Nourishing Reads For Mental Well-Being

  For this week, I would like to talk about the healing power of forgiveness. There is no person who goes through life unscathed. As if the events aren’t enough, there are people who hurt us, either knowingly or unknowingly. Some hurt physically, some emotionally but both ways, the pain is life-altering and shapes the future versions of ourselves. While some move on and leave their hurts behind, many carry the impressions with them, often unaware. At some point or the other, the lingering hurt catches up with us and acts as triggers, often making us behave in ways that we would never normally do.   And then there are those of us who cannot forgive ourselves for some kind of wrong we feel we did. I came across a sentence that has never made more sense than today where so many people are fighting mental demons. The toughest prison to break through is that of our own mind. How true is this! How difficult is it to forgive ourselves, to let go of guilt and regret and to liv...

  I like to read books on the self-help genre. I have been reading this genre for two decades. These books have helped me to get through a lot of tough times. In my younger years, I went through these books to get insights on career development, personal growth and creating a good life for myself. I read the self-help genre today too, in my mid-forties, but the purpose has changed. Many times, while reading these books, a question used to trouble me – what is the point of reading these books at this late phase? I searched for the answer for a long time until I realized it today. The answer I found is – I read these books today to get through my days. There will always be tough times in life. The difficulties will come as and when they are meant to. Grief and sorrow are as much a part of life as celebration and happiness. What we need is something that will remind us every now and then about a greater purpose of our life which is, to live it fully despite the many challenges...

  The other day I was watching a travel documentary on Bali. It is indeed a paradise tucked away into the folds of Indonesia. Beautiful beaches, mountains looming yonder and cute, picturesque locales – Bali has it all. What caught my attention was the concept of Nyepi, also called as Balinese Day Of Silence. On this day, which is celebrated as the new year day in Bali, nothing is done, and by nothing, I mean NOTHING. There is no work, no travel or transportation, no internet, no lights and no entertainment. The entire island observes a day of lockdown where people do not leave their houses (until absolutely required) and only emergency services are available. Why, even the airport itself is closed on this day. So how do people spend the day? They spend it at their homes in stillness, quietness, meditating, self-reflection and prayers. The lights, both inside and outside the homes are either kept at bare minimum or turned off completely. What a fascinating tradition! Can you i...

  I stand at the balcony of my house and see my son running off to school. I see the time and shake my head. It is 8.45 a.m, the time when he has to be inside the school premises to attend the school’s assembly prayer. The school isn’t very far from my home which is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage because the kid takes his own sweet leisurely time to leave for school. Disadvantage, because, since the school is quite nearby, the kid takes his own sweet leisurely time to leave for school. In the meanwhile, my husband storms off to work. It has been another morning; the kid is late for school like always, and my husband has given him a piece of his mind but to no avail. Every day explosive sparks fly between father and son but matters do not change. Does this happen in your house? I am reading a book titled Effective Life Management by Swami Amartyananda and I came across a paragraph in the same wherein the author has shared some anecdotes. He talks about a psy...

  Most of us must have watched the new season of the web series Panchayat. The character of Binod has been receiving a lot of well-deserved appreciation, all apparently due to a single sentence he says in the series – ‘I am poor, but I am not a traitor.’ Loyalty, honesty, commitment – values! In a world that is being turned topsy-turvy by emerging trends that make us question everything we have believed and grown up thinking to be right or true, values seem to be taking a back seat. Everything is apparently acceptable today. People say and do things that are questionable, all in the name of ‘being authentic to ourselves’. Celebrities and influencers advocate lifestyles that are morally questionable, all in the course of gaining likes and followers. The sad part is, most of these people would not be leading such lifestyles, yet they pretend to do so. What has this topic got to do with mental wellbeing, you ask? Everything! I am currently reading a book titled Buddhism for Be...

Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken. - Oscar Wilde Too much of our life is spent behind masks, trying to be someone we originally are not.  We all are aware of Shakespeare's famous and priceless idiom - To thine own self, be true. In a society where social media profile rules, it has become all the more difficult to be just ourselves, and to portray our true traits to the world. As if the virtual avatar was not enough, we now have 'filters'! Talk about an illusion covering up another illusion! As it is, the life we live itself is illusionary and fleeting. Add to it, media profiles, DPs, cover photos, filters and what we get is a maze that keeps us searching for our real selves.  Most of us decide to be ourselves when we have lived half of our lives trying to please everybody, trying to fit in and trying to do what the society approves. Very few people succeed at a very young age to embrace their uniqueness and be themselves. The world needs more people who are origi...

I know for sure that what we dwell on is what we become. - Oprah Winfrey People always keep saying to focus on positive thoughts. There is a good reason for the same. The mind is the sharpest tool that has ever been in existence. Whatever you think and focus on, you have the ability to manifest the same!  There are people who fall sick out of just their thoughts! It is a proven fact that thinking of sickness always can actually produce negative effects on the body, ultimately leading to sickness. We are living in tough times. The world had barely managed to come out of a pandemic and now there are earthquakes shaking up major countries and leading to huge and tragic loss of lives, thereby spreading an aura of despair around the world. None of us can stay unaffected by tragedy, for we are all bound by one thread of consciousness. Everyone's despair is our own! (On a personal note, let us take a moment and join in the grief of the bereaved victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syr...