Gerald D'Cunha

  “A butterfly did not touch earth by her eyes; because she showed an irresistible fluorescence colour of shyness.” Petra Hermans   S ome things about us will, always, remain with us… One of them is our shyness. I have been saying this, with conviction, for decades. And, at 63, and after helping myself and thousands of shy people like me, over these years, I still say this: Shyness stays! Before we get into unnecessary arguments, let me state a few facts... about me. As far as my memory goes back, I have been a shy kid, always. When I became an adolescent, I became more and more self-conscious, and more and more withdrawn. The self-talk, that everybody was watching me, judging me, accepting or rejection me (mostly rejecting), I was not up-to-the mark, I always lacked something and others were always better than me… my looks, speech, dress, family status – everything was inferior compared to the ones around me… etc., etc., etc. Yes, I remember these thoughts cri...

“The most curious offspring of shame  is shyness.” Sydney Smith “M usic is the same, the laughter is not.” This's how I reacted when I first watched this video. Let’s watch it again… The bunch of these l’le kids are in their music class… The music teacher plays the same playful music… Yes, on same strings, with same variation of speed. But, look at the way these kids react to it so differently! Undoubtedly, the l’le champ at the center gets all the eyeballs… Unmistakably, his reaction is just priceless, just infectious! What about other kids around him? Look at each one… And, each one of them has his/her unique response. Now, let’s imagine ourselves as those kids, in the same music class. Or, imagine our kids in their place. Let’s get in touch with our own reactions: Would we all want ourselves, or our kids, to be like the boy in the spotlight? Every time, someone, out there, hogs all the spotlight, many of us wish ourselves or our...

“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work… It’s already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” Michelangelo O ne of the amazing mysteries of life is the beauty of what we create. It’s said, “Everything that we create in life, we create twice: once, inside the mind, and once, outside.” This means, that everything is already there in the thin air… everything – beautiful buildings and beautiful books… movies, poems, songs, music, software, machines, automobiles, clothes, commercials, every product and every service on this earth. Yes, it’s all there… just like the simplest solution to the toughest mathematical-problem… Just like a continent, even God! Everything is there already concealed; we just need to ‘uncover’… The beauty of this uncovering is called ‘Creation’! Well, if a mystic is to read what I have just said, he may simply laugh at my ignorance. I hear him shout, “My friend, in life, yo...

“I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.” Anne Frank ‘H ope’ is a bright four-letter word, just as ‘Love’ and ‘Life’ are. Had it not been for Hope, Life, for all of us, would have been a dark, endless tunnel, completely devoid of meaning. Yes, Hope holds Life together for us, so that we are able to say, “Everything will be alright”, and “I went to prison, but I never let my mind go to prison.” By the way, what significance do those two statements have? Whose words are those, and what is the context? Another routine thing I would do in our summer programmes for the young ones (on Personality Development) was showing them many inspiring videos from the talent shows, such as ‘America’s Got Talent’ or ‘Britain’s Got Talent’. Most of them would be the Golden Buzzer moments, which gave us goosebumps, and took our breath away. Our young ones would enjoy them as much as I would. But, this summer… Well, I miss watching them together and f...