Patience and Perseverance
The teacher reads the exercise slowly, pausing at the dots…
If you wish you can play soft music in the background.
Firstly, sit in a comfortable position on your chairs, or cross legged on the floor. Make sure your back is straight and head upright. Take a deep breath and relax as you breathe out. Close your eyes, or if you are uncomfortable with that, look down at the floor. Take another deep breath … and another ….
Think of your favorite sweet …
Imagine someone giving you this lovely sweet… (pause)
How nice it smells…
What a pretty colour it is…
Then they tell you not to eat it yet …
If you wait until the end of the week before you eat it, they will give you two more.
What will you do? …
Will you eat the one you have, or will you wait and have three?…
You decided to wait… Pat yourself on the back for being able to wait…
When you hear my small bell tinkle, slowly open your eyes, look at the person sitting next to you and smile.
Discussion:
- Did you eat your sweet straight away, or wait? Why?
- If you ate it straight away, how would you feel at the end of the week when you could have had three?
[Reference : Sathya Sai Education in Human Values, A Curriculum for the Development of Character and Emotional Literacy by Carole Alderman]