MENTAL HEALTH – Observe and Live Simply

·       A BEAUTIFUL SUNNY DAY

·       LISTENING TO A BLISSFUL MUSIC

·       HAVING GOOD FOOD

·       REGULAR EXERCISE &

·       PROPER SLEEP.

There is nothing new in these points. Everyone knows them. These are the key ingredients which we serve ourselves with, to have a valuable day/a happy day.

But why do we need them in our day-to-day chores and routine?

Some people are introverts. They don’t like to meet people or socialize. They just want to be with themselves, inside a shell, closed in a particular comfort zone. But forget that life does not allow you to follow a particular pattern. Once you start following a pattern, you start to make yourself a victim of a self-created prison. Slowly and gradually that pattern of living becomes your life which you define as your comfort zone. Similarly extroverts also form patterns of absorbing negative feedback and information through separate habits, company and interactions.

Always remember to be a little selfish person where you live for yourself first. Self care, self love is the key ingredients in the process of healthy, happy and prosperous life, and rest is just going to happen by itself. Only a happy, calm and stable person can help others too with concern.

Not all days are similar but when the sun sets, there is always a ray of hope that tomorrow the sun will rise again and everything will be in arranged manner again.

SO, dear readers!Make your days sunny and blissful by moving yourself, doing what you prefer rightfully, follow your heart and give your thoughts a flight of imagination. Imagination is the most beautiful thing that we have as humans. Directed well it can make life blissful and happy but if misdirected, it can create problems and unrealistic worries. Try to use it for your own benefit. Don’t make habits and patterns which are addictive and bring rigidity. Each day is a new day. Learn more, explore more, imagine more and stay busy. It will automatically break down monotony in life. It will bring peace, will release happy hormones which will make your mental health a better place to live life for.

 

Leave it to me - Taking Control

 ‘I recognize that I have to be in control, but as long as I am, I don’t mind how difficult the task is.’

When you decide to take control of the situations and act accordingly, is resilience. The thought processes automatically start working in a manner in which you try to give all your strength to a particular work. You accept things as challenges in your life. Constant engagement with electronic devices may disconnect you from your near ones. You won’t realize that you are working as machine, doing same things, engaging with the daily hassles. You don’t know what to do and how to make changes. In tough times, you need to decide your priorities first to work on those.

Taking control means -

• Quickly turning your attention to what can be done to solve any problem.
• Focusing on the positive actions required rather than how unfair or difficult a situation is.
• Do not wait for others to sort out matters for you.
• Securing the necessary resources to get things right.
• Influencing others around to your way of thinking.
• Being a positive role model.     

For most of us, our attitudes and beliefs determine our emotions, which in turn affect our behaviour. 

When I lose control, I usually take a step back. The key is to gather the thoughts, to self communicate some positive messages. Sometimes it may also be helpful to literally remove yourself from the situation for a while.

Losing control can have a negative impact on your ability to bounce back. To keep the control, there are some activities to help that are highly effective:

   ·     Taking deep breath, counting to 10, doing some exercise.

   ·   Writing an angry email ,but not sending it.

   ·   If you have tried all this, you still can have an odd outburst.

   ·  An odd  moment of outburst  is actually healthier than bottling things up and brooding on issues for months on end.

   ·  Remember , it is important to move on.

   ·  Apologize whenever necessary- but don’t beat yourself up.

It’s a saying, ‘A second ago is history, and you can’t change it. You can only think about how to put things right now.’      

LIVING IN FLOW

 

Have you ever spent what you thought was half an hour searching the internet, only to find out afterwards that your session lasted three hours? Or opened a book shortly after breakfast and a little while later noticed that it was getting darker?

Think of the moment in your life when you were so involved in what you were doing that the rest of the world seemed to have disappeared. About 90% can associate such a state with one or more activis call it ‘being in the zone’ others a ‘heighted state of consciousnesses’ and psychologist call it ‘being in a flow’.

 

MAKING THE FLOW HAPPEN

The state of flow happens under very specific conditions – when we encounter a challenge that tests our skills, and yet our skills, one can become anxious. If skills exceed challenges, we usually become bored (like bright kids at school). Neither of these two cases results in flow. Flow is a universal experience, which has several important characteristics:

Ø Clarity of goals and immediate feedback on progress.

Ø Complete concentration on what one is doing at the present moment, with no room in one’s mind for any other information.

Ø Actions and awareness are merged.

Ø Loosing awareness of oneself is also a common experience

Ø Sense of control of what one is doing, with no worries about failure.     

Ø Transformation of time.

What is also interesting in flow is the almost total absence of emotions during the actual process. We experience an increase in positive emotions after the occurrence of flow. For example, TV is not designed for blind people, so ‘watching’ TV is for them associated with a challenge – having to build mental images of the characters in the absence of being able to see them. It is not possible to say for certain which activities are definitely flow- related and which are not. What for one person is ‘a piece of cake’ can be a challenge for another. Remember, it is not just the balance between challenge and skills that are necessary for flow - both have to be stretched. Flow may be a state of ultimate enjoyment, but it requires effort and work.

 

Flow is the ultimate optimal experience. Abhram Maslow

(humanistic psychologist) coined the term peak experience to describe the joyous and exciting moments in the lives of every individual. In these moments we experience more whole, integrated, awareness of ourselves and deeply happy. We have a sense of trancedence, awe, unity and meaningfulness in life.

 

MAKE BETTER CAREER CHOICES

 “THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE
IS TO CREATE IT.” – Abraham Lincoln
 

Above lines makes us think about how puzzled we are in life to make our career choices. Yes, isn’t it true! That we are always in a state of mind where we decide something and end up with frustration and chaos. We do not know what to choose between so many careers choices. Our struggle starts in schools days when we enter grade 11 to choose between the streams as our future depends on that particular stream and hence we cannot return back once we start with the career. Parents start to pressurize their children as they see their Childs future. Some parents became successful to force their choices on their children whereas some do not. It is always better for parents to listen their child’s dreams for making better future choices instead of regretting afterwards.

The Indian school, the aim is not only to prepare the students academically but also at guiding them towards a rewarding and satisfying career. The school understands how imperative it is for students to identify their aptitudes, interests, career goals and aspirations in order to make well informed decisions regarding their higher education

Students are typically counseled in the following arenas –

Ø     Students are counseled about the various career options available to them.

Ø     Counseling enables the students to finalize a course and a country to study.

Ø     It enables the students to prepare for the various tests.

Ø     It assists in interpreting the deadlines related to admissions and tests.

Ø     It provides guidance about scholarship.

Career development helps in better vocational and overall development of individual. It also enables one to achieve success in professional as well as career goals. People who manage their careers in a positive manner are able to earn higher incomes; they can make job and educational choices. They are less stressed and able to cope with changes. They are well informed and successful.

Vocational guidance helps students to make decisions related to future career plans. It is assistance given to learners to choose, prepare for and progress in an occupation. It helps students to get right information about all aspects of vocation of their interests, to understand their own abilities and skills and helps them fit these to their chosen vocation.

Vocational development is essential for the individual. This is because it has been observed that the individual often changes his career path.

 It is better to always take help rather than burnout with making career choices.

COUNSELING FOR GROWING MINDS

 

A five year old child was abandoned by her parents and placed in a residential facility

for neglected and abused children. On one occasion, the caretaker of the institution became concerned when the child stayed up all night crying and vomiting. They brought her to the hospital the next morning. A pediatrician found nothing physically wrong with the child and referred her to me for mental health services. After introducing myself to the child, I asked her how she was feeling. She sat down put her head between her legs, and began to cry. It was most deep sorrowful sobbing I had ever heard. I leaned forward and gently touched her head, trying to comfort her. I could feel her pain. She looked up at me and appeared frightened and alone. I reached over and held her hand and told her I wanted to help her feel better. My heart reached out to her every day. She nodded in agreement. I worked with her in play therapy for several weeks. During that time, her depression gradually lifted.

Counseling is professional services provided to any individual who is facing a problem and needs help to overcome a problem, like the girl child mentioned above. This process of counseling helps individuals to find solutions to a problem and also helps in overall development of an individual.  Counseling is a process that involves two people – one is the counselor and other is a person wanting help. It enables a person to gain self understanding and develop self acceptance.

 Counseling is conducted with persons who are considered to be functioning well and those who are having more serious problems. It deals with wellness, personal growth, career and pathological concerns and meets the needs of a wide spectrum of people. They work in the areas that involve relationships. These areas include intra and interpersonal concerns related finding meaning and adjustment in such settings as schools, families and careers. Clients seem by counselors have developmental or situational concerns that require helped in regard to adjustment and remediation. Counselors focus on their client goals.

 Thus it involves both choice and change. In some cases ‘counseling is rehearsal for action’

How To Manage Stress ?

 

Stress is the response to events that challenge a person. It is normal part of life, everybody experiences stress in some way or the other. Stress is negative physical, mental, emotional, nervous system reaction to any event. The person concerned feels overwhelmed, unable to cope up with the perceived demands and events. Stress is positive if it helps with creativity and that push that we all need. It is negative, if results with feeling pressurized, forced or strained. It is the external pressure supplied on the individual and viewed as a personals response to a disturbance. Stress has become an inevitable companion today in all walks of life, whether he is an officer who’s getting late for office , a soldier standing guard on snow clad mountains , an overworked housewife, a farmer tilling the field under hot sun or a patient waiting endlessly for his turn to meet the doctor. Stress could originate from external environment or from the psyche of the individual.

 

Major sources of stress:

ü Death of loved one or painful divorce

ü events occurring at work

ü injury to ones child

ü failure in school or at work

ü traumatic events

 Stress effecting health:

ü By draining our recourses, indicating negative effect, and keeping us off physiologically, stress upsets our complex internal.

ü May interfere with efficient operation of our immune system - mechanism through which our bodies recognize and destroy potentially harmful substances such as bacteria, viruses and cancerous cells.

ü Chronic exposure to stress seems to reduce circulating levels of lymphocytes (white blood cells) and increase level of the hormone cortisol, a substance that affects of our immune system.    

 

WHAT WE WANT

 

Ask yourself if you would be happy to get what you want easily. You may be creating more drama than you need to be successful.

 

We as humans are born to see patterns in things. Where there are no innate patterns, we tend to project them like faces and animals in clouds. It is much easier to notice something if we are already expecting to see it. You get what you focus on. If you focus on what you want, you will find it; if all you focus on is getting away from what you don’t want, that is what you will find yourself returning to again and again.

There are two kinds of motivations --- of what you want and away from what you don’t want. While ‘away from’ motivation can be useful in administrating the kick that you needed to get started, it will give you inconsistent results. To help you keep going until you reach your goals, you need to ensure that your motivation is mainly focused on ‘towards.’

We all face a certain amount of challenge. Some people seem to attract difficulties even in quite straightforward situations where none previously existed. If you don't make the best use of time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want. Trust your intuition. You don’t need to explain or justify your feelings to anyone, just trust your own inner guidance, it knows the best.