Gerald D'Cunha

“Sometimes, the bravest and most important thing you can do is just show up.” Brené Brown   O ur summer programme (spread over two months) is on... When I was growing up, the summers were a complete break from studies... I remember spending the entire summer vacation at my maternal grandparents’ place... Oh, that glorious village life -- ponds, running streams, fields, orchards of mangoes, cashews, jackfruits... no books, no studies, no exams... yes, no getting up, dressing up and showing up, no matter how you felt each morning. We returned from our grandparents’ place only late in the evening before our school reopened... Now, the summer vacations are no more meant to ‘break free’ from the routine studies and exams... For each kid, be it in the villages or be it in the cities, summer vacations are meant to do extra studies – with preparation for some entrance exams, or tuitions, or a dozen other classes – dance, sports, singing, computer or soft skills etc. I am guil...

  O ne of the nails you and I hammer while we raise our houses of failure is - giving up when we feel discouraged. Trust me, it’s not easy to be optimistic and stay hopeful when this nail hits us hard. But, then, one thing is sure: If you and I love life, believe in the goodness our hearts possess – and, above all, if we recognize how fortunate we are for the blessings God has bestowed upon us, yes, right through this deep sense of gratitude for the gift of life, all our feelings of discouragement can dissolve. Nothing is going to cripple our souls till we choose to celebrate life... All of us start dreaming, because we believe in our innate goodness... not because other believe in us. Others belief in us can be a great help, but not before we believe in our own selves... Giving up when discouraged – when people say ‘No’, or show discouragement – yes, giving up when discouraged is a pure excuse. As Jim Rohn puts it, it’s a nail we allow ourselves to be hit hard with -   ...

  “The greatest gift you can give your child is not material possession; it’s the gift of discipline.” Unknown   I have been teaching teenaged students for decades. Broadly speaking, I get to see two kinds of parents of these young students of mine… The first kind - I would say, the majority - shield their young ones fiercely… They defend their young ones’ behaviour and actions, even when correction is required. These parents are touchy, overprotective about their young children. The second kind - I would say, the minority – don’t shield their young ones where correction is required. They are firm when it comes to discipline. For, they know the old truth: The best time to shape a tree is when it is a sapling… Once hardened, it is impossible to shape the tree. One of these mothers, who firmly believes in shaping her teenager before he gets ‘hardened’, has been very, very consistent in her approach… She knows her only son like the back of her hand. She knows when ...

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.” Jim Rohn   W ho wants long sermons early in the mornings? I am asking this: Do you think, that any college kid – a teenager – has the inclination or patience to listen to a teacher’s ‘sermons’ in the early mornings? Well, the ‘early mornings’ may be 8 or 9 or 10, you see… At the end of my 9 a.m. class today, I heard myself telling this class-12 group… “Don’t worry. You may have to bear with my ‘sermons’ for a month more, maximum. You will be free after that… ‘Chutkara’ , once and for all!” Of course, my tongue was firmly tucked inside my cheeks as I was telling them what I was telling. I knew, that it was their age to resist… find a teacher’s sermons ‘boring’ and ‘repetitive’. But, I also knew, that the time to recall these sermons –   appreciate them, and value them – would, always, come later in life… It came later in my own life, and, it would come later for my young st...

  “Excuses are the crutches of the uncommitted.” A.   R. Bernard   W hen I was in school (Higher Primary/High School) and college, I had three modes of transport to reach there: the local city buses, my bicycle (in college) and by walk. The one-way distance was about 3 to 4 kilometers. Taking a bus was beyond my means… I took a city bus very occasionally… Mostly, I walked both ways; and, while in college, mostly, I took my bicycle. I remember the days when it rained heavily… The only way to know, that the school had declared a rain-holiday was after we reached the school/college… We had to reach there totally drenched, only to get informed – and thrilled – that there would be a day off! And, today? Technology – WhatsApp, Instagram, mobile communication and online options for students have made their lives not just easy, but lazy, too… You see, during the rainy season, it would rain; and, many times, heavily. It’s expected. So, we kids had to gear up and, som...

"Building alibis, with which to explain away failure, is a national pastime. The habit is as old as human race, and fatal to success.” Napoleon Hill in ‘Think and Grow Rich’ I had first come across the term ‘Alibi’ in Napoleon Hill’s famous book, ‘Think and Grow Rich’. This was the book I was reading during my days of struggle in Bombay. I was new in this city, and I was jobless and hungry. But, the hunger in my heart was of a different kind – I wanted to know how people realized their dreams, how they achieved success. And, which book, other than ‘Think and Grow Rich’, could answer my quest? Towards the end of the book, Napoleon Hill had included a very powerful chapter called ‘Fifty-seven famous Alibis… by Old Man IF’… What a priceless lesson that was! I must have read that book, ‘Think and Grow Rich’, countless times during my ‘days in the wilderness’. I could sense how it infused in me the power and I would find myself all set for the flight. ...

"Two men looked out from prison bars; one saw the mud, the other saw stars.” Dale Carnegie in ‘How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. A ttitude is, often, called ‘outlook’. Shall I say, it is “How we look outside?” Whatever that is and however you define it, in every situation we have the same two options: to see the brighter side or to see the darker one! This lockdown time is not something we have chosen for ourselves; it is something that has been forced upon us… yes, for our own good. So, it’s called ‘quarantine’ and not ‘imprisonment’. It’s like the ‘house arrest’… Right? Whatever… The point I want to make, today, is this: All of us are, presently, looking out from our ‘prison bars’… Some of us see the mud, and some of us see stars… What else is there to see? I have been teaching some of my students online ever since this lockdown started. My students, mercifully, are not the children of those migrant ...

"Talent is like a flower; you have to fully tend to it, if you want something beautiful.” Marinela Reka N ow that we all have enough time in hand, right? “No time” has, always, been our favourite excuse… We hid behind it. But, now, there is no way we can hide… The truth is wide in the open:   All of us have excess time in hand, yes, to do whatever we wanted to, but couldn’t… complaining - ‘No time’! The sunnier side of this lockdown is, that so many are using their time to showcase their talents: they make interesting videos to showcase their talents – songs, dance, music, poetry, drawing, painting, cooking, yoga, fitness, motivation, blogging, mentoring, coaching etc. And, what a way to make the most of these, otherwise, gloomy days at our disposal! “Every adversity brings with it a seed of equal or greater opportunity.” Heard it before? You have to, in deed, believe in it. Else, the adversity becomes even a bigger excus...