The Joby Sisters

San Maria Joby

My first day at LMAD home was on the morning of 23 April 2023. My father accompanied me and my sister to drop us there. I was just wondering how my next week is going to be spent with LMAD and whether I will be happy at the end of eight days. I visited the Prime Minister Museum and it was informative as well as interesting. That night, we had dinner outside and we came back to LMAD home. My father took his leave from the LMAD fellow home.

The next morning, we were supposed to meet together at 5:55 a.m. We all had a cup of tea and Viral Sir gave us the quiet time inputs, Tanu and Prathamesh shared their experience on quiet time. I had my first quiet time and I was confused about whether the thoughts that came were from my consciousness or my mind. I couldn’t write much but I was enjoying the time with myself. After which there was sharing but I couldn’t share anything as I was confused from within. We all had our breakfast, lunch, and dinner on time. As the next conference was in Jalandhar from 27-29 April 2023, we were packing things for it. After dinner, Viral Sir came and we were discussing the next conference where each individual was handed over a duty. We ended our day at 10:30 p.m.

The next day almost went the same. We had a few more people joining us. In my second quiet time, I decided that I will interact with as many people as I can during the coming conference and I will give my best in everything I do. I did share these thoughts with Viral Sir. We were all involved in packing the stocks for the conference as the next day morning we had to leave for Jalandhar. The one thing I noticed in these two days was that I was not using my phone continuously and still was not bored. I even observed how the LMAD home has a proper timing for everything. I had an ample amount of sleep even though I used to get up at 5:30 in the morning.

We reached Jalandhar by the afternoon of 26th April, we directly went to the school, had our lunch, and set up the hall for the next day. After reaching the hotel, we sat together planning for the inauguration and the first day of the conference. I was assigned to host the inauguration on behalf of the LMAD team. I was kind of worried as it would be my first time anchoring for LMAD but it went well.

I did learn and understand a lot of things during the three-day conference, it was my first time and it did help me know my flaws and how I could improve on them. The session on the Pyramid of Life made me identify my good and bad habits, and recognize my short-term and long-term goals. I even shared the same with the group. The group discussion also helped me in identifying some of my habits. The session on Day Light Saving Time made me realize how I waste my time on my mobile watching YouTube shorts, reality shows, IPL, and especially sleeping. I also took up a positive commitment to wake up early in the morning and utilize my time productively. I could connect to the jar exercise and look into my inner self. The quiet time did come into effect to examine my jar. The sharing done by the students was heart-touching and it made me emotional thinking about my relationship with friends. I have faced problems in friendship and I used to always become sad when I used to think about it. But this session helped me overcome those and realize my mistakes.

Overall, the eight days with LMAD were a different experience. I could interact with different people, make new friends and explore different cultures and food. It also gave me the opportunity to take up responsibilities that I have always loved. I am grateful that I could spend my 8 days with LMAD and take away good learnings from them. I wished I could stay there for long but due to circumstances, I couldn’t. But definitely looking forward to spending more days in the LMAD home!

Jis Maria Joby

I was a bit excited about going there because my dad had told me a lot about LMAD. I was filled with expectations. My first day in LMAD home was a bit weary but after a nap, I was feeling better and we even went out. On the second day, we woke up early in the morning. After our tea, we had our quiet time. Though I had experienced quiet time before where I just pondered about the things happening in my life and sometimes just slept off. But this time, I was thinking about the inputs given by Viral Sir, I was struggling to differentiate between my conscious and my mind. During the sharing, I couldn’t pull myself together to share my thoughts. The rest of the day went on with work, didn’t even realize when it got dusk. Later on, we had our dinner and had a peaceful sleep. I usually don’t sleep early but that day, I was feeling sleepy after the whole day, and the next day I had no issue waking up early. The next day, we had the same routine. During the quiet time, I was reading the front pages of the quiet time diary. I was thinking about which all aspects of my life I need to change. I couldn’t share much that day as well but just spoke about this.

The next morning, we set out for the Jalandhar conference in Punjab. By the evening, we had a session where we planned how the day-1 of the conference would go about. On the first day of the conference, I was a bit nervous as it was my first time but I cooled down once I reached the venue. When Viral Sir spoke about the four moral values and gave examples for each of them, I started to understand how even I had been dishonest and selfish and didn’t even realize it. The concentration session helped me in knowing how to increase my concentration and not get distracted. On the second day of the conference, during the quiet time, I was thinking about the inputs given by Sir. It made me realize how I have hurt others and haven’t apologized. The Pyramid of Life session helped me cultivate more good habits and work on my bad habits. It also helped me with my short-term goal and I started working on them. With the help of daylight saving time, I could manage to get extra few hours from my schedule for other activities. On the third day, I could connect more with my inner self. During the quiet time, I could look into the impurities in my jar and how I had made my jar dirty. For the first time, I wrote a letter to myself and I liked it a lot. I wish I was introduced to this a bit earlier.

Overall, this conference and staying at LMAD home was a very good experience for me. It has given me a belief that gradually, I can change. I would like to take this thought with me while I am leaving LMAD home.