Act Versus Intent

This morning I was contemplating on the topic and realized that a lot of times though the end result action may be the same, but its very critical to know the intent behind the action. To illustrate the same, consider a scenario, where there are two teachers who have taken the kids out for a outbound experience. One teacher may genuinely believe that as the kids are still in a relatively controlled environment, I should let them explore and learning can happen only if I let them free. The other teacher may feel, that as this is a relatively controlled environment, I don’t need to monitor the kids and can laze around while the kids are busy themselves.
Come to think about it, the end result is the same… but the intent is very different. One is doing it to promote learning and growth in the kids and the other is doing it more for his own convenience.
I tend to believe that the intent will make a difference as most likely at the end of the day, the first teacher will try to engage the kids in a discussion to share what they have learnt or what did they notice and try to make it a learning for the group, whereas the first will probably just end the activity and take the kids back getting over with his responsibility.

So, I feel that we should not judge anything on the action alone, but try to understand the intent.

Gratitude To The Receiver

On this site and elsewhere also, we keep coming across a lot of blogs which encourage us all to give- give help, give support, give material goods, give food, give love… and so on.

What I feel gets missed out is the importance of the receiver. The receiver is as important as the giver. Would like to share my personal experience… I like to feed birds and dogs. Now, when it comes to birds, I have always had the feeling that, wherever you put the bird feed, the birds would invariably, be able to detect them and eat. A couple of months back I relocated to a new place and I have had a hard time finding the place where the birds come and feed. I tried various parks, walls, parapets etc and at each of the place the next day would show me uneaten grains… and every morning when I saw the unaccepted offering, I felt unhappy. Finally, I found a place, where the birds started coming and eating, but this experience very clearly highlighted to me the importance of the receiver.

Think, what if there was no one to receive whatever you wish to share …

That’s why I say, Be grateful to the circumstances which have given to you the opportunity to be a giver AND show gratitude to the receiver