You Matter

A couple is in the middle of their rendezvous, when the boy announces that he will be travelling for a few days.

Wistfully, he asks his girlfriend, "Will you miss me while I am gone?" Most partners in a relationship have this concern uppermost in their minds. Have you ever thought of the reason?

Why does the firstborn experience sibling jealousy when the second child appears on the threshold?

Well, in both instances, the man and the child are plagued by the imminent loss of 'Mattering' from the significant other or the group (family). Mattering is a feeling that is intense for most people-a feeling that they matter to someone. In psychological terms, Mattering denotes how a person feels when they are seen, heard, and accepted by the society around them.

It is a well-known fact that even our house plants wither away when neglected. It is not enough to just water them daily. Attention and nurturing by way of trimming here or there or by moving the pots around a bit help the plants flourish. In the Marathi movie Amhi Doghi, one of the protagonists is ailing from a major ailment that leaves her exhausted and drained on most days. Yet, she makes it a point to move the potted plants around. She is asked by her stepdaughter as to why she is making such a herculean effort when she isn't keeping well. To this, she replied, "Just so that they feel good!"

Our existence has no meaning unless someone knows that we exist

Quantum physics has proved beyond doubt that things exist only when there is an observer. The famous double-slit experiment proved that particles did not exist (they were like some ephemeral wave) until an observer came along, and then individual particles became discernible.