November 16, 2022

Notes by Krish Chandar

Review

Last week we talked about a little bird and how it put out a forest fire. It might not have been able to do it by itself, but it was capable of inspiring everyone else who lived in that forest to help put the fire out. One piece of reaching our goals is attitude, the other is effort. Simply thinking is not enough. As Suman Ji explained it “Thinking is not doing! Doing is doing!” If we show effort and a good attitude the universe takes notice and helps us complete our goal.

Gratefulness story

There once was a farmer that lived on a farm, which was passed down in his family from generation to generation. That farmer was always complaining about his farm. There were too many hills, so it was impossible to fence in the cows. Because it was impossible to fence in the cows, they roamed free at night and the farmer had no way of knowing where they were. At night, the farm would become a poop minefield and the farmer would step in the cow’s turds. There was a pond on the property and the farmer was always complaining that it had too many algae or too many fish. He was always complaining, criticizing, or crying. (Three C’s from one of our previous classes.) He decided that he would put his farm on sale since it was the thing that was making him unhappy. He asks a realtor to sell the farm for him and starts looking for farms online. He comes across a farm that is near perfect. It has lush grass, perfectly healthy cows, a pond that you can drink from, and a barn that is bright red and has flowers all around it. The farm is close enough to the town so he can go to the store, but far enough away that no one will come by trying to sell things. He looks at the address and realizes that the farm he is looking at is his own! He tells the realtor to take his farm off the market. The farmer had his dream farm the whole time he just did not realize it. 

Lesson

Suman Ji made us share in the chat how many things we have wanted in all our lives. Then he made us share how many of them we had gotten. He asked us to look around our room. See the things we have, that we sometimes forget about. The easiest way to be happy is to be grateful. There is always something to be grateful for. Gratefulness will keep you happy forever.

Activity

Suman Ji asked us to go hug a person in our house.

But why?

We all felt a little happier after. It was easy to do. It made us all realize that you do not need much to be happy.

RAW

Our raw for the next two weeks is every day, before you go to bed, right down three things you are grateful for, and when you wake up the next day read them to yourself before you start the next day.

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Notes by Tara Kashinath

Review:

Last week’s story was about a tiny bird who put out a forest fire. The bird was not able to do this by itself, but it was capable of inspiring everyone in the forest to help put out the fire. We learned about realizing your potential – you may not be ABLE to do something, but you are CAPABLE of doing it. We also learned about having the right attitude. It is not enough if you just THINK you can do something. You have to DO something! When you have the right attitude, you MIGHT do the thing you wanted to do. If you put in good effort as well, you WILL do it. If you have the right attitude AND you put in effort, the universe will take notice and help you. Last week’s raw was to add the word YET to the end of the sentence I CAN’T or I DON’T KNOW. Whenever you say these things, remember to add the word YET. 

Story:

Once, there was a farmer. He had a farm that had been owned by his family for generations with ponds, lakes, cattle, a big barn, and lots of land. He was very miserable living on the farm, and he complained about everything. He complained that all his chickens run away, his ponds are dirty, it is to dark for him to see anything outside at night, the farm is too much work, and about many other things too. He really didn’t want the farm anymore, because he wanted to be happy. The farmer said “I want to be happy. I will sell my farm.” He got a real estate agent to put his farm up for sale. Then, he began looking for other places where he could live. He saw this beautiful property with pristine lakes, a large, bright red barn, lots of flowers, and well behaved cows. He was very happy to see it, and thought about buying it. He looked on a map and saw that it was very close to his own farm. He looked three times, and still thought that it would be nice to buy it. The fourth time he looks at the adress, he sees that it is his own house that he is looking at! The farmer asks the real estate agent to take his property from the FOR SALE list. He continued living on his farm, and remembered to be grateful for what he had. 

Lesson: 

From this story, we learned that the farmer was being selfish and needs to be grateful for what he has. He also needs to see things from a different perspective, for example, seeing his house ith a description of a beautiful hose with pristine lakes, a big barn, flowers, and well behaved cows. He forgets that he already has a lot, and he needs to remember that. The moral of the story was that gratitude will keep you happy forever. 

Raw: 

Each day before bed, write three things that you are grateful for. Keep that list by your bed. In the morning, look at the list and remember what you are grateful for.