During a hurricane in a land full of trees, which ones do you think will stand firm? Only the trees that are deeply rooted to the ground, of course. “The same principle applies to us. When we face diffi cult situations in our life, it’s possible to get through them only when we are grounded,” says Abirambika Ravivarman, a 35-year-old MBA graduate, who quit her high-powered corporate job to start Green Minds. “It was after I had my son that I noticed that we are currently amidst the most intelligent kids the world has ever seen, but they lack one most important thing that earlier generations had. In the past, people were never in a race for materialistic things. They were more grounded. They knew that they had to give to receive. They knew how to balance life with ease. When was the last time any of us paused to appreciate our relationships with the people around us.
That’s when I decided to something about it,” says Abirambika. Green Minds is her venture along with her mother, Jayalakshmi Sakthivelan, who also hails from an educational background. They are joined by Anupama Vijayakumar and Veena Vijayakumar who help with the content and operations of the company. They conduct a unique ‘sustainable culture’ programme for children aged between fi ve and twelve. “We need to teach children that their thoughts and actions are responsible for everything in their lives. I’ll give you an example, when a child falls down, the parent immediately scolds the ground to calm the child down.
This might seem like a small thing, but this teaches the child that it’s okay to ‘blame everything but me’ when something goes wrong,” she says and adds, “We do daily affi rmations and mind strengthening techniques that alter their behaviour and thoughts at a young age. Without our k n o w l e d g e , children learn a lot from adults. So, isn’t it our responsibility to be aware of our actions and teach them the life skills they need? After children enter adolescence, it’s very diffi cult to change their core personality, which is why we need to coach them before that. Children these days excel at academics. They will pick up school subjects easily, but I strongly believe sustainable lifestyle education is far more essential for them to be morally responsible adults in the future. What’s the point of a fancy degree if you don’t know how to live a happy life?” Abirambika also has a CSR advisory wing where they help corporates with their CSR activities. She’s soon to be an ICFcertifi ed life coach. She is already conducting various workshops and individual sessions for parents, corporate executives and teenagers.
Reach Out: www.greenmindscenter.com