Manav Dave

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 MANAV DAVE
 is looking toward a hopeful future, thanks to the inspiration and
 action of the Gen Zs, and despite the challenges they face.
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 Take a second to think about this current moment in time. There is a lot
 to process. In the past two years alone, the Covid pandemic has managed
 to expose the cracks in our social, economic, and political systems, and
 has left us wondering whether there is anywhere left to go from here.
 

 
 But the situation has also led to uncovering some very unlikely heroes.
 While the powers that be are combatting our problems with old and
 ineffective solutions, a new generation of heroes has emerged to create
 the world we deserve. Whether it is through harnessing the potential of
 the Internet and social media, or changing the frameworks and
 definitions of equity and equality, one thing is for sure: the next
 generation is ready to make change, and is not afraid to shake things up
 along the way.
 

 
 From the youngest woman of color to serve in the American Congress, to
 the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize, this past decade has
 been full of firsts. Another important first to acknowledge is the
 Internet. From the first email sent in 1971, to Facebook in 2004,
 Instagram in 2010, and most recently, TikTok in 2016, this generation
 has been raised on the Internet and has managed to harness its potential
 to communicate effectively, and create and organize mass movements for
 change.
 

 
 One of the first examples of technology bringing people together was
 Facebook during the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 to overthrow President
 Hosni Mubarak. Since then, the use of social media to mobilize change
 has become more effective, with Greta Thunberg using Facebook to
 encourage Fridays for Future climate strikes, and the rapid escalation
 and coming together during the Black Lives Matter movement. This
 generation uses the powers of technology to their advantage.
 

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 One thing is for sure: the next generation is ready to make
 change, and is not afraid to shake things up along the way.
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 Gen Z, the group of people born from around 1995 to 2010, is said to
 have the highest diversity in terms of race, class, and gender identity.
 Combined with increased access to digital platforms, this has led to a
 generation that is changing the way we look at tolerance, equality, and
 equity. Some of the social issues that matter most to Gen Zs are
 equitable access to healthcare, racial equity, and climate change,
 showing a shift from a self-serving mindset to a humanitarian one.
 

 
 This is not to say that this generation is without demons. The Internet
 comes with its own set of dangers, and Gen Zsare sometimes inhibited in
 their ability to form real-world connections and sustain the impact
 created by mass mobilization. Behavior trends like cancel culture and
 social media frenzy often make it difficult to understand the
 dimensionality of an issue and find a proper solution. If Gen Zs are
 truly going to bring change, they will need to channel their enthusiasm
 and passion, and also develop the maturity and depth of understanding
 required to create a long-standing, sustainable, and equitable impact.
 

 
 From Greta Thunberg to Amanda Gorman to Malala Yousafzai, they are
 making strides in every area – environmental activism, art, racial
 equality, and education for all. They are ready to use what they have
 and know to bring a magnitude of change that has never been seen before.
 More importantly, they are hopeful, and not taking no for an answer.
 

 
 To sum it all up, as Greta Thunberg said, “We can no longer let the
 people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer
 let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope
 is telling the truth. Hope is action.” And above all, what the next
 generation promises is hope for a better future.
 

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Why the next generation will take us where we need to be

Manilal Roopa is a retired educator and facilitator. He lives in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He became a Heartfulness trainer in 1991, and continues to work in this role.

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Manilal Roopa

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">MANILAL ROOPA lives in Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. He is retired after a career as an educator and facilitator for over 50 years, and continues to work as a Heartfulness trainer, which he has done for over 30 years. As a “colored” under Apartheid in South Africa, he has been through much and seen a lot of social change during his life, radiating peacefulness and love throughout.</h4>“As-salamu alaykum.” May peace be upon you. “Wa alaykumu s-salaam.” And may peace be upon you too.Over two billion people around the world exchange this beautiful greeting. It is in Arabic and uttered by every Muslim several times a day. Over a quarter of the world’s population are greeting each other with this prayer for peace. I am honored that many of my Muslim friends greet me this way.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/may_peace_upon_you2_7f98656f90.jpg"></figure>Over a billion Hindus greet each other by joining their palms and saying “Namaste,” meaning “I bow to the Divine in you.”Over three billion Christians refer to Jesus as the “Prince of Peace,” and many say the prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi:&nbsp;Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:&nbsp; where there is hatred, let me sow love;&nbsp; where there is injury, pardon;&nbsp; where there is doubt, faith;&nbsp; where there is despair, hope;&nbsp; where there is darkness, light;&nbsp; where there is sadness, joy.O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek&nbsp; to be consoled as to console,&nbsp; to be understood as to understand,&nbsp; to be loved as to love.&nbsp; For it is in giving that we receive,&nbsp; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,&nbsp; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.&nbsp; Amen.My silent prayer is that more and more of us embrace this idea of peace every day of our lives.&nbsp;Daaji, the global guide of Heartfulness, encourages us to send out subtle suggestions daily into the universe:Everything around me is absorbing peace; the air, the oceans, the trees, the structures, the animals and humans. All are radiating peace.All humanity is becoming peaceful, showing more compassion, more kindness, and more love.The world may be in turmoil, the antithesis to peace: Russia and Ukraine, the conflict in Sudan, Palestine, North and South Korea, the riots in France, and political turmoil in several countries.&nbsp;Our past is replete with similar chaos, skirmishes, invasions, and wars. What we are witnessing is not new. A few centuries ago, European countries were constantly at war. Furthermore, in as much as religions advocate peace and harmony among all, the spread of some major religions are premised on brutal conversions.Babuji, the founding spiritual guide of Heartfulness, summed it up poignantly:“Religion divides, spirituality unites.”The term peacefulness is nuanced on the noun peace. It connotes more than individual peace – a world full of peace. As our hearts become full of love, serenity, peace, gratitude, and humility, our world will be transformed into a world of peacefulness.Om Dyauh Shantir-Antariksham Shanti Prathivi Shantir – Apah Shantir Omshadayah Shanti Vanaspatayah Shanti&nbsp;&nbsp; Vishve Devah Shantir Brahma Shanti Sarvam Shanti Shantireva Shanti Sa Ma Shantiir-Edhi Om Shanti Shanti ShantiIt means, “O Supreme Creator, may there be peace in the sky, may there be peace in all the celestial regions, may the earth be at peace. The water, the medicinal and nutritious herbs, the trees and plants all be at peace. Let there be peace in all the elements of nature. Let everything in which You exist be at peace. Let peace reign everywhere. Finally, may that glorious peace abide in me. May there be peace, peace, peace.”This is a prayer for peace uttered by over a billion Hindus.&nbsp;With half the world’s population praying for peace every day, I envisage a state of peacefulness reigning in the hearts of humanity in the not too distant future. May more and more of us embrace this idea of peace every day of our lives.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/may_peace_upon_you3_c7d6ddc31e.jpg"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">With half the world’s population praying for peace every day,&nbsp; I envisage a state of peacefulness reigning in the hearts of humanity in the not too distant future.</h4><hr>&nbsp;

May peace be upon you

Dr. Kulkarni is an orthopedic surgeon from Pune, India. He is the Associate Director of the Heartfulness CME Program, and a dedicated professional with expertise in counseling, training, and consulting. He interprets time management through the Eisenhower Matrix, offering practical ways of energizing our time.

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Manish Kulkarni

<h3 style="text-align:center;">STRATEGIES FOR MAXIMIZING PRODUCTIVITY AND WELL-BEING</h3><h4 style="text-align:justify;">DR. MANISH KULKARNI is a busy man! So he has created an approach to time management that allows him to focus on what’s important and disregard what’s not.</h4>Time is an infinite space and can create miracles. Twenty-four hours of time is always a stretchable period. We can accomplish much more in less time and practically nothing in maximum time.Time management is the process of planning and exercising conscious control of time—what time we spend on specific activities, especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity. When we see good time management, it requires an important shift in focus, from activities to results. Being busy is not the same as being effective or productive. Good time management allows you to work smarter, not harder, so you can get more done in less time.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Why is it difficult to manage time?</h4>The main reasons for poor time management are:<ul><li style="text-align:justify;">Lack of prioritization</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Absence of optimal organization&nbsp;</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Procrastination</li><li style="text-align:justify;">Distraction</li></ul>&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energise_your_time2_caced6e7d8.jpg" alt="energise-your-time2.jpg" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_energise_your_time2_caced6e7d8.jpg 222w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/small_energise_your_time2_caced6e7d8.jpg 500w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/medium_energise_your_time2_caced6e7d8.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">When we start managing our time and benefit from it,&nbsp; we feel more in control of our day.&nbsp; We become more aware of the time we spend on unproductive activities&nbsp; and realize we want to spend more time on productive activities.</h4><hr><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Benefits of proper time management</h4>When we start managing our time and benefit from it, we feel more in control of our day. We become more aware of the time we spend on unproductive activities and realize we want to spend more time on productive activities. So we naturally become more productive in our work, and in our daily activities. We are able to focus longer on what we are doing and, more importantly, we make time for meaningful activities.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Five helpful pointers for time management</h4><ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>Start your day early by arriving early at work.</li><li>Plan your day the night before.</li><li>Prioritize tasks.</li><li>Take care of yourself right from the start till the end of the day.</li><li>Take small breaks in between daily activities, which energizes your time.</li></ol><h4 style="text-align:justify;">Using the Eisenhower Matrix</h4>Dwight David Eisenhower was a former US President who developed a matrix to divide your daily activities according to important and not important, urgent and not urgent. Based on these divisions, a daily chart can be divided into four quadrants to highlight:<ol style="list-style-type:decimal;"><li>The most important and urgent work that needs to be done right now.</li><li>Non-urgent but important work which can be scheduled at some later time.</li><li>Urgent work that is not important, which can be delegated to someone else, and</li><li>Non-urgent work that is not important, which can be removed.</li></ol><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/energise_your_time3_bd62f74695.jpg" alt="energise-your-time3.jpg" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_energise_your_time3_bd62f74695.jpg 158w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/small_energise_your_time3_bd62f74695.jpg 500w," sizes="100vw"></figure>But in our day to day activities, we often spend more time doing non-urgent, unimportant tasks, and when we decide to focus on the urgent and important tasks the day is nearly over and we are tired. So the Eisenhower matrix is a great tool.<h4 style="text-align:justify;">Ways to energize yourself</h4>Leo Tolstoy once said, “The two most powerful warriors in life are patience and time.” How can we positively jump start our day? One way is with a simple gratitude list. This list can also be done prior to going to sleep. A second way is exercise, which stimulates endorphins, enhances cognitive performance, and kickstarts the day with a feeling of accomplishment. And a third way is to recite positive affirmations or intentions, which will help you affirm yourself and the work you are going to do.They also help improve personal relationships, enhance decision-making capabilities, and prevent missed opportunities in the haste of the day. You can accomplish much more.Create an achievable and realistic list of goals for a day, knowing your limitations. Share appreciation for others, and also appreciate your own deeds. It helps you to live an optimal life.For all this to work out, adjust your mindset. Train your mind to try new things, to adapt to changes, and to face new challenges. Take time for growth. And that’s where Heartfulness Meditation comes into play: “The whole exercise of fine-tuning the heart with the mind is through meditation on the heart.” (Daaji)When we take the time to refine our hearts, we can save so much time, as the heart takes care of the mind.&nbsp;

Energize your time

Margaret Mead

Thoughtful committed citizens

Human potentialities

Margaret has been a Heartfulness trainer since 1994. She is Professor Emeritas, University of Colorado, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is known for her research on Parkinson’s disease, and her current work looks at the impact of Heartfulness on the well-being of health professional students.

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Margaret Schenkman

Maria is part of the Presencing Institute and U-school for transformation, which focuses on societal systems innovation. She is a co-host for Deep U retreats, an inner transformation accelerator, and a Heartfulness trainer. Maria is initiating a regenerative project in Portugal for global well-being.

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Maria Daniel Brás

<h4 style="text-align:justify;">MARIA DANIEL BRÁS met up with VANESSA PATEL in February 2024 at Kanha Shanti Vanam, where Maria was co-conducting a 4-day immersive experience in Deep U, along with Vasco Gaspar and Stanislas Lajugie. They blended knowledge and tools from various heart-centered, awareness-based, and trauma-informed approaches, to enable connectedness and innate inner wisdom. Vanessa was a participant in the workshop, and invited Maria to share more about her experiences.</h4>&nbsp;Q: I’ve just completed the Deep U retreat with you, Vasco, and Stan, and I came to realize that you are fully trained in Theory U and have worked with Otto Scharmer. Can you explain a little more about what that is?MDB: I work at the Presencing Institute, which was co-founded by Otto Scharmer and the MIT Sloan School of Management teachers. He wrote the book, Leading from the Emerging Future, with Katrin Kaufer on how true change happens in the world. It doesn’t go directly from problem to solution; you need an inner journey to get there. That’s why it’s called Theory U. You stop to see what’s around you, and you stop downloading the old patterns so you are ready to see the new. Like artists who keep looking at a landscape for many hours, then stop, go within, and something emerges from that space. That’s how creativity works.Otto and colleagues interviewed many people, multi-level innovators from all sorts of professions, and they found that this is how the real process of transformation happens. We may say it’s new, but it’s actually replicating what we already know from the past.The Presencing Institute is focused on outer transformation, how to reinvent the systems that we have in society, like finance, education, governance, etc. It gives changemakers the tools for free under Creative Commons. It’s all about elevating consciousness.It’s connected with Heartfulness as well. Deep U, in particular, is a program that focuses on the inner journey, and on transforming, changing, and opening our inner system. Then, we are ready for outer transformation.Q: It helped to access the inner system, to what lies deep within, and that emerged through some of the exercises we did. It helped my spiritual process in that it gave me glimpses into parts of myself I hadn’t really thought about. That was a revelation for me.MDB: It definitely gives us more awareness into our unconscious patterns in our day-to-day lives, either because we are meant to be that way because of our nervous system, or because of what happens in our minds.Then we create the layers, the blockages that stop us from being able to connect with others and ourselves in a different way. Sometimes, we are very critical of ourselves. It’s really about being aware of those layers and being able to take decisions to remove them, for example, by doing practices like Heartfulness Cleaning and other techniques, and also by doing therapy. Without those layers, we can be better toward ourselves, toward others, and toward nature.Q: How many of these Deep U workshops have you done so far?MDB: This was the seventeenth one, and the first in Asia. Most have been in Europe, and one in the US.Q: Do you design such programs for corporates?MDB: That is a major part of Vasco’s work.Q: I hope you do many more. It’s a very interesting approach—a blend of spiritual techniques, and techniques based on psychology and self-exploration. What kind of feedback have you had so far? Have you seen shifts in people?MDB: The participants are the best people to answer! We have heard very beautiful things. One that stood out was someone who said, “It was the first time I was able to be myself.” That is strong. We are very grateful for that.Q: As you said, this program helps to remove barriers, and shows that it’s okay to be yourself and not apologize for it.MDB: We create a safe space together. We hope people feel safe enough for that opening, and through the tools and technologies we share, they find ideas on how to do that for themselves.Q: That was a big part of my own experience. Not only did I feel safe and very supported, it was almost a sacred space that enabled me to explore myself. Can you tell me a little bit about your own spiritual journey? What brought you to where you are now?MDB: I don’t know exactly when it started. As a child I was at a Catholic school, because in Portugal the main religion is Catholicism and we had sessions at school to learn about Jesus and God. I remember even at the age of five questioning the stories we were told. I had a kind of crisis at that age, thinking that God needed to be different, because why was there so much suffering? I remember the moment clearly. I was angry, because I was thinking about my grandmother, who was a victim of domestic violence. I thought, “Is this the God that they speak about?” And I decided I didn’t believe in religion.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Deep U is a program that focuses on the inner journey, and on transforming, changing, and opening our inner system.</h4><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u2_85a5d28001.webp" alt="deep-u2.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_deep_u2_85a5d28001.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_deep_u2_85a5d28001.webp 600w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u2_85a5d28001.webp 600w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;At the same time, several times a day, not only when I was in need, I was speaking to an entity that was bigger than myself, and hoping that being would listen. I was very fortunate to have an inner voice that somehow knew what to do. But I wasn’t super aware of it. That came much later and now I am aware of it.Heartfulness Meditation is a recent practice for me. My husband Vasco was meditating, but I had a very rational mind because of the lack of trust I felt about God. I took refuge in science, and everything that couldn’t be explained was hard for me to believe. When Vasco became a Heartfulness trainer, he offered to introduce me to the practice. He didn’t tell me anything about how it worked, but at the end of the first session I started to cry and said, “Thank you for cleaning me.” After the second session, I said, “I know where the light is.” These words came out of me, I don’t know how. Since then, I have been meditating.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u3_8ecac52ec9.webp" alt="deep-u3.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_deep_u3_8ecac52ec9.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_deep_u3_8ecac52ec9.webp 505w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u3_8ecac52ec9.webp 505w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">I was very fortunate to have an inner voice that somehow knew what to do.&nbsp;</h4><hr>Q: What were your takeaways and insights about this particular Deep U retreat that we just did? There was more of a spiritual approach to it than you have done previously.MDB: Yes, that’s correct. In every program we introduce people to Heartfulness, that’s the main purpose. But here in Kanha, it’s obvious. Just being in this environment is transformational. We can take ourselves deeper, faster, potentially more than in other programs we have done. The transformation is always part of it, but here Heartfulness is so present, including through the volunteers who helped us create the experiences.Usually, a workshop is intimate, with around twenty participants; here, there were almost 100. It was an experiment to see if it would work. The ecosystem and the volunteer attitude that exist here are beautiful. They represent how we can live from a different place than we usually live in our society, especially in the West. Sometimes those concepts are forgotten, and seeing everyone so involved is beautiful. People realize how many hearts need to be open to do this work.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Just being in this environment is transformational.&nbsp; We can take ourselves deeper, faster,&nbsp; potentially more than in other programs we have done.&nbsp;</h4><hr><figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u4_ba3dc18474.webp" alt="deep-u4.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_deep_u4_ba3dc18474.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_deep_u4_ba3dc18474.webp 600w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u4_ba3dc18474.webp 600w," sizes="100vw"></figure>&nbsp;Q: That is special, to acknowledge the people who were involved in the background, who were facilitating the daily flow of activities.MDB: And of course, the participants meditated together with others in the meditation hall and listened to Daaji speak. Spirituality is directly presented here, whereas in programs in the West, sometimes it is in the background, sustaining everything. We can’t always talk directly about spirituality, as some people might not be ready for it. This program has given glimpses of how to speak about it.Q: So that gives you the opportunity to offer more. Can you explain the concept you introduced in the workshop of giftivism, paying it forward? Is it that whatever you feel you received you are putting forward to somebody else who can benefit from it?MDB: That was actually an inspiration from the very first program. The first time I came to India, we stopped in Kanha for twenty-four hours. It was barren land at the time. We went to Ahmedabad for a retreat with Nipun Mehta called Gandhi 3.0, on “kindorism,” the opposite of terrorism. We didn’t know what to do with it. It was such a restructuring of our way of being, our Western society, where you always give something in exchange, right? It was so beautiful, and changed us. We really wanted to implement it in our program.So Deep U became an incubator for the kindness factor. For example, we involve people who have done the program to stitch the little felt hearts every participant receives and gives to others. There are people gifting their time and their knowledge. We invite people to pay it forward. The program doesn’t have a fixed price; everyone is invited to give a donation or volunteer their time, or give whatever multiple form of capital they have. It’s not transactional. It’s important to keep the chain going, because if we keep kindness to ourselves, then what is the impact?&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u5_834a8742b4.webp" alt="deep-u5.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_deep_u5_834a8742b4.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_deep_u5_834a8742b4.webp 505w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u5_834a8742b4.webp 505w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">While it’s important to be kind toward ourselves,&nbsp; we can expand and have an impact in the world.&nbsp; Kindness touches people,&nbsp; and they are transformed by it.&nbsp;</h4><hr>While it’s important to be kind toward ourselves, we can expand and have an impact in the world. Kindness touches people, and they are transformed by it. That’s why Deep U is an incubator for kindness and for pay it forward. It’s all about service that gives rise to hope and doing it for the next person. I feel very grateful and blessed because these programs are embedded in a sense of service, and that’s a beautiful way to live.Q: That stood out. So did the fact that participation in each workshop exercise was a choice: “Let me invite you to take part if you feel you are ready.” That invitation was so important, especially for those who are hesitating. The approach was so soft. Sometimes we forget that people are not always ready to leave their safe space and dive into unfamiliar territory, yet they feel pressure to participate despite their reservations.MDB: It’s like our meditation. The subtle approach gets a better response than the harsh push, right? Everything is an invitation. If someone is not ready, it’s okay. Maybe later they will be. But they need to feel safe and that they are not missing the train.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u6_d937db362f.webp" alt="deep-u6.webp" srcset="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/thumbnail_deep_u6_d937db362f.webp 145w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/large_deep_u6_d937db362f.webp 505w,https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/deep_u6_d937db362f.webp 505w," sizes="100vw"></figure><hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">It’s like our meditation.&nbsp; The subtle approach gets a better response&nbsp; than the harsh push, right? Everything is an invitation.&nbsp;</h4><hr>Q: You said you had an inner voice growing up. We’re so used to being told that the voice is outside. We don’t know to listen to this little voice until, in your case, as an adult you became conscious of it and started listening to it.MDB: I think it was because I was an only child and spent a lot of time alone. Also, my cousin and I grew up together. He’s three months older, and he has a sister. They were always fighting, whereas I found peace being by myself. In those moments alone, I heard the voice inside more clearly. It wasn’t always loud; almost like a gut feeling, and that kept me in balance all these years. It made me seek the person within for guidance.Q: What’s next for you and the Deep U team?MDB: This retreat happened as an invitation from Daaji and the feedback has been good. We are receiving requests to do it again, here and in Europe. We are open to invitations to see where they lead us!Q: Thank you so much Maria, it’s been such a pleasure.MDB: Thank you Vanessa.<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Illustrations by JASMEE MUDGAL</h4><hr>&nbsp;

Deep U

The 19-year-old twins have worked for such causes as girls’ education, climate justice, gender equality and inclusivity. They have their own non-profit, The World With MNR, that uses advocacy, storytelling and development to take action and inspire others. They have covered the Social Good Summit in New York City, the Girl Up Leadership Summit in Washington D.C., and done interviews with Justin Trudeau, Malala Yousafzai, and Madame Christine Lagarde. They have received several awards, including the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award. Recently they released a documentary on the status of girls’ education in Pakistan.

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Mariam and Nivaal Rehman

<h4>MARYAM and NIVAAL REHMAN became activists when they were eight years old, inspiring girls in their village in Pakistan to continue their education. The now 19-year-old twins have since worked for such causes as girls’ education, climate justice, gender equality and inclusivity. They have their own non-profit, The World With MNR, that uses advocacy, storytelling and development to take action and inspire others to do the same.</h4><h4>They have used their social media and YouTube channels to cover several events, including the Social Good Summit in New York City, the Girl Up Leadership Summit in Washington D.C., and interviews with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, and Madame Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank. They have received several awards, including the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award. Recently they released a documentary on the status of girls’ education in Pakistan, and held global screenings to spark further conversation and inspire action.</h4>“Activism is my rent for living on the planet,” is a very powerful quote by Alice Walker that has become one of the mantras we live by. For us, activism is a responsibility. We feel the need to stand up for causes like gender equality, climate justice, and inclusivity, because it is in our hands to make the world a better place. As global citizens, we have to become informed, understand global issues, and resolve them. We shouldn’t settle for a world with inequalities, one in which we don’t treat our planet well, and one in which we don’t give each other dignity and respect. We humans take so much from our planet that we truly need to pay “our rent” for living here. In our journey, we have also learned that we can’t do it alone. Others need to get involved, too. We have always aimed to inspire others to take action.&nbsp;Here are our top three tips to get started:&nbsp;<h4>Start with one cause&nbsp;</h4>To be effective as an activist, pick a cause and start taking action, then expand from there. You may be wondering how it’s possible to narrow it down to one cause, especially with so many issues in the world, but we recommend that you start with something local in your community. You don’t have to travel to the other side of the world to make a difference, because issues of global importance persist in our own backyards, even if we don’t recognize them at first. Often, we are best equipped to tackle local challenges, because in doing so, we can use our understanding of our communities, volunteer on the ground, and have a lasting impact.&nbsp;<hr>For us, activism is a responsibility. We feel the need to stand up for causes like gender equality, climate justice, and inclusivity, because it is in our hands to make the world a better place. As global citizens, we have to become informed, understand global issues, and resolve them.<hr>When we began our journey more than ten years ago, we started by recognizing that girls in a school in our village in Pakistan were quitting school when they reached Grade 5. We resolved to fix the issue by understanding the barriers to education they faced. We learned that girls were quitting because their families thought it would be best if they started to work to support them financially, not recognizing the long-term benefits of education for girls. We worked to inspire the girls in our village to continue their education, through workshops, and spoke to their parents about the benefits of educating their daughters. Some of the girls went on to high school, and we are continuing to work with the next generation of kids, to ensure they have the opportunity to continue their education, too.<h4>Be informed</h4>Taking action for global issues is only half of activism. First, it is essential to understand those issues, including the background, on-the-ground realities, and ultimately how best to contribute to resolving the challenges. Make sure you don’t end up doing more harm than good, which makes this research phase critical before you begin your work. The best way to conduct research is through consulting a variety of sources, including credible books, articles, scholarly journals, films, and videos. Try your best to get a holistic overview of the topic, and ultimately decide what is your stance. As much as you may try to stay neutral when trying to understand global issues, it is also important to note that, as Desmond Tutu says, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Therefore, try to understand all sides of the situation, and from there you can start to understand the best course of action, which will require further research.&nbsp;<img src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/activism2_img_a82c1aef8f.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-05T13:10:15.876Z" alt="activism2"><h4>Talent + Cause = Change&nbsp;</h4>We have created this activism formula to help you on your journey. Combine your talents with the causes you are passionate about, and make a difference. An example of this is when we combined our talent for filmmaking and storytelling with the cause of girls’ education, and created change by launching a documentary in Pakistan. Our film features the girls in our village, and changemakers around the country as well. We held screenings of the film worldwide and are doing virtual events now to increase its impact. You can do the same by applying this formula in your journey.&nbsp;Over the years, we have had incredible opportunities to support the rights of girls all over the world. While many people see the end results of our journey, there has been a long process of learning, research, and ultimately action. We interviewed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Malala Yousafzai for the Malala Fund’s first-ever Facebook Live. We attended the G7 Finance and Development Ministers’ Meetings in 2018 to urge world leaders like the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, to invest in girls’ education. We even became filmmakers for Disney and the UN Girl Up Campaign’s Dream Big Princess project, which raised a million dollars for programs for girls around the world and shared the inspiring stories of incredible women with millions of families.&nbsp;We were honored to start working with girls in our village in Pakistan, and eventually to advocate for girls around the world at platforms like the G7 summit, and we’re just getting started. We think that our journey shows the potential of activism, and demonstrates that if you stay dedicated to a cause you can make a difference. We urge you to see our story as your motivation to take action for the causes you believe in, and know that your actions will have an impact!<hr><h4 style="text-align:center;">Article by MARYAM and NIVAAL REHMAN</h4><hr>

Activism

Marilyn is Emeritus Professor of Molecular Embryology at University College London. She has researched life at the level of molecules and at a cellular level. Her work as a scientist over 60 years has involved DNA replication and repair, the genetics of bacteria and their viruses, amoeboid cell signaling and aggregation, single cell molecular biology and pre-implantation diagnosis, stem cells and regenerative medicine, gene transcription and epigenetic regulation in embryonic development, and the development of a prophylactic cancer vaccine.

MARILYN-MONK.jpg

Marilyn Monk

A hierarchy of consciousness

Marilyn has been with the Charter for Compassion since 2013 and is currently the Executive Director. Her background has been primarily in higher education and curriculum development. She has also worked with Independent Broadcasting Associates on National Public Radio, the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and in organizational development, specializing in instructional design work, strategic planning and leadership. She has developed training content on race and social justice initiatives.

Marilyn-Turkovich.jpg

Marilyn Turkovich

From tolerance to appreciation

marshall-rosenberg.jpg

Marshall B. Rosenberg

Habitual and natural

Meeting needs

The most precious gift

profile-image.png

Martin Luther King Jr.

Infinite hope

Everyone can serve

The arc of the moral universe

Mary is recognized internationally as an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, author, child advocate and parenting expert, whose programs are informed by empathy. In 1996 she created the Roots of Empathy program, which is now offered in many countries, and in 2005 she created the Seeds of Empathy program for 3- to 5-year-olds in childcare. She is also the founder of Canada’s first and largest school-based Parenting and Family Literacy Centers. Mary speaks and consults to governments, educational organizations, and public institutions, including the World Health Organization, the Skoll World Forum, and the United Nations.

MARY-GORDON.jpg

Mary Gordon

Roots of empathy - part 2

<h4>MARY GORDON was interviewed by JUDITH
 NELSON at the Spirit of Humanity Forum in Iceland in 2019. In part 1 she shares her worldview on the
 importance of empathy in human relationships and how it forms the foundation for the program she runs in schools on
 developing empathy in schoolchildren, called Roots of Empathy.</h4>

<hr class="vertical-space1">

Q: Thanks for joining me Mary. Can I ask you first about
 empathy, as your work is especially with empathy? Can you tell me a bit more about your work?
MG: Well, my understanding of empathy is the
 ability to feel with the other person, not just to understand how they feel, but also to have the capacity to feel
 with them. And I think that empathy is the number one attribute of being human, and we have too little of it in the
 world, and it’s a shrinking commodity. But I also focus on empathy because when you have cruelty, when you have
 racism, when you have violence, when you have genocides, when you have any of the big horrific things in the world,
 the common ingredient is the absence of empathy.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">Empathy develops&nbsp;in the first year of
 life, 
 in the loving relationship 
 between parents and babies.
</h5>
<hr>
My work is informed by that conclusion, which I came to a long time ago, and also the
 conclusion that empathy develops in the first year of life, in the loving relationship between parents and babies.
 And so, our work is about increasing empathy in childhood. And we do that by bringing the relationship between
 parents and babies, during the first year of the child’s life, into the classroom.
<img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-1" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Roots_of_empathy2_7fe9cc1956.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:39:30.402Z">

The Roots of Empathy program has the schoolchildren sit around a green blanket, with the
 mother and baby and an instructor. There is a curriculum, which the children don’t see, but which informs what goes
 on. And the children are coached to observe the baby’s intentions, and the baby’s feelings. We’re talking about a
 two-to-four-month-old baby who can’t walk, can’t talk, but can communicate hugely, bringing parents to
 tears, and bringing them to their knees. They can really communicate! So, as the children come to understand how the
 baby feels, they learn the vocabulary of their own emotions. And it’s the job of the Roots of Empathy instructor to
 ask the children, “When was a time you felt like the baby?”
The program has twenty-seven classes over the school year.
The parent and baby come once a month. There is a week beforehand to prepare, and then
 there is a week of reflection afterwards. There are different curricula for different ages of children. It is quite
 remarkable how the children increase their empathy. We have a lot of research that shows when empathy goes up
 aggression goes down, and prosocial behavior goes up. We want children to be kind, to be considerate, to be
 collaborative, to be caring, and that’s what the Roots of Empathy children are.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">We want children to be kind, 
 to be considerate,&nbsp;to be collaborative, 
 to be caring, and that’s what 
 the Roots of Empathy children are.</h5>
<hr>
<img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-1" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Roots_of_empathy3_e6905abf31.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:40:19.977Z">

Q: You’re here at the Forum, and the topic this time round
 is really about harmony. Is there a relationship between empathy and harmony?
MG: Well, harmony is such a beautiful word. Harmony
 has a musical reference, but really, it’s a symbiotic word. The whole universe is in harmony and it’s in
 equilibrium. When a newborn baby is born, she or he is discombobulated, and has to seek through the parent (through
 the mother usually) a way to integrate all of their feelings, and to become in harmony, and to become attuned to the
 parent. And in the work of Roots of Empathy, the symbiotic relationship with the parent is called an attunement –
 the attachment and attunement of the parent to the baby. Here we’re talking about harmony – one to the other, and to
 the universe, and to concepts of peace. So, I really like the term “harmony.”
When you reflect and listen to birdsong, and listen to the rustle of leaves, or the
 waves in the ocean, you can very easily adjust your heartbeat and adjust your whole sensibility to be in harmony
 with nature. We do that more readily than being in harmony with the world.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">If you don’t love yourself, 
 and if you don’t have empathy for yourself, 
 you don’t have the ability to love others 
 or to have empathy for others.
</h5>
<hr>
Q: If you were to ask yourself what children need in
 today’s world to help them develop the values that are embodied by the Forum, what would you say?
MG: I think the values embodied by the Forum are
 basic human values: The recognition and inalienable rights of people, human dignity, participation. People who come
 here typically share a purpose. They might have different avenues, but there is a common denominator of peaceful
 coexistence on many levels, and, in the Roots of Empathy work, we’re really helping children find a sense of balance
 in their lives. Number one is that they respect and love themselves, have self-empathy. Because, if you don’t love
 yourself, and if you don’t have empathy for yourself, you don’t have the ability to love others or to have empathy
 for others. The problem with the absence of empathy in the world, the decline of empathy, as it can be a
 generational thing, is that if a little baby is not parented empathically, and if the parent is unable to understand
 and attune to the baby’s needs, the child doesn’t develop the capacity to attune to the needs of others, to have
 empathy.
<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">It’s almost as if empathy&nbsp;is the “cure all,” 
 the secret sauce of life.
</h5>
<hr>
<img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-1" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Roots_of_empathy4_d66a44e4da.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:41:09.241Z">

So, really, Roots of Empathy is about breaking cycles of violence and inadequate
 parenting. And I think the basic human trait that we need in the world is empathy. If you have that, honesty emerges
 out of it, respect emerges out of it. When we say to the little children in the Roots of Empathy classroom, “So,
 when baby Henri grows up and comes to school, what would you think if people say ‘You can’t play’?” the children are
 horrified that anyone would be mean to their little baby. They all fall in love with the baby, and they see the
 vulnerability and humanity in the baby. During that year, they come to find their own vulnerability and their own
 humanity, and also their strength. And then they see the strength in humanity and in others.
It’s almost as if empathy is the “cure all,” the secret sauce of life. If we can just
 empathize, it’s a little bit like the golden rule: If you understand how someone is going to feel, why would you
 hurt them, why would you exclude them, why would you say you’re somehow less human than I am? It removes the
 possibility of dehumanizing one another and hiving people off and saying “Your difference makes you unacceptable.”
 We celebrate difference in Roots of Empathy, and it’s not visual, it’s not the typical differences of culture and
 language, of size, or whatever.
<img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-1" 
 class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Roots_of_empathy5_740fc84c0d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:41:48.248Z">

<hr>
<h5 style="text-align: center;">When we think about the traits 
 and qualities we need in growing up, 
 I think we really need a lot of selflove, 
 giving us the capacity to love others.
</h5>
<hr>
We talk about the difference in our innate temperament; that a baby comes to the world
 with a predisposition to see that world in many ways. Some babies are very intense and emotionally reactive. It’s
 very hard to parent a baby who’s very intense. In the classroom, it’s very hard to teach a child who’s very intense,
 because they are super reactive. They have temper tantrums; when they are disappointed they have a big reaction.
 But, if the little baby has a big reaction, nobody says, “You’re a bad baby.” Nobody says, “Go to your room.”
 Everyone helps the baby learn to deal with the big feelings, and what that does is soften everybody to realize,
 “Wow, I am like the little baby, too. It’s not a moral flaw if I’m very emotionally reactive. It’s who I am.” And
 the job of teachers and parents and mentors is to help children recognize who they are, and help them to live in the
 world that is. It is not to squash them, but to help them understand their reactions. So, when we think about the
 traits and qualities we need in growing up, I think we really need a lot of self-love, giving us the capacity to
 love others.
<h5><img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-1" class="lazyload has-img-center"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/Roots_of_empathy6_178211c432.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-07T14:42:34.946Z">
</h5>
to be continued
<hr>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">Interviewed by JUDITH NELSON</h4>
<hr>

Roots of empathy - part 1

<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<h4>
 MARY GORDON was interviewed by
 JUDITH NELSON at the Spirit of Humanity Forum in Iceland in 2019. In this excerpt, she
 shares her worldview on the importance of empathy in human relationships and
 how it forms the foundation for the program she runs in schools on developing
 empathy in schoolchildren, called Roots of Empathy.
</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Q: Thanks for joining me, Mary. Can I ask you about empathy, as your work
 is especially with empathy?
 


 MG: Well, my understanding of empathy is
 the ability to feel with the other person, not just to understand how they
 feel, but also to have the capacity to feel with them. And I think that
 empathy is the number one attribute of being human, and we have too little of
 it in the world, and it’s a shrinking commodity. But I also focus on empathy
 because when you have cruelty, when you have racism, when you have violence,
 when you have genocides, when you have any of the big horrific things in the
 world, the common ingredient is the absence of empathy.


 My work is informed by that conclusion, which I came to a long time ago, and
 also the conclusion that empathy develops in the first year of life, in the
 loving relationship between parents and babies. And so, our work is about
 increasing empathy in childhood. And we do that by bringing the relationship
 between parents and babies, during the first year of the child’s life, into
 the classroom. The Roots of Empathy program has the schoolchildren
 sit around a green blanket, with the mother and baby and an instructor. There
 is a curriculum, which the children don’t see, but which informs what goes on.
 And the children are coached to observe the baby’s intentions, and the baby’s
 feelings. We’re talking about a two-to-four-month-old baby who can’t walk,
 can’t talk, but can communicate hugely, bringing parents to tears,
 and bringing them to their knees. They can really communicate! So, as the
 children come to understand how the baby feels, they learn the vocabulary of
 their own emotions. And it’s the job of the
 Roots of Empathy instructor to ask the children, “When was a time you
 felt like the baby?”

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img alt="roots-of-empathy2-mary-gordan2" class="w-100 lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/roots_of_empathy2_mary_gordan2_0d092095a6.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:43:31.280Z" />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 We want children to be kind, to be considerate,
 to be collaborative, 
 to be caring, and that’s what 
 the Roots of Empathy children are.
</h5>

<hr />
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 … There are different curricula for different ages of children. It is quite
 remarkable how the children increase their empathy. We have a lot of research
 that shows when empathy goes up aggression goes down, and prosocial behavior
 goes up. We want children to be kind, to be considerate, to be collaborative,
 to be caring, and that’s what the Roots of Empathy children are.


 Q: Is there a relationship between empathy and harmony?


 MG: Well, harmony is such a beautiful
 word. Harmony has a musical reference, but really it’s a symbiotic word. The
 whole universe is in harmony and it’s in equilibrium. When a newborn baby is
 born, she or he is discombobulated, and has to seek through the parent
 (through the mother usually) a way to integrate all of their feelings, and to
 become attuned to the parent. And in the work of Roots of Empathy, the
 symbiotic relationship with the parent is called an attunement – the
 attachment and attunement of the parent to the baby. Here we’re talking about
 harmony – one to the other, and to the universe, and to concepts of peace. So,
 I really like the term “harmony.”


 When you reflect and listen to birdsong, and listen to the rustle of leaves,
 or the waves in the ocean, you can very easily adjust your heartbeat and
 adjust your whole sensibility to be in harmony with nature. We do that more
 readily than being in harmony with the world.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img alt="roots-of-empathy3" class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/roots_of_empathy3_7a181d1514.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:43:30.942Z" />

&nbsp;
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center">
 In the work of Roots of Empathy, 
 the symbiotic relationship 
 with the parent is called an attunement – 
 the attachment and attunement 
 of the parent to the baby. 
 Here we’re talking about harmony – 
 one to the other, and to the universe, 
 and to concepts of peace
</h4>

<hr />
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 Q: If you were to ask yourself what children need in today’s world to help
 them develop values, what would you say?


 MG: I think they are basic human values:
 The recognition and inalienable rights of people, human dignity,
 participation. People who come here typically share a purpose.


 They might have different avenues, but there is a common denominator of
 peaceful coexistence on many levels, and, in the Roots of Empathy work, we’re
 really helping children find a sense of balance in their lives. Number one is
 that they respect and love themselves, have self-empathy. Because, if you
 don’t love yourself, and if you don’t have empathy for yourself, you don’t
 have the ability to love others or to have empathy for others. The problem
 with the absence of empathy in the world, the decline of empathy, which can be
 a generational thing, is that if a little baby is not parented empathically,
 and if the parent is unable to understand and attune to the baby’s needs, the
 child doesn’t develop the capacity to attune to the needs of others, to have
 empathy.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />
<img alt="roots-of-empathy4" class="w-100 lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/roots_of_empathy4_a466714801.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:43:31.290Z" />
&nbsp;
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 … And I think the basic human trait that we need in the world is empathy. If
 you have that, honesty emerges out of it, respect emerges out of it. When we
 say to the little children in the Roots of Empathy classroom, “So, when baby
 Henri grows up and comes to school, what would you think if people say ‘You
 can’t play’?” the children in class are horrified that anyone would be mean to
 their little baby. They all fall in love with the baby, and they see the
 vulnerability and humanity in the baby. During that year, they come to find
 their own vulnerability and their own humanity, and also their strength. And
 then they see the strength in humanity and in others.


 It’s almost as if empathy is the “cure all,” the secret sauce of life. If we
 can just empathize, it’s a little bit like the Golden Rule: If you understand
 how someone is going to feel, why would you hurt them, why would you exclude
 them, why would you say you’re somehow less human than I am? It removes the
 possibility of dehumanizing one another and hiving people off and saying,
 “Your difference makes you unacceptable.” We celebrate difference in
 Roots of Empathy, and it’s not visual, it’s not the typical
 differences of culture and language, of size, or whatever.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 <img alt="roots-of-empathy5" class="w-100 lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/roots_of_empathy5_3c54506c25.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-11T13:43:31.186Z" />

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 We talk about the difference in our innate temperament; that a baby comes to
 the world with a predisposition to see that world in many ways. Some babies
 are very intense and emotionally reactive. It’s very hard to parent a baby
 who’s very intense. In the classroom, it’s very hard to teach a child who’s
 very intense, because they are super reactive. They have temper tantrums; when
 they are disappointed they have a big reaction. But, if the little baby has a
 big reaction, nobody says, “You’re a bad baby.” Nobody says, “Go to your
 room.” Everyone helps the baby learn to deal with the big feelings, and what
 that does is soften everybody to realize, “Wow, I am like the little baby,
 too. It’s not a moral flaw if I’m very emotionally reactive. It’s who I am.”
 And the job of teachers and parents and mentors is to help children recognize
 who they are, and help them to live in the world that is. It is not to squash
 them, but to help them understand their reactions. So, when we think about the
 traits and qualities we need in growing up, I think we really need a lot of
 self-love, giving us the capacity to love others.

<hr class="vertical-space1" />

<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center">
 Interviewed by JUDITH NELSON 
 Illustrations by ARATI SHEDDE
</h4>

<hr />

Roots of empathy

<h4>
 This is the final part of MARY GORDON’s interview with JUDITH NELSON at the
 Spirit of Humanity Forum in Iceland in 2019. Mary speaks about the role of
 educators, and the emotional life of children. She provides an inspirational
 focus for educators regarding the educational priorities that are needed for a
 future humanity.
</h4>
<hr class="vertical-space1" />

 MG:&nbsp;In Roots of Empathy, we measure
 what we treasure, and we treasure children’s emotional lives. We don’t care
 what they know, we care what they feel: it’s important to let children tell
 you how they feel. The emotional life of the child is their real life, because
 in a baby’s brain emotions and cognition are inextricably linked; you can’t
 tease them apart. And, as children grow older, while the sections of the brain
 deal differently with emotion and cognition, there is a direct relationship
 between our emotions and what we pay attention to.


 We completely pay attention to our emotions. If you’ve got a negative emotion
 happening, you can’t learn. In order to learn, you have to make sure that your
 emotions are positive. That’s why we ask, “How are you feeling today?” We
 don’t try to change what they feel, but it is like embedded professional
 development for the classroom teacher when our person comes in and says, “Good
 morning kids.” This is for the pre- or post-family visit, not when the mommy
 and baby are there, when we’re asking, “How’s the baby feeling?”

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 Favorite teachers are not the best teachers, 
 they’re the best “reachers.” 
 They’re the people who get you, 
 they’re the people who knew you were in their class 
 even if you weren’t the smartest student. 
 They appreciated you for who you were.
</h5>
<hr />

 So, if the kids do this (thumbs up), the teacher can do a quick scan of the
 room and see that the kids are in good form. But if there are some who do this
 (thumbs neutral), you really have to consider what’s going on with them, as
 you can’t teach a child who’s in neutral. If there are a lot of them, you’ve
 got to pack up your lesson plan and start listening to the children: “So tell
 me, how was it today on your way to school? Would you like to share with
 someone how your day is going so far?” And, you know, if you ask
 authentically, children will tell you authentically.


 It changes teaching practice when teachers realize that a worried child can’t
 learn. When they’re sad, sick or lonely, they can’t learn anything. Children
 who are depressed are sad, sick and lonely. So, this idea of teaching people
 versus teaching mathematics is an important thing. And what is it to be a
 person? It is to feel. And if you’re not feeling, you don’t have to be
 deliriously happy, but you have to be present. There is an armada of broken
 hearts in every classroom – we know the statistics.


 Why don’t we realize that we have to start the day checking in with children?
 You can’t make everything better, but if you can acknowledge how they’re
 feeling, they already feel ‘felt.’ Favorite teachers are not the best
 teachers, they’re the best “reachers.” They’re the people who get you, they’re
 the people who knew you were in their class even if you weren’t the smartest
 student. They appreciated you for who you were.


 <img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-3" class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ROE_3_3_c032c3846d.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-17T07:51:01.186Z" />


 Education has lost that because we’re into competition. It’s competition for
 jobs, no? Look at jobs – we’re going to do twenty jobs over a lifetime, so
 what job? The job is to be a good human being. Actually, it’s important to be
 happy, as the Dalai Lama would say. Now I’m not saying we should all pack our
 bags and go off to happy land, but to be a human being is to be able to
 connect with others. And this crisis of connection we’re in, if we don’t help
 children identify how they feel so that they can connect to one another, we’ve
 really missed the boat.


 I really advocate helping teachers take an approach to teaching that I call
 “attachment-aware teaching,” realizing that every child in your class has had
 some kind of secure or insecure attachment. If they have had a secure
 attachment, they’ll be ready to learn, they’ll be resilient, they’ll deal with
 the blows in life. If they’ve had ambivalent, avoidant, or other kinds of
 attachment relationships, they won’t have an innate capacity to deal with the
 tidal wave of troubles that might come to them.


 Teachers can have this in the back of their mind, to say to themselves,
 “Okay,” instead of, “What’s wrong with you?” Children communicate how they’re
 feeling with their behavior, so if the teacher can just think, “What’s
 happened to make you so nasty today? What’s happened so you make my life a
 misery? What’s happened so that you’re disrupting class?” because no child
 decides to be a “bad actor,” it’s just that they can’t deal with how they
 feel.

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 I think the secret to ending all the “-isms” in the world, 
 the secret to peaceful coexistence, 
 is to be able to see the humanity in the other. 
 And this Spirit of Humanity, 
 this beautiful concept, is based on empathy.
</h5>
<hr />

 If teachers had insight into the emotional vulnerability of children – just as
 through the baby and parent relationship we show how a baby becomes who they
 are – they would realize that it’s through love. Children are predisposed
 through particular ways of being, but without that reference back and forth to
 mommy or daddy, they don’t know how to respond. Every time a baby falls down
 or cries, the first thing they do is look for their mother to see, “How am I
 doing? Should I be crying, or should I go back and try and walk again?” That’s
 what a secure attachment relation is – checking in to see, “Am I good to go?”


 And if nobody gives you that, you never know. So, you have no anchor, you have
 no security blanket in your life, and the children who are in trouble are
 those children. The security blanket in life is the attachment relationship,
 and how many children have no relationship with their parents as they get
 older? It’s a tragedy.


 Q: What you describe sounds so much like respecting the individual
 students’ feelings and noticing them, instead of having education for the
 sake of the establishment.


 MG:&nbsp;Yes, and what are the ultimate
 goals of education? If it’s to produce architects, engineers, doctors etc., if
 they are without humanity they won’t do a good job. Is it to produce moral
 human beings who are ready to contribute to life, and who can be mutually
 respectful and have the capacity to care? The ethic of care is so overlooked.


 There are two parts to empathy: There’s cognitive empathy and affective
 empathy. Cognitive empathy is perspective-taking and that’s the first stage of
 any conflict resolution. If you don’t have that, forget it. Forget peace in
 the Middle East. But if you don’t have affective empathy, the human part which
 is our emotions, you don’t really have empathy at all. With cognitive empathy
 you can still be a sociopath, because you have a skill where you can resonate
 with the perspective of another person. But if you don’t have the ethic of
 care, it may be a destructive thing. So many people define empathy as just
 cognitive empathy, but our definition of empathy is both affective and
 cognitive together. Very often confused with compassion and sympathy, whereas
 sympathy is unidimensional, it’s the ability to feel sorry.


 There’s a lot of divergence of opinion around the relationship between
 compassion and empathy, and about the definitions of compassion and empathy,
 so everybody makes them up. I have shared mine, but I don’t think they are any
 better than others, and certainly there’s no one opinion on it. I do believe,
 however, that you must have empathy in order to act compassionately. And
 empathy to me is also a verb. Being an armchair empath is no good at all;
 there has to be a motor.


 The beautiful thing about children is that they’re endlessly empathic once
 they realize that skill of being able to understand how another person feels
 and to feel with them. It’s a lifelong gift, and it cannot be taught.
 Everybody thinks you can teach empathy, but you can’t teach empathy. It’s
 caught, not taught. If you are around people who demonstrate empathy without
 saying, “This is empathic behavior,” who are just empathic, or if you see
 examples of kindness in people you love, that’s how you will develop these
 positive things.


 <img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-3" class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ROE_3_4_92a21bce82.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-17T07:52:00.780Z" />


 You know, there are so many ridiculous things people do, like having flash
 cards for empathy, or saying, “We’re going to talk about empathy this week.”
 It’s totally meaningless. It’s better than nothing, I suppose, but the big
 things in life are not developed through instruction. It’s done by
 construction – meaningful human construction – not instruction. In fact,
 there’s very little in life we learn through instruction. It’s only the
 higher-level things and, basically, those we could probably learn on our own.
 If you can’t be with someone and learn from someone, you can’t really be a
 constructive, contributing human being.


 So, I think our schools really need to shake themselves up and ask, “What are
 we doing here?” Imagine having the privilege of being with a child five or six
 hours a day, five days a week. It’s an incredible gift. That’s more than their
 parents have.

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 The beautiful thing about children 
 is that they’re endlessly empathic once they realize 
 that skill of being able to understand 
 how another person feels and to feel with them. 
 It’s a lifelong gift, and it cannot be taught.
</h5>
<hr />

 I used to be a teacher, and I think we’re highly accountable. It’s the reason
 why when teachers ask Roots of Empathy into their classroom, I say, “Okay, but
 we need to do research.” They say, “No, no, we know you’re grand,” but I say,
 “We need to do research.” Every single person involved with the program, every
 child who can write, does an evaluation, critiques the program every year;
 every child, every volunteer mother, every volunteer instructor, and the
 classroom teacher who hosts it. Then we do formal research, which is the white
 jacket, peer reviewed, scientific, independent, published research, which
 tells us if we’re doing what we think we’re doing. But I have to say, what I
 listen to the deepest is what the children tell us. That’s when I change.


 We’re always updating our curriculum. Take cyber bullying, for example; if we
 don’t have cyber bullying in our programs, we’re not addressing the current
 situation of children, because the landscape of childhood changes all the
 time. It’s not very good at the minute, but children don’t change; they’ve
 always been the same. They might sound more sophisticated because they use
 Elon Musk words like parking cars in space, and all that, but their emotional
 vulnerability, their essence, the beauty of childhood doesn’t change.


 Children are under more stress than ever before, and I don’t think we’re
 listening hard enough to what they are telling us through their behavior. The
 children who are on Ritalin, for having Attention Deficit Disorder, have been
 given a prescription so that the adults can keep sane, and it stunts and
 blunts the children’s growth. A lot of what we’re doing is medicating children
 instead of changing their environment, because resilience is not about what’s
 in you, it’s about what’s around you. You can bring it into you, but if it’s
 not around you how can you become resilient? You’re not born with it, you
 know.

<hr />
<h5 style="text-align: center">
 I think the trip from the mind 
 to the heart is a short journey, 
 and the fuller the heart 
 the bigger the head.
</h5>
<hr />

 In many places you’ll hear people say, “Oh, you’ve gotta have grit.” That’s
 the nastiest four-letter word I’ve ever heard. It’s blaming children for not
 having grit. “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Change the record.” It’s
 like saying to an abused woman, “Why don’t you just leave? How stupid can you
 be? Just leave.” It’s not understanding where that person is coming from, not
 understanding the impact of abuse.


 And to say to a child who’s been brought up in adversity, who’s witnessed
 violence at home, “You just have to have grit,” is a denial of the fact that
 we all have different journeys. And we expect even results, even in
 kindergarten. Everybody is held to the same measure, but the measure is not
 the measure of personhood. The measure is something easy to measure, but it’s
 no measure of humanity, it’s no measure of kindness, it’s no measure of
 empathy or emotional depth. There’s only the measure of what we’re able to
 measure.


 <img alt="roots-of-empathy-part-3" class="has-img-center lazyload"
 src="https://cdn-prod-static.heartfulness.org/ROE_3_5_3058587aec.jpg?updated_at=2023-04-17T07:52:42.174Z" />


 Who cares if you know your colors, or your 123s, or your ABCs? What you really
 need when you start kindergarten is to be able to ask for help, to be able to
 make friends, to be able to learn; and the readiness to learn is grounded in
 being well-loved.


 So, what kind of world are we creating? We measure children up, and we put
 them in categories – “You’re in the Bluebird Group” – and everyone knows
 that’s the slow readers, right? So, we categorize children without ever really
 thinking, “Who are these little people?”


 I just can’t get over the gift that parents give. They deliver their baby,
 their miracle, and they keep hearing how bad they are at stuff, or how they
 were acting out, or “You’re not doing a good enough job at home,” all of these
 kinds of things that instead of building up the family just knock it down. So,
 I hope educators come to the Spirit of Humanity forum. I hope educators hear
 about your brand of humanity and realize that if we don’t recognize the
 humanity of every child in education, we’ve not done our job.


 Q: Why did you say that Heartfulness is a nice name?


 MG:&nbsp;I love the word “Heartfulness,”
 and to call an organization “Heartfulness” is to embody your values, because
 we’re not just our minds – our hearts inform our minds. And if we don’t have a
 full heart, we won’t have the full capacity to use our skills and our brains
 in a constructive way. I think the trip from the mind to the heart is a short
 journey, and the fuller the heart the bigger the head. So, I just feel it’s
 such a warm name.


 The first thing children draw when they learn to draw is hearts. They put
 hearts everywhere. It’s not just little girls. When they write little love
 notes – “Daddy I love you” – they draw a heart. Nobody tells them to do that.
 So, from the youngest age, children draw hearts because we all can relate, and
 the heart is not just a beating pump, the heart is our humanity, and that’s
 why I like your name.

<hr />
<h4 style="text-align: center">Interviewed by JUDITH NELSON</h4>
<hr />

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