5 Must-Read Life Lessons from Gandhi

Mohandas Gandhi was the pre-eminent ideological and political leader of India during the Indian independence movement. He pioneered Satyagraha; which is defined as resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience.  This is a philosophy based on complete non-violence.

This idea assisted India in gaining its independence, and provided motivation for civil rights and freedom all across the world.

After assuming leadership of the Indian National Congress in 1921, Gandhi led nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic amity, end “untouchability,” and increase economic self-reliance.

Gandhi lived very modestly in a self-sufficient residential community.  He wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl that he hand-spun. He ate vegetarian food, experimented with a fruitarian diet, and fasted as a means of self-purification and protest.

…Without further adieu, I present to you the 5 must-read life lessons from Gandhi:

5 Must-Read Life Lessons from Gandhi:

1. Be the Change

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Be the example, be the leader.  If you lead properly people will follow, and together you will change the world.  Anyone can complain, anyone can blame, and most do, but if you desire to change, then “you” be the change.

2. Ask the Right Questions

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.”

The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the quality of the questions that you dare to ask.  Are you asking the right questions?  Are you asking the right people?  You can’t get answers, without questions; you can’t make progress, without an inquiring mind.

3.  Always Act

“Have a bias towards action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.”

If you’re going to be biased, be biased towards making something happen today.  Tomorrow never comes, any progress to be made, must be made today.  It must be made right now!

If you don’t act now, you don’t have a future, just a longer today.  Gandhi said, “The future depends on what we do in the present.”

4. Forgive

“The weak can never forgive.  Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”

It’s not “weaklings” who are quick-to-forgive; it’s those who are strongest.  The ability to forgive quickly is a sign of strength.  How strong are you?

If you’ve been weak in the past, you can begin today to be strong.

5. Monitor Your Beliefs

“Your beliefs become your thoughts.  Your thoughts become your words.  Your words become your actions.  Your actions become your habits.  Your habits become your values.  Your values become your destiny.”

In short, your beliefs will create your destiny.  What do you believe?  What do you believe about yourself, your future, and your potential?  What you believe, you will surely become.

Source:
http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-must-read-life-lessons-from-gandhi/

Read EZ - Success!

Pic sourced online

As a self-confessed bookworm myself, I almost felt my heart burst recently when a student told me, “Teacher, I don’t see the benefit of reading.” 

Gasp! Shock! Horror!

I immediately knew that damage control was in order. Also, judging from recent tests that our students have written, lack of reading was quite evident. I started doing some research around this topic and came to the conclusion that students may actually NOT know how to read. In other words, they don’t have sufficient skills to read through an entire text or book comfortably and confidently.

I decided to start a free class (that would replace our “Listen Up”) which would focus solely on reading. What would I call it?
Thanks to my regular and loyal students, they came up with the name “Read EZ” – playing on the name of my conversation class which falls on a Monday, “Speak EZ” J

I have a list of reading techniques and skills to help students with reading, but would I dive straight into it? I thought of taking a different route, and this is a general outline of the class – which exceeded my expectations!

• Do you read in your own language?

Vivian from Colombia said she does – it’s like an escape for her.

• Do your parents read?

Raid from Saudi Arabia said his father used to have him read every night before going to bed.
Marta from Angola said that her brother is her hero, because he encourages her to read.

• What are you reading at the moment?

Wow…I was so impressed with this one because suddenly, some students started taking not one, but two books out of their bags!

Sancha from Angola had The Ironing Man, which I used as an example.

I wrote the title on the board and showed the cover to the students.

(I also introduced vocab like author, summary/synopsis, genre)

Based on just the title and picture, what questions did they have about the book?

I then read (aloud) the synopsis at the back of the book. What were the keywords? Who are the main characters? What do we know about them?

Tom & Marina (husband and wife) who live in a small village.
Tom works in London while Marina is a bored & lonely housewife.

What further questions do the students have based on this information?

So, drawing from some of the questions the ss formulated themselves (before even opening the book) The purpose of this is to pique their curiosity and to give them a purpose when they begin reading. What exactly are they looking for? Are they looking for personality descriptions of the characters? For reasons for their circumstances etc?

To end the class, I then asked if they agreed with the student who said they see no benefits in reading.

To my absolute delight, they were horrified by what he said. So we compiled this list:

The Benefits of Reading:
Self-development
Helps to learn English
New vocabulary
Improves writing
Improves speaking
New information
Improves memory
Understand grammatical structures
See the world through another person’s eyes
Open your mind
Develop emotional understanding
Escape from your daily problems/challenges

My Facebook Timeout

I've been amused by the speculations surrounding my recent hiatus from Facebook. For someone who is a self-confessed Chatterbox, I can see how it heightened people’s curiosity that I have suddenly “gone quiet”.

Truth is, one day I felt I that I spent far too much time on the social networking site when I could have been doing something more productive. Having the app on my phone allowed me to access my account anywhere, anytime. I could be in a queue at the store or waiting for a friend in a restaurant. Also, when I when I wake up, I want to check in on what I've missed while I was asleep. And of course, before I sleep, to see what else I missed throughout my working day.

For a while now, I kept saying that I needed to get back into my writing, but the situation was that I either had the energy to write, but no time OR I had the time, but was ready to flop into bed. Take one step back. To write, I know that I needed to read more. From the time I could read a full sentence, I remember being an avid reader. Over the years, the excuse of “I’m too busy” became my line.

I decided to just go on a “Facebook fast”, if you like! A few days offline turned into a week. Being so busy at work, I found that I didn't actually miss anything. Sure, a few people asked why I was so inactive. No reason. I just started channeling my energy into activities that were benefiting my own self-development instead of reading about people’s personal lives. Don’t get me wrong, what people choose to share is their prerogative, but it didn't serve any purpose to me.

Time spent on Facebook can range from 30 seconds to an hour. It’s so easy to be sucked into the world of people’s photos or follow conversations happening in people’s Comments thread. Some may argue that it’s all about willpower. Self-control. Sure. But do we really have that?

I remember a period in Korea when I was quite serious about my writing. But the only reason I actually got things done was because I disconnected my laptop from the internet. How could I possibly get anything written with notifications popping up every few seconds? So the best thing (for me, at least) was to go cold turkey.

Last week, I logged into my FB account for the first time after over a month. 100+ notifications and over two dozen Inbox messages. I think I spent about 45 minutes sifting through everything and replying to everyone. But before I was sucked back in, I logged out.

I didn't want to go the route of actually deactivating my account. It’s still there. Open. It’s just a bit sleepy.

So the question is: HAVE I spent the time on self-reflection and self-development? Yes! Absolutely J

I have been reading a lot more, which has sparked my inspiration to write / journal quite frequently. Basically just doing some stock take of my life. Or what I like to call, “weeding”!

I haven’t disappeared completely off the Facebooksphere, but I can tell you one thing. A few weeks ago, I would not have written this blog post in the time space that I just wrote it (ie 14 minuteSoms!). That is with zero distraction and 100% concentration.

So to set the record straight, nothing is “wrong” or nothing “happened” that I have taken a back step. I just decided to be a bit selfish with my time and use it for my own personal gain.

Be a Quick Learner with the Location Method

I absolutely love one of the memory techniques that Kwik shares which links association with location.

First of all, here's a list of the top 10 musts to be a "quick learner":

1. Good diet
2. Killing ANTS (automatic negative thoughts)
3. Physical exercise
4. Brain Nutrients
5. Positive Peers
6. Clean Environment
7. Sleep
8. Brain Protection
9. New Learning
10. Stress Management

Are you able to memorize a list like this at first glance? Yes? Sure you can! The trick is to associate each point with a different location. I'll use the example Kwik shares of his office. He asks that you close your eyes as he walks you through his office. This way, you have little to no distractions and you're able to conjure up your own image of the office. 

So you arrive at the office. Your first point will be the parking lot and as you move from the first point to the office, number each point/location like this:

1. Parking lot
2. Bridge
3. Elevator
4. Hallway
5. Closet
6. Receptionist
7. Fish Tank
8. Door
9. Whiteboard
10. Bonsai Trees

Now all you have to do is associate each point from the first list to a location / point from the second list. Like this:

1. Arrive in the parking lot and imagine a delicious buffet spread out there
   (Good diet)
2. Walk over the bridge that leads to the main building and imagine tramping on and killing ants
   (Kill Ants - automatic negative thoughts)
3. Step into the elevator and imagine doing exercise in there. Stretches / yoga / Pilates
   (Physical exercise)
4. Step out of the elevator into the hallway and imagine huge bottles of some kind of liquid
   (Brain nutrients)
5. To the left, there's a closet...and in there you will find your friends/colleagues
   (Positive Peers)
6. You then come across the receptionist and imagine she's cleaning her desk with detergents
   (Clean environment)
7. Behind the receptionist is a fish tank, but imagine that all the fish are asleep!
   (Sleep)
8. Now you arrive at a closed door which you need to open (maybe with a headbutt) so you may need a helmet (Brain Protection)
9. When the door has opened, you see a whiteboard with a teacher standing there, ready to teach!
   (New Learning)
10. Lined on the side of the room are bonsai trees. Imagine these relieve stress!
    (Stress management)

Remember: Being a quick learner will lead you to being a faster earner. When we read slowly, we lose time. When we lose time, we lose opportunities, and possibly our careers and yes, even our health.

I'm really excited to try this Location Method with my students. 

New Word: Unlightened

Early morning reading & just came across: "Unlightened". This is a feeling one gets after a particularly mundane conversation where you feel as though you've wasted precious time talking nonsense. I like it! (...the word, not the concept!)