Book Title: Family and Nation
Author(s): Mahapragna Acharya, A P J Abdulkalam
Publisher: Harper Publications India

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Page 174
________________ 160 THE FAMILY AND THE NATION that it is under voluntary control, a person may want to remain open to emotional signals so long as they are not too painful, and block out those that are overwhelming. In between, within the person's emotional comfort zone, it becomes possible to regulate and manage one's own and others' emotions so as to promote personal and social goals. FOUR KEY AREAS The first and most important need for a happy family is love. Ideally, it is an unselfish love that brings a man and woman together to form a home, and ideally it is love that increases that happiness with children. The love that binds a family together is partly an impulse of nature, but in a happy home, the love is far more unselfish than a mere natural impulse. A man must not hesitate to sacrifice his own pleasures, even his life, to assure the happiness and welfare of his wife. The same unselfish love should be reciprocated by the wife. And as parents, both husband and wife should have the same unselfish love for their children. Unfortunately, however, love can wither and die. To keep it alive and warm requires close association, attention and care. When both parents work and have little time for their children, they become, in a measure, strangers to them. By nature, children love their parents and long for their parents' love in return. Warm personal love which expresses itself in affectionate association, care, and attention prevents such estrangements and bitterness, and is the single greatest source of happiness in the home. No amount of money, fast cars, gifts, and gadgets can substitute for it. The second key word to happiness is faith. Faith, in all its aspects of trust, confidence and reliance, brings happiness. If a home is to be happy, parents must conduct themselves in such a way that they can have implicit faith in each other and also inspire such faith in their children. If parents by Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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