Family Virtues: Give your Child the Spiritual Edge
by V. Mitra Gopaul
======================================================
What the readers are saying
About the book
About the author
Table of Contents
======================================================
What the readers are saying
Reviewer: Sylvia Momeni
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Family Virtues: GIVE YOUR CHILD THE SPIRITUAL EDGE. V. Mitra Gopaul fills this enlightening book with practical, philosophical, spiritual as well as humorous guidance on virtues and why it is of utmost importance to develop wonderful attributes within us and our children in order to lead a fulfilling and peaceful existence.
Reviewer: Dev Domun
I found this book extremely interesting, and from it, I learnt a lot about the importance of inculcating family virtues in children. The role of parents in this job is clearly emphasized and elaborated. Divine qualities, human virtues, and the purpose of human life have been highlighted to illustrate how parenting is a divine task. If parents and children really knew the value of virtues, the world would have been a far better place to live in because virtues have no boundaries.
Reviewer: Angela Kidd
It is full of insight on how to be a positive example to both children and other family members alike. It offers guidance from many different spiritual and practical perspectives; it is impossible to read it without learning valuable lessons all along, in every chapter.
It is an incredibly helpful book to anyone who has to relate in any way to children, teenagers, and young adults, not just parents. The fact that the author included so many personal experiences which shows that he actually learned these things himself and he is not preaching without experiences behind him.
About the book
Did you know that parenting is the most important job? This divine duty begins when virtues are developed within a family as a foundation for a spiritual life. Gopaul, using examples in his own family, inspirational stories, arguments from experts, and knowledge from Holy Writings has presented with conviction a simple truth: spiritual success is the most rewarding pursuit of any human life. Foremost, he argues that parents deserve more respect, recognition, and honor for their selfless duty of raising a human being--the most difficult and important of all tasks. When a child knows the nobility of self, not just self-importance, this child will naturally extend this self-worth to others. Combining nobility with moral values, it gives a child a better chance to develop a sound character and become a happy, productive citizen.
About the author
V. Mitra Gopaul is married, a father of two children, and living with his family in Ontario, Canada. His hobbies include community service, traveling, swimming, skiing, and writing. Gopaul is a software consultant offering his expertise to such international companies as Merrill Lynch, IBM, XEROX, the Royal Bank of Canada, and the Barclays Bank of England. Active for more than 25 years in information technology, he currently specializes in databases and has written several computer books.
Table of Contents
Foreword ...xi
Preface ...xiii
Chapter 1 Understanding Virtues ...1
Where Do Virtues Come From? ...3
What About God? ...5
Making The Right Choices ...6
Mixing Virtues, Morals, and Laws ...8
Receiving Help ...10
Virtue Fertilizer ...12
Virtue Killer ...14
Evil: Does It Exist? ...15
Why Bad Things Happen To Good People ...16
Changing The Self ...20
Becoming Gender-Free ...21
Avoiding Pride and Prejudice ...21
Increasing Good Karma ...23
Surviving Death ...24
Remembering Purity ...27
Moving Towards Perfect ...28
Chapter 2 Looking At The Big Picture ...30
Reducing Stress In The Modern Family ...30
Becoming Virtue-Centric ...33
Taking An Holistic Approach ...36
Discovering Nobility In Us ...39
Giving and Receiving Respect ...44
Building Self-Esteem ...46
Reaching For Happiness ...48
Avoiding Family Crisis ...51
What Next? ...55
Chapter 3 Parenting, Learning, and Teaching ...57
Developing A Unique Path ...60
What Parenting Has To Do With Love? ...63
A Parent By Any Other Name ...65
Recognizing The First Teacher ...66
Who Is The Boss? ...69
Counseling Your Children ...75
Honoring Your Parents ...76
Becoming Effective Role Models ...79
Not Glamorous ...82
Networking ...84
Creating A Home Growth Lab ...87
Raising Resilient Children ...89
Chapter 4 Vision, Plans, Tools, and Strategies ...92
Creating A Far Reaching Vision ...94
Making Clear Plans ...98
Winning Strategies ...99
Discipline ...100
Understanding Divine Intelligence ...102
Flying With Your Spirit Of Faith ...104
Following Your Conscience ...106
Relying On Your Emotional Intelligence ...109
Connecting To The Source Through Prayer and Meditation ...113
Working With Your Intuition ...119
Uttering Sweet Words ...121
Following The Rules ...123
Being moderate ...126
Trying virtue-specific rules ...126
Being positive ...126
Associating rules with consequences ...127
Being constructive and growing ...127
Consistency has big payoff ...127
Negotiation will give you headaches ...128
Being flexible ...129
Creating A Quiet Time Each Day ...129
Managing Family Meetings ...131
Prayers and meditation ...131
Things that are going well ...132
Planning for the week ...132
Jobs and responsibilities ...132
General issues ...133
Personal problems ...133
Avoiding Self-Centeredness ...135
Soaring With Detachment ...136
Accounting For Deeds ...141
Having Fun Yet? ...142
Chapter 5 Random Acts of Goodness ...145
Laughing Eyes ...146
A Lost Cry ...151
The Riches Of Oseola ...152
On work ...158
On saving money ...159
On good living ...159
Honesty Does Pay ...159
Kindness From Friends and Strangers ...160
Tram Accident ...163
Mother Teresa: A Story Of Love and Compassion ...165
On the greatness of the poor ...168
On love ...169
Lemon Butter ...171
Heart Transplant ...171
Bibliography ...175
Index ...175