A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood !

Last week I watched a movie I had never heard of,  & I loved it. " A beautiful day in the neighbourhood ". I sat through the 1st 15 mins in a sense of wonder and bewilderment.. & then I thought to myself..arre, this is an economic way to make a movie ! The 'set' of the living room literally looked like a 'set' ; instead of showing the city, they simply used some toy bridges and toy buildings to create a story ; and it felt like Tom Hanks was directly talking to me ! Not to another actor but directly to me !

                 Photo credit : Sony Pictures

The movie is about a children's tv show , it's host Mr. Rogers - played by the wonderful Tom Hanks , another character of a journalist and..our feelings. Yours, mine, everone's.  Its a beautiful movie which will help all of us..kids / parents / adults / old people. I was so surprised and impressed by the imagination of the creators to have thought of this whole set up - not only the unusual set, but even the unusual character of Mr. Rogers . Its (very) rare to come across such an authentic person. I was so moved by him. By his honesty & kindness. The only other time I have felt this way was when I met Dalai Lama, at Dharamshala.

Turns out - This show did exist for real, Mr. Rogers existed for real ! The movie infact is a semi biopic on the meeting between Mr. Fred Rogers & a cynical, award winning journalist - Tom Junod  - who was given an assignment to profile him.

Photo Credit : Mr. Rogers' Neighbourhood / PBS

Mr. Rogers conceptualised his show "Mister Rogers' neighbourhood " with an aim to help children deal with their feelings in a positive manner. Oh how I wish me & my brother had the chance to watch this particular TV show as kids. Not that I have any complaints, infact the 1st 10 years of my life are a perfect example of an absolutely wonderful childhood :):)  But in general I found the concept of this ingenious kid's show a great way to help children understand and handle their emotions better. 

There are a few episodes / snippets on youtube which you can consider watching. 

https://youtu.be/FtsLoA1nBDQ 
( there are many ways to say I love you ) 

https://youtu.be/gEeEEc_djco
(I like you as you are ) 

https://youtu.be/VXlXGxV8Qf8
( a full episode from season 3 of the show )

I also loved watching the few video interviews of Mr. Fred Rogers which I could find, esp his speech to the senator with an appeal to increase govt funding for national public television. 

https://youtu.be/fKy7ljRr0AA

& finally, here is the piece that Tom wrote for the Esquire magazine :

https://classic.esquire.com/article/1998/11/1/can-you-say-hero

The original cover

Mister Rogers' neighbourhood ran on US tv for 33 years, from 1968 to 2001 ! In each episode he showed the kids how various things work, for eg I saw an episode about the postal department, which was shot at - the postal department ! Then there would his puppets, which would speak about different feelings that kids feel. He even covered difficult topics like death, divorce, and recognised that children's mental health needs nourishment too. He used to sing songs and talk  directly to the camera - with the intention of making each kid watching feel that he was speaking directly to him ! 


P.s. : I would be so glad to find all the recorded episodes :) Please let me know in the comments if any of you do locate these episodes on any website / streaming platform. Thank you :) 

A list of uplifting articles + calming books + pleasant movies

Many times when I am feeling low or uncertain I tend to google positive things or simply google the words I am feeling at the moment and read up some article online..

There are a lot of websites, blog & articles which really lift you up, give u a perspective, offer solutions, and motivate u.

But often times I have come across articles which randomly use negative words to describe difficult, but not negative, situations. like failure - to describe a set back, or  defeated - to describe disappointed. Coming across such superficial content is basically unhelpful, and sometimes confuses us and makes us doubt our perspective for no reason. However there surely are a few posts out there which can infact help us lift our spirits up in the most genuine and natural way. 

I have decided to maintain a blog post that includes articles / books / videos which I found extremely helpful while dealing with a low. I will also share some methods which have helped me. I hope to spread some positivity with this post. 

Online articles :

1.  http://blog.iqmatrix.com/overcome-disappointment.

( One of the best ones I have read on this subject )

2.  http://newkings.co/overachivers-treadmill/


Books :

1. 7 Habbits of Highly efficient people

( This is a very motivating book, and something you should read when u r at home and trying to make a plan for urself )

2. Ikigai

 ( This is a one time , one afternoon read. A very calming and feel good book )

3. Feeling Good by Dr. Burns.

( This is a book on cognitive behavioural therapy to deal with anxiety and depression. It helps us improve our behaviour and thinking patterns. I personally found it very very useful )

Pleasant movies :

1. A Beautiful day in the neighbourhood.

A semi - biopic on Mr. Fred Rogers and his television show for children " Mr. Roger's Neighbourhood" and its impact on children & a generation who grew up watching the show. After watching the movie I was sooo touched and full of wonder that such kindness and honesty can exist. The only other time I felt like this was after reading about , and then attending Dalai Lama's lectures.

2. Julie and Julia

3. A Man called Otto

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I will update this post as and when I come across meaningful articles/books/videos. Feel free to suggest any articles you have read or videos you have watched perhaps, that have helped you pick yourself up , and get going !