Dr Sangeetha Madhu - Seven life lessons ,climbing Mt Everest base camp

Seven Life Lessons, Climbing Mt Everest Base Camp

“You create your own universe as you go along.” -Winston Churchill

1) You can prepare/ plan but never predict

        As part of my preparation to climb Mt Everest base camp, I underwent several months of strength training & cardio exercises. However, on the way from Namche bazaar, I exhibited signs of altitude sickness, which altered my speed, agility, and overall fitness levels. Often we are faced with uncertainty & ambiguity in life; things do not turn out the way we plan, taking a leap of faith brings a ray of hope. On the brighter side, I was overwhelmed with my team's kind gestures - adversity brings out altruism in people; I reached Tengboche, my next stop with support from several of my fellow trekkers who offered medicine, water, and encouragement.

2) Set short term goals, your vision will get accomplished 

        In the beginning, the journey seemed impossible. However, from Lukla, Phakding, Namche, Tengboche, Labuche to Gorekshep were a series of smaller goals to the ultimate destination of EBC. There were several times during the journey that I wanted to give up .' Go slow to reach fast 'was the mantra of my guide. As I interacted with a 73 old Japanese trekker, I felt motivated - 'Never ever, ever, ever, ever give up ' said Winston Churchill. Focus on the moments and days will take care of itself.

3) Digital Detox

        One has the option to purchase wifi on several occasions during the trek, I chose not to have the compulsive need to check emails, WhatsApp messages, twitter, or Instagram accounts. A fortnight of being digitally disconnected incidentally brought a whole new connection to me. Taking a vacation from your digital devices and trekking in the mountain along with trees & rivers is a great way to inspire the mind and nourish the soul.

4) The journey is the destination 

         Reaching Everest base camp ( 5365 m) after 7 days of incessant walking through rough terrain, unpredictable weather, low oxygen levels, long hours, led to mixed feelings. On reaching EBC, you realize that the journey is the destination. In our daily lives of' busyness ', we often forget to smell the roses, listen to the birds, and experience the stillness or silence within. The balance between consistent effort & being present in the element is the key to sustained energy and enthusiasm to find your unique path. Enjoy the journey, it matters.

5) Learn when to let go 

        At the end of reaching EBC, I was exhausted and sapped of all energy. EBC trek helped me recognize the myth that I had regarding my fitness levels. I found it difficult to descend and it was time to let go. Learning a lesson in humility, I chose the option of flying from EBC to Lukla to save my aching knees. Its imperative in life to develop a sense of detachment and know when to let go.

6) Gratitude, Solitude & Connection

        I trekked slowly, finding my own pace, introspecting & spending solitary time. I felt a sense of gratitude for the abundance that mother nature has bestowed upon us - clean air, freshwater, & bright sunshine while reflecting on life, peace & tranquility. Time to time interactions with trekkers from across the world, Toronto to Sydney also built a sense of belongingness & connection to a larger purpose.

7) We need Mentors 

          My trekking guides Sures, Sudeep & Salli Bhai from Kathmandu www.mountainworldtreks.com, were thorough professionals in motivating & guiding me through the journey. They were my mentors and instrumental in helping me learn new skills, challenge myself, set stretch goals, scale greater heights, and new horizon. Seeking guidance from mentors in a safe and trusting environment, will help us thrive and navigate our chaotic world to lead meaningful lives.

Dr Sangeetha Madhu - Soul Space

Soul Space

'Energy of the mind is the essence of life '- Aristotle

On the occasion of the world mental health day, October 10th, 2018, WHO's theme is young people & mental health in a changing world. I am deeply humbled and grateful to the millennial minds for the three leadership lessons. I have learned over two decades of leading a team of young mental health professionals and raising a family.

1 Deep listening & engaging conversations -In a noisy world of arguments, debates, and violence it's easy forget our own unique voices that get drowned into insignificance. It's through stillness & silence, acceptance, and awareness, compassion towards self & others, while engaging in deep listening and meaningful dialogues that we discover our true selves to cherish shared dreams and achieve collective goals.

2 Being mindful & building relationships - Building bridges and breaking walls through the ups and downs of our daily lives is challenging in a constantly changing / distracted world. Making sense of our universe through mindful moments, appreciating our collective strengths, seeking inner harmony through kindness/ forgiveness can help us build long term relationships. Hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and personal growth stems from respect, trust and love towards our family and team members helping us integrate our personal & professional lives .' With an open mind, engaging heart and a willing pair of hands' we can certainly lead a purpose-driven, meaningful life filled with passion and conviction to make a difference in the lives of others.

3 Teamwork and Resilience - We live in a volatile, uncertain, complex & ambiguous world. As we encounter hardships, our ability to navigate our chaotic world & bounce back from failures with true grit, energy, and enthusiasm arises from the comfort of having a strong team at home and work, ensuring personal satisfaction & professional success. Transforming from 'me to we, individual to the institution ' takes time, effort, perseverance and patience, integrity, and intuition to lead a life of significance. ' Talent wins a competition , teamwork wins championships'- Michael Jordan.

Our hope for the millennial workforce is to democratize mental health, to provide a nurturing environment by promoting positive mental health in the community through Soul space, as they envision their reality and embrace the future, with courage and confidence.

Dr Sangeetha Madhu - Workplace and Wellness Within

Sangeetha Madhu & Aruna Laxmy

Workplace and Wellness Within

Mental health status

Workplace, a means to challenge and develop oneself, provides one with a sense of identity and meaning. The Wall Street Journal (2016) indicates that the Indian youth spent an average of 52 hours a week at work, which was higher than that of other countries. According to a study conducted by the Live Love Laugh Foundation, 71% of the respondents used terms associated with the stigma against mental illness. However, 87% of the respondents had an awareness of mental illness indicating awareness alongside a lack of sensitization. Bridging this gap is the need of the hour. In a study by Optum in 2016, 46% of the workforce in Indian organizations suffers from the stress that requires assistance. Among these employees, two-thirds faced discrimination at work, stated a 2017 study in the Indian Journal of Medical Research. Even though the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 prohibited discrimination based on mental illness, organizations are not equipped enough to implement the same.

Such high numbers might lead to conjectures that adequate steps have been taken to combat the same. Reconsider this. In an interview conducted by Firstpost, employees revealed that there were no policies at the workplace regarding employees’ mental health. In organizations, with policies in place, the employees were unaware of the same. Policies regarding physical illnesses and data regarding the same are collected during the induction stage; medical leave was sanctioned for physical illness but not for mental illness.

Disclosure: A dilemma

The apathy in responding to mental illnesses of employees mirrors of attitude towards mental health in general. With a sense of hesitation regarding the revelation of mental health issues, employees surmise that they will be looked upon as incapable and unfit. While revelation would help in the risk reduction and promote sensitization and empathetic interactions, the chances of discrimination keep employees at bay. In such a scenario, accommodation, assistance from an external source, and promoting a positive work culture in a safe environment will facilitate conversations on employee mental health.

What can organizations do?

Several organizations have policies to promote mental well being. Steps from recruiting people with disabilities to providing regular assistance to employees have been taken by various private sector organizations ranging from consumer goods industries to online service providers. There aren’t adequate policies and programs in place in some organizations. Those in place might not be well articulated or emphasized on, to be utilized by the employees.

Installation of policy-level changes to reduce mental health stigma is required to successfully implement assistance programs. With regular awareness & coaching sessions, sensitizing employees and managers, employee engagement activities, building a culture of compassion, mental health issues at work can be tackled to enhance well being, combat stigma, and improve performance.

‘Darkness must pass

A new day will come

And When the sun shines

It will shine out the clearer ‘

JRR Tolkien

Dr Sangeetha Madhu - Women , Wellness & Leadership

Empowering girls to connect, lead and contribute to the community

“It is better to conquer ourselves than to win a thousand battles” – Buddha.

Emotional well-being is a fundamental human right and an essential ingredient for a sustainable and functional society, related to the quality of people’s lives, capabilities, and contributions. It can encompass resilience, mental assets, and resources, capabilities, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and optimism. Global Leadership and Development (GLAD), strives towards promoting positive mental health in the community, equity in leadership training, and mental well-being of young people irrespective of the systemic barriers and challenges by utilizing sources of strength in the community through evidence-based programs. Before adolescence, many girls can voice their feelings and establish a strong sense of self. When they reach puberty, however, they may be torn by pressures to conform. They are further hampered because there is enormous resistance by adults to listen to girls, especially marginalized girls. As a result, adolescent girls often lose their voices. Adolescence is an appropriate time to build on their sense of emotional well-being. Leadership through empathy, clarity of thought, and authenticity in action are developed through supportive relationships in a caring and safe environment. In today’s global context we need young women leaders who can take on difficult challenges, build trust, and empower others through commitment.

INDUS – A Leadership initiative

Youth leadership education for young women is critical to developing leadership skills. In India, the world's largest democracy, the adolescent segment below 20 years of age is around 41 percent of the population. A leadership training program titled INDUS ( Institute for Networking & Developing Under-served Community )to maximize leadership skills of young women focused on ten aspects of leadership i.e. ability to make decisions, solve problems, analyze facts, emotional coping strategy, self-confidence& awareness, communication skills, identify strengths, engage in teamwork, goal setting and identify, respect and promote values.

Behavior change is a research-based consultative process for addressing knowledge, attitudes, and practices. It enables groups of individuals to engage in participatory processes to define their needs and acquire skills. The current project aims to create future trainers in the community to promote sustainable leadership skills and capacity building in young women through emotional well-being, behavioral change, and personal transformation approach. We support change strategies that produce positive change within a social system. Skills focus: the training focuses on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice change and building specific psycho-social skills that can help people make informed decisions, regulate emotions, build confidence, communicate effectively, and develop coping and self-management skills that will promote Youth Leadership.

‘Youth Leadership in this context refers to recognizing one’s potential, enhancing it, and using it in such a way to bring a change around oneself'. It is about moving from self-awareness, through self-management to creating healthy and rewarding relationships

Building a community of women leaders

Albeit, growing awareness, and evidence, women remain underrepresented in positions of leadership (Agar 2004, Brown 2005). Changes in perceptions about future aspirations for girls require targeted interventions. Brown and Gilligan (1992) identify early adolescence as a crossroads in displaying disconnection, reduced self-confidence, and drop-in self-esteem. This highlights the benefit of lead exposure for young women to encourage them to see themselves in leadership roles as well as to enable them to develop the requisite skills to challenge stereotypes and overcome barriers to take up these roles. The capacity of young women to adapt and recover from highly traumatic or stressful situations and thrive despite extremely deprived communities has led to the emergence of research in the field of leadership and resilience.

INDUS is a part of a broader initiative from the Global Leadership & Development (GLAD) and aspires to build a community of young women leaders who can enhance well-being, maximize their potential, discover their leadership style and learn how to leverage their strengths that can be amplified through community engagement.

Workplace and Wellness - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

Workplace and Wellness

Workplace, a means to challenge and develop oneself, provides one with a sense of identity and meaning. The Indian youth spent an average of 52 hours a week at work, which was higher than that of other countries, stated a 2016 Wall Street Journal report.

Mental health status

           According to a study conducted by the Live Love Laugh Foundation, 71% of the respondents used terms associated with stigma against mental illness. However, 87% of the respondents had an awareness of mental illness. This indicates adequate levels of awareness alongside a lack of sensitization. Bridging this gap is the need of the hour. According to a study by Optum in 2016, 46% of the workforce in Indian organizations suffers from stress that requires assistance, Among these employees, two-thirds faced discrimination at work, stated a 2017 study in Indian Journal of Medical Research. Even though the Mental Healthcare Act of 2017 prohibited discrimination on the basis of mental illness, organizations are not equipped enough to implement the same.

Such high numbers might lead to conjectures that employers would naturally be taking steps to combat the same. Reconsider this. In an interview conducted by Firstpost, no employee reported policies at the workplace regarding employees’ mental health. In organizations, with policies in place, the employees were unaware of the same. Policies regarding physical illnesses and data regarding the same are collected during the induction stage; medical leave was sanctioned for physical illness but not for mental illness.

Disclosure: A dilemma

          The unwillingness to positively respond to mental illnesses of employees mirrors of attitude towards mental health in general. This creates a sense of hesitation regarding the revelation of mental health issues because employees believe that they will be looked upon as incapable and unfit. While revelation would help in the risk reduction and promote sensitization and empathetic interactions, the chances of discrimination keeps employees at bay. In such a scenario, accommodation and assistance from an external source would help in the improvement of employee mental health which in turn would positively impact work performance.

What can organizations do?

           A number of organizations have policies to promote mental well being. Steps from recruiting people with disabilities to providing regular assistance to employees have been taken by various private sector organizations ranging from consumer goods industries to online service providers. However, there aren’t adequate policies and programs in place at these organizations. Those in place might not be well articulated or emphasized on, to be utilized by the employees.

Installation of policy-level changes to combat mental health stigma is required to successfully implement assistance programs. With regular stress-buster sessions, sensitizing employees and managers, counseling sessions, and employee engagement activities, mental health issues at work can be tackled in order to enhance well being, combat stigma, and improve performance.

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

                                                 

Stress Management - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

Stress Management

Stress is not what happens to us. It's our response TO what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose.

Maureen Killoran

Stress is a part of everyday life. In small quantities, stress is good; it can motivate you and help you become more productive. However, too much stress or a strong response to stress can be harmful.

Stress:  Can either help us with challenges and problems or make them many times worse.  The effect stress will have depends on how we handle or view the situation.

·       Handling stress depends on us: Recognizing the stress

·       Understanding where it is coming from- Sources

·       Understanding our stress management options

Recognizing the stress

What are the signs of stress?

 We all experience stress differently in different situations. Sometimes you might be able to tell right away when you're feeling under stress, but other times you might keep going without recognizing the signs.

 Stress can affect you both emotionally and physically, and it can affect the way you behave. Some signs include the following

·       Tension  Irritability

·       Inability to concentrate 

·       Feeling excessively tired

·       Trouble sleeping

·       increased blood pressure

·       Difficulty breathing

·       Stomach upset

·       Sweating palms

·       Tight muscles that may cause pain and trembling

Sources of Stress

Identify the sources of stress in your life: Stress management starts with identifying the sources of stress in our life. To do so we need to look closely at our habits, attitude and excuses. Until we accept responsibility for the role we play, our stress levels will remain out of our control.

We can experience stress from four basic sources:

The Environment – The environment can challenge you with intense and competing demands to adjust. Examples of environmental stressors include weather, noise, crowding, pollution, traffic etc.

Social Stressors – we can experience multiple stressors arising from the demands of the different social roles we occupy, such as parent, spouse, caregiver, and employee. Some examples of social stressors include deadlines, financial problems, presentations, disagreements, demands for your time and attention, separation,  divorce, and co-parenting.

Physiological – Situations and circumstances affecting our body can be experienced as physiological stressors. Examples of physiological stressors include illness, aging, giving birth, accidents, lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and sleep disturbances.

Thoughts – Your brain interprets and perceives situations as stressful, difficult, painful, or pleasant. Some situations in life are stress provoking, but it is our thoughts that determine whether they are a problem for us

Stress management options

·       Identify sources of stress in our life and accept responsibility

·       Avoid unnecessary stress

·       Alter the situation If we can’t avoid a stressful situation, try to alter it. Do what we can to change things so the problem will not occur in the future.

·       Accept things you can’t change , Some sources of stress are unavoidable, acceptance may be difficult but in the long run it’s easier to accept than to rally against things we can’t change.  Expect ongoing change; understand the stages

·       Laughter

·       Positive thinking

·       Deep breathing

·       Stretching

·       Exercise

·       Healthy diet

·       Maintain a positive attitude

·       Try to maintain a positive attitude and minimize negativity

·       Avoid complaining and criticizing

·       Seek the visiting Psychologist and Counsellors  support.

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

Sources : http://hydesmith.com/de-stress/files/StressMgt.pdf

http://keltymentalhealth.ca/sites/default/files/toolkit_for_professionals-_module_4_-_stress_management.pdf

https://www.mind.org.uk/media/1993364/how-to-manage-stress_2015.pdf

http://www.gov.pe.ca/photos/original/StressManage.pdf

Steps to Improve Communication - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

  STEPS TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION

A large portion of our lives is spent communicating with others. Sharing your thoughts and understanding another person's feelings are essential skills for functioning in any society in the world. 

The following is a simple model of communication that can help illustrate how communicating with others really works, all the places it can go wrong, and what we can do to be better

The picture above is a really simple map of how any type of communication works.

 The necessary pieces are a sender, a receiver, and a message.

. The two basic ways of coding messages are putting it in some kind of language (speech or writing) and/or nonverbally communicating it (body language, tone, etc).

 The receiver then interprets (decodes) the words and nonverbals, hoping to arrive at an understanding of what the sender really means.

Communication Problems

The way we encode and decode messages is based on how we learned to communicate in earlier stages of life. The ways we code and decode messages are determined by our culture, family patterns, and other experiences.

Sender Problems: The most common problem that we can make as message senders is coding our thought, feeling or need in a way that has a low chance of being understood by the receiver.

 Consider how you might code the message of feeling hungry differently to a 3 year old, someone who doesn't speak the same language as you, and your best friend. Those should look and sound completely different.

Thus, choosing the best way to code a message is important to make sure the receiver gets a good understanding.

Receiver Problems: The biggest problem that happens when we receive messages is in decoding things inaccurately, which can be caused by

1)    Not really attending to the sender, 2) not having the skills necessary to decode the message, or 3) adding your our own meaning to the message that was not really intended by the sender.

2)    For the first, if you don't really pay attention completely to the message (including the nonverbal aspects), you can miss critical elements of it, and then have a misunderstanding. For the second, if you don't know certain words or the message is too complex, then there is a low chance of really understanding it.

3)    For the third, we can automatically add things to the message that make us miss what was intended. 

Communication problems are usually two-person problems. Anytime there is a misunderstanding, it is the fault of both the sender and the receiver.

How to Communicate Better

1. Be Aware of your own communication errors. We are all susceptible to sending confusing messages when we are aware that all of us can make all of the communication mistakes, we can adjust how we send and receive messages.

2) Choose your words (and actions) wisely based on who the receiver is. As much as we would love for our partners, parents, and employers to just automatically be able to know what our needs and feelings are, or interpret all of our questions and comments with complete accuracy, they can't. We can become better senders by thinking about how the specific person at this specific time would be receiving a message, and then deliver it in that form.

3. Check in with the sender when you are decoding messages to make sure you have the right understanding. After hearing something, especially if it strikes you strangely, ask the sender if you are hearing it correctly instead of trusting your interpretation completely. Think about how many arguments can be prevented with just that one!

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

Source

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/notes-self/201307/basics-communication

Social Media Fitness - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

Social Media Fitness

Social media platforms are online services that help you build and maintain social connections and networks. This area of technology has witnessed a steady growth since 2008. Individuals across the globe have gained means to enhance life, increase awareness and stay connected to provide and receive various services.

However, a recent study found that individuals spend an average of at least 3 hours per day on social media platforms. About 80% of them stated that this time was spent engaging in activities unrelated to their job and was, in fact, a distraction from the same. Social media has also limited instances of direct communication and team productivity.

Being aware of some indicators that you might be overusing or using social media improperly, on an individual level, is important. These might include going online for work-related productive reasons and finding oneself on social networking sites instead, a constant urge to check your account despite knowing there are no notifications and spending time on social media in real-life social situations. From this perspective, the benefits of limiting social media usage would primarily be mood upliftment and an increase in time and productivity.

Simple ways to limit or modify social media use to achieve would be as follows:

1. Setting time limits or duration for use of each application
2. Turning off notifications so that these are checked only at a designated time
3. Curating the feed and unsubscribing to content that has a negative impact on mood
4. Scheduling posts for designated times at the beginning of the day
5. Using autoresponders when you are away

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

Reflective Practice - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

What is Reflective Practice?

Reflective practice is, in its simplest form, thinking about or reflecting on what you do. It is closely linked to the concept of learning from experience, in that you think about what you did, and what happened, and decide from that what you would do differently next time

Developing and Using Reflective Practice

What can be done to help develop the critical, constructive and creative thinking that is necessary for reflective practice?

Neil Thompson, in his book People Skills, suggests that there are six steps:

1.    Read - around the topics you are learning about or want to learn about and develop

2.    Ask - others about the way they do things and why

3.    Watch - what is going on around you

4.    Feel - pay attention to your emotions, what prompts them, and how you deal with negative ones

5.    Talk - share your views and experiences with others in your organisation

6.    Think - learn to value time spent thinking about your work

In other words, it’s not just the thinking that’s important. You also have to develop an understanding of the theory and others’ practice too, and explore ideas with others. Reflective practice can be a shared activity: it doesn’t have to be done alone.

It will help to keep a journal of learning experiences. This is not about documenting formal courses, but about taking everyday activities and events, and writing down what happened, and then reflecting on them to consider what you have learned from them, and what you could or should have done differently. It’s not just about changing: a learning journal and reflective practice can also highlight when you’ve done something well.

The Reflective Learning Process

Identify a situation you encountered in your work or personal life that you believe could have been dealt with more effectively.

Describe the experience: What happened?  When and where did the situation occur?  Any other thoughts you have about the situation?

Reflection: How did you behave?  What thoughts did you have?  How did it make you feel?  Were there other factors that influenced the situation?  What have you learned from the experience?

Theorizing: How did the experience match with your preconceived ideas, i.e. was the outcome expected or unexpected?  How does it relate to any formal theories that you know?  What behaviours do you think might have changed the outcome?

Experimentation: Is there anything you could do or say now to change the outcome?  What action(s) can you take to change similar reactions in the future?  What behaviours might you try out?

The Benefits of Reflective Practice

Reflective practice has huge benefits in increasing self-awareness, which is a key component of emotional intelligence (the capacity to be aware of, control, and express one's emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically), and in developing a better understanding of others. Reflective practice can also help you to develop creative thinking skills, and encourages active engagement in work processes

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

Source

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/reflective-practice.html#ixzz4OvPl4Z1f

Positive self talk - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

Positive self talk 

Your inner voice has a huge impact on your life. Self-talk has a direct influence on your self-image. 

 As your actions are a result of your thoughts, replacing negative self-talk with positive input is fundamentally important.

 Some steps for positive self-talk. Tell yourself.. 

I am capable.

I know who I am and I am enough.

I choose to be present in all that I do.

I choose to think thoughts that serve me well.

I choose to reach for a better feeling.

I share my happiness with those around me.

My body is my vehicle in life; I choose to fill it with goodness.

I feel energetic and alive.

My life is unfolding beautifully.

I am confident.

I always observe before reacting.

I know with time and effort I can achieve.

I love challenges and what I learn from overcoming them.

Practice this regularly to reach closer to your goals.

 All the best 

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.

Source 

 https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.fabhow.com/how-to-practise-positive-self-talk.html/amp

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-12637/14-mantras-to-help-you-build-positive-selftalk.html

6 Exercises for Positive Emotions - All in the Mind - Dr Sangeetha Madhu and RK Shivani

6 Exercises for Positive Emotions

1. “Three blessings exercise”

Every day, at the end of the day, write about 3 things – large or small – that went well for you, and why they went well.

This exercise has been shown to improve symptoms of depression over a timeframe of a few months, but really all of us can benefit from reflecting on what went well each day. Experiencing and savouring the moment is a powerful way of connecting with our inner selves in a positive way.

2. Mindfulness

There are various techniques which can be practised to train your brain for mindfulness, some examples include mindful breathing and the full body-scan.

3. Loving-Kindness Meditation

Self-Compassion, a concept introduced and studied extensively by Kristen Neff, is about learning to love and support oneself. This approach of “self-love” has been shown to impact positive emotions towards ourselves, our behaviours and blunders as well as developing loving kindness and compassion for others.

4. Reframing

How we interpret the world around us has an influence on our subjective well-being. Developing skills to deal with adversity helps us become more resilient and positive.

Reivich and Shatté (2002) describe a sequence of steps you can take to examine and reframe negative events, which include:

·        identifying the type of emotion experienced,

·        identifying thinking traps preventing us from seeing the bigger picture,

·        putting our negative thoughts into perspective and

·        taking positive action.

5. Create Positive Experiences

It has been shown that positive experiences, and especially sharing these with others, can have a lasting impact on our emotions.

research has shown that helping others makes us happy, whether it is helping out a colleague, friend or neighbour at short notice, or offering support and volunteering ourselves regularly. Random acts of kindness are an easy and fulfilling way to bring positive emotions into your life.

6. Posture and Presence 

When you are in immediate need of positive emotions, paying attention to your body language and adjusting it accordingly can be beneficial.

 Source : https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/6-positive-emotion-exercises/

Dr Sangeetha Madhu , a clinical psychologist and Leadership expert & Shivani RK presenting articles related to well being, leadership/personal development, cognitive mastery, positive emotions, building resilience, and relationships.