Resting on sharp edges!

I watched this bird resting on a fence of barbed wire, with one of its paws directly on the sharp edges of the barbed wire ! It is that part we would normally be weary of for fear of being pricked by the sharp edges! This bird defies this natural law!

What is at the edge of a barbed wire! Pointed and sharp ends meant to hurt to protect from any invaders. This bird mastered the art of sitting at the edge with ease and comfort!

It speaks of its attitude! 

What is even more worthy of attention is how the bird rests on the sharply cut wire easily and comfortably!

A bird gets used to overcome its hostile environment. 

What affects all of us from being fully effective is our environment. 

At the same time we are not able to tame or control our circumstances. 

What matters finally is how each of us learns to be responsive to the challenges to adapt.

It is after thirty years, I welcome children in a non air-conditioned room. I thought that the change would be difficult. It was difficult but less stressful than I anticipated.

What made this transition possible! The room I was using was the only suitable room for a new sensory-motor integration facility for children who needed a quiet and multi-sensory environment for behaviour education. This need helped me to 'let go' of the room, although with some reluctance initially. After six months being in the corner of a hall enclosed on three sides and open on one side with only half size door has become a comfortable place for me. It is airy, quiet and large enough to meet one family at one time. 

I do not think I would have found this transition in my younger days, when I had an attitude of entitlement! 

I feel good for the  comfort of this room and the ease with which I can work from this room.  

It is now I realise that the inner state of mind is more important than the environment that we belong. When one inwardly is ready and open, one adjusts to adverse circumstances well and come to look at the present  as good enough! 

We develop new life skills because we re growing and new opportunities or need beckon us to change and adapt!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Develop an interest into a hobby

I met the owner of this vintage car garage, located opposite a handicraft shop close to the Mission street in Pondicherry, by chance. He got me interested to listen to his story.

He is an accomplished professional who was interested to collect coins, stamps, greeting cards, pens, etc. when he was a child. His father gifted him a junk standard herald, a two door model, first time marketed in India in the mid nineteen sixties.  I remember this model well because it was the only non ambassador car in our village in 1965. He got the car road-able by working on it for over six months by procuring its second hand spares from markets in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. This car is his favourite vintage car which participates every year in the vintage car rally since 1999.  

He told me that he turned his interest in collecting souvenirs into a hobby because he wanted something to stimulate and relax him outside his job. This got me thinking.

That is when I realised that, we can be job centred or life centred. Those who are job centred make their lives revolve around their job and its demands. They live to work and plan to work. Even their family life will be subject to the job's requirements. 

A life centred person, would crete space for events that interest other members of the family, and find time for personal hobbies, leisure time activities and social service to reach out to others. 

Hobbies have a creative role in the lives of those, who have a vision of life beyond their work. Life is like a book of panorama of  nature with its hues, shades, colours and settings. Each of us needs to fill the pages of the 'book of  life' with different strokes of brush.

Think of life as a journey towards fullness -hobbies would be a major resource to make that happen.

We may have many interests, but we can have only few hobbies, if we want them to bring colour to our lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)     

A beginner's Menu

The butterfly is drawn towards a flower by colour, scent and its location. It, having been naturally inclined to fly has to hunt for nectar for its survival. This is an instinct and a choice. 

The instinct is to find its food. The choice is about which flower to go to. The butter fly does the latter effectively.  

All of us have natural instincts and abilities. They would develop even when unattained. 

However we would need skills, to live fully and meaningfully. These skills belong to the realms of relationships, communication, problem solving, intuitive thinking,  lateral thinking, understanding people, living in adverse circumstances, facing crisis in life,      grief and bereavement,  resolving disputes, etc.

Anna and I have, as a couple have walked this path for thirty eight years, finding our direction and purpose and we feel obliged to share some of our experiences on LIFE SKILLS with younger people who are walking this path.

We offer this to be a forum for dialogue and interaction on themes that need exploration. Join with us to tell us little  about yourselves so that we can tell you more about ourselves.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)