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The extended lockdown period... is it taking a toll on your mental health? Are you yearning to step out of lockdown to fulfill your desires? Is the pain of world outside transiting into your suffering? Do you struggle to utilize the Me time you never got before? Do you foresee uncertainties, leading to dilemmas, on the other side of pandemics? If any of these is happening with you during the Corona outbreak, your mind is turning into a theatre of psychological dramas. High time mate! You better stop engaging with your thoughts. Let’s understand what’s cooking A hell lot is happening around you, infact the whole world is suffering. Like too much to take! And amidst all these, the viral pictures of grief, remorse, sorrow, helplessness, are everywhere, in social media and news channels, making worse for the mind to sail smoothly with this life transition. The normal routine... regular thinking patterns... all disrupted! Nothing is motivating, nothing seems inspiring about the world right now. To add final nail to the coffin, this extended lockdown period! What all of it is resulting to? Overflowing thoughts... conspiring against each other, causing severe damage to your sanity. I was hit hard by lows during this quarantine. And as I always do, I consciously chose to explore the dark. I walked out in a better headspace! A few mindshifts pulled me out from the slumps of my mind. I am happy sharing these as my suggestions; hope you find them useful. 4 Mindshifts for a better headspace A mere acceptance of your pain Human race is mourning to bereavement, Eyes around reflect deep down fears, Destitution struck so hard the poor are starving to death, Economies gravely affected; savings vaporizing than never, Future looks ambiguous... the other side under dilemmas,  Like everything brought to a standstill! Difficult time this... as there is only pain to attract from the outside world. You never stood here before, and your mind is clueless about the way out. The result: A chaotic mind that produces anxiety. But my dear friend... you need to realize: Not only you, your family, your city, or your country... It’s the entire world that’s unsettled right now. So what you are going through is fine. It’s the current normal! Yes you need to accept this right now... Better said... you might wonder: How should I gracefully accept this change? Just acknowledge you are not battling alone. It's not only about you this time... we are in this together! This offers you strength to stand in solidarity, as we people are kind of sharing identical pain. It brings the acceptance you need! Trust me... Acceptance of pain is that reliever that never allows your pain turn into suffering. Consciously experience the biggest blessing — You are Alive! You are blessed to be alive, sitting at home, comfortable with your family, away from the virus, getting enough luxuries for a healthy living. You got to feel grateful for this! You are fortunate than millions suffering in this pandemic. Please don't let that feeling of gratitude die in your sub-consciousness. If I ask you:  Did you experience the fear of being asymptomatic to Covid-19 at any point? I think many of us would admit: Yes... I felt that... just for a little... but I did! If...

Have you been hunting for ways to transform into a happier self? It is time to call shots and make some big changes in life.  Well, little did you know but creating a happy bubble around you is easy-peasy. The secret lies in unleashing the potential in you so that you become your best version. Kiss goodbye to anxiety because happiness is not hard-found. Being happy is easier than you think.  So, are you great at chalking out plans and strategies but not quite efficient in implementing them? No problem! Digging into the best of self-improvement books can help you rule out every little hurdle, standing in the way of you and a good life. Believe it or not but self-help books work like magic. Taking cues from the insights shared by the greatest minds in the world, reading lines that are inspiring and healing and getting a hang of simple, developmental exercises, the perks of engaging in self-improvement books are way more than you can imagine.  Wondering where to start? Don’t worry because here’s a curated list of 10 best self-improvement books of 2020 Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert If you’ve been dreaming of taking pleasure in a fairytale life, Big Magic is a must-read. The author has splendidly jotted down stories, spilling beans about her experiences with magic and creativity. Read more to find out what makes her life so much happy and fulfilling. Buy Now Here - Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear   Time Management Secrets by Martin Manser Do you struggle to execute a job perfectly when your plate is too full? Well, Time Management Secrets is a winning aid for you. Explore the fundamentals of time management and give your career the much-needed wings. Read about the ways of strategizing and recognizing your priorities. The book includes priceless words of wisdom from experts in business circles. Learn the ropes of necessary work ethics, analyze the importance of communication and every other knick-knack, important to hit the easy-street.  Buy Now Here : Time Management: Collins Business Secrets   Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis Is your life topsy-turvy? Well, Rachel Hollis is here to tell you that it is okay to have a messy life. However, to make it a joyful space and make life a smooth-sailing, one must get over the bait of procrastinating and lying to oneself. It is a big hurdle that does a lot of damage. Girl Wash Your Face is a book that enlightens you about the 20 odd lies, people love telling themselves to procrastinate and hold back.  Buy Now Here : Girl, Wash Your Face   Year of Yes by Shonda Rimes Shonda Rimes is not an unknown name if you loved to binge-watch shows like ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ The book is not a fancy tenement of tricks and tips for a better life. Instead, Rimes highlights the changes she witnessed after she said ‘YES’ for a year. It is a chronicle of episodes that only got better when she started nodding ‘YES’ for everything in life. Her...

Do you often engage with self-sabotaging thoughts? Do you feel a pang of unusual guilt during most of your life proceedings? Is feeling unworthy killing you from inside? Is fear of embarrassments squeezing your natural emotions? If any of this is customary with you, you often press the button of self-judgments. Which phase is this? The hard times when you find more reasons to self-criticize, less to appreciate yourself. Those scary nights when you either accuse yourself of all the wrong happening with people... or you blame people for all the bad in your life. The times when you want to stay alone, but could not find peace even in retreat. In fact, it sinks you deeper. Around all this, you could only suffer like a victim or feel lonely. I’m sure you are dying to get out of the rut! But before looking for an exit route, let me ask you: Have you ever met yourself wherever you are... wearing your own shoes? What I’m curious about is: You ever stayed with your shallow self in his slumps? Did you ever treat yourself like your best friend seeking advice? Or you just cannot take the self-beating, and you walk away ignorant, without facing yourself in the mirror of self-awareness? What’s stopping to meet the real you? Most likely your mind is overthinking ━ about people, situations... all in the outside world. The more you think, the more you judge them. And those judgments in the outside world are leading to judgments inside. That’s dangerous!! In those mind games, you rarely meet the real you. You just cripple... lost to the outside world. Everyone else controls your emotions, not you. You won't deny: Even if you encounter yourself in this phase, it’s a subconscious encounter, mostly soaked in negative self-talk. Everything during this time just shallows your existence, pushing you well within your unexplored boundaries. Wondering how to surpass this? Your revival setups with a small conscious self encounter Try a simple exercise: Give yourself that me time when you actually step into your own shoes to feel yourself. That zone where there is no one else... not even your mind, not your body. It’s just you talking to your soul! Remember the motive of this session is to feel light about yourself. Wait... before you start, you need to know: You just cannot jump right into your character and start feeling the depth of your soul straightway. I feel there is always a medium to reach there until you are that conscious. Well that medium could be your way of reaching out to yourself. It could be anything which rests you here, in the now, where you are detached outside and connected inside. Playing a sport or Connecting to music, Reading or by Writing, Meditating or by Yoga, Singing or by Dancing, Feeling blessed or Just by being yourself, That’s simply your choice!! Let’s do that... Arrange a small session You with Yourself every day at a fixed time. No one around, just you attending yourself. No thoughts landing anywhere...just sail with flowing time! The session where you try to be good to yourself like you try to be with people. No matter how: deep your insecurities, bad you are hurt, hard you are hit, down you are under... Make sure you host yourself with...

Mental health awareness is something you should not ignore. Downloading an app is a good option when you cannot afford treatment. Over the years, therapeutic techniques have been more accessible, portable, and cost-effective with respect to traditional treatments.  Here is a list of top 5 mental health apps that you can download free of cost:  Mind Diagnostics: The tests in this app are one of the quickest ways to determine whether you are experiencing symptoms of a specific mental health condition. Mental health conditions, such as depression or anxiety are real, common and treatable. This US based app can find therapists in your area with over 25 tests like Depression Test, Anxiety Test, Adult ADHD Test, PTSD Test, Alcohol/Substance Abuse and Addiction Test, Gambling Addiction Test, Narcissism Test, Sex Addiction Test, and others.   Download:  Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.minddiagnostics   What's Up?: A free app utilizing some of the best CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and ACT (Acceptance Commitment Therapy) methods to help you cope with Depression, Anxiety, Anger, Stress and more! With a beautiful, modern design, simple heading and easy-to-follow methods, you can get to what helps you the most in seconds! Some of the key features are:  12 common negative thinking patterns and simple methods to overcome them. 10 great metaphors to help you cope with negative feelings. A comprehensive diary to keep your thoughts and feelings together, including the ability to rate feelings on a scale out of 10. A positive and negative habit tracker. Set goals to practice those good habits while ending the bad ones! A catastrophe scale. Put your problems into a better perspective when things are too much A grounding game containing over 100 fun questions to help keep you grounded and in the present when stress is taking over. Download:  Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jacksontempra.apps.whatsup Wysa: Stress, Depression & Anxiety Therapy Chatbot: Wysa is a mood tracker, mindfulness coach, anxiety helper, and mood-boosting buddy, all rolled into one. Wysa, your happiness buddy is that friendly and caring chatbot. Wysa is packed with daily spiritual meditation for women that improves women's mental health and is also a perfect way to bond over family meditation. Always there for you when you need someone to talk to, Wysa helps you keep track of your mood with friendly chats and helps fight stress and anxiety with its proven techniques and calming meditation and mindfulness audios. Checking in with Wysa regularly will improve your emotional health so you can track your happiness and mood. Download:  Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bot.touchkin Moodpath - Depression & Anxiety Test: Moodpath is your personalized mental health companion and supports you in phases of stress, depression, and anxiety. Download Moodpath to get a mental health assessment, to track and reflect on your mood, and take a break from negative thoughts and overwhelming emotions. Some of the key features of the app include -  assess your mental health, Track, monitor and reflect and learn to let go of negative thoughts and overwhelming emotions Download:  Google Play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.moodpath.android Psychiatry Pro-Diagnosis, Info, Treatment, CBT & DBT:...

Both my sons, Mind and Soul were born in a small traditional family — Inner World. Soul is the elder one... 9 months elder to my younger son Mind. Three of us share a deep emotional connect ! Wondering who am I? I am Consciousness, Mother of Mind and Soul. Three of us live here, Inside The Inner World. We don’t have an apparent existence, but yes, we do have a lot of unheard experiences to share. Allow me to talk more about my sons... How did I look at Soul? Soul my son, was honest like a reflection of plain mirror. Be it anything, he kept nothing inside. He expressed whatever... and this was Soul’s biggest strength. He was the most emotional out of us, the reason Soul was super responsive to his deep-rooted essence — Feelings!! About Mind... He had a strange fascination for his thoughts. He was volatile, he was super-active — the traits that made him vulnerable to everything. Anyone could disguise him; Anything could provoke him. So I took extra care of him. In a nutshell: Soul IS a composite of feelings Mind a manifestation of thoughts The childhood bond between both brothers... They spent most of their time together, and so very well bonded. When Mind had a huge respect for his elder brother, Soul also loved his wee brother. As far as I could see, chemistry between my sons was as beautiful as the perfect picture! As Mind was impulsive, I didn’t let him encounter anything head on. I made Soul to meet the new experiences. And then, his responsibility was to direct his younger brother to respond similarly to same encounters. Everyone knew by now that Mind is his elder brother's reflection. Sooner, he stopped getting any personal attention. Soul answered everywhere, even to the questions asked to Mind. Mind never bothered... in fact, he perceived it as the perks of being younger. No face-off with the new, no efforts, no challenges, nothing... just mugging up the responses directed by Soul. It sounded a good deal to Mind! He had now added a layer of dense cushion around him — and that was the thick boundary of his comfort zone. By and by... Mind became habitually complacent, and Soul was now thoroughly leading his younger brother. All of this was happening under my supervision. I questioned none... neither the expressiveness of Soul nor the ignorance of Mind. We were living happily within the family borders. Being their mother, I was proud of the emotional connect I could build between my two sons. Gradually with: teenage approaching evolution of social world germination of materialistic needs It was time for my sons to step out of their world to meet the outside world. How did soul respond to the outside world? Soul had the knack of expressing his true feelings anywhere; he echoed even here — in the reel world. Most people got offended by his boldness; some even judged his expressiveness. The poor Soul didn’t know transparency levels are different everywhere. And that he’s not supposed to respond candidly everywhere like he does in his inner world. Even he didn’t...

1st Dec 2016- the date when God sent a beautiful angel into my life. Every action, each emotion of that day is still crystal clear in my mind. A night before, my wife, Gurdeep did not feel convincing movements inside the womb. Though it was not something unusual, but as her pregnancy had crossed a little over thirty-six weeks, we rushed to the doctor the very morning.  The doctor advised an ultrasound, and the report revealed that the umbilical cord had got entangled around the baby’s neck. There was nothing to worry about, but it was an obvious cesarean case now.  The doctor left up to us to decide the day of operation- today or tomorrow. While Gurdeep wanted to postpone it to tomorrow, I could not wait for an hour, a minute, not even a second. There were a couple of reasons I was pushing for today: I could not handle the swing of emotions- from one point towards dilemmas and apprehensions to another point towards excitement and joy. 2. I had a special inclination towards the date, as I was also born on the 1st, it doesn’t matter a different month. Yes, that’s how deep I was feeling every emotion. So somehow, I convinced her, and finally, we decided the D-day to be today. Time was crawling like a snail that day, and after testing every drop of patience, eventually the anticipated moment arrived when she was taken inside the OT. I was allowed in there, my heart pumping faster than ever. But I knew I had to remain calm to embrace her, shower warmth, divert her mind, deceive her with no glimpse of fear, no sign of nervousness. While I was busy engaging her in conversations, never did I realize when that moment came….and… wow… what… Goosebumps… I just saw the doctor pulling out my child. And it looked like a horrific miracle. Time literally paused, I went numb, gradually making way for the tears of happiness rolling out of my eyes. The only time I was delighted to see my daughter cry was the first time she did.  Nirvana is about 3 years old now, and with each passing day, I love her more. But apart from my growing love, I recently developed a huge respect for her.  Never did I thought a 3-year-old-daughter could teach such profound lessons to a 30-year-old-father. Lesson no 1- Express out whatever you feel—positivity and negativity Nirvana never holds back to express whatever she feels, and this makes her a beautiful soul. Her emotions inside, and its expressions outside, are faithful to each other. When she is happy-she laughs, hugs, kisses, changing the family atmosphere from whatever to happiness. But more than that, what I like about her is she never holds back in venting out every negative emotion. She cries, yells at the top of her voice when she dislikes anything. Till recently, I used to get very agitated, called it her unruly behavior.  But one late night, while I was sitting alone, reviving memories from an observer’s eyes, Nirvana looked a beautiful person-...

Failure or Success- A perspective… When a coin is tossed, there's a 50% chance it will land upon the side you bet. Similar is our outcome in different chores we perform in our life. One major difference that differentiates our life with tossing of the coin is that we put in a lot of devotion and hard work in our efforts.  "Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." ~Winston Churchill But similar to the tossing of a coin, those chores may result in either success or failure. Sometimes even after extreme hard work and perseverance, the outcome is a failure, leaving us shattered. What happens when failure is the outcome?  Failure is the outcome of mere bad luck or a minor fault which we don't realize while enduring. We regret about failures when all our efforts go in vain and nothing fruitful comes out.  We get disheartened, thinking we will never succeed and then delve into the domain of negative thoughts. Students failing in competitive exams, people facing rejections while seeking employment; Life has become a battlefield where success is adjourned as the winner, while failure is looked with pity, remorse, and guilt. This outlook needs tweaking. What to comprehend? Success is a destination, but it is the journey full of failures, that deserves an appreciation. ‘Success is that lively and elusive mask of realization, which covers the various lifeless faces of failures.’ Happy Realization People fail to realize that they would never commit that same mistake again in their lives ever. If they had tasted success in that only attempt then maybe this mistake would have cost them severely.  We need to realize that the failure causing such heart-wrenching grief to their heart, is just due to a minor mistake, a temporary glitch that can be rectified in the next attempt.  We need to realize quickly that we are not failures alone. Everyone, and I repeat, everyone who is successful has failed on numerous occasions to reach where he/she is. we just have to accept those glitches as normal, without overthinking about it. and move on, and move on. Obviously, it ain't easy, the reason we have fewer success stories. People have to take a huge leap of faith to do that. Even though society may blame you, criticize you at an unbearable level, trust me, you can bear them all, provided you compete with none other than oneself. The course of action: Analyze: This is the most crucial tool to avoid failures in the upcoming future. The secret to success lies in your failures. People have to just analyze them carefully and draw the point of errors or flaws, and vouch to never repeat them. Plan: Devise a new plan of approach omitting the mistakes you have analyzed. Use new techniques that you will be able to apply. Avoid sticking to the customary ones which have stopped delivering results. Enact: Apply the whole plan step by step and execute it as per your calculations. Don’t deviate in the greed of achieving more. In pursuit of greed, you may even lose what you aspire, which...

"I found that with depression, one of the most important things you could realise is that you're not alone." ~Dwayne Johnson Did you ever bow down to your mind demons? I have... but that experience taught me the best lifetime-lesson. My life was not a fairytale. But fortunately, my fight was never for bread and butter.  I had every means to suffice my materialistic desires. I had beautiful people around in the form of friends and family. But the ironical truth is I was alarmingly sad with no one knowing it. I had droll people around to laugh with but no one to share my gloomy secrets. My outer world was full of light but my inner world was pitch dark. Unable to recognize the cause, I couldn’t express. A brute force struck my head hard now and then. The occasional was turning into chronic breathlessness. I was deserted in the crowd continuously losing my feelings. Life was asking some tough answers, but my restless mind could answer none. Not that I didn’t think of doc-visit. But which doctor — was always in question as I was unable to classify the category under which my problem falls. The idea to share with someone would soon raise questions — Which person? What would I explain? There were many apprehensive dilemmas consuming my head elevating my problem's intensity. I ignored them all for some time but each elapsing moment was not curbing but exasperating my disorientation. Did I seem so normal to my loved ones or they dumb? Am I over-expecting? Have I become a useless attention seeker? Yes... all of this was bruising my mind — the bruises no one saw. Yes... I finally consulted a psychiatrist. It felt like a hapless victim when the doc diagnosed me with persistent depressive disorder — a  type of depression. Mental health awareness — far away from the educated... My suffering could have been diagnosed earlier and averted. But for the lack of mental health awareness in many including me, what I only knew was a mentally ill person is mad. Discussing mental health problems is still a social stigma in most parts of the planet. Moreover, ignorant people use the word depression so often that the ones who are suffering from it cannot address it. It lays the foundation for a quandary for the one facing it. People are unable to open up about their mental wounds.  Even if they try to express, their words are trespassers to people’s ears. As a result, mind demons never allow the covered wounds to heal. Even the anti-depressants couldn’t revive my feelings... The prescribed pills were more of sedatives and the only positive I could extract — there were no more sleepless nights. But again, I dozed off irregularly for an unusually long period, sometimes twelve hours at a stretch.  It was all bleak with no sense of recovery. And in case you don’t know: Happiness is a feeling. So literally I was losing the feeling of happiness. I was reduced to mere existence. Whenever I  knocked on the sweet-memory door, it never opened. My condition worsened! A boon in...

What is Spirituality ? Spirituality is a concept of being connected with the soul, in other terms it can be called as something bigger than ourselves. The aim of spirituality always involves the search for life. Spiritual experiences can be categorized as sacred or religious but it has a bigger meaning than all of these. It is a deep sense of aliveness and interconnectedness.  “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” Whether a person is religious or not, they might have faced moments in their life when they wanted to connect their brains to some spiritual experiences, the moments when they wanted to feel sensibility and give meaning to their life. The serenity that they feel with the spiritual connection to the brain is beyond the imagination.  What is Spiritual Experiences ? Spiritual states of mind are something which strongly connects you to a stronger or bigger force which can be felt in the form of energy, God, deity, higher power or abstract figure, and consciousness. The connection is in terms of meaningfulness, connectivity towards world, and serenity. Spiritual experiences are powerful as they have a have intense impacts on people’s lives. Scientists have identified a part of the brain called the parietal cortex whose one region is believed to be involved in experiences that go beyond our normal state of mind called spiritual power.  It is clearly known that spirituality is an internal part of healing, it is a source of strength for the one suffering from distress. Spirituality enriches various aspects of our lives including physical, emotional, mental, and relational. Spirituality encloses various aspects of human life and is also a means of undergoing several forms of life. While faith is connected to religious expressions and might not be necessarily a component of spirituality. Spirituality is expressed in the form of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that influence the lives of people. How can Spirituality be Attained? Spirituality can be attained through many spiritual traditions that have been in the history from a long time such as Meditation, prayer, yoga, and journaling using contemplative practices to increase empathy, attention, and compassion, as well as peace of mind.  Meditation- Meditation induces feelings of clear-headedness and calmness. It also improves attention and concentration. A study has proved that meditation increases the grey matter density of the brain, which helps in reducing sensitivity towards pain, help you regulate difficult emotions, enhances the immune system, and relieves stress. Prayers- It triggers the sense of relaxation, along with feelings of gratitude, compassion, and hope which have a positive impact on the overall wellbeing of the human being. There are a variety of prayers which believe that there is some higher power which has a great influence on the life of humans. Yoga- It is an ancient spiritual practice that focuses to create a sense of unity among humans through physical postures, breath expansion, and ethical behaviours. The regular practice of yoga believes to reduce swelling and stress, decrease the intensity of anxiety and depression, increase feelings of wellbeing in the mind of...

How did I slip into depression? I was super-sensitive to every emotion, irrespective positive or negative. I didn’t know where to draw the line.  Positive triggers like success, appreciation, love, took me all over to the moon. And the negative forces of failure, criticism, hatred, left deep bruises on my mind. Success made me feel like an invincible winner, while the failures, the biggest loser. My ability to feel emotions strongly was a boon in my lovely childhood and teenage days. That's because the situations back then triggered positive emotions. I didn't know the meaning of negativity, leave apart feeling it.  But after then, it was a complete turnaround. It was not a tragedy or a loss. Nothing major happened, but it was just a gradual accumulation of negative emotions, which turned my life upside down. It was such a slow process I never realized till I drowned under the depth of countless thoughts. What led to my downfall?  It was that vulnerable age I was standing in the outset of an uncertain future. I had no answers to my question- What Next? It was the early twenties —dreams and ambitions like every other, with an upbeat to pursue the best career. But every beat was falling flat. I was unable to find the best walk ahead. This dilemma lasted for unusually long, and I felt insecure for the first time. My alter ego sunk to the all-time low. I stopped loving myself, and others. Suddenly, everyone looked hostile. It was the phase when instances provoking negative emotions completely outnumbered the ones fuelling positive emotions.  I was losing my self-worth as the negative thoughts attacked my vulnerable mind in unison. And the hole was dug too deep for my mind to breathe, and it submerged under the countless thoughts.  I was down and under and finally fell prey to depression.  I consulted a doctor (precisely psychiatrist) who prescribed the conventional antidepressants. Those pills comforted my mind initially, but never did I realize that it was the dawn of worse things to follow. Alcohol lured my mind to elusive happiness The antidepressants, after a while, had stopped soothing. The freshness of mind had turned into an impossible dream. Not finding shoulders to lean on, I got lured by Alcohol’s friendship offer. It accompanied my lonely nights, promised me a fairyland every night but pushed me to the bleak reality every subsequent morning. I diluted alcohol for some time, but within no time, it started diluting my potent self. My poor mind was as helpless as a lamb in the hands of a butcher. It continued for 2 long years... the same hungover morning giving way to alcoholic nights. From a soulful being to a feelingless creature, I was losing everything. And if it would have continued, I couldn’t write this soulful note. A twist in the tale Alcohol could have been my last chapter but destiny had something else in the store. Jaundice infected my liver those days, giving way to the need for mindful eating and drinking. And yes, neither antidepressants nor alcohol was on the menu. The upcoming days were the...