January 29, 2020

Notes by Ira Mehta

· Quote from Tao of Pooh- “How can you get very far if you don’t know who you are? How can you do what you ought if you don’t know what you’ve got?”

· Value of the week is Dama which means being controlled

· When things are not going the way you planned, do you react or respond? Reacting is getting mad and saying whatever you want. Responding is getting frustrated but not saying anything.

· When you react, it creates less happiness

· The more you talk, the more you react. The more you listen, the more you respond (especially with parents)

· Your words are like toothpaste, it’s easy to take toothpaste out but you can’t put it back in

· We lie for others to like us to make ourselves feel special or to make others feel special because we are not as happy as we should be

PRACTICE

Do everything you do before you sleep (brush teeth, wash face etc.) with your weak hand and keeping your dominant hand behind your back. If you were cheerful, you demonstrated dama.

RAW

Every time you’re frustrated, sit down and breathe until you’re not frustrated anymore

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Notes by Arjun Mahes

Story:

§ Sugreeva is the real emperor of the monkeys.

-Others try to harm him to get the throne. Sugreeva being fearful runs away from the kingdom.

-One day Sugreeva sees Rama who says he will help get back the throne to Sugreeva.

-Sugreeva doubts Rama. Rama proves himself with his magic arrows which goes through 5 trees at once. Sugreeva is astonished.

§ Moral: In the story Rama hitting all the targets through would show his

determination (Vrata).

From the Tao of Pooh

o “How can you get very far if you don’t know who you are; How can you do what you ‘ought if you don’t know what you got”- Tao of Pooh

§ Before you go very far you need to know who you are (understanding yourself). Before you do things you have to be grateful for what you have.

· Having Dama

o When you or anybody are not going the way you want it to go, you have 2 choices of reacting (losing cool) or responding (thinking and processing).

§ When you react you have no self-control (Dama) which means frustration, less happiness and confusion.

§ When you respond you have self-control (Dama) and you can keep your cool

o The more you listen the more you respond. The more you talk the more you react.- Tao of Pooh

Practice:

o With your non-dominant hand, go to the washroom, brush your teeth and come back.

§ Why we did this: When you brush and do actions with your non-dominant hand you will get agitated, then we control ourselves to have Dama.