The Heart and The Mind - Rishona Chopra

While making a decision, I often find myself being the judge in the court where the two opponents are 'the heart' and 'the mind'. The mind usually gives logical explanations, but the heart gives verdicts showing your inner laziness and desire. It becomes difficult to choose as both opponents have their reasons.

This time, I had to decide whether to go to school as it was sports, but my exams were around the corner, and I had to take a leave to revise my concepts. It was 6:15 in the morning, the rush hour, and I had only 45 minutes left before the bus arrived. I was making this tough decision - Shall I miss out on my favourite sports or do it while simultaneously revising. 

My heart told me to go to school because critical worksheets were supposed to happen, but my brain told me to take a leave and revise with a clear mind. Both points had equal importance and were entirely valid. I first decided to listen to the heart and wore my uniform, but just then, I got a brainwave and decided to listen to the brain. So I lay down on my bed thinking who would win this time. 

It was 6:30, and I had to make my final decision. Guess what I did? I listened to the heart and went to school, but the next day, I also took a leave to revise, so I gave a balance to both, and it was a win-win situation. 

The heart and the mind sit on a see-saw as we sit at the fulcrum, deciding who's decided to go with. Making decisions like this becomes confusing (for me, at least). The heart and the mind are simply two different opinions, and you must choose. It is vital to maintain a balance between the two and maintain peace. 

Rishona Chopra
Grade VII
Gyanshree School

Brain VS Heart - Arfa Khan

Image source:  https://myviews-reflection.blogspot.com/2011/11/mind-vs-heart.html

We have all been in such a dilemma in which our brain says something, but our heart says something else at least once in our lifetime. It can happen in small decisions like whether I should do my homework now or later? Should I buy this or not? And also in big ones like career choices. Such situations are intimidating. And the big question is; who should we listen to, the brain or the heart? 

When you are in a situation where you must act upon one or the other, are you really thinking about balancing your emotions and logic, or are you just pretending? Usually, when faced with a decision, we do not suspend the two options but act upon one or the other. While making such decisions, we shouldn't be biased and always stick to one side.

The brain nor the heart is always correct. We need to pick the right side if there is one. Sometimes there are no right or wrong answers to questions. We should carefully think and ponder before choosing a side.

Our heart makes decisions while considering feelings, which are often reckless. Our brain has a logical and rational approach but tends to overthink much and doesn't want us to take any risks when sometimes, depending on the situation, it can be worth it. 

In conclusion, we should take our time, consider both sides' consequences, and be circumspect while making decisions. You do you because whatever you choose, it will happen for good 😊.

       -Arfa Khan

             8-A

Ahlcon Public School

Heart Vs Brain - Tenzing Dhekyong

Many people believe in what the heart says, while others believe in the brain. For me, it depends upon my situation. For example (not an actual incident), if my brain tells me to go and help my granny with gardening, my other inner side, my heart, would say to me, complete the rest of my work. That was in the case of listening to the core.

Many actors and actresses fall for each other during one specific film. But from the other side, they would say they want to focus more on their career than having a relationship. 

So, because of all these situations, it depends upon what I am going through; so I would like to say that no one didn't that they don't listen, whether it's a heart or a brain... 

Tenzing Dhekyong

Gratitude - Arfa Khan

We all are familiar with the feeling that life is not as we want; our relationships are not deep enough, we are not successful enough, and we don't have the things we crave. This is the feeling of dissatisfaction, a feeling that makes you at others with envy and at yourself with shame. Social media makes it worse by showing us the picture-perfect life others have, unlike us. We have seen many people laughing and enjoying their lives...but their lives aren't perfect too. Then why are some people happier than others? Can we also apply their methods to be more comfortable and more satisfied? It all sums up to one thing - Gratitude. 

Gratitude is a feeling that connects us with the positive side of the world. There are many ways to practice it, like gratitude journaling, where we write about the things we are grateful for. There are many everyday things in life for which we should be grateful, and we might be taking them for granted, like:

1. Recovery/ Post-Crisis -

Life can feel fabulous after recovery like an enormous burden has been lifted off our shoulders. We can do many things that we couldn't do earlier. Objectively, our life would be the same or maybe slightly worse than before, but we compare the present to when life was terrible and react with gratitude.

2. Our Relationships-

We might feel lonely or want more friends, but there might be one or multiple people wanting to spend time with us. We might feel this is not enough and feel bad. If we're grateful for our relationships, we might accept the offers or take the initiative. Many people don't have anyone and suffer from mental illnesses, but we have many people who care for us.

3. Anyone who means a lot to you-

There might be someone significant in our lives, and we can't imagine life without them. By comparing our life with and without them, we feel grateful that they are with us.

4. Fate-

We have many things in our everyday life many don't have, like clean water and food, money, access to the internet, limbs, eyes, ears etc. We should be grateful for these things.  

Scientists have found many benefits of gratitude journaling. Many participants showed more happiness and life satisfaction after practising for a few weeks and even a change in brain activity after a few months. It's pretty mind-blowing that something as simple as writing about a few things you are grateful for can help fight dissatisfaction. We know our life is hard, but it might not be as bad as it seems if we look from a different perspective.

•  Arfa Khan 

  Ahlcon Public School

Sources:

https://leadchangegroup.com/daily-gratitude/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPPPFqsECz0&t=15s

 

Acceptance - Rishona Chopra

Acceptance is considering people as they are. It is not knowing people's faults and not talking about them. That is being sympathetic. Acceptance is to not even realise one has flaws or is disabled; it is just to consider them equal to you.

In the book Totto-chan, Takahashi was short, but no one talked about it because they probably didn't realise that he was disabled or had faults. They just accepted him as a child. 

When we grow up, we know more, we know the faults, we know when one is disabled and when we see that, we even stop feeling pity for them! That is why our brain cannot use it to its total capacity because the more we know, the more problems we create. Life will unfold itself. We don't have to force it to open its destiny. 

In an extract from Peter Pan, Peter says to Wendy: Children don't believe in fairies because they know more than what they are supposed to know, and that's why fairies are fading from the world.

Accepting people is looking at their good qualities, not at their faults, because after all, everyone is different and no one is perfect.

Rishona Chopra 
Grade VI 
Gyanshree School

Goals - Rishona Chopra

 

Set your goals high, and don't stop until you get there.

Goals are our ambitions. Like in football, there is a goal. Our life's goal is quite the same! 

In football, we have to hit the ball at the goal, but the goalkeepers and the opponent's team don't let you do that. You have to face them and hit the same goal in your life; we have challenges facing and reaching our goal.

Goals are not just a tiny thing; they are your life. We all have a life, and we have the opportunity to do whatever we want with it, so why not do the something we wish, our passion. And that is a goal!

My goal is to become a neurosurgeon, and I have started practising for it! I have read 3 thick books on our body and have done a course on Udemy on the Brain and other body parts. It was a minor higher level, but I understood most of it. I also want to be an author and have written several short blogs and stories. I wrote a small book of 20 pages and will start writing another one!

So whatever your goal is, make sure it is your passion.

Rishona Chopra 
Grade V
Gyanshree School