"The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence.
Touching deeply is an important practice. We touch with our hands, our eyes,
our ears and also with our mindfulness." -- Thich Nhat Hanh.
Today I repeat the above quote to myself as I find this so true,
especially at my work place, where I meet every day one or two students, who
come to our centre for help. Sometimes
there are more than two and they come with great hope that their problems will
be solved at this centre.
The issues
look so simple – all that is required of me is to offer my presence, an
unconditional acceptance and non judgemental attitude to sit with them and
listen to what they are saying and what they are not saying, which can be seen from
their expressions and body language.
Most of the time they are able to sort issues as they express aloud, with
a little bit of encouragement, affirmation and understanding they are able to
deal with the problem and take responsibility.
While I keep facilitating and reaching out - I benefit the most because
while I help them to take care of their hurts and wounds, I begin to see my own
hurts and wounds that are unresolved coming to the surface and demanding my
attention, and I realize that I need to practice what I preach to my students.
I keep telling them to smile more, to stop blaming, and to be in charge of
their lives, to always have a positive attitude in life and be grateful for
everything. Thereby I end up being happy and grateful all the time.
Be Happy !
Wow! That's such a beautiful learning, Genevive! Adding to what you said about practicing what we preach... when we walk the talk, we get more credibility too. When you tell your students to smile often and you do so too, when you are interacting with them, I believe they'd be more open to whatever you suggest. It is truly a win-win situation. :)
ReplyDeleteSo happy that you are making a difference in so many young lives! Cheers :)
Thanks shilpa for your kind words, its always so nice to hear from you, I am glad to hear your thoughts and I hope to be more in touch with you, appreciate your comments !
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