Burdens of Childhood

Hi again, It's nice to be back albeit after a long time, and what kept me away was not entirely my busy schedule but also the after effects of a workshop that I helped conduct........the workshop was meant for PG students and teaching them the basics of theatre and the how and why of drama and get them to 'let go'...of many biases and thoughts and the shackles of upbringing and learn to live the character you are representing on stage......you have to forget who you are and who all are watching you and if your action is seemingly strange but required to be part of the character. You also had to learn to trust your fellow team members and a pretty interesting exercise was carried out. We all stood in a circle in teams of 8-9 people and one of the persons had to stand in the centre and fall trusting his/ her teammates completely to save him/her. It was really interesting to see how hard most of us find to completely trust a fellow human....

All good fun so far....and took the better part of the morning, then the workshop took an unexpected serious turn, the instructor embarked on an exercise to rid the attendees of the burdens of childhood. The kids were asked to lie down an close their eyes and relax. They had to then imagine that they were walking into a paradise and there in in a room they meet all the people who have hurt them in life and forgive them of the actions they might have performed resulting into the unpleasantness that you faced. It was here that one started seeing some kids break down and how....and even after the whole worshop ready to break down into tears......The hurt ranged from unfulfilled dreams to discrmination of a girl child to angst at the grandparents for their behaviour with their parents, of a restricted childhood, It went on and on, It amazed me to see, how much unhappiness can accrue with in us if we hold on to this memories and prejudices. the mother in me reacted instantly and I wanted to hug and console each child, did for some and calmed them down................but the emotions just got to me and how...

But one big lesson that I learnt is that it is better to forgive and forget and move on with life, not easy but definitely cleansing your heart and head of a lot of emotional angst that may ultimately stand in the way of your material and spiritual progress.

So, do forgive and enjoy the peace you will when you do.............