FEEDBACK

Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. In systems containing an input and output, feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback (regeneration), feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback (degeneration) - Wikki

Feedbacks are a very important component of our daily lives. And whether we notice it or not we are giving and receiving feedback all the time. It is because of feedback that we are where we are today, whatever improvement occurs is because of one persons creation and others feedback on it. And its not just others feedback that matters there is self-assessing as well and we are reflecting back to our-self all the time. There are all sorts of feedbacks, happy ones, positive, confused, question based (raising or answering), supportive and as i'd like to call them the mother of all creativity - Negative feedback.      

It is important for all of us to UNDERSTAND what feedbacks really are and what affects do they have on our lives. Ones we have understood that, it would become much more easier and effective to share feedback. 

Feedback can change lives

Not only is there a manner for giving feedback there is also a manner of receiving them. In my experience as a training consultant and a facilitator learning from the experts, practical implementation, reading and observing, I have learnt that: 

"Feedback is a GIFT " ... If this concept is understood than this can be a life-changing experience and everyday each time we receive a feedback a whole window of opportunity will open to us. I will always be grateful to my champion facilitators from Africa and UK who taught me this beautiful concept and the art of sharing feedback whether I am on the receiving end or vice-versa. 

Now let us ponder on the statement that feedback is a gift! and to understand that one needs to know what a gift is? Well a gift is something one person gives to the other as a token of love and appreciation, a gift has a lot of value because it shows that the other person went through the trouble of thinking about what gift to choose, from where, how it should be wrapped and presented and so on. Some gifts are hand-made while others are chosen as per occasion and personality from the market, some are especially designed and others are based on the receivers interest, liking and need. However and whatever the gift is like, it shows one person's thoughtfulness about the other person. Now, how is it like to receive a gift? well, many times we invite people and they find it obligatory to bring gifts with them, other times one just feels the urge of presenting the other with a gift. Whatever the situation or cause may be when we receive a gift it mostly makes us happy and we use the gift whatever it may be. In the same manner "Feedback is a gift of words". 

In our daily lives we get up in the morning and look at our-self in the mirror and here comes the first feedback "Man, my hair looks so frizzy, i got to iron them." or "O wow! the humongous pimple is gone from my face, yea!" so on and so forth. Then for example if we have to go to work or college etc we change into a dress, look into the mirror and say, "ooh, i look pretty, this dress actually makes me look thinner." or, "I am dressed for success today, look out world" or "same ol' me! :( " . Those are personal feedbacks, where we are telling ourselves as a person what we like or not-like about us. Moving on during the day at work or school etc people we meet with, in all different capacities, we are continuously engaged in exchanging feedbacks, whether verbal or written. Feedback about our work assignments, our personality, our performance and the list goes on. 


The key lies in understanding how to react to these feedbacks that we are so rapidly receiving from all directions. As a trainer I have observed that the moment one person (in any given circumstances) start giving their feedback to the other, and if that feedback contains any traces of corrective measures than the receiver instantly get in to the defensive mode and starts explaining reasons for whatever caused him/her to do that. This brings us closer to the understanding of 'Feedback being a gift' where when one person gives a gift to the other and the other person says 'thankyou'. Does it ever happen (under normal circumstances) that a person gifts something to the other and the receiver instantly starts to comment about the gift received, I don't think so! We all need to widen our horizons and inculcate in ourselves a sense of acceptance. 

The Right approach

I love the example of a Juicer machine. We all know what this simple device does, we dump in it all sorts of fruits and stuff from one end and receive nice fresh juice from the other free of all peels and seeds and unnecessary things.... The process of accepting feedbacks is almost the same, your present your performance to everyone (individual, group, society etc) and then people (as per their ability and understanding) give their feedback, now if you act like that Juicer what would happen, you will accept all their comments with a big smile and open arms, without any argument and inside yourself you will run that feedback/suggestion/comment in your system, see their pros and cons, measure it with your own scales and objectives and in result to that what would come out would be an improved version of a quality product, better than the last time. When we are able to absorb all that is thrown our way and imagine ourselves as that juicer the results are far more sweeter than imagined. There is no such thing as a good or a bad feedback, feedback is just someones thoughts about your performance so by making the right use of this feedback we can increase the level of improvement and achieve great results. Infact, we should always be thankful to those who give us their precious feedback because they actually took the time out to observe us, then made the effort to come to us and make us aware of what they feel about that particular performance/act/idea etc. 

Now, If we combine whats been said so far and join the dots from the previous conversation and try to sum, this is what we get:

    Performance = feedback = Reaction

Having said all the above there are some moral, ethical and legal values attached to those who are in the position of "giving" feedbacks. One must be mindful of the situation, of the performers efforts and hard-work, of the circumstances and especially the competency and level of maturity in that respective area of performance. It is easy to just raise fingers or point out errors after someone has presented something but if we remain mindful of the impact and consequences of our feedback than hopefully our focus will be to add value to the performance/presentation rather than mere criticism! The choice of words, appropriate body language, presence and position of self and other in the particular place, mode of delivering, timings, value of advice everything should be kept in notice whether the feedback is written or verbal, big or small. It should give a feeling of connection, of understanding one another, of helping, of appreciation, of meeting the needs of one another in a very pleasant and welcoming way. Feedback will have less or no value for the receiver if the above considerations are not kept in mind. Following should prove helpful in context to what's been said so far:


A feedback loop to control human behaviour involves four distinct stages - Thomas Goetz.

• Firstly - Evidence. A behavior must be measured, captured, and data stored. 
• Secondly - Relevance. The information must be relayed to the individual, not in the raw-data form in which it was captured but in a context that makes it emotionally resonant. 
• Thirdly - Consequence. The information must illuminate one or more paths ahead. 
• Fourthly - Action. There must be a clear moment when the individual can re-calibrate a behavior, make a choice, and act. Then that action is measured, and the feedback loop can run once more, every action stimulating new behaviors that inch the individual closer to their goals.

When you have become an 'artist' of giving feedback, both you and the recipient of that verbal feedback can feel like a fantastic gift has just passed from one to the other. We wield a great power in giving the gift of evaluation. Whether helping a child learn to ride a bike, reviewing an employees or evaluating any  presentation, considered feedback is a treasure to give.


Below are some basic features of giving feedback, I read, liked and agreed, hence sharing them with you, hope you find them of use:

Primary Aspects Of Giving Empowering Feedback

1. Listening
   Real communication begins with listening. And complete listening is much more than just hearing the information that comes in our ears. It means using all of our attention, all of our senses and faculties to gather information about what we will be evaluating.Whether you are giving feedback on a speaking presentation, the learning of a new behavior, or a sporting activity, it is vital to gather as much information as possible. We receive and process information primarily through sight, sound, feeling and thinking, so allow all of these to be turned on and tuned in. Begin listening to the words and watching the actions, and from that draw a sense of the meaning being conveyed by both, and to the emotion being delivered. Sense it all, feel every nuance, and savor the transmission of information coming through. This will supply you with a rich database from which you will draw to give your feedback.
   
2. Commendations
   When we give a commendation, we are basically telling someone how well they have done something... we are complimenting them. So once we have 'listened' to them, we then reflect back the strong points the person has exhibited. We act like a mirror.
   Reviewing research on positive reinforcement drives home the point that commendations are certainly the primary and most important part of giving the gift of effective evaluation.
   Research documentation also indicates that it is best to use the magic ratio of 5 parts praise or commendations to 1 part recommendation or constructive feedback.
   In addition, there is an art to the words we speak in giving supportive feedback, in order to maximize their effect. Just as we gather information through our senses and thought processes, we want to deliver our feedback so that it will 'speak' to the recipients senses and thought processes. There is a very clever way to do this by using sensory language and metaphors. Metaphor examples help us understand how this type of communication can speak directly, and often subconsciously, to the listeners information processing systems.
   
3. Recommendations
   Recommendations are offered in order to help the person learn something and add to the effectiveness of their skill, presentation, or desired outcome.
   Some people might think that corrective feedback is the most important aspect in giving a performance evaluation, but as important as it is... research reveals that it really plays a subordinating role. And to be of maximum benefit in this secondary role, the constructive feedback must:
   
   • provide specific focused information... precise
   • let the person know what the undesired affect was on you
   • describe and/or illustrate the new action to produce the preferred affect
   • offer a practice method for them so they can improve
     
4. Summary
   A succinct summary will tie your observations neatly together with a colorful ribbon so your gift can be easily carried away! In just a couple of sentences, list the compliments and the recommendation for improvement. Then offer your congratulations, and your faith that improvement shall be theirs, with a little further application.

"Feedback is a gift. Ideas are the currency of our next success. Let people see you value both feedback and ideas."

-Jim Trinka and Les Wallace

"All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for 

development accorded the individual."
-Albert Einstein

PuZzLeD.......!

For many days now I have been thinking of putting my thoughts in writing but each time i begin, my brain says, whats the use of this particular thing you are going to write about? Haven't it already been said before, then why?

I had been meaning to write about the way our world is shaping up, the good and weird stuff going on, politics, personal gain, chaos and confusion. Well then i thought so many people sound their concern about it on daily basis!!

I wanted to talk about my city, its disturbing political scene and the massive human massacre, but hey the colorful newspapers, tons of article and our very (a little too) efficient media are enough to give a 90, 180, 360 and God knows what degree perspective. Instead of 'News as it happens' it should be 'News before it Happens'. Instead of just displaying our over-intelligent media creates the news items!! One news and a gazillion views about it. Yea and they love to display it to the rest of the world, if it was in their power they'd made the Polar bears in the North Pole watch the developing stories of Gujjar village of Toba something and that too during hibernation....."hey guys wake up see this is whats not right about my Country....ch ch ch sad na, hope you feel bad for us!!"

Whats left, weather! yea it looks like its gonna rain any time but every day ends on this hope....rain even doesn't want to come down and wash away the sorrows of this city! The sun shines upon us trying to make us see clearly and reflect on our 'doings' but instead we shut our eyes to its light!

Hmm...economical situation, well there is atleast one thing that we all have consensus on, that our dear Government (not excluding a single person) their banks, pockets and stomachs are all bottom-less pits, they keep on pouring all the country's resources into these three but hey presto! everything disappears in there! Magic! And another thing that we have all understood and concluded is that unless there is a miracle the simple rule of 'Rich getting richer and poor getting poorer ' will be followed with full implementation. Now i know there is no limit to being rich....even the richest man on earth (Carlos Slim Helu) must fear to be superseded by some other rich dude (2nd richest Bill Gates or 3rd Warren Buffet) but what about the poor how much poorer can a person be? well, there was a time people used to give example of Africa where because of natural calamities people were facing hunger, now thanks to the creativity of our leaders (so called) people are forced to die of hunger in their homes due to the security condition of the city. Death stands for them in both places, indoors (cause there is nothing left to eat) and outdoors where a bullet is waiting for them with their name on it!!War no less than a war.....atleast we are creative in discovering newer ways of torture and death! This too is nothing new so many people with living heart and souls write about these deadly issues of our part of the world!

Now what....Hmmm culture and religion! hahaha! what a mockery we have made of these two aswell. Culture is only left for hosting our foreigner friends! An Ajrak or a clay pot, a few dances and some music (in big hotels with heavy entrance tickets). And Religion, “do as you please”, May Allah(swt) help us with what we have done to our religion. Everyone is using its shield to gain cheap worldly gains, we have forgotten our service to our Lord and are just busy in gaining material benefits by using the principles of religion, alas! Still there is Alhamdulillah hope, because there are some real followers in our midst because of whom the rest of us keep safe from the anger of Allah(swt). May Allah(swt) bless those good souls in this dirty world who are doing their best in guiding those who want to follow in this dark world!

Sports! Not really my area of interest but yes I keep hearing the wonderful adventures of our dear cricket team. There performance is like the monitor of the ECG machine vital signs showing up and then down then up again and there they go….down! Atleast I am really proud of our special Olympics team, what courage what remarkable performance, hats off to them for bringing home 56 medals, three cheers for them! “Pakistan bagged 17 gold medals, 25 silver and 14 bronze medals while competing in a week-long event that featured 7,500 athletes from 180 countries around the world. The 82-member contingent participated in eight sports including athletics, aquatics, badminton, basketball, bocce, cycling, football and table tennis.” (Tribune, July 5, 2011). Good news are like a breeze of fresh air. Some credit also goes to our dear Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi for bringing home success. There are some unsung heroes also who are doing good in sports through hard work and determination and with very little support.

See I tried and tried but was able to share nothing new! Everything has been said before, nothing is new…..but anyway I got to say it my way! Ha…………

Conversations

I like to talk to people … for a variety of reasons, because I think conversations are a key to solving many (if not all) issues faced by our world today. Many wars can be un-fought and many innocent lives can be saved. Another reason is also that conversations help us understand the different viewpoints of all the diverse people in this world. It creates tolerance and a better understanding of life and its challenges others face. In return, of the valuable lessons from these conversations we are able to make our lives a whole lot better (if we want to).

I have learned many precious things from the unending, wonderful, enriching, blessed conversations I have had with people from everywhere and many walks of life. My favorite things to do while I am travelling (travelling itself being one of my most favorite things) is to either read a book or find someone (hopefully interesting….and they always turn out to be!) to talk to. I remember talking to wonderful South African, H (on my way back from Zambia via Johannes Berg) for a continuous 6hrs on an eight hours flight, and it was one of the most enriching conversations. We talked about everything, literally, gliding smoothly from one subject to the other. H is a focused person and some of the experiences had many a lessons stored. Especially that it is good to be focused, because that helps in getting the job done with concentration and lesser loopholes hopefully). Although we did not meet after that day but the learning and sharing continues to date.

I have been blessed with wonderful family, neighbors, friends, colleagues and acquaintances (and I truly mean ALL of you) who time and again are an amazing company and a great source of information via their life-giving conversations. Sometimes, when they just share their life experiences, that itself becomes a huge learning for their audience. And now with the addition of mobiles/social mediums, it is so easy to converse wherever one may be. I do not know about others but I really enjoy the small quotes and sayings that people share, I think some of them are just so cool. In addition, another cool thing about it is that you keep in touch with people and converse with them whenever you have the chance. I think everyone in this world has something to give in terms of information and knowledge. When I think about it the help and support of all these people whom I have met in various capacities have all play a very important role in making me who I am today! Thank you.

There are many small but important messages we receive in life, which makes us a better person. For example, I was talking about advantages of texting earlier on, well, whenever I get the chance I text and share many meaningful messages with my friends. So once, I got this forwarded text from a friend and without any verification I forwarded it to some other friends on my list, (this text was about some disease and its cause etc). Almost immediately, I received a reply from a friend who is very learned and knowledgeable saying, ‘did you check the authenticity of the message you forwarded because I don't think you know that they have actually put up a claim on the net against this particular misinformation being forwarded via text messages and email which is creating chaos amongst general public’. I was very embarrassed but also thankful because from that day onwards, I try my level best to forward information only when I have some sort of prove against its validity. Thanks A.

While talking about small conversations I have had many of those with people I met during my time working with Social development organizations and when I use to move around as a training consultant. This is when I had the opportunity to meet people living in remote suburbs and villages. They have such vast, deep wisdom that astonishes me. Perhaps the reason is that they see life as it is, real and unscripted. Their simple manners, friendliness, respect and hospitality makes you fall in love with them. It has been a tremendous experience each time I have visited these kinds of areas and the mannerism has been the same whether it is a small village in South Africa or near the deserts of Tharparker. We did not understand each other’s language but we spoke the common language of love and humanity. Same incident happened when I visited Damascus and met with a tribal women of Syria who explained me her love towards Lady Zainab(sa) (Grand Daughter of Prophet Saww Pbuh) while we got to sit next to each other in the Holy Shrine of Lady Zainab(sa), detailed story is mentioned a few paras below.

To share some more interesting stories of my conversations let me tell you about this wonderful young women from Egypt, D. We were introduced in a conference in Amman, Jordon and after some brief formal exchange; it was evident that we both like to talk. So from there onwards during the whole time we were together we never missed a chance to share some interesting stories about our lives. I learned from her experiences how a woman should always stay strong even when life throws a meteor shower of troubles and challenges at her. Unfortunately, I lost her contact when I got back, but nature has its own setup and after 5 years I found her via a mutual friend on a social networking website and I am so glad that we can now continue to cherish ourselves from the enriching conversations. Even the mutual friend I speak of is very headstrong and carries a persona tagged and branded (but gladly not copyrighted). She might not know but she has taught me so much by sharing her experiences. She has given me valuable advice, which helps me in my personal and professional life. I owe you F. You rock.

Oh, yes, how I can forget my very special friends from Alabama (US), a couple (wife being a designer and the husband a lawyer) and of course, my very dear V. With the couple, my interaction was thrice and that too only for a couple of hours but the insight they had on the topic of relationship was superb. They told me their own very interesting story of how they met at a very late stage of life but how much they cherish each other despite of all their differences and how some things are really just meant-to-be. They said do not go overboard even when your heart is set on something, do not compromise to the extent of lowering your integrity, and always keep your head on your shoulders with gratitude. However, when you do find and achieve the one then spare no time and give your best. Cherish love because it is the most beautiful sentiment of humans, they gave me so much hope, and I will always be thankful to them…. And V, what a wonderful person she is, so real, so kind and simple, the thing V and I have in common is our love for nature. She does so much for it and she is very creative, an amazing story teller, a superb human being. Her garden has a record-breaking variety of flowers, which is something worth looking at. I remember chasing her cat (Ms. R) every time I visited V’s beautiful cottage style house, but the cat did not like me! and would run away the instant she heard me come!

Another aspect of being a part of the conversation is when you are at the listening end, well at least I still consider that conversing because in your head you are arguing and understanding, negotiating with all that you hear and taking mental notes for future reference. When I was part of a Social Development Organization, I was managing this project and needed lots of advice and approvals from my Managing Director (who is also my mentor for life). For that, I used to go to her room quite often and most of the time she used to be with someone or on the phone but she used to let me in anyway and whenever I did not had a most urgent pressing issue, I used to calmly wait for her to finish her conversation. Trust me, I have learned so much from just hearing those conversations do not think I was eaves dropping because I was permitted to hear. From them, I learned the art of conversing beautifully (when to intrude, when to question, when to verify, how to round-up and summarize), usage of most appropriate words as per the demand of the conversation, I learned facial expressions and most of all how you can share the gift of knowledge in a most unintentional manner. Will always remember you Prof. A. May you receive high place in heaven inshaAllah.

Yet another aspect of being part of the conversation is when you are preaching, sharing knowledge and when the receiver (could be you) is listening or reading (as in this case when you are reading what I have written and debating inside). This and the above conversations are what i'd like to term as the conversations within, although something/one triggers the thought process but they actually open up horizons within, the invisible third eye whose vision is not restricted to internal or external, past or present view, it can see anywhere it focuses on. These conversations are the best and many a times act as your basis when you are in conversation, dialogue or discussion with others. It is all that information which your mind as per agreeable to your personality permits you to believe in. It helps in defining your parameters and creating your boundaries no matter how vast or narrow. It begins when you listen carefully and internalize and process all the information received and then putting it into virtual yes, no and maybe boxes, and then each time a related topic comes up when you give your point-of-view that’s where you pick up your data.

The most interesting part of conversation that I have come up with is that unless you converse with yourself you built up your views on what others think. Nevertheless, once you converse with yourself you assess from your own mind and after presenting the case in your own court knowing all the pros and cons. After that whether the decision you take is right or wrong it is still your decision and you have come up with it yourself. Every sane person knows in a given situation what is right and what is wrong at least if he is honest with an active conscience, in taking his or her decision. No matter what the circumstances are, they are hopefully going to go for the right choice and that choice if collected in the pool of right choices is going to derive collective right decisions. If we all start to do that, my third eye sees a very prosperous human society. Yea, I know that sounds extremely idealistic, but hey, that is my and purely my point of view and it has no negatives (as far as I am concerned), except for pessimistic people who are negative themselves and wish to remain negative.

Now I do not know whether you have ever encountered ‘mute conversations’, these are very special in a most interesting and heart-warming way. One might think that these are conversations between people who are challenged (physically or mentally), yes, that is one kind, but, even more interesting are conversations between people who are from different parts of the world and do not know each other’s language. My personal experience mostly has been when I travel to distant lands. They do not just say travelling to be one of the best ways of learning for the heck of it. It really is true. I recall a few of these amazing long chats, like the one in Damascus, Syria, where I got to sit next to this pilgrim women who explained to me in her language (which I believe was some tribal Arabic) why she had come there and what were some of her believes. I could make out her origin by noticing the traditional tribal marks on her face and by her dress and looks (as I have seen similar kind of women in Saudi Arabia). She used many gestures like when she had to talk about spirituality she would look heavenwards. When she tried to tell me that she has travelled far to reach here she would extend her arms and then take it behind her head as if pointing towards the long journey and she also stretched the word she used for describing ‘long’ (perhaps) like ‘looooooong’ and narrowing her eyes when she said that. She pointed towards her eyes and with her hand gestured the trail of tears then raised her hand upwards as in praying and then putting her hand on her heart and showing that she believes her prayers would ‘Insha’Allah (God willing) be answered. She mention words like ‘Allah’ (God) and name words like ‘Jannat’ (heaven), ‘Shaheed’ (Martyr) etc to share her wisdom. She told me about her kids and introduced me to a couple of women sitting around us as her relatives; they all greeted me with a smile. When it was time for me to go, she gently and lovingly kissed my forehead and blessed me with prayers and all of her relatives shook my hand. That left a warm wonderful memory in my heart and mind.

Sometimes it also happens that you know someone for very long yet you never had the chance to really talk and get into conversation with each other. That has happened to me more than I can remember! However, lately a friend and I, we discovered that we had much knowledge to share with each other and since we have begun conversing both of us have learned immensely from each other about society, beliefs, norms, emotions and surprisingly politics (my most non-favorite subject). My friend has a unique style of sharing information, almost never gets personal and shares whatever we are both comfortable with. I am at full liberty to talk about my personal life and never forced through query or questions. We argue and disagree but it gauges towards the understanding of the topic at hand and never because of Ego. Thanks A; I truly treasure our friendship and the enlightening conversations.

While I mention A, it would be absolutely unfair not to mention my dear R. Most interesting person to talk to, that is how I will describe her. She defines the world in her own way. Very sincere and honest, not afraid to admitt. Very curious and loves to inquire but in a sweet way. We both have our share of the hours long conversations we have and there is never a dull moment. Thankyou for being there my very sweet R. Allah(swt) bless you.

There are those too (and I am sure this kind appear in everyone’s life at least once) who are there for some time, those whom we refer to as seasonal friends. This kind usually becomes best friends almost instantaneously and you cannot imagine life without them. Things are absolutely hunky dory; you will have gazillion wonderful conversations with them. However, almost instantaneously, they will desert you and that is when you realize that there was never any spirit of friendship, that is where the line disconnects and all you can hear is silence. It occurs to you that were all purely incidental and at that particular moment when you met them (him/her), all the stars were aligned and you clicked instantly but as they say, ‘easy come easy go’…. This itself then becomes a great experience, but what I have learned (from my own and related experience of others) is that don’t let these people leave a mark, learn from these incidents and avoid making the same mistake (if you can) or get use to the idea of walk-in friends! Shakespeare describes it beautifully:

“Everyone has a best friend during each stage of life, but only lucky ones have the same in all stages of life.”

On a different note, I remember when I use to teach Business Communication and at that time, I use to tell my students that there is no difference in normal and business communication, the difference is of formal tone and usage of words. I see people unable to deliver their thoughts because they try to be someone else when they are dealing with clients or business partners, I wonder why they even try to do that! Even in business, one has to be him/herself with a slight touch of formality and that is it. Why sound mechanical when you are actually in conversation with a human being? In my experience, all the successful officials and entrepreneurs (the ones I have met) all deliver their message in a very normal and authentic style. In my view authenticity is the key to success in this (or any other) trait.

Alas, there are those conversations where we backbite and blame people with the soul purpose of proving ‘we are right, they are wrong’. These conversations have no conscience and they are 100% guilt free. All that we receive from these chats is how to make other people look bad and how to feel good about ourselves after doing that. I have noticed that wherever majority of people are inclined towards these types of discussion, prosperity is very low and faces are stern, hearts blackened and eyes emotionless. Let me share a great lesson I learnt while receiving training on human interaction and how to make the best out of it. Every person has positives and negatives and that is what makes them a human being (otherwise, we would only either be angles or devils), if we want to be successful then whenever we interact with people, we should focus on the positive side of the other person’s personality rather than the negative. This way knowing that, the person has some negative traits even then focusing on the positive once we will be able to converse with that person without prejudice. As we, all know that all humans emit various kinds of energies, mainly positive and negative. Now when a person focuses on his own and other person’s positive energy he is able to make their combined environment positive. Now who would not want to be part of a positive, peaceful and happy environment?

Another very (most) important conversation is the one between the Lord and man. And amongst all I feel this particular conversation weighs the most because in my point of view all the conversations that have generated on this planet and everywhere else has been given birth from the conversation that God has been doing with us. Are prayers not a conversation with the one in-charge? All that we talk about has links to that particular source, and I invite you to think neutrally about it putting aside everything else. Even if you analyze all the examples of the experiences and conversations, I have mentioned here you will be able to connect them somehow with nature, and what is nature but a gift from our Lord. Everything in nature converses with us in its own special way; it depends on us how much we expand our horizon and communicate with them. Our most respectable and most dear Prophet Hazrat Mohammad (Saww) and his Progeny (a.s.) has taught us beautiful mannerism, ideal ways of conversing with Allah(swt) (God) and His creatures. Knowing and practicing that makes us real Human Beings. SubhanAllah.

There are tons of other types of conversations, which I may not have mentioned or maybe I have not encountered them yet. Nevertheless, the ones I have mentioned are very few excerpts from my life so far. Many amazing books have been written on the subject but my purpose here was to share some personal experiences. This helped me remind myself of all the wonderful people I met and who have taught me so much in their own special way. In addition, it is a way of sharing this knowledge I gathered with those who wish to acquire and use it. So keep the magic of conversations going and create your own language of peace and love. And do not forget to share it.

Athens State hosts international educators. Four international educators were guests of Athens State University’s Wallace State-Hanceville Center recently.

Dr. Wanda Hutchinson, assistant professor of education, was host to the educators from South Asia. Hutchinson and her colleagues prepared detailed teacher training and highlighted teaching methodologies, including online classroom management. The visit is sponsored by the International Visitor Leadership Program under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, with the Alabama segment being hosted by the International Services Council of Alabama.

Last year Hutchinson hosted a similar group from Bulgaria with an emphasis on ethnic diversity and civil rights education. “I was asked to serve as a consultant as well as host the international visitors again this year,” said Hutchinson. I will facilitate experiences with program themes to include the use of technology in teaching distance learning courses, student teaching and rural education.

Foreign educators Sheela Rajendra from India, Abdul Sameu Hassan from Maldives, Hum Nath Acharya from Nepal, and Gulrukh Razi from Pakistan will be traveling throughout the United States to explore pre-service teacher training in a program that will expand their knowledge of educational procedures that will combat some of the obstacles they face in their home countries.