The Broadmoor Book Club

Thursday, March 14, 2013

March 12th 2013 - Parenting

The topic for this week is Parenting.
Parenting in a nutshell is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional,social and intellectual development of a child form infancy to adulthood.

Being a mother of a 3 year old I am going to relate my personal experiences here.
1) Parenting forces you to become good individual first. Kids look and learn from you, as parents you are their role-model, so if you want them to have good manners and say Please and Thank-you make it a point to say it yourself first.
If you want them to stop watching Tv/ipads/iphone stop watching it yourself first. You cannot chant a mantra of 'Go Play with your Toys' while you yourself while your time on laptops.
2) Remember each kid is an individual and has his/her own personality. What works for one kid will not work for other. DO NOT COMPARE. Do take advice from your friends/relatives but stick to your gut. You are the only one who knows what is good for your kid.
3) Do not feel guilty if you take time away from your kid to follow a hobby or pursue other interests. Do not bribe them with candy and toys. Your kid will do just fine without you.
4) Discipline your kids right from the beginning. Rude behaviour, spitting, hitting and whatever is on your list, should not be tolerated and remanded at the earliest.
5) Learn from your kids, live in the moment, look at things with new eyes,don't care what others will think, be curious, laugh out loud.
6) Shower them with lots of love, hugs and kisses. It will all come back in abundance.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

April 25th 2012 Session

April 25th Session
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diary_of_a_Young_Girl
Seema briefed all of us on the story of Anne Frank. She had read this book sometime back and found it interesting, even though it was a nonfiction book. (Seema’s field of interest being fictional books) The Diary of Anne Frank is a painful real life story of a 14 year old Jewish girl Anne frank and her family during the World War II. This unimaginable story of this family and two other families who went into hiding for 2 years actually caused me physical pains!!!Just the thought of it!!This story gives us an idea on how the Jewish people were traumatized. It was the lowest point of humankind. The way they survived on very little food……how they had to take bath……and share the small, enclosed hide out to remain alive was a scary prospect.Inspite of this atrocious setting Anne tried to live when everyone around were merely existing. She smiles……she enjoys the view through the attic window-her only connection with the outside world……….. She writes ……….she also falls in love!!!Gayathri’s views on this were that you can live even in such meager circumstances. She says that today even though we have everything, all the comforts we still focus on the problems, which is a human tendency. She likes Anne’s zest for life. Anne’s argumentative and rocky relationship with her mother concerns Gayathri.She wonders if that is the going to be the case with every teenage child. This got us all re-evaluating our relationships with our mother during our teenage years. I remembered some of my teenage days which must have been cumbersome for my mother. I was an angry young girl!!Nothing much has changed….except the young part!!!Seema also remembered the challenges her mother faced with her older sister when she was a teenager. But she does remember that she was pretty reasonable and sweet teenager herself.Gayathri being the oldest of three, remembers being the understanding one. Being a mother herself she feels every mother needs appreciation and is very generous in showing her appreciation to her mother. This is a good reminder for all of us. (Mother’s day coming up)Gayathri also remembered her grandfather’s story on how they used to live during the war days. They had to turn all of lights including that of the cooking fireplace.Everyone had to cover up their windows at night with black material to avoid unwanted attention of the enemy warplanes.
Sneha watched the movie and expected it to be boring but ended up liking the movie. It reminded her of another movie The Pianist http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253474/
Anne had a habit of easily losing interest in anything she does. Hence Anne’s mother felt bad for the guy who falls in love with Anne .Sneha found that interesting.Sneha and Gayathri also liked the letter Anne wrote to her father.
Half way through the movie there was hope of survival but the sad ending saddened every one of us. A touching story through the eyes of Anne Frank. Thanks to Otto Frank (Anne’s father) who worked towards publishing her diary, the world learnt about it. Otto often concludes his letters with the words: 'I hope Anne's book will have an effect on the rest of your life so that insofar as it is possible in your own circumstances, you will work for unity and peace.'
http://www.annefrank.org/en/Anne-Franks-History/The-diary-of-Anne-Frank/
I am thankful to be a part of this wonderful reading group The Broadmoor Bookclub.Thank you all for the surprise birthday party. Both I and Nilakshi will remember it for a very longtime. It was very sweet gesture!!!
Next session 5/2/2012 will be discussing any topic by each of us.
Next to that session 5/9/2012 we will discuss the book THE PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Jane Austin.
http://www.austen.com/pride/

April 18th 2012 Session

April 18th Session
We started our session with a very interesting topic SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION by Seema. Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, “a friend of a friend" statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. The phrase "six degrees of separation" is often used as a synonym for the idea of the "small world" phenomenon. Facebook is a very good example of it.It seems on an average 10% of our friend in our Facebook friends list will be mutual friends. We all had stories to support this idea.Seema told that one of the guy she knew very well turned out to be an old acquaintance of her best friend. Varsha has studied this topic in detail back in college and has done a project based on this topic. They picked any random person and worked to find out how many people they are connected by. She says that we are even connected to President Barack Obama by six people or less!!! Unbelievable, isn’t it? Gayathri remembered her story when she had been to Florida for a vacation and happened to meet a lovely Kannada couple. She said it was so nice to connect with someone of their mother tongue in a land so far far away from home (India)!!!Couple of years later a new guy joined in her husband’s office. Each time he passed by this new guy he felt like he has seen him before, only to realize later that it was the same guy they met in Florida. What a co-incidence!!!!Sneha had a similar experience with her next door neighbhour.They were a friendly couple. It was only when their mother in laws got friendly and started to discuss their origin had they realized that both the husbands were not only from the same village but also had studied in the same school and was of the same batch. Amazing!!!I had a very similar experience in LA where my next door neighbor’s brother in law turned out to be very good friend of my brother in law!!!!I also remembered my experience when I tracked down my 3rd grade friend which happened to be my life’s first best friend from Doha,Qatar.My family had been to Doha, Qatar when I was little. I did my half of 3rd grade and 4th grade there. I had a really wonderful friend, but I lost touch when I returned to India. I did not even know her last name or her phone number……..nothing……..even forgot her face……………only had a fond feeling when I thought of her…………..only a very vague memory!!!I always wondered where she must be and what she must be doing for a living and how she looks like. So just when orkut became popular I thought of tracking her down. I went through orkut to my Doha school community forum and wrote asking if anybody knew this girl and that she must have passed her 10th grade in the year 1990.After many months a another girl wrote to me saying she was her senior in the school and a very good friend of hers and thereafter had also studied with her in Manipal Medical College. But she also lost touch with her after that. So I made this new friend in orkut .She was a Pediatrician. So she would give me some doctor’s advice and I would give her some design ideas. Many months passed by. One fine morning when I was checking my orkut message there was this message waiting for me.This new friend was happy to write to me that she had found my first best friend and that she was in her friend’s list. I had been waiting patiently for this to happen…….but wondered if she would even remember someone from her 3rd grade almost 25 years later. So hesitantly I wrote to her asking her if she remembered me from her 3rd grade. Then I got a lovely reply .She said, “I don’t remember much about my childhood days but I do remember that my first best friend’s name was Hazelene!!”I was soooooooooooooo happy!!We video chatted couple of times after that. We saw each other’s kids and all. It was such a touching experience!!
Mel feels that the world is getting smaller and smaller. Thanks to social networking sites we are able to be in touch with our old friends, schoolmates, collegemates etc. But she still loves the concept of paper and pen and writing letters.
Our next topic was about child safety and what child needs to know. I had some info about this topic take from the book,http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Side-Teach-Strong-Street-Smart/dp/0060950900
We teach our children to respect all elders, don’t yell, be respectful to all etc. But do they know that it is okay not to obey all this or even do the opposite if they feel threatened or uncomfortable. So I shared couple of questions to find out where our children stand. I have attached the file with this message. It’s every parent’s nightmare to think about all this……………but I do feel that it’s good to be informed about what is going on in the world around.Varsha has had experience of working with sexually abused children. She said that she has met kids as young as 6 year olds who have been sexually abused. She also said that is a myth that only a stranger can sexually abuse or harm your kid. It is many times a family member. It is also a myth that only males can sexually abuse……even women do it.So it’s better to be safe than sorry. It also got us thinking about how important it is to have the sextalk with our kids as uncomfortable as it may seem. Every banner, Victoria secret ads etc. only adds to our children’s curiosity.Sneha feels that the more we try to hide all this information the more they want to know.Gayathri and I also shared a story. One of our friend’s daughter asked why it was wrong to wear skimpy clothes.This question from a usually shy and introvert child shocked her parents!!!But the father really gave a very well put response. He told that our bodies are our special gift from god to share with that someone special and it no more remains special if they display it to the world. In this world of spaghetti straps and miniskirts and brandconsious and fashion conscious times it is difficult to explain to our kids how to modestly dress .But I am surely going to borrow my friend’s husband words in the similar scenario. Gayathri said she felt overwhelmed with all these information………Sneha wondered if it’s possible to apply all these information in our real lives……………….I say it’s not a choice but a necessity to make our children aware of everything that goes on around the world and the real truths before they go to the real world by themselves………………Varsha feels it is better to put all the facts out to our kids and let them decide what to do with it.They should know it’s not a scary world. They should be able to trust people but at the same time not trust them blindly.
I guess there are different pieces to the puzzle of parenting.1)There is vast ocean of the information out there we get from books,articles,internet etc., 2)we have our traditional values ,3)we have our unique family equations, 4) then there is our child’s temperament and 5)then there is our temperament.I guess all these together makes the whole picture perfect!!!
Again it was a nice session!!!Thank you all for sharing your views and experiences. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend. See you next Wednesday 4/25/2012

April 11th 2012 session

April 11, 2012 Session
I would like to welcome Mellina Licupa to The Broadmoor Book club. We are happy to have you in our group!!!!The session started with Varsha by giving us a brief summary of the first story, “THE CHINESE STATUE”. http://ncetianz.webs.com/Novels/JEFFREY%20%20ARCHER%20COLLECTION/A%20Quiver%20Full%20Of%20Arrows.pdf
(I know I should have searched for this link before, it would have been helpful!!!)
She had got the chance to read the book almost 19 years ago and still remembers the book for its lovely short stories and sudden, surprising twist at the end of each story which almost appears only at the end of the last paragraph of the story. She really loved the book. She couldn’t stop at just the first two stories. The statue which was assumed to be so precious and was passed through the family from generations to generations, at the end turned out to be a fake and fetched only seven hundred and odd pounds while the base, which the old craftsman had randomly attached, was far more precious and fetched 30 times more value than the statue itself. I loved her symbolic perception of that part of the story in relation with our lives. How the little insignificant things or people or aspects of our lives actually end up being of the most value……….and how we misjudge them……and how the things we think is so important turns out to be so futile. She felt that this was a good example of how we must not judge the book by its cover!!
Seema gave us an interesting summary of the second story,” THE LUNCHEON”. She felt the writer was pretentious and he could have just handled the whole situation more honestly and that there was no need to withdraw all their savings and spend it on a luncheon not to mention keeping this entire secret from his wife. This thought got all of us brainstorming on why he would take another woman out on a lunch when he had a wife……..and he did all of that because he was expecting the lady would recommend his story to her husband who he thought was the film producer and eventually the producer would make a movie based on his book, was the idea behind the luncheon……….and may be if all his intentions would have turned out the way he had planned he would have really struck gold!!!But unfortunately it did not work out.Seema also remembered about an incident. Many years ago one of her friend owed her Rs.50 which she which disturbed her a lot which got her thinking that maybe she owed someone else money and may have forgotten and that it must be bothering them too. She also said there is no shame in asking back something which is yours……..and that they should return without reminders in the first place!!!!But she also agrees that there are many people who feel odd to ask back money or something else a friend borrowed from them. She feels if you feel uncomfortable to ask somebody the stuff they borrowed from you then you should forget about it and not let it bother you. Either ask or if you cannot ask then forget about it.Very true!!!
Gayathri found the first story interesting. She feels it’s very important to return the favors we have received like how it’s mentioned in the story that Sir Alexander returned the favor by building a small white house for the craftsman which was equivalent to the estimated cost of the statue the craftsman had gifted. She also found that it was very generous of the craftsman to gift the statue to the Ambassador, Sir Alexander.Varsha felt that sometimes you cannot return intangible things like knowledge, love etc. we have received from our parents, teachers or mentors or people we meet, but we just simply pay it forward.Gayathri loved the thought and agreed with it but she also feels it’s important to remember everybody who has helped you in life and return the same whenever you get a chance.
She also felt that money matters are very important and it can cause displease between relationships. She also likes Sneha’s thought of not giving greeting cards to anybody.Sneha feels that she loves to treasure greeting cards or special invitations etc. she has received from friends, but the lack of storage space forces people to throughout all these stuff out which is heartbreaking. She is very sentimental about it but feels that not everybody feels the same. So it’s better not to give greeting cards.Gayathri also likes the ideas.
I remembered the gist of the first story but found it hard to keep up with the names. I also was surprised to find out from Seema and Varsha the implication that the mandarin and the old craftsman had cheated the Ambassador by handing him the fake statue. I liked the author’s style of writing in the second story. I could relate to the writer’s plight during the luncheon. I feel money matters is very important not matter how small the amount may be. If you have borrowed money it’s important to return it as soon as possible.
Last time Seema put forward an interesting question……If you were to have a sixth power or sense what would it be?
Some of the people did not get a chance to respond last time. Sneha told that she would like to have the power to be taller and that all her life she had wanted to couple inches taller and that she would definetly, given a chance, use the power to make her lifetime dream possible!!!!Mellina told that she had just finished her shift and that she felt drained and that almost wanted to sleep instead of coming to the bookclub.But last minute she changed her mind and decided to come and feels energized after she attended it.We are so glad you came!!!So if given a choice she would choose the power to have more energy. And I changed my mind about not wanting any power from my last session…….feel a little foolish after making the epiphany speech!!!!I would love to have the power to control my anger and mood or rather not want to be angry or have a bad mood would be better way of putting it!!!!
I totally enjoyed the session. I hope you all did. Have a wonderful weekend!!!As usual looking forward to our next session…………….till then take care!!!Happy reading!!!

http://ncetianz.webs.com/Novels/JEFFREY%20%20ARCHER%20COLLECTION/A%20Quiver%20Full%20Of%20Arrows.pdf
ncetianz.webs.com

Friday, April 6, 2012

April 4th 2012 Session

4 hours ago
Hazelene Kollannur Bhavsar
April 4th session
We are happy to have a new member Vidya in our group. Vidya welcome to our group!!!!
The session started with Seema. Seema loves to write. Someday she is planning on writing a children’s book. She shared about a writing prompt she had this month, which was:-
If you have a choice of possessing the power of a sixth sense what would it be?
She asked the group to share their ideas of which power each of us would love to have. To which Gayathri responded that she would like to have the power of mindreading. She feels like she invests a lot of her love, time and energy into her friends and sometimes is puzzled by their behavior and mindreading would help her to know what they are thinking and put her worrisome mind at ease.
I and Vidya felt like we did not want the sixth power and would like everything to stay the way it was. Many years back I was very curious about the future and was interested in palmistry, astrology etc. But I loved the statement Nilakshi mentioned during our very first session, “We don’t pick the book but the book picks us. Over the years I have had a similar epiphany that the experiences, situations, job, places, friends, books etc. chooses us….we don’t choose them!!! Nilakshi wanted to have the power to control her appetite.Sneha had to leave early and said she will ruminate on which power she would love to have and will get back with the answer next time we meet. Can’t wait to hear which power she would like to have!!!
Seema shared a very interesting story to explain the power she would like to have.Seema had a little tiff with her husband and planned to take a long walk to teach him a lesson(which I remember doing countless times to my husband!!!).She was planning on taking a long walk around the lake till late and since she does not carry a cell phone, her husband would not be able to locate her which will get him worried. But unexpectedly as she reached halfway, nature’s call forced her to not only to finish the walk sooner, but got her running as fast as she could to get to her house. This made her regret her intentions!!!She has many experiences (like during an important meeting) when nature’s call has made her extremely uncomfortable. Hence she said she wants the power to control nature’s call. I agree with you Seema!!!!Even though it is a simple issue it can sometimes get OUT OF CONTROL!!!!
Gayathri loved reading the non-fiction book-TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE written by Mitch Albom. http://mitchalbom.com/books/3856/tuesdays-morrie
Gayathri shared some very personal memories and sentiments along with her thoughts on the book. The book is about Mitch a 37 years old a sports writer and journalist and his re-union with his professor and mentor Morrie Schwartz after almost twenty years later which led to their meeting every Tuesday. The professor had always been a very positive, lively and social person. But now at the age of 78 was bedridden with a serious ailment. Even though he was unable to move much, he loved interacting with people. He did not like sympathy instead he loved listening to others people problems and loved giving helpful advice. He felt taking made him feel like he was dying and giving made him feel lively. The professor was very emotional and felt bad watching news of a sad story on TV. Mitch was surprised how the professor could feel so much for people whom he had never met!!!Gayathri also shared that even she feel strongly and even cries when she watches a sad movie or news.Seema remembered how earlier she never ever cried watching a movie but now after her son is born do feel like crying watching sad incidents related to kids.Sneha remembered how she did not like watching a particular video involving a little child eating out of a dumpster while the minister relishes a royal meal!!!She despises the portrayal of the poverty stricken India to the world!!!
Coming back to the book, Professor Morrie reminded Gayathri of her grandfather……..how during her last year’s stay she got really close to her grandfather…………..how he used to love to talk and promised to listen to her US stories when she returns…………but unfortunately couldn’t hear because of cancer affecting his ears. She accompanied him to the doctor’s visit; surgery………..took care of him. He, like the professor, also loved people. He passed away last year. She still misses him a lot. May his soul rest in peace.
We all have our Professor Morrie in our lives. It may be our dad, an uncle, teacher or grandparent or a next door neighbor!!!It will be so wonderful if we get time to reconnect with that person and learn lessons and rediscover ourselves!!!
I read out an article shown in the link below about Birth Order and Parenting by Robert Needlman http://www.angelfire.com/mb/tub/quotesdir/qtbirthorder.html
It was interesting how we all could relate to some of the traits mentioned in the article.Gayathri pointed out that with increasing awareness and lot parenting books and knowledge the way we raise our kids now definitely is not anymore depended on the birth order. Being the oldest “ AKKA” of three she agrees with the responsibilities she has always had…….how she was also expected to be the little parent……how she till date surprises her younger sister with gifts and her yummy food!!!She also agrees that her middle sister used to feel a little neglected.Seema has an older sister whom she always refers to as “CHECHI”……….how chechi always pampers her!!! Nilakshi also remembered how much she respects her older sister, but wishes that she should have addressed her as “THAI” or “ DIDI”……..how that sort of respect brings about more intimate attachment and love. She felt that she did notice in many case the middle child often gets neglected .I being the middle child was the mediator, negotiator and peacemaker of the family but sometimes felt confused, but I did not feel neglected, instead was daddy’s girl!!!We all have many memories of our child.
Thank you all for sharing all your wonderful stories with the group!!!Have a great weekend!!!

Tuesdays With Morrie | mitchalbom.com
mitchalbom.com
Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it.

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2 hours ago
Nilakshi Pradhan
Thanks for such a wonderful recap Hazel, as always.
Just to add, my choice other then the food thing would be 'to be able to choose the memories I want to forget'

Thursday, March 29, 2012

March28th 2012

6 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
March 28th Session
During this session we discussed the story,”Arnie the Darling Starling”. I must admit that, when we decided to pick this book, I had my doubts as to how are we going to discuss a fictional book and what am I possibly going to say about a make believe story!!But surprisingly it was one of my favorite
session .It took us down to the memory lane.
Nilakshi gave us a summary of the book. This is a story of a talking starling and the grandmother who raised him is as heartwarming a book as you will ever read .When Margarete first came upon Arnie, he was just a familiar springtime sight: a baby bird lying helpless in the daisy patch. After unsuccessfully trying to return him to the nest, she took him into her Texas home and raised him as carefully as she had raised her own child, teaching him to perch, to fly, even to talk. Arnie resisted all attempts to restore him to the wild, preferring steak and canned corn to worms, which frightened him, and even developing a taste for wine.

Most astonishing of all, he learned to talk and sing, and he had a remarkable influence on a number of lives. Lenny, the young drug addict, paused on the road to self-destruction, so enthralled by Arnie that he carried a dog-eared picture of him in his wallet. Suzanne, the Vietnamese refugee, learned from Arnie that wrong home can be a prison and fled to Colorado to start a new life. Margarete's grandson, Travis, who called Arnie "Super bird," gained a new respect for wild creatures, and even her three cats came to love Arnie as one of their own.
Arnie is full of life, laughter, and love. It is a completely irresistible book.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/379344.Arnie_the_Darling_Starling
This book brought back her (Nilakshi’s) childhood memories when she and a friend took care of a puppy. It also reminded her of the good old days when there was lesser TV watching and more playing outside.
Arnie the bird mentioned in the story reminded Gayathri of her own experience of having a sparrow’s nest in her loft and also how once the baby bird, if once fallen from the nest or touched by human, will not be accepted back. She wondered if that was the same reason why Arnie was repeatedly rejected by his mother. She shared about her pet dog Rakhi, whom she fondly remembers till date.
To me,Arnie’s story took me few decades back to TV-less and safer times, when we all played with friends all day and mothers never worried about too much screen time or weird strangers. It reminded me about how rich and eventful our childhood was without shelling out a dime from our parent’s pockets.
Arnie also reminded me of my pet Snoopy……..and how he could read my emotions!!!I also feel children learn a lot from caring for animals. They learn unconditional love, loyalty, responsibility etc.
Varsha shared her wonderful childhood experience of having a dog and a stray cat……and how the cat like Arnie was persistent on being cared for, by her family……..how her mother couldn’t resist feeding the cat........and how the cat wouldn’t eat the prey that she (the cat) had just hunted, without the permission of Varsha or Varsha’s other family members. The cat’s appearance and disappearance (almost exactly 1 yr. after Varsha’s mother’s demise) still remains a mystery to her. She also shared about the days when she used to work for a non-profit organization which took in animals and took care of them. She also had a mini clinic in her own living room. She still loves and misses spending time with animals.
The story reminded Seema of her days back in time. She expressed her wishes for her son to have the same kind of values. She finds it unnecessary for children to have the access to TV, Iphone, and WII etc. She herself does not use a cell phone. We all applaud you for that!!!She also doesn’t find the need to buy too many toys for the kids which somehow is becoming the latest trend in many families. She also shared with the group, her recent experience on how her son was persistent about getting snow boots because all his classmates had it……..how the kids do face peer pressure and sometimes worry about it.Explaining the concept of NEED and WANT is a challenge we all parents face.
Thank you all for sharing their personal experiences. All in all a reminiscing discussion!!!Looking forward Ato many more!!See you next Wed 4TH April. Each of us will get our own topic (7mins long) and share with the group. Same format as mentioned before. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!See you all next week.

Arnie the Darling Starling
www.goodreads.com
This true story of a talking starling and the grandmother who raised him is as heartwarming a book as you will ever read - a new classic in the tradition of Rascal, Born Free, and That Quail, Robert. When Margarete first came upon Ar...

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Thursday, March 22, 2012

March 22nd Session

March 22nd session
We had a very lively discussion about the book ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT!!!
First of all we welcome our new member Varsha to The Broadmoor Book club. Our session was filled with lots of opinions and different point of view of the book. Like the author spoke about looking at the building on fire from different corners or angles, each one of us also had different interpretations of what we read.
I was fascinated with Rachael, the 80 year old women in Alaska. I would definitely love to meet someone like her in my lifetime!!!Some points which stayed with me were:-
• Intuition or symbolic sight is not a gift but a skill.
• Our biography becomes our biology
• Experiences carry emotional energy
• Personal power is necessary for health
• You alone can help yourself to heal
• Look for happiness inside yourself,
• external factors of happiness are short lived
I also liked the comparison of the 7 chakras with the 7 sacraments.
Seema liked the thought of the author teaching self-healing but pondered if it’s possible after reading the book. She also liked the simple truths which were:-
• All circumstances can be changed in a moment.
• Be constant: live what you believe
• Change is constant. Go with the flow.
• Never look at another person to make you happy. It is an internal, personal attitude and responsibility.
• Life is essentially a learning experience.
• Positive energy works more effectively than negative.
• Live in the present moment and practice forgiveness
Sneha liked many little details like not leaving any unfinished business, about the blanket on the wall and about the Athabascan spiritual traditions.
Varsha and Sneha shared their similar interests in the movie Apocalypto.
The movie is about the Mayan kingdom that faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/
They also spoke about the book “The Alchemist”.
The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, it has been translated into 67 languages as of 2009. An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there. This book is about intuitions. Good intuitions and bad intuitions.
It was surprising that both of them felt that each time you read the book you find discover new dimensions to it.
Gayathri shared her simplified idea of her principle of living.
• Lead a truthful life
• Share a smile
• If you make a mistake it is going to be worrying you the most. Make it right immediately, instead of letting it pile on your consciousness
• Don’t wait…..ask for forgiveness ,forgive others
Nilakshi shared the reading genres:-
Fictions
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Realistic fiction
• Historical fiction
• Traditional literature
• Science Fiction
• Classics
Non-Fiction
• Informational
• Self help
• Biography
• Auto Biography
Poetry
There were disagreements, agreements……there was laughing …..Lots of laughing!!! But this difference of opinions made the session more interesting!!!
See all of you next week Wednesday 03/21/2012, 6:30 pm@party hall.
We each of us can share anything with the group.(book,article,poem,etc)

March 14th session
We had a very lively discussion about the book ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT!!!
First of all we welcome our new member Varsha to The Broadmoor Book club. Our session was filled with lots of opinions and different point of view of the book. Like the author spoke about looking at the building on fire from different corners or angles, each one of us also had different interpretations of what we read.
I was fascinated with Rachael, the 80 year old women in Alaska. I would definitely love to meet someone like her in my lifetime!!!Some points which stayed with me were:-
• Intuition or symbolic sight is not a gift but a skill.
• Our biography becomes our biology
• Experiences carry emotional energy
• Personal power is necessary for health
• You alone can help yourself to heal
• Look for happiness inside yourself,
• external factors of happiness are short lived
I also liked the comparison of the 7 chakras with the 7 sacraments.
Seema liked the thought of the author teaching self-healing but pondered if it’s possible after reading the book. She also liked the simple truths which were:-
• All circumstances can be changed in a moment.
• Be constant: live what you believe
• Change is constant. Go with the flow.
• Never look at another person to make you happy. It is an internal, personal attitude and responsibility.
• Life is essentially a learning experience.
• Positive energy works more effectively than negative.
• Live in the present moment and practice forgiveness
Sneha liked many little details like not leaving any unfinished business, about the blanket on the wall and about the Athabascan spiritual traditions.
Varsha and Sneha shared their similar interests in the movie Apocalypto.
The movie is about the Mayan kingdom that faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472043/
They also spoke about the book “The Alchemist”.
The Alchemist is a novel by Paulo Coelho first published in 1988. Originally written in Portuguese, it has been translated into 67 languages as of 2009. An allegorical novel, The Alchemist follows a young Andalusian shepherd named Santiago in his journey to Egypt, after having a recurring dream of finding treasure there. This book is about intuitions. Good intuitions and bad intuitions.
It was surprising that both of them felt that each time you read the book you find discover new dimensions to it.
Gayathri shared her simplified idea of her principle of living.
• Lead a truthful life
• Share a smile
• If you make a mistake it is going to be worrying you the most. Make it right immediately, instead of letting it pile on your consciousness
• Don’t wait…..ask for forgiveness ,forgive others
Nilakshi shared the reading genres:-
Fictions
• Fantasy
• Mystery
• Realistic fiction
• Historical fiction
• Traditional literature
• Science Fiction
• Classics
Non-Fiction
• Informational
• Self help
• Biography
• Auto Biography
Poetry
There were disagreements, agreements……there was laughing …..Lots of laughing!!! But this difference of opinions made the session more interesting!!!
See all of you next week Wednesday 03/21/2012, 6:30 pm@party hall.
We each of us can share anything with the group.(book,article,poem,etc)

Apocalypto (2006)
www.imdb.com
Directed by Mel Gibson. With Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Rudy Youngblood. As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fat...

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March 18
Nilakshi Pradhan
Hey guys been forgetting when we meet, whoever has the when I die ... Book pls can u get it for the coming session thx
Tuesday
Hazelene Bhavsar
Hi girls,
We are meeting tomorrow 3/21/12 @6:30 pm in the party hall.Each of us can use their sharetime to share anything they choose with the group.It can be a book,article etc. Gayathri can you pass on this message to Varsha? See you all lovely ladies tomorrow!!!
Tuesday
Gayathri Jois
Hey!!...lovely ladies??...I liked it Hazelene:)...c u all tomorrow, surely will convey to Varsha,
7 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
March 21 session
The session predominantly was about parenting. Being a mother, I realized it is one of our favorite and endless topics. Each one of us has our own experiences and can literally write a book on this topic!!
The session started with me reading an article about a conference I had attended 8 years back (which I vaguely remember).So I compiled some information which I felt interesting, from the internet about the ISP ( Art of parenting )(Gosh I hate that name!!!)My husband strongly felt, “nobody on earth needs to learn parenting, it comes naturally!!!” Though I agree with this concept, I still found couple of interesting tools in child rising like:-
• Having a constant dialogue with your child from birth
• Having music in life
• Overall development (intellectual, physical, social, inter –personal, intra-personal, spiritual, emotional etc.)
• Left-brain right-brain study
• Sleep talk
Varsha gave descriptive explanation about The Iceberg Model
She also expressed her concerns about SLEEP TALK being a manipulative technique and about people who organize parenting courses with incomplete knowledge about child psychology. She also covered some subjects about puberty, importance of sex education, when to have the sextalk with your child, self-esteem, core personality etc. which she is going to delve into in the coming weeks. We all are looking forward to it.
Gayathri shared an article in which she spoke about the generation gap. The parenting ideology her mother used in raising her and whether it’s possible to use the same when she is raising her daughter since the times have changed. She also expressed her desire to instill some values in her daughter which has been important to her. She feels the best way to teach a child is to set a good example in front of her. She feel learn from what we do rather than what we say. But having said that, sometimes we parents also contradict what we teach (like we tell our kids to be honest but sometimes we do in front of them).Good food for thought……..how do we deal with the changing needs of our child…..whether we are right in our methods?
Sneha shared some facts she had read from a book of parenting:-
• Don’t introduce NO to your child
• Don’t use force
She felt children like to have the power of choice. She also felt that children can learn from being more social. If not, could make him or her introvert and shy. Children learn a lot from other children and from social situation which could be useful in their lives.
Seema wondered how would she deal with her son wanting to brush his teeth early in the morning and wondered if she should use force and how it’s possible not to use to word NO.
Thanks to everybody for sharing their personal parenting techniques, experiences and views…….it is indeed good relief to know that there are many ways to raise our children…….and that there are many people around the world, with different cultural, religious and educational background raising wonderful kids!!!I also would like to share The Serenity Prayer mentioned by Varsha.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

My apologies for having taken a lot of the share time yesterday………I got the feeling that Seema and Sneha did not get much time to share.
So that we all have equal share time, I have 2 suggestions:-
1) Each one of us brings an article, book etc. And use only 10 mins of uninterrupted share time, keeping the discussions to the end of the session until everybody has done with the share time.
Or
2) Choose a common topic in advance and we all prepare for the topic for 10 mins each.
Looking forward to your suggestions!!We will meet again for this open discussion 4/5/2012 same time same place.
See you all next Wednesday 3/29/12 for the reader’s digest book discussion which is being passed around. Whoever has the book please pass it around so everybody finish on time!!!Happy Reading!!
7 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
http://wilderdom.com/personality/L8-3TopographyMindIceberg.html

Topography of Mind: Freud's Iceberg Model for Unconscious, Pre-conscious, & Conscious
wilderdom.com
conscious (small): this is the part of the mind that holds what youre aware of. You can verablize about your conscious experience and you can think about it in a logical fashion.

Share
4 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
March 21 session
The session predominantly was about parenting. Being a mother, I realized it is one of our favorite and is an endless topic. Each one of us has our own experiences and can literally write a book on this topic!!
The session started with me reading an article about a conference I had attended 8 years back (which I vaguely remember).So I compiled some information which I felt was interesting, from the internet about the ISP ( Art of parenting )(Gosh I hate that name!!!)My husband strongly felt, “nobody on earth needs to learn parenting, it comes naturally!!!” Though I agree with this concept also, I still found couple of tools useful in child rising like:-
• Having a constant dialogue with your child from birth
• Having music in life
• Overall development (intellectual, physical, social, inter –personal, intra-personal, spiritual, emotional etc.)
• Left-brain right-brain study
• Sleep talk
Varsha gave descriptive explanation about The Iceberg Model
She also expressed her concerns about SLEEP TALK being a manipulative technique and about people who organize parenting courses with incomplete knowledge about child psychology. She also covered some subjects about puberty, importance of sex education, when to have the sextalk with your child, self-esteem, core personality etc. which she is going to delve into in the coming weeks. We all are looking forward to it.
Gayathri shared an article in which she spoke about the generation gap. The parenting ideology her mother used in raising her and whether it’s possible to use the same method when she is raising her daughter ,since the times have changed. She also expressed her desire to instill some values in her daughter which has been important to her. She feels the best way to teach a child is to set a good example in front of her. She feels children learn from what we do rather than what we say. But having said that, sometimes we parents also contradict what we teach (like we tell our kids to be honest but sometimes we do lie in front of them).Good food for thought……..how do we deal with the changing needs of our child…..whether we are right in our methods?
Sneha shared some facts she had read from a book of parenting:-
• Don’t introduce NO to your child
• Don’t use force
She felt children like to have the power of choice. She also felt that children can learn from being more social. If not, could make him or her introvert and shy. Children learn a lot from other children and from social situation which could be useful in their lives.
Seema wondered how would she deal with her son wanting to brush his teeth early in the morning and wondered if she should use force and how it’s possible not to use to word NO.
Thanks to everybody for sharing their personal parenting techniques, experiences and views…….it is indeed a good relief to know that there are many ways to raise our children…….and that there are many people around the world, with different cultural, religious and educational background raising wonderful kids!!!Also would like to add that every mother has been blessed with gift from God called MATERNAL INSTINCTS.I also would like to share The Serenity Prayer mentioned by Varsha.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
--Reinhold Niebuhr

My apologies for having taken a lot of the share time yesterday………I got the feeling that Seema and Sneha did not get much time to share.
So that we all have equal share time, I have 2 suggestions:-
1) Each one of us brings an article, book etc. And use only 10 mins of uninterrupted share time, keeping the discussions to the end of the session until everybody has done with the share time.
Or
2) Choose a common topic in advance and we all prepare for the topic for 10 mins each.
Looking forward to your suggestions!!We will meet again for this open discussion 4/5/2012 same time same place.
See you all next Wednesday 3/29/12 for the reader’s digest book discussion which is being passed around. Whoever has the book please pass it around so everybody finish on time!!!Happy Reading!!
4 hours ago
Gayathri Jois
Very nice write up Hazelene:)...oh god u hv a awesome memory & style of writing!!...I agree with u, you should be a little strong on time limits...though the talks went well, most of the time went on discussing, so next time the time limit should work:)...hv a grt week!!!
4 hours ago
Gayathri Jois
discussion, hoping next session, we will stick on to time limits,
Hv a grt week:)...
4 hours ago
Nilakshi Pradhan
Looks like I missed a good session. Neverthless thanks to Hazel, after such a nice and detailed update, felt like I was there after all
Regarding the time thing, since there are now six of us, we can keep individual presentations (thats how i think of them somehow) to a max of 7 mins each. That will leave time at then end of the hour for some lively group discussion . .... ur thots grls
3 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
I totally enjoyed yesterday's discussion but I agree we needed stick to 6:30 to 7:30 pm every Wednesday,since past 2 weeks I know some of you are missing their zumba class.So we have to arrange our discussions to be more structured and be more time conscious.I agree with the format of having 7 mins individual,uninterupted presentation of any topic of your choice.So thats it will 42 mins till everybody's turn is done.After that we have 18 mins left for group discussion.If somebody is not prepared with a topic then their time can be added to the group discussion at the end.But we have to prepare smaller and brief presentation that fit into the 7-min time slot.So we really have to make sure it is short and sweet.Also make sure everybody follows these guidelines and read the messages so we know what is decided.Gayathri I don't have Varsha's cell no. or facebook id......so if you can find out the best medium to reach her please let me know.And also we will make sure we update all this in our Broadmoor Blog which Seema has prepared for us.And everbody in our group follows it.
3 hours ago
Hazelene Bhavsar
Yesterday I did have a vast topic which took up lot of time.Sorry my bad!!!I will make sure I stick to the time limit.