November 29, 2023

Notes by Nimalan Senthil

STORY:
You are on a subway. The atmosphere is calm and peaceful. At 1 stop, a man and his 2 children walk inside and the children are screaming, running, jumping, and going crazy. The man sits down beside you, lays his head back, and closes his eyes. The 2 children are annoying people on the train and making the ride uncomfortable. Everyone is angry at the man for not controlling his kids. After a long wait, you finally ask the man, “Sir, your kids are creating a ruckus in the car, is it possible for you to keep them quiet?” He replies, “Yes, I suppose you’re right. We just came back from the hospital, after which their mother passed away.” Everyone became quiet and realized that they misjudged the man. People started to help the man by singing to him, giving him candy, playing with the children, and trying to soothe him.

KEY IDEA:
We should not assume what other people are going through. Not only knowing what someone is going through is not going to help them. You have to apply this knowledge to the situation to try and understand.

RAW:
SPEND 5 MINUTES EACH DAY WITH YOUR FAVORITE PERSON BY YOURSELF. LEARN MORE ABOUT YOURSELF.

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Notes by Saamya Deo

Review

Last week, we talked about a robber who took an apple from a shopkeeper. The robber gave the apple to someone who needed it more than him and ended up confessing to the shopkeeper. Then, the shopkeeper and the robber took many apples and gave them to the people who needed food. 

We talked about the other methods of robbery

1. Comparing (We overlook what we can do)
   1. If Taylor Swift had compared herself to her brother, an actor, she would have forgotten about how amazing she is at songwriting and singing
2. Greed (When we have so much of something and we don’t share it, we are indirectly taking that away from someone who needs it)

Story

Imagine you are on a subway. Everything is quiet and calm. Suddenly, the doors open and a father and his children get on. The children are noisy, they pull on stuff, scream, and make everyone feel really uncomfortable. The father doesn’t do anything, he just sits there and watches it happen. You get really irritated and tell the father that he should do something! The father says that they just came back from the hospital where their mother died. At once everything changed. People were nicer and more open. They gave candy to the children and told the father that everything would be alright. 

Lesson

Having knowledge is not the same as understanding the knowledge and using it. We need to apply our knowledge. 

1. We need to understand ourselves
   1. Spending time with ourselves helps us with this
      1. It helps us become more aware
      2. What we are aware of we cannot be

First Friend Dwija’s Activity

We make assumptions about people all the time but they aren’t true every single time we make one. This happens because we can’t understand what they are going through, what anyone is going through because of the unique experiences that everyone has. That means that no one else can understand us either, because they only see what we show them. But, we understand ourselves, which is why we are closest to us. 

RAW – Spend 5 minutes with yourself, by yourself every day. No books, phones, people, or anything else.