से लग रहे हो, क्या बात है। इस उम्र में इतने निराश और व्यथित क्यों हो?’ वह नवयुवक बोला “साधु महाराज, “मैं इस भ्रम में हूं कि मुझे क्या बनना चाहिए। निर्णय नहीं कर पा रहा हूं कि गृहस्थ बनूं या साधु-संत। कुछ भी निर्णय नहीं हो पा रहा है। मुझे कोई रास्ता दिखाओ।” साधु ने पूरे मन से उस नवयुवक की बात सुनी और बोले “बेटा, तुम कल 11:00 बजे मेरे पास आ जाना। हम दोनों मिलकर इस समस्या का समाधान ढूंढ लेंगे।”

A young man

साधु महाराज की बात सुनकर नवयुवक अपने घर चला गया और अगले दिन जल्दी ही ठीक 11:00 बजे प्रसन्न मन से साधु महाराज के पास पहुंचा कि आज उसकी समस्या का समाधान हो जाएगा। साधु महाराज उसकी प्रतीक्षा ही कर रहे थे। उसके आते ही वह उसे साथ लेकर कुछ दूर एक ऊंची पहाड़ी पर कुटिया में तपस्या कर रहे अपने गुरु के पास ले गए। जैसे ही उस पहाड़ी की तलहटी में पहुंचे तो गांव के उस साधु ने नवयुवक से कहा, “बेटा, इस पहाड़ी पर कुटिया में मेरे 80 वर्ष के गुरुदेव तपस्या कर रहे गेन। तू उनको जोर से आवाज लगाकर नीचे बुलाना और जब वे इस पहाड़ी से नीचे तुम्हारे पास आ जाएं तो तुम कहना, “क्षमा करें गुरुदेव। मैंने तो ऐसे ही आपको दर्शन के लिए बुलाया है। आप वापस जा सकते हैं।” साधु महाराज ने नवयुवक को कहा कि ऐसा तुम तीन बार करना। वे नाराज नहीं होते।”

इतना कहकर वह साधु महाराज पास ही एक झाड़ी की ओट में छिप कर बैठ गए। अब नवयुवक ने वैसा ही किया, जैसा कहा गया था। इस पर वे 80 वर्ष के वृद्ध संत पहाड़ी से नीचे आए और नवयुवक से बोले, “कहो बेटा, क्या परेशानी है।” उस नवयुवक ने कहा, “महाराज मैंने तो बस ऐसे ही आपको दर्शन करने के लिए बुला लिया। क्षमा करें, आप वापस जा सकते हैं।” संत बोले, कोई बात नहीं, प्रसन्न रहो।” इतना कहकर हुए 80 वर्ष के संत भरी दुपहरी में पसीने पसीने होकर वापस पहाड़ी पर अपनी कुटिया में चले गए। साधु महाराज के कहे अनुसार उस नवयुवक ने उस 80 वर्ष के संत को दो बार और नीचे बुलाया और वह सरल और सहज हृदय के संत उस नवयुवक को अज्ञानी समझकर बड़े कष्ट पाकर भी पहाड़ी पर अपनी कुटिया से बार बार आए और चले गए। ऐसा करते उस नवयुवक का दिन बीत गया।

कुछ देर में साधु महाराज आए और बोले, आओ गांव चलें। दोनों गांव चले गए। साधु महाराज ने उस नवयुवक को अगले दिन फिर 11:00 बजे बुलाया

An Indian saint

अगले दिन वह नवयुवक फिर ठीक समय पर साधु महाराज के पास आ गया और साधु महाराज उसे फिर अपने साथ लेकर गांव के एक बूढ़े गृहस्थ के पास ले गए वहां जाकर बैठ गए। वह गृहस्थी कोई पुस्तक पढ़ रहे थे कि अचानक अपनी पत्नी से बोले, “भाग्यवान सुनो, मुझे भरी दुपहरी में नहीं दिख रहा है। दीया जला कर लाओ, अंधियारा हो गया है। उस ग्रहस्थी की पत्नी आज्ञाकारी थी। बोली, “जी, अभी जला कर लाती हूं और वह तुरंत दीपक जला कर ले आई। गृहस्थ ने कहा अंधियारा मिट गया। इसे वापस ले जाओ।” अपने घर दो अतिथि आए हैं। भोजन बना लो, उस गृहस्थ की पत्नी ने बिना कोई प्रश्न किए भोजन बनाया परंतु सब्जी में नमक डालना भूल गई।

जब तीनों ने मिलकर भोजन करना आरंभ किया तो पता चला कि उनकी पत्नी भोजन में नमक डालना भूल गई है। वो गृहस्थी तुरंत बोले, “वाह! क्या स्वादिष्ट सब्जी बनी है। नमक मिर्च एकदम सही मात्रा में डाले गए हैं।” इतना सुनकर इन साधु और नवयुवक दोनों ने चुपचाप भोजन समाप्त कर लिया। साधु महाराज ने उस ग्रहस्थी से विदा ली और उस नवयुवक को साथ लेकर आश्रम पर आ गए।
अब साधु महाराज बोले, “बेटा, अगर साधु बनना है तो मेरे गुरु जैसा बनना जिनको 80 वर्ष की उम्र में भी आपने तीन बार पहाड़ी से नीचे बुलाया और वह शांत रहे क्रोध नहीं किया, सरल बने रहे, आपकी बात मानते गए, आपको आशीर्वाद देते रहे।और यदि गृहस्थ बनना है तो उस गृहस्थी की तरह बनना जिन्होंने भरी दुपहरी में अपनी पत्नी को दीपक जलाने के लिए कहा तो उनकी पत्नी बिना कोई प्रश्न किए दीपक जला कर ले आई और बाद में उनकी पत्नी से सब्जी में नमक नहीं डालने की भूल हो गई तो उस गृहस्थी ने नमक की भूल का सुधार किस प्रकार किया कि “कितना स्वादिष्ट भोजन बनाया है।”

lighted candle /Diya

जो भी बनना है उसमें इस प्रकार के धैर्य और समझदारी की आवश्यकता होती है। अब तुम अपनी योग्यता स्वम तय कर लो।
इति शुभम।🌹🙏

Story credit:

Mr. Dalchand

A Storyteller by heart

If you have come this far you must have liked the post so if you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

Storytelling has its own charm in learning and teaching. Native stories make a strong impact, with ease of understanding as they are deep rooted in culture and community. Hindi being my mother tongue never left its space in my heart. I strongly believe that in early childhood teaching in mother tongue is definitely the easiest way to reach to a child’s heart.
Indian folklore has been passed through generations over the centuries, with the words of wisdom which benefit young and old equally. I plan to share these short stories aka folk tales every once in a while to my audience, use them as a warm up activity, lunch break filler, going home time activity or simply read to your own children. Stories have their own magic!
about me, Education, leadership, skills

Is time an illusion?

A Learning Leader

Is time an illusion?


According to theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, time is an illusion: our naive perception of its flow doesn’t correspond to physical reality. Time seems to follow a universal, ticktock rhythm. But it doesn’t. Absolute space and time is a concept in physics and philosophy .

Time is slow when you wait .

Time is fast when you are late .

Time is deadly when you are sad .

Time is short when you are happy .

Time is endless when you are in pain!

Time is long when you feel bored.

Time is most beautiful when you are in love .

In the Special Theory of Relativity, Einstein determined that time is relative–in other words, the rate at which time passes depends on your frame of reference. Just as observers in two different frames of reference don’t always agree on how to describe the motion of a bouncing ball, they also don’t always agree on when an event happened or how long it took.

Albert Einstein Theory of relativity

Time is relative; its only worth depends upon what we do as it is passing.

Albert Einstein

Professor Einstein’s secretary was so burdened with inquiries as to the meaning of “relativity” that the professor decided to help her out. He told her to answer these inquiries as follows:

When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute

 “When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”

One of the most revolutionary concepts that we learned in the 20th century is that time is not a universal measurement. It doesn’t matter how much our lives are governed by the same seconds, minutes, hours, days, and weeks, regardless of where we live on the globe, time will never be absolute. The rate at which it passes depends entirely on your speed and acceleration at any given moment.

The faster a clock moves, the slower time passes according to someone in a different frame of reference. Time is relative even for the human body, which is in essence a biological clock. The effect of time slowing down is negligible at speeds of everyday life, but it becomes very pronounced at speeds approaching that of light.

People who use time wisely spend it on activities that advance their overall purpose in life. By consistently channeling time and energy toward an overarching purpose, people can most fully realize their potential.

Every time, time is determined by your feelings and your psychological conditions and not by the clocks.

Time is the reflection of our mindset!

Wanna have a nice time, have a great mindset first!

Have a good time!

If you have come this far you must have liked the post so if you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

Time is the reflection of our mindset!

Education, HIndi, school, short stories, skills

Folktales-5 Recognize the strength of your willpower.

A Learning Leader

People around the world talk about forest conservation, however trees,plants and nature is so much inculcated in Indian culture and rituals that they can’t be separated. Trees have been treated like companions and family members from ages in Indian society and we do learn life lessons from them too .

Here is one for all of us, in the form of a Indian folk tale…

Our Will power is stronger than we think!

लघुकथा

अपनी संकल्प शक्ति को पहचानें।

(मानव जीवन में संकल्प शक्ति बहुत सिद्धि देती है। संकल्प शक्ति के बल पर व्यक्ति की अच्छी और बुरी इच्छाएं तुरंत पूरी हो जाती हैं। जब कोई व्यक्ति यह अनुभव करने लगे कि उसकी विचार और संकल्प पूरे होने लगे हैं तो उसे सावधान हो जाना चाहिए क्योंकि यह स्थिति बहुत खतरनाक साबित हो सकती है। मनुष्य की इसी संकल्प शक्ति को लेकर यह लोक कथा लिखी जा रही है।)

एक बार एक मुसाफिर किसी जंगल में पैदल जा रहा था कि रास्ते में एक हरा भरा सुंदर वृक्ष दिखाई दिया। वह व्यक्ति चलते चलते थक गया था तो उसने सोचा “चलो इस पेड़ की शीतल छाया में थोड़ी देर के लिए विश्राम कर लेता हूं।”
उसे यह पता नहीं था कि जिस पेड़ के नीचे वह बैठा था, वह कल्पवृक्ष (संकल्प पूरे करने वाला) पेड़ था जैसे ही उस मुसाफिर ने उस कल्पवृक्ष के नीचे बैठकर विश्राम करने की सोची तुरंत आसपास का वातावरण शीतल और सुहाना हो गया। लेटते ही थोड़ी देर में उसे प्यास लगी और उसने इच्छा की कि कहीं से ठंडा जल मिल जाता तो प्यास बुझा लेता। तत्काल उसके पास ठंडे जल का भरा हुआ पात्र प्रकट हो गया। उसने प्यास बुझा ली। कुछ देर बाद मुसाफिर को भूख लगी। उसने मन में भोजन की इच्छा की तो तुरंत भोजन आ गया। भोजन करने के बाद उसने आराम करने के लिए सोना चाहा तो उसके सामने गद्देदार बिस्तर का पलंग प्रकट हो गया। वह मुसाफिर उस पर लेट गया।उसकी इच्छा शक्ति तेजी से काम कर रही थी।

यहां यह ध्यान देने की बात है कि उस मूर्ख मुसाफ़िर ने एक बार भी यह नहीं सोचा कि इस निर्जन वन में ये सब सुविधाएं कहां से आ रही हैं, कौन ला रहा है, क्यों ना रहा है? बस वह मुसाफिर तो संकल्प से जनम लेने वाली इच्छाएं किए जा रहा था और वे पूरी हो रही थी। उसका विवेक तो जगा ही नहीं। कुछ देर बाद उसे पलंग पर लेटे लेटे नींद आ गई।

आंख गहरी लग गई और जब सोकर उठा तो शाम हो चुकी थी।अब वह बहुत चिंता करने लगा और सोचने लगा कि “अब मुझे चलना चाहिए। अंधेरा हो गया है। कहीं ऐसा नहीं हो कि कोई शेर आ जाए और मुझे खा जाए।” उस मूर्ख मुसाफिर ने इतना मन में सोचा ही था कि एक शेर उस पर झपट पड़ा थोड़ी देर में उसे खा गया। मुसाफिर ने जो भी कुछ मन में अच्छा या बुरा सोचा, वह साकार हो गया देर ही नहीं लगी।

कई बार जीवन में हम भी ऐसी ही इच्छा और विचार करते हैं तो वे तुरंत पूरे हो जाते हैं। इस जगत में प्रत्येक कल्पना, विचार, इच्छा महत्वपूर्ण होता है और जब हम उसे पूरे मन, चित्त और संकल्प से इच्छा में बदलते हैं तो वह किसी ने किसी समय अवश्य पूरी हो जाती है। इसलिए हम अपनी संकल्प शक्ति को पहचाने और ध्यान रखें कि वही इच्छा करें जो हमारे लिए अच्छी हो। वरना तो परेशानी में पड़ सकते हैं। इस कहानी में कल्पवृक्ष से हमारा आशय संकल्प शक्ति (will power) से है।
इति शुभम। 🌹🙏

Story credit:

Mr. Dalchand

A Storyteller by heart

Storytelling has its own charm in learning and teaching. Native stories make a strong impact, with ease of understanding as they are deep rooted in culture and community. Hindi being my mother tongue never left its space in my heart. I strongly believe that in early childhood teaching in mother tongue is definitely the easiest way to reach to a child’s heart.
Indian folklore has been passed through generations over the centuries, with the words of wisdom which benefit young and old equally. I plan to share these short stories aka folk tales every once in a while to my audience, use them as a warm up activity, lunch break filler, going home time activity or simply read to your own children. Stories have their own magic!

If you have come this far you must have liked the post so if you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

about me, Education, leadership, skills

Leading a meaningful and healthy life!

A Learning Leader
Leading a meaningful and happy life along with enjoying the success

No matter how we define success for ourselves be it happiness, prosperity, professional achievement, personal achievement,  A Leader certainly needs a medium to climb the steps to success, conquer it and enjoy that accomplishment and that medium is our body.

A leader needs to lead a happy, healthy and meaningful life in order to be a successful leader.We all know the journey to the step-stone of success is extremely difficult and demanding. A shout out to all the leaders to remind us all what we are leaving behind while struggling to achieve our goal and the ultimate success.

The secrets to lead a life that you have lived and not just survived are not hidden. In fact they are pretty simple and known to everyone. However, we often forget these secrets in the hush and rush of achieving superficial success. These secrets will change our world if we imbibe them in our life. The more we incorporate in our day to day life ,the more we come closer to meaningful and true success.

Choose as many as you can and see the outcome:

Love yourself!
  • Love! as it’s the most powerful emotion.
  • Smile!  It’s a free and all time available energy booster.
  • Eat Healthy! you will be happy if your stomach is happy.
  • Exercise! pump up your body and mind with as simple as 30 min. walk daily.
  • Yoga! heal your soul, mind and discover yourself each day.
  • A good sleep! makes you recharge for the day .
  • Avoid judging others! as it adds no positive value to you.
Be real
  • Be Real!  don’t try to be someone else, just to please.
  • Appreciate people, it promotes efficiency and a positive outlook towards all.
  • Practice empathy, you know you have been in those shoes.
  • Practice being respectful, you earn respect, when you give respect.
  • Dig deeper into things, analyze your abstract thoughts and mold them into a concrete idea .
  • Learn to forgive, no one is perfect.
  • Believe that you’re blessed, because you really are.
  • Be thankful, simple cause we got another day to live and of course have got much more than many others.
Yoga Exercise and Meditation
  • Learning something new regularly, as learnability is the only skill that will take you further.
  • Never be hopeless, Hope is the essence of living.
  • Watch your words, it’s a non reversible action.
  • Don’t hurt others with your words, you will realize after a few seconds you didn’t mean it.
  • Sleep in peace and wake in joy, you are ready for the challenges.
  • Eliminate jealousy, what’s the point? be better than  what you were yesterday.
  • Never criticize yourself, positive self talk invites positive things.
  • Don’t expect too much, you will ultimately get what you deserve .
  •  Manage your stress and you’ll fix almost everything.
  • If you respect your own boundaries, people will respect you.
  •  Be childlike and enjoy small moments.
  • Don’t wait for the last minute to get the work done.
  • When your body says stop, listen to it.

Be easy. You are the best!

You are the Best!
Education, HIndi, short stories, skills

Folktales-4

A Learning Leader

How truthful we are to our goals ? Do we exactly decide and tell what is our aim? A dilemma between what we want to achieve and what we put on display to the world is always present in front of a person.

A small Indian folktale, showing the importance of being truthful to our aims and goals…

लघुकथा

“लक्ष्य अवश्य तय कर लें।”


एक बार एक व्यक्ति गहरे जंगल में तपस्या करने गया। दिन रात तपस्या करने लगा। उसने दिनभर हवन करने के लिए हवन सामग्री मंगाई और हवन करने लगा। मन्त्रों से देवी को प्रसन्न करने की भरसक कोशिश करने लगा। जंगल में राख के ढेर लगते चले गए परंतु देवी प्रकट नहीं हुई। पर उस व्यक्ति ने हवं बंद नहीं किया।

एक दिन उज्जैन के महाराज विजरामदित्य अपने लाव लश्कर के साथ उस जंगल से होकर जा रहे थे कि अचानक उनकी नजर एक शिकार पर पड़ी। उन्होंने शिकार का पीछा किया और महाराज विक्रमादित्य रास्ता भटक गए। वे उस तपस्वी की ओर निकल गए, उनके संगी साथी बिछुड़ गए। कुछ दूरी पर उन्होंने आश्चर्यजनक दृश्य देखा कि जग जगह राख के ढेर देखे। वो सोचने लगे कि इतने गहरे जंगल में इतनी सारी राख कहाँ से आयी। राख के ढेर क्यों लगे हैं।

महाराज आगे बढे तो देखा कि एक अतिवृद्ध व्यक्ति संत के वेश में हवन कर रहा है, लगातार मन्त्रों का उच्चारण करता जा रहा है। उन्होंने जाकर प्रणाम किया और पूछा “संत महाराज, इस घोर जंगल में राख कहाँ से आई है।” तपस्वी ने कहा, “राजन, मैं मेरे यौवनकाल से अब तक बहुत वर्षों से देवी भगवती की आराधना कर रहा हूँ।” विक्रमादित्य राजा ने पूछा, “क्षमा करें महाराज, इतने लंबे समय तक देवी की आराधना और हवन का लक्ष्य और ध्येय क्या हो सकता है?” इस पर उस संत ने उत्तर दिया “मैं ये हवन देवी के दर्शन के लिए कर रहा हूँ मगर देवी माँ ने अभी तक नहीं दिए हैं। पता नहीं क्या भूल हो रही है।”

राजा को यह बात सुनकर आश्चर्य हुआ कि इन संत महाराज को इतनी लंबी तपस्या के बाद भी देवी माँ के दर्शन नहीं हुए, ऐसा क्यों?” महाराज ने बहुत सोचा मगर कुछ समझ में नहीं आया। महाराज विक्रमादित्य न्यायप्रिय राजा थे और ईश्वर में अटूट विश्वास रखते थे। उन्होंने संकल्प किया कि संत महाराज को देवी माँ के दर्शन तो होने ही चाहिए। राजा ने म्यान में से तलवार निकाली और बोले “माँ ये जीवन आपका दिया हुआ है, आपके किसी बच्चे की इच्छा पर उसे दर्शन न हो तो जीवन का क्या लाभ?”

तलवार को घुमाकर अपनी गर्दन पर रख दिया और काटने को तैयार हुए कि देवी माँ प्रकट हो गई। बोली, “विक्रमादित्य तुम सत्यवादी, धर्मनिष्ठ, प्रजापालक, और गुणी हो, फिर भी आत्महत्या जैसा जघन्य अपराध कर रहे हो।” राजा ने कहा माँ ये संत इतने लंबे समय से आपकी आराधना कर रहा है, सारा जीवन तपस्या लीन रहा, परंतु आपने दर्शन नहीं दिए जबकि मेरे प्राण बचाने के लिए प्रकट हो गई। इसका क्या कारण है?”

देवी माँ ने राजा को बताया “ये संत दोगला है, झूठ बोल रहा है। इसका ध्येय मेरा दर्शन कर आ नहीं है,बल्कि मुझसे पारस पत्थर पाना चाहता है ताकि मन चाहे जीतना सोना बनाये। इसका ध्येय मेरा दर्शन करना होता तो मैं कब की ही प्रकट हो गई होती।”


दोस्तो, कमोवेश यही हम सबकी कहानी है, हम भी अपनी इच्छाओं को छिपाकर दूसरों को कुछ का कुछ कहते हैं। कहते कुछ हैं और ध्येय कुछ होता है। लक्ष्य से भटक जाते है। इसलिये हमारा मन और आत्मा से लक्ष्य निर्धारण होना चाहिये।

Story credit:

Mr. Dalchand

A Storyteller by heart

Storytelling has its own charm in learning and teaching. Native stories make a strong impact, with ease of understanding as they are deep rooted in culture and community. Hindi being my mother tongue never left its space in my heart. I strongly believe that in early childhood teaching in mother tongue is definitely the easiest way to reach to a child’s heart.
Indian folklore has been passed through generations over the centuries, with the words of wisdom which benefit young and old equally. I plan to share these short stories aka folk tales every once in a while to my audience, use them as a warm up activity, lunch break filler, going home time activity or simply read to your own children. Stories have their own magic!

If you have come this far you must have liked the post so if you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

Education, Online learning, parenting, school, skills

Learner Centered Pedagogy

A Learning Leader

In 21st century, Learner Centered Pedagogy has spread globally and has been widely endorsed as a “best practice” in education by international and national educationalists. 

In spite of its prominence in education policies, implementation has been challenging, and changes to classroom practice is limited as teachers and learners struggle to make the shift , just like the recipient of a donor organ may reject it after a transplant.

What is Learner Centered Pedagogy?


It refers to a pedagogy that places learners at the center of the teaching-learning process. Students are more active and engaged, and the process turns knowledge transferred into a negotiation between teachers and students. Furthermore, this pedagogy starts from learners’ interests and objectives, it carries out a learning process based on practical situations and materials, using the current technologies to favor this process. In the process of teaching and learning, learners are at the heart of curriculum design, classroom interaction and evaluation techniques.

Learner centered classroom in a nutshell is a classroom where the lesson on not focused on the teacher and transmission of information. Most of the classrooms are where the teacher is like a conductor and controlling every aspect of the lesson, the teacher micro-manages the lesson, asks questions and speaks during most of the lesson-time.

learner centered classroom

In a learner centered class the responsibility for learning is placed on the learner. learners work in small groups helping each other asking questions, they might evaluate their own progress of the work , rather than have teacher mark everything. Learner centered classrooms are more co-operative and organic, rather than top-down instruction from the teacher.

Learner centered classes help learners to become more independent and more responsible for how they learn (learnability). Learner Centered Pedagogy views learners as active participants in their own learning, with their education shaped by their interests, prior knowledge and active investigation.

Learner Centered Approach & Online teaching learning process

As the pandemic has hit the online teaching-learning button for all teachers and learners, Every organization wants to get the maximum benefit from its online teaching learning initiatives. A key element of any successful online program is to keep the learners engaged in the course. A learner centered approach is a proven way of keeping learners engaged, and thereby ensuring effective Online Learning. A learner centered approach is one where the complete Online Learning experience is focused on the learners.

Advantages of Learner Centered Pedagogy in Online Learning

learner centered online teaching learning pedagogy
  • Better learner engagement
    The first step towards the success of any Learning program is participation. A learner centered pedagogy addresses all the essential needs of learners, ensuring learners get a personalized and convenient Online Learning experience.
  • Better knowledge retention
    Given that a learner centered approach places high emphasis on relevance and engagement, it greatly influences learners’ interest levels with more engaging and simulating content. 

  • Boosts overall performance
    A typical learner centered program will have a lot of scenarios, case studies, role plays, etc. with a lot of engaging and interactive content will help learners grasp the content more effectively. This way, learners are more likely to apply their learning at work, leading to improved work performance.
  • Develops problem-solving skills
    A learner centered Learning course has a lot of real life examples, including games, quizzes, and challenges which will force learners to think of solutions. This kind of training develops problem-solving skills, which is useful when learners encounter similar problems in real life situations.
  • Fosters collaborative learning
    Learner centered courses provide the opportunity to foster collaborative learning. The Learning program should be designed in such a way that learners have to involve their peers, which makes learners come together to solve problems, and thereby share learning. This approach not only encourages collaboration but also promotes teamwork.
  • Makes learning enjoyable
    Use of games and stories in Online Learning makes learning more fun. A learner centered approach provides a lot of choices to learners. With these elements like videos, ppts, story etc. learning is no longer perceived as boring and monotonous.
  • Provides personalized learning.
    All learners do not have the same learning needs. Some may just like to understand the basics of a concept, while some may like to understand a course in detail. Also, some learners may already have some knowledge about a topic, whereas some of them will be entirely new to the concept. A traditional Learning method will treat all learners the same way, and may not respond to the needs of different types of learners. Things are different with learner centered program you get the option to learn the basics or dive deep into the topic.

To conclude, as opposed to other approaches, such as a content centered pedagogy or a teacher centered pedagogy, learner centered pedagogy  provides many more benefits, why not give it a try when learning is just taking a new shape.

If you have come this far you must have liked the post so if you enjoyed this post don’t forget to like, follow, share and comment!

about me, Education, leadership, parenting, skills

An open letter to parents part-2

A Learning Leader

Foundation of raising a genius….

To see the truth,
to know the way,
I cast a spell in every way.
By the power of three
I conjure thee
To give thy truth unto me.

Dear parent,

We all have that one moment when we see a perfect child and a perfect parent, and all our self doubts over power us to think; what am I not doing right?

Just like me, you must have wondered what is that magic formula? what is that spell? which helps Parents in raising a genius child!

let me reveal the truth to you through an experienced , behold !

When Tiktok was taking last breaths in India before its ban, I saw a very interesting Tiktok video. The video was on effective upbringing of our little ones. The orator in the video emphasized on the fact that right from the childhood, we should inculcate in our child’s mind that “She/he is a genius and a god gifted child”.

Could parenting be that simple!

I found it an intriguing idea to try and was eager to see its consequences.

Earlier, I used to get angry easily and scold my child without taking a note of the surrounding people, thinking that he is not old enough to understand complexities of self respect. His usual reaction would be like, he would not talk for sometime and then after a while he will pretend to forget everything and would start talking normally. A real consequence was when he would try to lie around to save himself from similar incident. That shocked my nerves, I never expected my child to become a liar. I found myself guilty and wanted to find a perfect solution for this problem . I thought and thought that what a wonderful thing it will be if my child stop committing mistakes at all ,oh! my world would be perfect.

I decided to apply this formula, I started praising my child in front of other people for small yet good deeds, no matter, how least commendable they were? I started to make him feel that he is exceptionally good, sort of god gifted. I completely stopped scolding him in public and tried to make him understand, that what he did was wrong and why, but most importantly only when we two were present.

Few days went without much to notice then I could observed a drastic change, a visible winning attitude and a boy with effervescent self confidence could be seen. He started talking to me more than ever before. I was flabbergasted that a boy of this age has this many tales to tell in which he proved himself over his friends in classroom which he never shared with me. He was bubbling with self reliance and self confidence. He, in trying to get more praises from me, started doing most of the things himself. He started carrying things for me even if they are heavy or carry my mobile if I had my hands full. He, the same little boy who would do even a single thing after saying 5-6 times followed by scolding at least 2 times was doing the tasks in advance without being told and was even willing to help me out in dusting. I was speechless. He has became my adorable loving boy from a irritating boy.

I am continuing with practice of putting the beautiful thought in his mind that he is a boy with exceptional talent and awesome qualities which is a boon over others. I was overwhelmed by the astonishing results of this experiment. I believe this strategy can make the child conquer the unconquerable things. to the least, children are going to achieve much more than their usual capacity. I believe every parent will see positive results by using this strategy to make their children ultimate winners and successful happy citizens.

World famous writer Dale Carnegie has written in his book “How to win friends and influence people”

Happiness is followed by a cause and vice versa.

Dale Carnegie

. This means that if we keep ourselves happy, things which will cause more happiness will follow automatically. The same thing applies in case of children ‘s mindset also if we successfully become capable of inculcating the thought that our child is a genius and god gifted, the intelligence will surely follow and god gift talent will surely bestow on him.

Hence the magic spell to have genius child is as simple as that as telling him/her that you are genius and I believe in you!

Go ahead, cast the spell of positive words and see the magic unwinding yourself!

Thanks,

A teacher and a parent

Story credit : Pooja

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