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I love reading a passage "Be Silent Together " authored by Howvard Thurman. There are many ways we communicate our thoughts, opinions, ideas, feelings and emotions. We need to be mentally silent, without mental noise so that we can clearly understand what the other person is saying. I remain mentally silent and fully present when I communicate with another person. When I keep on talking without necessary pause I lose my connection with that person. That kind of communication is like a oneway street. It causes headaches and heartaches and may result in causing breakups in relationships. I appreciate the heading of this article: Be Silent together. I myself need to be silent to hear my own voice. Words spoken can wound the mind and heart of the other person or can heal and enrich the other person's mind and heart. I am a teacher, a counselor a father, a grand father and a father-in-law. I have a network of enriching and fufilling relationships in my life. Such relationships give us many wonderful opportunites to cultivate and enrich our minds and hearts. It also positively impacts our intra personal and inter personal relationships. I have spent many yeras of my life relating to different kinds of people. Such relationships have enriched my life and I am very grateful to the people for taking care of me. In order to unerstand and emotionally enrich myself and offering my helping hands to others, I myself need to be silent and compassionate and express my ideas in a nonjudgemental and empathic way. How do I relate to myself and the people in my life is very important. Sadly walls of misunderstanding and hatred are built in many parts of the world. We need to take a stand and do whatever we can to build bridges of empathy, compassion, co0peration and kindness. We cannot be silent. We need to express our voice by doing the right things for us and for others. It is time to wake up, join hands with each other. Namaste. Jagdish P Dave PhD, Psy D Hide full comment

I enjoyed reading Collecting Leaves and Stories, authored by Wendell Berry. I am very fond of taking evening walks. Now, however, I am not able to walk as much as I would like. I am 101 years old, and I can no longer take long walks as I once did. My father was also very fond of walking. I enjoyed taking walks with my father, his friends, and my own friends. While we were walking, my father would often tell us stories, usually with a theme of serving others. We enjoyed listening to these stories and learning the lessons they offered. He often told us stories from the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Through these stories, we learned many valuable lessons about life. My father was not only a wonderful storyteller but also a very admirable teacher. I am deeply grateful to him for teaching us significant lessons about life. Reading this article has raised several questions in my mind. One of them is the seed question: All creatures die into it, and they live by it. How do I relate to such a paradoxical statement? How can life and death go together? When I sat quietly and meditated for a while, another question arose in my mind: How can sound and silence go together? Aren’t they opposites? How can they exist together? As I quietly meditated and reflected on this question, a realization dawned on me: You can create silence within yourself in order to hear the soundless sound. You need to be silent to hear yourself. This has become a very valuable lesson for me. A great deal of our energy is wasted in what we think, how we think, and how we speak. The way we express our thoughts can sometimes create misunderstandings and unnecessary mental pain. Instead of building a bridge between two people, we may end up creating a wall between them. Learning to be silent within ourselves can help us listen more deeply—not only to ourselves but also to others. Perhaps silence can give us the space to understand another person before we react to what they say. This way of relating to others seems especially significant at a time when the noises of fighting are becoming louder and louder. Perhaps what we need today is not more noise, but more people willing to become quiet enough to listen—to themselves, to one another, and to the soundless wisdom within. Namaste. Jagdish P Dave PhD, PsyD Hide full comment

I enjoyed reading this passage, Taking A Seat At Life's Kitchen Table authored by Rachel Naomi Remen is not just a way of passing time. In fact, this writing is very helpful not only to me, but also to my family members, my clients, and my friends. I consider it a gift from the author of this article. Reading this article is very illuminating. As I am growing agewise I have made quite a number of small and big mistakes. Formerly I used to hide my mistakes, suppress or repress my mistakes. I know denying my own mistakes is not the wholesome and wise way for dealing with them. Not knowing how to deal with my mistakes continued draining my physical, mental, and emotional energy. I distinctly remeber an experience when I was teaching a high school class in India. I have always believed that yelling is never the way to guide a child or young adult. One student was continually disrupting the class, and in a moment of frustration, I yelled at that student. After reflection, I realized that the student was still indeed a child and in their mind was not doing anything wrong. I should have empathized more and gently guided rather than yelled. I apologized to that student, and to give a genuine apology I put myself in their shoes and let go of my own ego. In order to learn and cherish something new we need to take bold steps but also learn to recognize other perspectives. This is the way I have learned how to relate to new and difficult situations. Face life courageously, compassionately, and creatively. This is my life story. It is not a straght line. I have learnt how to live my life. And I am very grateful to the folks holding my hands when I have gone through thicks and thins in my life. To me, life is a blessing, not a curse. And I am grateful to my parents, friends, teachers, neighbors and other members of my family for holdng my hands whenever I needed their help. I am also very happy to offer my help whenever I can. It is by giving we receive. It is a two -way street. Sometimes it may become a two-way street. I follow my Dharma. Hold the hand of a person unconditionally who needs your help. I am very happy for doing it. Namaste. Jagdish P Dave PhD, PsyD. Hide full comment