Skip to main content

Listen....

Whenever I read this - It rings a bell...It brings in awareness of what we do to children sometimes Unconsciously....


...'Listen'.... Each of it expressed in here is so very true....
Author - Anonymous

When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why
I shouldn’t feel that way,
you are trampling on my feelings.

When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something
to solve my problem,
you have failed me,
strange as that may seem.

Listen! All I ask is that you listen.
Don’t talk or do – just hear me.

Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering,
but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can
and need to do for myself,
you contribute to my fear and
inadequacy.

But when you accept as a simple fact
that I feel what I feel,
no matter how irrational,
then I can stop trying to convince
you and get about this business
of understanding what’s behind
this irrational feeling.

And when that’s clear, the answers are
obvious and I don’t need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when
we understand what’s behind them.

Perhaps that’s why prayer works, sometimes,
for some people – because God is mute,
and he doesn’t give advice or try
to fix things.
God just listens and lets you work
it out for yourself.

So please listen, and just hear me.
And if you want to talk, wait a minute
for your turn – and I will listen to you.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Things We Steal From Children by Dr.John Edwards

Here is something so very close to all the things that I have learned from Ratnesh and during TTT & from everyone at Amable who have helped me to be here in this profound journey with children.... A poem by John Edwards and his wife Sandra Russell about "The Things We Steal From Children" - very powerful Enjoy reading these beautiful lines- That will surely leave you thinking & reflecting :) If I am always the one to think of where to go next. If where we go is always the decision of the curriculum or my curiosity and not theirs, If motivation is mine, If I always decide on the topic to be studied, the title of the story, the problem to be worked on, If I am always the one who has reviewed their work and decided what they need, How will they ever know how to begin? If I am the one who is always monitoring progress. If I set the pace of all working discussions, If I always look ahead, foresee problems and endeavour to eliminate them, If I swoop in an...

Appreciation...Motivation...I wonder and wander...Thinking!!!!

During one of my sessions with kids last week, I was casually sharing that there are only few weeks left for our classes to end and how I am going to miss them all...This had some spontaneous reactions – some saying ohhhh only 3 weeks...I will miss too you too Ma’am..Will miss you Nimmi...what happens if there are no classes... some not reacting...and a couple of them saying Yessss!!! It’s getting over (These were the ones whom I knew would react this way :)  ;))).... I enjoyed this little conversation, sharing our thoughts, feelings and emotions that came along... I was thinking on these lines and how this whole conversation would have affected me if it was the other way ...If the kids said they wouldn’t miss me or the sessions or had no reactions....  Maybe - My initial reactions would have been feeling terrible I guess ... :)  ;) and then I would have reflected back on my sessions and seen what I have done that children didn’t miss/like my sessions ...

What it takes to build your own country??

Here is a conversation with two children in one of the sessions... Me : What does it take to build a country? Child 1 : Jenga...Blocks simple Me : :)....Okay....what about building a real country... Child 2: like India?....Houses Me : Ok...and what else Both of them: Taj mahal Me : Okay....Taj mahal....what else does it take to make a country Child 1 : One special Place Child 2: Yes one special place has to be there!! Me : One special place....and then anything else? Child 2 : Special Food has to be there... So the conversation went school, shops, circus, animals, chocolates and LAND & EARTH are primary they decided...we moved on... Me: Who makes all these Child 2: (in a jiffy) Gandhi!!! Child 1: In total agreement - yes Mahatma Gandhi Me : Okay...so Gandhi makes it...where is he? Child 2 : He is in Taj mahal Child 1 (looked confused but then felt friend was right) Me: Who builds all the above? Both: Builder... and Mahatma Gandhi tells buil...