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FROM IIM-AHMEDABAD TO HAPPINESS
physical body and, ultimately, the health of the individual, for good or bad. Protracted grief affects perceptible changes in one's looks. In grief, the circulation becomes languid, the face pale, the muscles flaccid, the eyelids droop, the head hangs on the contracted chest, the lips, cheeks and lower jaw all sink downward from their own weight. The whole expression of a man in good spirits is exactly the opposite of the one suffering from sorrow.
Negative emotions not only deprive the body of its vital powers, but they are continually preparing a secret deadly poison which can blast the bloom of life, shut up every access to pleasure and enjoyment and change the beautiful stream of life into a stagnated puddle.
There is also the rule of the correspondence of emotions - we tend to excite similar emotions amongst others. It is a universally observed fact that the cheerful company of young persons dispels the gloom of moroseness and sorrow, while the society of those in extreme grief acts as a damper on all who come in contact with them.
Ruskin Bond, the celebrated writer of stories for children has made Mussoorie, a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas his abode. In his introduction to Everlasting Remembrance - a collection of poems by Rev. Bro. S.J. Darcy, a Patrician Brother who gave away his life to school education in India - described Brother as:
Bro. Darcy was a gentle soul who saw God in all things - cherry blossom, moonlight, dreams, tempests, a child's laughter. The serenity and calmness of his nature come through in his poetry. He celebrates the miracles of life, with all its joys and achievements; and he shows a calm acceptance of its sorrows and disappointments.
Fortitude' may seem out of fashion today, but that is what he personifies. I am reminded of that opening line from Hugh
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