TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 3 – INSPIRATIONAL PEP TALK – FATIGUE LIES IN HALF-HEARTEDNESS – YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO FLOWER WHERE GOD HAS SOWN YOU

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 3 – 

FATIGUE LIES IN HALF-HEARTEDNESS

YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO FLOWER WHERE GOD HAS SOWN YOU

Inspirational Musings 

– A PEP TALK

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Today, the 5th of September, is Teachers Day.

Well, once upon a time, I used to be a Teacher. 

So, on Teachers Day, here are some thoughts I would like to share with you. 

So, let me delve into my creative writing archives and re-post for you a few articles I had written and posted on my blog a few years ago on the occasion of Teachers Day.

I have already posted the first two TEACHERS DAY articles:

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 1 – Food for Thought on “The Art of Teaching” or “How to Teach”

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL – TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES” 

(If you want to read these articles first, you may click the links above and the blog posts will open in new windows for you to read. But remember to come back to this page and read this post too)

Here is the third article.

I wrote speech this many years ago as a motivational pep talk to inspire my students and trainees.

On the request of some of my students, I had posted the talk on my blog six years ago, in 2008.

Let me post the article, once more, on the occasion of Teachers Day

FATIGUE LIES IN HALF-HEARTEDNESS

(An Inspirational Pep Talk on Teachers Day)

Fatigue lies in half-heartedness

Long back I learnt a trick from an eminent trainer on how to get the audience to focus. 

I too use this technique on a few occasions when I want my audience to settle down to receptive vibes.

The moment you take the stage, you tell the audience to close their eyes for one minute and think of the one person who they consider as their most important mentor.

A few days ago, one of my brilliant ex-students, attended a motivational lecture in her new organization and was subjected to the same exercise.

She rang me up and told me that it was my face that came to her mind as a mentor. 

Then she talked about her work, that she was not very happy with her new workplace which apparently did not measure up to her high expectations.

I feel privileged that my ex-student considers me a mentor and I write this “pep talk” especially for her and all my dear students, mentees, protégées and protégés .

Ou Dieu vous a seme, il faut savoir fleurir 

YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO FLOWER WHERE GOD HAS SOWN YOU

Every person, sooner or later, goes through a moment when it seems that he or she is on the wrong road, that his entire way of life is wrong.

Have you ever experienced this feeling...?

Think about it.

Do you find yourself stuck in an incongruous career?

Or are you suffocating in an incompatible relationship?

Or are you stuck in a redundant place?

And sadly there is nothing you can do about it, owing to compulsions and constraints beyond your control.

You cannot turn around and retrace your steps or change your road of life.

It seems you have crossed the point of no return and you have no choice but to keep on travelling on the “wrong” road of life.

Failure follows failure.

And repeated failure creates in you the fear of permanent failure.

It is indeed a terrible vicious cycle which gradually overwhelms you with the chill of despondency.

What can you do in such a situation...?

Maybe the answer lies in a saying I read somewhere a few years ago and noted in my diary:

“ Ou Dieu vous a seme, il faut savoir fleurir ” 

which roughly translated means

“You must know how to flower where God has sown you” 

or 

“wherever God plants you, there you must learn how to bloom”.

How do you learn to flower where God has sown you...?

How do you bloom wherever God plants you...?

One may turn to the Enchiridion of Epictetus for guidance.

Epictetus (A.D.55 – A.D. 135), the great Stoic Philosopher, states that happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: 

Some things are within our control, and some things are not in our control.

This is the basic Stoic truth of subjective consciousness and it is only after you have faced up to this fundamental rule and learned to distinguish between what is in your power from what is not in your power, and know what you can control and what you cannot control, that inner tranquility and outer effectiveness become possible.

On analytical reflection we find that the mind alone can be brought under our control. 

Everything else, the world of events and people’s behaviour, is beyond the scope of our control.

What disturbs you are not events but your attitude towards them.

Don’t demand or except that events happened as you would wish them to. 

Accept events as they actually happen. 

And you will be at peace with yourself.

Except for extreme physical abuse, other people cannot hurt you unless you allow them to.  

Don’t consent to be hurt and you won’t be hurt.

You must learn to approach life as a banquet and not as a buffet.

Think of your life as if it were a banquet where you would behave graciously:

When a dish is passed to you, extend your hand and help yourself to a moderate portion. 

If a dish should pass you by, enjoy what is already on your plate. 

Or if a dish hasn’t been passed to you yet, patiently wait for your turn.

Carry on the same attitude of polite restrain and gratitude to your children, spouse, colleagues, friends, career and money.  

There is no need to yearn, envy and grab.  

You will get your rightful share when it is your time.

It then becomes our paramount duty to control the mind and practice total unconcern to externals.  

“When something happens, the only thing in your power is your attitude toward it ... you can either accept it or resent it.”

To accept an event is to rise above it, to resent it to be overpowered by it.

With acceptance comes happiness, with resentment comes misery.

Acceptance of an event is not to be mistaken for a life of passivity or submission to fatalism characterized by laziness and a sense of helplessness: “Simply doing nothing does not avoid risk, but heightens it.” 

Epictetus exhorts us, therefore, to brave the storms of life with planned action born of clear thinking. 

He recognizes, too, the practical necessity of working for worldly gains, but cautions us only against the false belief that happiness depends on the results such endeavours.

Being an integral part of social structure, you cannot live in isolation; social interaction is inescapable.

In your relationship with others at home, at work or in society, no matter how people behave, you have to maintain inner tranquility, with unwavering attention on achieving your own merit and excellence.

People act under their own inner compulsions over which you can exercise no control. Epictetus advises: “Focus not on what he or she does, but on keeping to your higher purpose” .

He assures that if you truly live in tune with your will and resolve, and in harmony with your inner self, nobody’s words or actions (barring extreme cases) can disturb your mental equipoise.

Duty of any kind is not to be slighted.  

A person should not be judged by the nature of his duties, but by the manner in which he performs his duties.

In his discourse on Karma Yoga Swami Vivekananda says:  

“A shoemaker who can turn out a strong, nice pair of shoes in the shortest possible time is a better man, according to his profession and his work, than a professor who talks nonsense every day of his life”.  

Remember, Fatigue lies in half-heartedness.

If we do with sincerety, with full zest and enthusiasm, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves happy. 

The key is to work with freedom and love and without too much expectation.

Try to accomplish something wherever you are and do not compare with others.

Undue hankering after rewards will render you akin to a slave of your expectations; you must work for your own internal satisfaction – work like a master and not as a slave.

This glorious attitude to life and knowledge of your self makes you free in a world of dependencies and enables you to flower where God has sown you, to bloom wherever God plants you.

" Ou Dieu vous a seme, il faut savoir fleurir "

Wherever God plants you, there you must learn how to bloom.

You must know how to flower where God has sown you.

I wish all my students and readers GODSPEED in all your endeavours...!

Remember : FATIGUE LIES IN HALF-HEARTEDNESS

Wish You a Happy Teachers Day

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

Copyright © Vikram Karve (All Rights Reserved)

     

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

 

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL – TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL

TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

Musings

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Today, the 5th of September, is Teachers Day.

Well, once upon a time, I used to be a Teacher. 

So, on Teachers Day, here are some thoughts I would like to share with you. 

So, let me delve into my creative writing archives and re-post for you a few articles I had written and posted on my blog a few years ago on the occasion of Teachers Day.

I have already posted the first TEACHERS DAY article:

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 1 –Food for Thought on “The Art of Teaching” or “How to Teach”

(If you want to read that article first, you may click the link above and the blog post will open in a new window for you to read. But remember to come back to this page and read this post too)

Here is the second article (I wrote this as a farewell letter to my students and to my trainees on completion of their induction training): 

TEACHERS’ DAY MUSINGS – Part 2 – TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL – TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”  

I wrote this article long back, around 20 years ago, and posted in on my blog on the request of some students sometime in 2008, I think.

Here is the article, once more, on the occasion of Teachers Day

TEACHING IS A SOFT SKILL

A teacher is a trustee.

It is just like looking after birds. 

You take a flock of young students under your wings, nurture them, teach them to “fly”, and when they are ready, you release them into the world.

Like birds, you set your students free, watch them with pride as they fly into the sky, soar high above you, knowing that they will never come back.

You wish that your students reach great heights which you could never reach.

It makes teachers most happy when their students excel and surpass their teachers.

TEACHING IS ALL ABOUT “VIBES”

I have learned from experience that teaching has got less to do with knowledge and more to do with communication.

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy.

Teaching is more about feeling than facts.

It is all a question of vibes. 

Yes, effective teaching and learning depends on vibes.

Once you establish positive vibes with your students, you can feel the delightful chemistry being generated between you and your students. 

In the parlance of Electrical Engineering, it is like perfect impedance matching, the maximum power transfer theorem, and you can experience the classroom rocking with resonance, when all the resistance to the flow of knowledge disappears, the intellectual friction vanishes, the barriers to communication melt away and seamless effortless learning is achieved.

It is not important how much a teacher knows

What is important is how much the student learns

Yes, to achieve student learning is the sine qua non of teaching.

Like I said, communication skills are far more important than qualifications.

Teaching is about relationships as well as pedagogy – it is more about feeling than facts.

Soft Skills outweigh Hard Skills as far as the art of teaching is concerned.

A highly qualified Ph.D. who does not know the art of teaching and fails to establish good vibes with his students cannot make his lectures engrossing.

This may result in students losing interest in the subject and in some cases an insensitive teacher who lacks the soft interpersonal and communication skills may even end up making his students hate and despise that subject. 

It is easy to make simple things difficult but difficult to make complicated things easy. 

It requires good teaching style, effective communication skills and appropriate soft skills to make difficult things easy and enjoyable to learn. 

Yes, learning must be enjoyable.

Learning must not be dry, didactic, boring and painful.

LEARNING PROCESS

It is important for a teacher to remember that learning comprises two pedagogic processes: 

1. Getting knowledge that is inside to move out

2. Getting knowledge that is outside to move in

The second part of imparting knowledge from outside into the student is comparatively easier, once you have got the students interested and eager to learn.

This is easy if the teacher is proficient in teaching skills and knowledgeable in the subject and domain specialization.

It is the first aspect, getting knowledge that is inside the student to move out, facilitating inward discovery on one’s self and help unlock the treasure within the student that is more challenging.

This is the true test and indeed the hallmark of a good teacher. 

I trust I have succeeded in achieving this.

Today I feel a sense of pride tinged with nostalgic sadness as my protégés “fly” off to conquer great heights of success in their careers. 

It was a delightful experience to mentor young bright minds, to see them flower, blossom, bloom and flourish before your own eyes, observe them metamorphose from students into professionals.

I love being in the company of young talented people, full of zeal and enthusiasm, with a zest for living and a passion for learning. 

It makes me feel good and youthful, and as always, I “learn” more than I “teach”.

I feel sad, wanting to hold them back, not wanting to part, but I know I have to let them go to their destinies.

My dear students, as I watch you with pride in my heart, swiftly fly away, soaring high above me in the sky, vanish into the distance, to all my dear students, I sincerely wish you from the bottom of my heart: GODSPEED.

Godspeed – a wish for a prosperous journey and good fortune, my dear young friends, as you embark upon your first career, a new phase of your life.

Wish You a Happy Teachers Day

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

Copyright © Vikram Karve (All Rights Reserved)

     

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

 

ART OF LIVING - CARPE DIEM - A Philosophical Approach

ART OF LIVING - CARPE DIEM - A Philosophical Approach

LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME

LIVE IN DAY-TIGHT COMPARTMENTS

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Nowadays there is an “information overload” of self-help advice.

If you visit a bookstore you will find the shelves flooded with numerous self-help books.

If you Google any self help topic on the internet you will be deluged with a surfeit of self-help websites and blogs.

If you switch on your TV you will see Self-Help Gurus bombarding you with advice (in fact there are dedicated self-help channels, spiritual and religious). 

All this “self-help” information overload leaves the seeker confused.

Many persons start on one self-help strategy. And barely before they can grasp the basics, they are induced by another new self-help mantra. 

Like the saying: “Too many cooks spoil the broth” – it the same with self-help techniques – too much self-help advice confuses the seeker. 

That’s why I prefer to stick to one simple principle that appeals to me and apply it meticulously for a few days, examine the results, and if it works for me I follow it throughout my life.  

It was in the year 1974, in July 1974 to be specific, when I had just entered the third year of my five year B. Tech course in Engineering, that I read my first ‘self help” book – HOW TO STOP WORRYING AND START LIVING by Dale Carnegie. I had bought the book at the inimitable Taraporevala Book Store Mumbai.

Those days, while on our way to college, we used to come down from Pune by the morning Deccan Queen, keep our luggage in the Cloak Room at  Mumbai CST (then known as Bombay VT) Railway Station, spend the day loafing around in Fort, Colaba, Curchgate etc, do some window shopping, browse books, see a movie, enjoy some good food, and then board the Calcutta Mail (now Mumbai – Howrah Mail) at night. 

I was passing through testing times, a rather difficult phase of life, and tended to worry about my future. That’s why probably the title of the book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” appealed to me and I picked up the book. Later, in the hostel, I read the book, and found it very practical and simple in its approach.

As I told you earlier, this was my first self-help book (though I used to regularly read the works of Swami Vivekananda which were inspirational in nature and from which I derived immense motivation).

I started reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living and immediately applied the first precept enunciated in the book to my life:

LIVE IN DAY-TIGHT COMPARTMENTS

I learnt how to live one day at a time and soon I stopped worrying about the future.

That is the key.

Forget the past.

Don’t speculate about the future.

Just think of today. 

This is how I do it.

Every morning, the moment I wake up I recite my Morning Sanskrit Shloka (taught to me by my late grandmother):

कराग्रे वसते लक्ष्मिः करमध्ये सरस्वति ।

करमूले तु गोविन्दः प्रभाते करदर्शनम् ॥

समुद्र-वसने देवि, पर्वत-स्तन-मंडिते ।

विष्णु-पत्नि नमस्तुभ्यं, पाद-स्पर्शं क्षमस्व मे ॥

Karaagre Vasate Lakshmi Karamadhye Sarasvati,

Karamuule Tu Govinda Prabhaate Karadarshanam,

Samudravasane Devi Parvatastanamandale,

Vishhnupatni Namastubhyam Paadasparsham Kshamasva Me

The front part of the hands (the finger tips) is credited to Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. The middle part or palm is credited to Goddess Saraswati, the Goddess of Learning and the Root (the part of hand near the wrist) to Govinda. So, every morning, one should have a reverent look at one's hand which represents sincere labour. I bow to Mother Earth, who has mountains and jungles on her body and whose clothing is made by the ocean. The wife of Lord Vishnu, please pardon me for touching you with my feet.

After reciting this morning prayer I close my eyes and continue to lie down in bed and plan for that one day.

Yes, I decide what I am going to do “today”

Then I get up and Carpe Diem – I seize the day and make the most of it.

Living in day-tight compartments will enable you to get rid of your worrying habit.

This “one day at a time” art of living philosophy will also help you get rid of other bad habits.

Suppose you want to quit smoking. 

Just promise yourself that you are not going to smoke “today” and keep your promise. 

Do this one day at a time, day after day, and soon you would have got rid of your smoking habit forever.

It is the same with quitting drinking or getting rid of other addictions – just do it one day at a time. 

I think Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) says the same thing - just do not drink today and do this every day.

In the morning, just tell yourself that you are not going to drink alcohol “today” and keep your promise. 

Do this every morning, one day at a time, and soon you won’t remember the last time you had a drink.

Living in day-tight compartment, one day at a time, works wonders – you can take my word for it. 

Every morning is a new day, a new life – so make the most of today – then hit the bed and go to sleep, forget about the day passed, and wake up to another fresh new day.

It may be apt to recall these words from Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite hymn LEAD KINDLY LIGHT:

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene — one step enough for me

Don’t look too far ahead, just “one step” is enough.

Yes, one step at a time, one day at a time. That is the best way to live.

I am embedding this hymn below for you to hear. 

Before you go away please click the link below and hear the hymn LEAD KINDLY LIGHT – listening to this melodious song will have a soothing effect on you.

HYMN - LEAD KINDLY LIGHT

1. Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom;

Lead thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home;

Lead thou me on!

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see

The distant scene—one step enough for me.

2. I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou

Shouldst lead me on.

I loved to choose and see my path; but now,

Lead thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,

Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.

3. So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still

Will lead me on

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till

The night is gone.

And with the morn those angel faces smile,

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!


Dear Reader - Please comment and let us know your views on living one day at a time.

Wish you a worry-free and stress-free life full of health and happiness

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012

Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work. 

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer and blogger. Educated at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel and a book of vignettes and an anthology of short fiction. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories and self help in magazines and published a large number of professional  and academic research papers in journals and edited in-house journals and magazines for many years, before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
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Email: vikramwamankarve@gmail.com

      

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