Tag: wellness

2023

On hope

The evolution and survival of a species depend on its ability to weather challenges and dangers. As humans, we have been given the unique gift of consciousness. With it come many abstract emotions and ideas. Some aid in survival, others don’t. The capacity for hope is unique to humans.

What exactly is hope?

Charles Richard “Rick” Snyder (1944-2006) — an academic who spent a lifetime on the study of hope — established the Hope Theory. His work on the subject is seminal. Snyder states that there are three main elements that constitute hopeful thinking:

  • Goals – Handling life in a goal-oriented fashion.
  • Pathways – Finding or delineating routes to reach your goals.
  • Agency – Summoning up the physical and emotional strengths to  initiate events and work towards these goals.

What cannot be measured, cannot be improved.

Being the scientist that he was, Snyder devised three scoring systems for objective measurement of a nebulous entity like hope.

1. The Adult Dispositional Hope Scale (ADHS). It is a self-reported questionnaire of 12 items. Total scores range from a minimum of 8 to a maximum of 64 with high scores reflecting high levels of hope
2. The Adult State Hope Scale (ASHS). One drawback to the ADHS is that it assesses hope solely as a baseline trait. It only measures an individual’s general level of hope. Hope levels may vary based on specific circumstances. (ASHS) assesses goal-directed thinking in any given moment or situation.
3. The Adult Domain Specific Hope Scale measures an individual’s level of hope in six specific areas: social, academic, family, romance/relationships, work/occupation and leisure activities.

The scales make it possible to compare assessments across different groups and times.

Hope is the best predictor of success, better than optimism

A growing corpus of scientific research has shown that hope enhances academic success.

  • A study conducted by a group of British academics found that hope is not just linked to academic achievement, but it is a better predictor of success than IQ tests, personality, or past academic performance.
  • Researchers at Santa Clara University discovered in 2014 that hope was the most constant predictor of GPA, edging out optimism.

When you lack hope, you are more prone to set “mastery objectives,” which are straightforward, doable activities that are not difficult and do not contribute to your growth. Pursuing mastery targets signifies a loss of control over one’s circumstances, making it simpler to give up.

Realistic optimism

There is a middle ground between starry-eyed optimism and relentless dark thinking. It’s called “realistic optimism“. Realistic optimists believe they will succeed, but emphasize that they have to make success happen through their own efforts.

Surfacing from the depths of hopelessness, into creativity

(By Francesco Jodice – ticket:2013022110009441, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=24823403)

The Japanese word hikikomori translates to “pulling inward.” It was coined in 1998 by Japanese psychiatrist Tamaki Saitō to describe a burgeoning social phenomenon among young people who, feeling the extreme pressures to succeed in their school, work, and social lives, decided to withdraw from society for at least six months.

In recent years, there has been a subtle change in how people understand the phenomena, manifested through increased awareness of the complexity of the experience. It can be understood as a radical act of introversion and self-discovery.

Kazumi Leiri, a recovering recluse, suggests that there is no need to hurry to retie social bonds, rather to “tie small knots, little by little.” Creative expression could be a powerful way to both share experiences of isolation and to reconnect with others within and beyond the state.

2023

{P}rescriptions for a sustainable future – Rx 2 – 2023

CONTENTS
About this series (click to read)

➡️ “Banning straws might be good for the planet – but bad for people with disability or swallowing problems. What is ‘eco-ableism’?“
➡️“We don’t need ‘miracle’ technologies to fix the climate. We have the tools now.”
➡️ “How green roofs can help cities” (YouTube video)
(Click on the title to go to the article. As you scroll down, an arrow will appear on the right, bottom corner. Click on it to return to the top.)

“Banning straws might be good for the planet – but bad for people with disability or swallowing problems. What is ‘eco-ableism’?”
Kate Anderson | The Conversation

𝕋𝔸𝕂𝔼 𝔸𝕎𝔸𝕐𝕊

✅ Many states ban single-use plastics, including straws. While this is a win for the environment, it comes at a price for social inclusion, as many people with disability rely on plastic straws to safely enjoy drinks.
✅ Sustainable alternatives are available, but these are often unsafe or unusable for consumers with complex medical needs. This is an example of eco-ableism, which occurs when environmental policy, design, or campaigns discriminate against people with disability.
✅ An inclusive approach to sustainability is the best way to protect fundamental human rights and the environment, and research shows it is also good for business.

▶️📄 Read the article

🔑 #disability #straws #change #creativity #wellness #P4life #sustainability

“We don’t need ‘miracle’ technologies to fix the climate. We have the tools now.”
Mark Z Jacobson | The Guardian

𝕋𝔸𝕂𝔼 𝔸𝕎𝔸𝕐𝕊

✅ We don’t need “miracle” technology to address the climate. We already have access to the resources that will enable us to do so, such as wind, water, and solar (WWS) energy, storage for electricity, heat storage, cold storage, hydrogen storage, and energy-efficient electrical products.
✅ With a $62 trillion initial capital investment, a 2050 WWS system would pay for itself in less than six years thanks to the $11 trillion in annual energy cost reductions.
✅ In addition, around forty percent of the carbon dioxide that is caught today is utilised to facilitate the extraction of further oil from the earth. This results in the release of approximately seventy-three percent of all of the carbon dioxide that is currently being captured.
✅ The climate catastrophe may be mitigated if enough people buy into the idea of change and government leaders are committed to action.

▶️📄 Read the article

🔑 #ClimateChange #technology #skills #strategy #wellness #sustainability

“How green roofs can help cities”
NPR | via YouTube

𝕋𝔸𝕂𝔼 𝔸𝕎𝔸𝕐𝕊

✅ Urbanisation leads to loss of green cover. Here’s an innovative approach to countering this loss.

🔑 #ClimateChange #urbanisation #roof #garden #greening #change #creativity #inspiration #strategy #sustainability 

In the infinity of the cosmos, our Earth might well be the only place where Life exists. Yet, we have devastated this miracle and are now poised at the edge of a frightening abyss of desolation. Every one of us needs to act, and act fast. The key word to continuing to enjoy the bounty of Life is “sustainability.” The Earth, as Mahatma Gandhi remarked, can satisfy all our needs but very little of our greed. This is an ongoing series of articles focusing on the issues of renewability and sustainability.

(Graphics and images – Vecteezy.com Pro Licence)

2022

Like ice cream, happiness comes in flavours

“𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤” || 🆃🅸🅻 ✅ There are two types of happiness: hedonic and eudaimonic. ✅ Hedonic happiness stems from activities which give fleeting pleasure; eudaimonic happiness is joy that has meaning and purpose. ✅ Moreover, we tend to derive greater satisfaction from experiences than from material possessions. ✅ We are under no compulsion to favour one over the other. Instead, we should aim to create a life that allows us to enjoy both.

📄▶️ Read the article

🖥️▶️ Read on Mastodon

🔑 happiness, meaning

2022

This tyrant now rules the world: our screens

Key words: screen, device, attention, mind, productivity, entertainment, creativity

A restaurant, a waiting lounge, a family dinner: chances are that most people in front of you will be looking at a screen. Mobile phone, tablet, laptop: they grab our attention and hold it in a vice-like grip. The “Feeds”, and the algorithms that drive them, have taken over our minds and our ability to think independently.

In an article in the blog, Infinite Play, Nat Eliason writes about “The locus of entertainment.” He says that avoiding contact with other people and burying ourselves in our own sources of pleasure is not new. We read books and newspapers while traveling in a train or plane. But, something has changed in a major fashion. The locus of entertainment, according to Eliason, has been slowly wrested from within our own choosing and dropped onto our all-pervasive screens.

✅ Here are the take home messages that I got from this article.

➡️ Backstory: “Screenworld”. We have given up the power to chose for the false luxury of endless choices. Eliason calls this the “screen world.”

➡️ Main idea: “Entertainment muscle atrophy.” Entertainment, until the advent of the Internet, was something we generated. Writing, music, painting, and the performing arts are some common examples.

Today, entertainment has become something that is generated for us. A complex web of data, obtained from our browsing, is mined with powerful tools. Algorithms control the list of choices on offer. Manipulations are made that are well beyond our cognitive capacity. Free will no longer exists.

We surrender totally. As couch potatoes, our “entertainment muscles atrophy.”

🔴 Eliason warns us that it is a very short, slippery road to “depression, addiction, and asociality.”

➡️ Call to action: Take back control.

There is a solution, Eliason adds, but it is not an easy one. You have to become the master of your devices; take charge of creating your own entertainment. You have to use these tools to build up your internally generated sources of entertainment. The apps and software available today are wide-ranging and powerful. We have never had so much power for creativity and innovation.

✅ In a single sentence, Eliason’s recommendation would be: Switch from being a consumer to being a creator.

Read the article.

Articles

Pay it forward – be a mentor

Photo credit: Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay

The Buddha constantly emphasised that the attainment of enlightenment was not the end of the spiritual journey but merely the beginning of a duty: the unremitting responsibility for providing counselling and solace to those in need of help for their prevailing predicaments (Dukkha).

In a professional context, and in a word: mentorship.

Paying it forward: Traditionally, we look at paying back as the way of acknowledging help and support given to us in times of need. There is a more effective alternative: paying it forward. In gratitude for what was received, we should consider helping others in need. The downstream benefits and multiplier effects are much greater. That’s what mentorship is all about.

“. . . a great mentor can provide a path to finding your own true answers.” Tina Turner quoting Miles Davis, the jazz legend.

Coaching differs significantly from mentoring. It is often short-term, well-structured, and designed to achieve specific, tangible outcomes. A coach is the least personal relationship option.

“Searching for a mentor is similar to searching for a spouse: you two need to share common values, concerns, experiences, communication style, and, of course, have time to invest into meaningful conversations with one another.” — [Anna Szabo, Turn Your Dreams And Wants Into Achievable SMART Goals!

An ideal mentor should be:

  • Accessible: there when needed.
  • Experienced: been there, done that.
  • Well connected: knows someone . . . who knows someone.
  • Tough but empathic: iron hand under a velvet glove.
  • Enthusiastic: yes, you can do it!
  • Charismatic: wow factor.

The scaffolding of good mentorship

  • Recognise what you desire from the relationship. It’s crucial to keep in mind that mentorship is a relationship. Instead of jumping right into business, the most effective mentorships are those in which the mentor and mentee take the time to get to know each other and grasp each other’s viewpoints.
  • Set expectations together from the start. How long do you want the mentoring to continue (but you may always extend it if you both believe it’s beneficial). Define critical objectives for your mentee to attain. Work together to build a general idea of how your meetings should go. Make certain they are focussed on a few essential problems.
  • Take a genuine interest in your mentee as a person. The cornerstone of good mentoring is empathic listening.
  • Develop a sense of trust. Trust takes years to develop, yet it can be shattered in an instant.
  • Don’t make assumptions about the mentee – inquire. Age, gender, colour, physical habitus, and appearance are seldom reliable indicators of what lurks underneath. Find out what makes the mentee tick by talking to them.
  • Share your experiences. It can provide you with a unique perspective on the challenges your mentee may be dealing with. You could have had a similar situation, so now is a wonderful opportunity to share what you went through and how you dealt with it.
  • Look for resources to help your mentee. This is where mentors can make a real difference. You’ll have insider knowledge of the area and access to resources that your mentee wouldn’t be able to obtain on their own. Link them to these resources.
  • Be aware of your limits. When your bandwidth is limited, admit your lack of expertise and recommend other sources or persons.

Anyone can be a mentor: The image of a mentor is often one of leaders, who have been sharpening their skills for years and are experts at what they do. However, that’s not quite true; you can be a mentor if you are enthusiastic and willing to share your experience with others!

Virtual mentorship

Post-COVID, remote work is now firmly entrenched as an alternative for providing professional services. Many individuals believe that physical closeness is necessary in developmental connections such as mentorship. This is wrong. However, mentorship is characterised more by the results achieved than by the medium by which it is carried out.

  • Plus: Virtual mentoring may be more egalitarian since visible status signals signifying organisational position and physical stature are reduced to a voice and a screen of equal size in video-based talks.
  • Plus: The limitations of shared space and location are also removed with virtual mentoring. Mentor/mentee schedules and locales are more flexible with online choices.
  • Minus: Because the whole spectrum of nonverbal signs and vocal subtlety may be lacking, it may take more work to create trust and rapport in the relationship. Virtual mentoring, like many other online partnerships, may suffer from email overload and screen weariness.

“I knew from my own life experience that when someone shows genuine interest in your learning and development, even if only for ten minutes in a busy day, it matters.” — Michelle Obama, Becoming

 

Articles

Want to be more empathic? Try listening with your eyes closed

This is how the Japanese listen to speakers. When someone addresses a group in Japan, the audience will shut their eyes and listen with their heads bowed. They are focusing on the Hara, an energy field that is centred around the navel of the abdomen. This response can be extremely disconcerting to outsiders who are invited to talk and are unaware of the practice.

There is a lesson to be learned from the Japanese about the skill of listening with empathy.

Skills can be hard or soft. Hard skills can be made explicit and overt, taught and passed down hierarchies with relative ease. Apprenticeship remains the major route for acquiring hard skills.

In earlier times, you could thrive on your hard skills alone. You could be rude, gruff and inhospitable, but the world would beat a path to your product. Not so any more.

Soft skills are vital in an age where technology is usurping and executing physical tasks. Soft skills are tacit — much harder to teach and certify. There are varying degrees of difficulty in the quest to acquire them. Indeed, there are some that can’t be taught; empathy may be one such.

Humans are social animals. Except for the occasional hermit, we need contact with our fellow humans on a regular, sustained basis. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes perfect sense: connected groups have a better chance of survival than solo artists. Many people, even though they have strong feelings about wanting to connect with others, have problems with social connection and understanding.

Communication skills head the list of useful social soft skills. This is the age of networks where persons who are most valued and respected — influencers — are those who are deemed to be good with people at all levels, not tied down by rigid hierarchies and social strata.

  • Listening skills are very important tools for being a good communicator. Empathy — the ability to feel another person’s emotions, particularly pain — is the cornerstone of good listening.
  • Humans have an impressive array of tools for expressing and perceiving emotions. Body language and facial expressions are two traditional outward manifestations that can be read by listeners. They can often convey more messages than words.
  • Nevertheless, the spoken word is the cornerstone of communication. The voice is a particularly powerful channel for expressing emotions. In addition to the linguistic and content elements of speech, there are “paralinguistic” vocal cues that may provide effective pointers to underlying feelings which impel the words. These include volume, pitch and cadence.

Empathic accuracy is a skill with which individuals can effectively judge the emotions, thoughts, and feelings of others.

In 2017, Michael Kraus from the Yale University School of Management published a very intriguing piece of research. The study was carried out with 1772 participants. The central prediction tested in these studies was that voice-only communication enhances empathic accuracy relative to communication across senses. In other words, shutting off sight could enhance empathic accuracy.

The data showed that voice-only communication elicited higher rates of empathic accuracy relative to vision-only and multisense communication, both while engaging in interactions and perceiving emotions in recorded interactions of strangers.

  • Voice-only communication is likely to enhance empathic accuracy by increasing focused attention on the linguistic and paralinguistic vocal cues that accompany speech.

It seems as though the advice to listen with your mouth shut needs to be extended to the eyes as well!

Reference: Voice-Only Communication Enhances Empathic Accuracy. Michael W. Kraus, Yale University, School of Management, American Psychologist 2017, Vol. 72, No. 7, 644–654

Articles

Personal journals: a cheaper and more effective alternative to psychotherapy

Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Marie Curie, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Edison, Virginia Woolf, “Che” Guevara, Anne Frank, Leonardo da Vinci: a list of famous people with a diverse range of interests. What did they all have in common? They maintained personal journals through their lifetimes.

Who’s Got the Time to Write Daily?

First, a popular myth has to be dispelled. Journal writing need not be an unremitting, daily effort. The association of journaling with conventional diaries, segmented by days, is, most likely, the reason for this misconception. Daily journaling quickly becomes a chore that is easy to give up.

Instead, only record what you want to remember. Make it an exercise in capturing and archiving thoughts, emotions and ideas coming from within you. Write about interesting people, conversations, meetings, books, lectures, places — anything that captures your attention. Over time, the collection will become a resource that will act as a secure helmsman to steer you through the turbulence of life.

It’s best to keep it as a private record although, we are so much richer for many of them having been published. Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is the most well known example of the power of a journal. There are many more.

Why Should You Keep a Journal?

Journaling should be a collection of ideas rather than a chronological log of quotidian events. Putting your thoughts down on paper (or as digital bits if you prefer) unburdens your memory, a notoriously fallible storehouse. Journal writing is a powerful productivity and self-improvement tool.

There are numerous benefits to keeping a journal.

  • Problem solving: Writing is a tool for thinking clearly. The effort of transforming what’s in our heads as disjointed notions into words clarifies ideas and concepts. Spending fifteen to thirty minutes in this effort allows you to see the problem in distinct, easily grasped pieces. Organising them and making sense out of the puzzle becomes an easier task.
  • Decision diary: Get into the habit of making entries for the more significant decisions you make in your life. Put down brief statements about the following items:

— The nature of the situation that needs a resolution.

— A list of the possible routes of action.

— The pros and cons of each of them.

— Your choice and why you did so.

— What tradeoffs did you have to make?

— What do you expect from this selection?

As the diary grows, review your entries now and then. You will get a good insight into your decision-making process.

  • Stress reduction: Studies have shown that regular writing reduces stress. Anxiety and depression can be alleviated to remarkable degrees by expressive writing and pouring out deep emotions.
  • Physical ailments: The benefits are not limited to behavioural problems. Many common disorders manifesting with pain and limitation of daily activities can respond to a simple recording of symptoms and feelings. Recognising pain and discomfort as something distinct and reportable goes a long way to augment healing processes within yourself.
  • Gratitude journal: Regardless of how bad things look, there are still so many others which are going right for you. You don’t have to be a Pollyanna;there is much to be grateful for. Write them down in your journal. The effects on your overall wellbeing can be substantial.
  • Self-discipline: Regularity in writing is an act of self-discipline and will power. It builds up resilience in all other aspects of your daily life.

Despite its popularity, there’s ample evidence that undergoing therapy with a trained analyst may be no more beneficial than talking to someone, even a friendly bartender. A well-nurtured personal journal is all you need. The list of winners at the head of this article, and many more, is proof.

How Do I Go About It?

The straight answer: Use whichever method or tool works for you.

It’s best to keep the process as simple and handy as you can: from just a notebook (a Moleskin, if you wish) to drawing, sketching, mind-mapping, visual thinking, photos, voice recording or any of the dozens of digital tools that are available for the purpose.

Apps like Evernote or Bear are fantastic for the ways and means by which you can organise and manipulate your entries. There are apps like Journal One which are specifically designed for the purpose.

The trick is consistency. Stick with whatever gives you the most value for the effort.

How Often Should I Review My Journal?

Once again, there is no hard and fast rule. Whenever you do look back, chose a time when you are calm, rested and still. Although there is a huge temptation to look when times are turbulent, you may not get the most out of your writing at these moments. Nevertheless, let your intuition direct you.

You must let your journal be a guiding lamp in your progress through life. No one can know and understand you better than yourself. It’s not unusual to be taken by surprise at the profound nature of your observations.

Stephen King Says

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching … your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.” ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

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Articles

Your attention is priceless treasure. Don’t give it away for free.

There was a time, not so long ago, when, if you wanted a book or needed to research a topic, you had to go to a bookshop or library. Watching a movie meant booking tickets at the cinema and clearing your calendar to be there at the right time and date. You couldn’t do anything else at the time. Music came through radio station programmes which you waited for, patiently. At best, you could listen to a few cassettes containing a small mixtape which you made or scrounged off friends.

Fast forward to the present decades. All of this and more is available right in front of you, in an area of a few square inches, anytime, anywhere.

Inundated by this wealth of choices, we want it all, constantly flitting from one activity to another. We are the most distracted humans of all time. The average attention span today is reported in single-digit seconds.

Not to forget, the rabbit hole of social media where you can fritter away hours at a time, ending up feeling depressed, jealous and drowning in low self-esteem. Everyone else seems to be doing fantastic things and enjoying great experiences while your life is a sad story.

Meet Blaise Pascal

Four centuries ago, Blaine Pascal, the French polymath and genius, nailed it when he said:

Four centuries on, nothing has changed. Stillness and silence continues to make us uneasy. We squirm.

The 21st Century Syndrome

In a recent article, the Guardian talked about the “21st-century syndrome” of inattention and distraction. How did we get here? What can we do to get back possession of this vital commodity?

Technology is blithely blamed as the culprit, specifically the internet. It’s true that one of the greatest inventions in history has come with mixed blessings. But technology is only a tool. It’s not inherently good or bad; it’s what we do with it that matters. You can generate electricity or destroy Hiroshima with the same tool.

What’s the buzz?

Taking a nuanced look, it appears that the problem arises from the monkey-mind of our emotions.

We look for activities to divert us from the anxiety of completing tasks at hand. Why are we anxious? We are afraid of failure. So, we postpone and in the process, accumulate even more anxiety.

You can’t tackle this problem, head-on. Trying to abstain from feeling anxiety is guaranteed to make you feel worse.

“Worrying doesn’t empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ― Corrie Ten Boom

How Do You Eat this Elephant?

Like the much-quoted solution to eating an elephant, you have to progress in small bits. Split the task into small components, each of which might take a few minutes to complete. Like David Allen recommends in Getting Things Done, you carry out a series of “next actions”.

  • Don’t look at the task as a whole. You will be overwhelmed. Split every activity into a series of small steps.
  • Carry out one step at a time. Suddenly, you will find that the task is done. The cloud will lift. You will experience an amazing lightness of spirit.
  • Savour this sensation and go for more. Like getting your clothes clean, “wash, rinse, repeat”. You will get better and better at it.

Don’t Let Them Take Away Your Treasure While You are Looking Elsewhere

We fail to realise that attention is the currency of the day. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok: they are all stealing your most valuable possession and making enormous amounts of money out of it. Don’t let them.

Take back what is yours.

“Tell me what you pay attention to and I will tell you who you are.”― José Ortega y Gasset

Dr Arjun Rajagopalan

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