By Volunteer Shubham Jadhav, FHI Nagpur
There are certain universal aspirations we all hope to attain in our lifetime. We all want happiness, success, love and prosperity. Most of us believe that if we could just do things a little better, improve ourselves a little more, we would become a better person capable of achieving our dreams.
Sounds good, right? Who doesn’t want to be a better person? The truth is, none of us are perfect and we never will be. But that doesn’t mean we should give up on self-improvement – we are all on a journey of becoming the person we want to be. I took my first steps onto becoming a better person in my own way – by joining FHI. FHI helps underprivileged children to experience things which they might have missed due to their fate and hence stayed deprived of the lessons coming along with those experiences. But the kids aren’t the only ones learning, don’t be mistaken. We, the volunteers, are given themes for each month to plan certain activities and organise the events accordingly. We recently had an event themed ‘Mindfulness’. In short, mindfulness means our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future. The theme focused on living in the moment and it didn’t only help the children to complete their tasks without getting distracted but also made me realise something very important. I’m a short-tempered person and never had a clue how to control it. By being a part of FHI and taking part in these activities, I came to the realisation that there are many ways to control our anger and thus improve our behaviour. The warmth of forgiveness and letting go of grudges can go a long way in helping us to melt the hardened ice of anger inside us.
When we forgive we let go of anger and hostility that eats away at our happiness and clouds our mind. Forgiving someone who has hurt us empowers us to let go of the pain from the past. It doesn’t mean we forget what happened; rather, it means we learn to release resentment and anger, which would otherwise be a burden on our mind and heart. Releasing negative thoughts allows us to heal emotionally, gives us peace and helps us overcome depression, anxiety and rage that create conflicts within our relationships. Festering anger impacts our mental and physical health, with symptoms such as difficulty in sleeping, a weakened immune system and heart disease.
One simple theme given by FHI taught me the value which helped me to become a better person. Thank you, FHI.
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