[from Heeya's desk]
Parenting a 13 year old still 7, and a 7 year old who feels like 17, needs daily doses of wisdom. Sometimes it spills over. Like this.
[Heeya]
:: Ma, why do you always make me do difficult things ? I mean, why can't you ever chill ? Why not eat the chicken first and uchhe last ? I don't like having uchhe first it's so bitter ! Why does every game have to teach us something and why do I have to play fair with Bon every time ? Why must the guitar be played everyday, why not 3 hours when I want and not for days if I don't. Why can't I do my French only when 'I' feel like ! Why can't I just take things easy ? Why do I need to say no to myself when I could have so much more fun saying yes ??
[Ma]
: Alright let's do 3 quick stories, shall we ?
...................................................
The Elephant -
: Imagine an elephant and a mahout. Big animal, ever hungry, whenever taken out for a ride, ends up at the banana grove. But the mahout wants to take it across the jungle to explore beyond boundaries, cross over and check out the next plantations and forests. So, what does he do ?
:: Bananas hee hee ... what's wrong with bananas Ma. Let the poor thing have it.
: Alright, only bananas all his life then. Eat and sleep and dream and eat again.
:: Hm..why not train him to go the other way?
: Yes, but how ?
:: Mm. With a stick for starters, and slowly he'll change direction maybe.
: Spot on. Your mind is that elephant, and you are not the mind. You are the mahout who controls the mind. Bananas are fine sometimes, but guide him beyond bananas too. By and by, he will like the other journey.
...................................................
The Puppy -
: If you had a puppy ...
:: Ma please please please can we have one now. Bon will be 7, she will be fine. You had promised !
: Achha we will, but listen. If you had one, would you want him to poop in your bedroom ? Will it make you happy ? Will it be fun ?
:: Noooooo of course not Ma. I will potty train him.
: How ?
:: Take him out every day at a fixed time maybe.. outdoors, and grow the habit.
: Spot on. Again, your mind is that restless untrained puppy, but you are not that mind remember ? Because you can control it, train it, put it into daily habits. And once that is done, you can also have fun with the puppy sometimes.
:: Cool...so can we get a puppy this year pleease Ma !
...................................................
The Magnet -
: Finally, what is the difference between a permanent magnet and an ordinary magnetic material ?
:: Magnets have North and South poles.
: And ?
:: They attract and repel each other.
: Yes but how are they different at the core ?
The only difference in permanent magnets is that the atomic poles are neatly aligned and focused in a single direction, where as in ordinary magnetic materials they are not so. Their poles are all randomly oriented. Haphazard. No order, no focus, no direction, no power.
[pauses, thinks, smiles ]
:: Got it !
Ma, do you read all this stuff in that fat old Upanishad Dadan gave you?
Ma, do you read all this stuff in that fat old Upanishad Dadan gave you?
: Bits yes. Other bits...are stories from another book.
:: Nice. Alright, uchhe first. But only for today !
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