Every year, worldwide 10th of October is commemorated as “World Mental Health Day”. This year’s theme for
this day is “Mental Health in an unequal world”. Reason to have such day is to
promote mental health as well as create public awareness about mental health
issues.
With pandemic setting in, scary lockdowns
and its aftermath, buzz around “Mental Health” has become all the more
relevant. Honestly, it is good to see people taking keen interest to know more
about how they can be healthy mentally. Lots of mental health issues are also
been taken up in main-stream discussions. The more we openly discuss about
mental health, the better we will be equipped to cope up with issues arising therein.
This year, I got an opportunity to
attend a programme organised by a renowned Psycho-therapist and Counsellor Adv.
Anisha Phansalkar Ma’am. I got to become a part of group wherein participants
came from various walks of life. Initially I thought it to be a very formal and
scripted discussion. However, it turned out to be otherwise. It was an informal,
friendly discussion wherein I got to learn and unlearn a lot. Each one had an
inspiring story; each one had displayed strong mettle by overcoming adversities
they faced in their lives. Indeed in an unequal world, their struggles, their
fighting spirit, never-give-up approach towards life is something I will
consciously try to imbibe in myself.
We started with “name & its
meaning” activity wherein each one told their name and its meaning. This
activity was to highlight whether your name given to you by your parents/
family, goes with the “your” purpose in life. It was indeed a thought-provoking
activity. Anisha Ma’am was curating this session. She rightly mentioned, to
earn a name for yourself, you have to work towards your purpose of life; you
have to start by living for yourself.
Our name is our identity, so is
our purpose or what we do. We always endeavour to make others happy; many a
times “others” i.e. anyone and everyone else than our own-self are our
priority. We live for “them”, but not for ourselves. There is nothing wrong in
it. In fact it underlines how much we value others, do for others (including our families, friends
etc.) unconditionally.
However, in all this we forget to
look after our own-selves. We forget that happiness is something that is not
just to be given but also to be taken. Aren’t you also the factor contributing
to the “unequal world”? Where are “YOU” in all this?
Everything in your life starts
with you. Unless and until you are strong, happy yourself first, can you really
make others so? Yes, you endeavour to do so, but at the cost of your own health
and wellbeing. Even if it is mentally and emotionally taxing, you still keep
pushing in the hope that things will get better. To keep going is not a bad
thing, but to the extent that it breaks you down inside is indeed not good. It
is therefore essential to mentally empower yourself first.
Anisha Ma’am introduced one simple yet powerful concept for this. She told, to empower yourself mentally you need to clean the trash that you put in your head. You have to do “मानसिक अंघोळ” or mental cleansing for cleaning your mind just like you bathe daily.
You do this by having a positive self-talk. You have a choice always – it is up to you what you choose.
When faced with hurdle/ adversity do you choose to give up or stay back and
face it? Do you blame others for your situation or take up responsibility for
your action/ inaction? Do you get bothered by what someone has said to you? Do
you really understand yourself? Once you start thinking on this daily, you will
start cleansing your mind. Gradually that will make you mentally strong.
You
have to work on yourself first. And this is not a one-time activity; it is a
continuous one that warrants consistency. Don’t leave it at the whims of your
mood. A conscious and deliberate effort towards your own self is required. Pay attention
to yourself. Love yourself, allot some time
for yourself, and yes that is not going to make you selfish in any way.
To be strong and mentally
empowering means to learn to accept the situation first and then act accordingly
on it. It means to choose to respond and not to react. It means to ready
ourselves for whatsoever adversities, challenges life throws at us. That big “O”
which life throws is way is not actually the “Obstacle”, it is in fact the “Opportunity”
that helps you grow as a person. To learn to face it and internalize the very
fact that life is not going to be rosy and a cake walk all the time will develop
your acceptance to what life has to offer.
Our head represents “Head-quarter”
of ourselves in which resides our mind. And when we “MIND OURSELVES FIRST”,we
will be in a better position to mind others and help them out. This year, make
a promise to yourself to take a good care of self physically as well as
mentally. Treat and consider yourself equal in terms of time, care, love,
attention that you give to others. Change starts with YOU!
