Bangalore SHG Report 26 December 2015

It had been very long, since I had last attended an SHG meeting and even longer since I had met Dinesh (our friend, philosopher and guide at SHG Bangalore). Last Sunday’s meeting started unusually very late i.e. around 11 am with the attendees being Shobhit, Pramod, Mansi , Mohit (IISc), Dinesh, me, Raman, Abhinav and Asim.

Apart from the (ritual) introduction round the prime topic of discussion was that of, how we deal with worst of our stammering. With Pramod leading the way, we understood some of the symptoms that we exhibit while stuttering. The rolling of eyes, the freezing of facial expressions, that raised eyebrow and the blocked thought process. We discussed them all. The conclusion being, that they can be modified if not controlled.

Later on we discussed about how lack of clarity/coherence can affect our communication. What we concluded there, was that a need for clarity in self is necessary before we can make others understand what we are intending to speak. Another important learning was that, it’s our responsibility to keep the other person interested when we talk and especially as a stutterer that responsibility increases a lot more. We could do that by having a good healthy eye contact, or with body language or any other technique.

Towards the end, we did an impromptu speech to make our experience much more livelier after a good healthy discussion oriented meeting. The experience of making an impromptu speech is always an energising one. Every one was on their feet thinking quickly on topics such as development vs environment, why youth prefer MBA over M.tech, why will you not wear a Pink t-shirt and many other.

After being away from the SHG for nearly 4 months, I really had a good fun time, which involved sharing, learning, expressing and most importantly being my true self without any inhibitions. The learning continues and the journey towards getting better at communicating myself becomes smoother and smoother week by week. With a very exciting new year coming ahead, I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

Mohit Jaiswal

For joining Bangalore SHG, Contact Shobhit: 9990449976 (no WhatsApp)