16th Nov Dhairyam - Courage

We began our session with the opening prayers and the dhyana shloka, followed by a quick recap of the qualities (and their associated stories) that are required to strengthen our invisible backbone.

Class Story Theme : Courage - Today, we discussed the fourth quality in the dhyāna śloka — Dhairyam (Courage). The children shared what courage means to them and why we need it. We discussed that courage does not mean doing risky things like jumping from second floor. True courage is 

• Facing challenges patiently 
• doing the right thing even when it's difficult
• and staying calm and steady

We used examples. - I don't like to go to dentist, but I gather the courage to do. In any situation when we lose courage we would not succeed. 

Stories - We learnt about story of robber (Ratnakar) who with courage changed himself to a saint (Valmiki). The children were amazed when they heard that the saint who wrote Ramayana was once a professional robber...."Really?? A robber became a saint? How is that even possible?!" 

Moral: Have a courage to change.

Other personality whom we spoke was Rosa Park, a courageous African-American women who refused to move from her right to sit anywhere in the bus and how her brave stand formed a catalyst for many important changes in the society then. 

We touched upon how Malala Yousafzai courageously stood for the right to education and how Greta Thunberg bravely raised her voice for the climate and inspired millions of people.

Applications - We discussed on how we can be courageous

• Can I give up my bad habits - like nail biting, putting fingers in nose or mouth?
•  failing to show respect to elders, not using good words like please or thank you. 
• When I make a mistake, do I have the courage to admit it?
• When I hurt someone, do I have the courage to apologize?

Small Actions build courage. 

Activities - We concluded the class with

• A fun memory game using all the characters we've learned so far 
• Hanuman Says. 

See you next week.

Hari Om!