Tag: Mind Sciences

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Why Do We Need to Teach Empathy in Our Classrooms?

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

How Teaching Compassion to Students Helps Them to Tackle Future Challenges and Adapt to New Situations in Life?

As a teacher, we usually encounter multiple forms of students’ behaviour in the classroom. One of the behaviours which I believe every teacher should relate where students support each other. When asking ‘why you are not participating in the classroom or what puzzling you, buddy?’ was answered by someone else, ‘Sir, she is not feeling well.’ It is interesting to see how students make themselves aware of the situation that might have shaken their classmates’ spirits. The term that relates to such behaviour can be ‘Empathy’ which means ‘the ability to understand and share the feelings.’ But how can someone genuinely understand how someone else is feeling? Are some people born with this innate ability, or is it a skill that should be learned in the classroom? Continue reading “Why Do We Need to Teach Empathy in Our Classrooms?” →

Conversational Narcissism: The One Who Speaks, Controls the Conversation

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Why Some People Always Try to Dominate A Conversation?

Yesterday I engaged in a compelling argument with one of my friends. She argued that ‘people who speak, controls’. Its like in every group, a social circle, or a workplace have one or two influential people who tend to speak more in a conversation or a group discussion. She believes that whoever is smarter, more experienced, louder, more obsessive — all the different ways power manifests. Somehow, I agree with her, but then I questioned why some people tend to control the conversation and try to prove that they are aces where everyone else is rookie? Is Conversational Narcissism really a thing?

Conversational Narcissism vs Cooperative Conversation

Dr Charles Derber, from The Pursuit of Attention, believes that people who always seek to turn the attention of others to themselves can be coined as Conversational Narcissist. Perhaps you may say after reading this statement that ‘Oh, I am not a dominating person, but I know someone who often dominates.’ However, Dr Derber argues that not always people talk more so they can prove something. Sometimes, that urge of sharing first generates uncontrollable feelings. Ever wonder when we couldn’t wait for someone to stop talking so we could jump in; we pretended to be listening intently, but we were really focusing on what we were about to say once we found an opening. This type of behaviour is opposite to narcissism – it is called Cooperative Conversation. Continue reading “Conversational Narcissism: The One Who Speaks, Controls the Conversation” →

Why Do We Expect from Others to Act Like Us?

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Why Do We Expect from Others to Act Like Us?
By Ahmad Amirali

Today, I visited my old high school to attend a parent-teacher meeting with my niece, who is also studying there. I heard and met teachers; they were fascinated to see me as some still remember me as their naughtiest kid. They shared their observations and reviews about my niece’s academic performance. During that conversation, one teacher told me, ‘She is quite a remarkable student, but she does not participate actively in some activities. I am now expecting more from her.’ Different children have different abilities and levels of understanding, multiple intelligences, and the list of such theories goes on in my mind. However, the thing that puzzled me more than anything when she said, ‘I expect…’. I heard many parents giving valuable advice to their kids and reminding them how they should fulfil their parent’s expectations. The first question that exploded in my mind was, why do we expect others to act like us or think like us? Continue reading “Why Do We Expect from Others to Act Like Us?” →

Why Is Being Emotional Necessary for Our Children’s Better Future?

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Why Is Being Emotional Necessary for Our Children’s Better Future?
By Ahmad Amirali

I still remember the day when I seriously injured myself while playing with a toy. I was nine at that time and I was crying horrendously in front of my relatives. At that moment my mum kept reminding me that ‘You are a boy; boys don’t cry, be brave and don’t cry.’ We usually say these words to our children to comfort their panicked feelings as they might have encountered such emotions for the first time. we shielded them through our phrases from the emotions like anger, guilt, sadness or even grief, making them realise that these are ‘Bad Emotions’. Why we don’t want our kids to experience certain feelings? Is there anything like ‘Bad Emotions’? As a human, we do have an emotional response to every situation and instance. It means every emotion has a specific meaning or importance in our lives. So why we start believing that being emotional is a sign of weakness and unnecessary for our kid’s personality development? Continue reading “Why Is Being Emotional Necessary for Our Children’s Better Future?” →

Why Do We Feel Nostalgia? The Longing for The Memorable time or An Unpleasant Memory from the Past

Posted on by Ahmad Amirali

Why Do We Feel Nostalgia? The Longing for The Memorable time or An Unpleasant Memory from the Past
By Ahmad Amirali

Today, after a long time, I visited a bookshop, and there I met an old couple who kept talking about how new technology provides new pathways of reading to our new generation. They kept referring their old times when there were no computers and internet, no iPad or Fire tablets but there was a reader’s club in every school and even in offices etc. Somehow their conversation interests me, and I invited myself in. It was nice to see the transition from the old to a new generation and how we all get connected on a certain topic. They share how they both met in a library, and their common urge of reading made a strong knot between them, which is still tied for fifty years. After a healthy discussion, we all walk outside the shop, and they left with a friendly and cheerful look on their face. The impression was likewise for me as well. However, I went back to the shop, and I start thinking about what makes them complain about the present? Why do they feel so nostalgic about their past? Why did they feel nostalgia? Continue reading “Why Do We Feel Nostalgia? The Longing for The Memorable time or An Unpleasant Memory from the Past” →