From diet, exercise, team-building to parenting in India, experts talk about everything which leads towards happiness and mindfulness. Ankita Jain reports
What is mindfulnessIJ It is a state of being present to yourself and the world around you. But in this tech-savvy world, when every minute we are engaged in multi-tasking or worrying about the future, personalities like Khurshed Batliwala and Dinesh Ghodke (Art of living teachers) Dr Aparna Santhanam (wellness expert) and Dr Shelja Sen (child psychologist) opened up about finding happiness in the moment.
“In pursuit of happiness, this is exactly the utter opposite of what I always say. One cannot pursue happiness; it is always on the horizon. Usually, happiness is considered to be a later object, after you finish your exam, after you graduate, after you finish your assignment, after you get married. It is after later which is why we are never happy. Rather in mathematical language it becomes a discrete function. In our teachings, we say stop pursuing happiness; let it be an expression of joy”, said Khurshed Batliwala about changing our perspectives. Khurshed, who is also a piano player, further explained that anything we do should be a expression of happiness, “I play my best when I am happy and not when I want to be happy.”
We think we are jack of all trades but actually we are lacking focus in all the activities that we do. It’s about being focussed and the ways it is being done are explained below:
Diet and exercise
Have we ever realised why the Diwali food is always delicious in spite of being a meal cooked with simple ingredientsIJ Well, the answer is, we eat with a heart filled with joy and there is nothing we are worried about. As per Dinesh Ghodke, “Exercise triggers happy hormones which release happy chemicals to our brain and these result in feeling good about oneself. With this high energy, one’s focus improves tremendously.”
Khurshed chuckled, “I am a Parsi, a born non-vegetarian and alcoholic. When I realised what kind of havoc is being created by the non vegetarian industry on firstly the body, second the environment and lastly the economy, I couldn’t be part of it anymore. To give a few statistics, 51 percent of the earth’s surface is used to rear animals or food for them. This industry is the second biggest industry in this planet, after electricity. If people become vegetarian, we would all be able to afford houses in Hauz Khas. To save five thousand litres of water either don’t shower for six months, don’t flush toilet for three months or don’t eat one hamburger. The amount of water that is consumed by that one hamburger is equal to six months of showering. People aren’t aware of this. And there is huge lobby of people who don’t let this awareness spread. Billions of dollars are being made out of this brutality. When I turned vegetarian, I felt so much lighter and my mind worked much better combined with meditation of course. All the protein that is required by our body, is present in vegetarian food. The only thing people should take care about is sensible herbivorous diet which doesn’t mean living on French fries. Rather take a balanced diet.”
Team-building
“There are five Cs---connect, coach, care, community and commitment---which one has to consider while team-building in any situation, be it as a family unit or a community. This alone can maintain societal harmony and happiness. When it comes to children, the community plays a very important role. We talk a lot about collaborating, learning and team playing and forget about the personality of the child. We should allow them to learn on their own rather than projecting our dreams or imposing on them. It is the responsibility of the parents to create a space for them where they can learn on their own or if they are extrovert, learn in a group”, said Dr Shelja Sen. "let the child be the way he is and this way, in accepting his/her mind, we would make a better team for our country and ease the pressure of growing up," she added.
Parenting
“Around 15 to 20 years ago, there was hardly any awareness about child anxiety and depression. Children were just objects, children’s need, emotion, desires were completely overlooked. Even now in our society, we tend to treat kids as non-living things, People aren’t ready to perceive the world through a child’s eye. In India questions about child’s mental health don’t exist, we don’t have any issue regarding child shaming, abuse, anxiety, nothing. Children are believed to be very happy here. A designer awareness exists here. But in the world of spirituality, such things exist. Parents and parents-to-be are taught to let the child follow his dream; do not impose your dream to your kids”, shared Dr Sen.
Health
People should be ready to accept the changes in terms of health, the changes which lead to life-long sustainability. There is a lot of emphasis on the way one looks, the way one wants to be, the way one wants her skin to look, and this is the starting point for most of us to make significant changes about our health. Changes should be made but in a healthy way not just for the need of an hour.
“There are a certain number of people who are in their 30s and 40s and are particular about their routine checks and get scared with the numbers that the report carries. They aren’t aware of the lifestyle changes that would help to keep a check on their health. Rather they believe in the dosage of medicines”, said wellness expert Dr Aparna Santhanam. Being content in a holistic sense would pipe down lifestyle aggravators, she added.
In this hustle and bustle of life, when you are trying to achieve something, do not forget to accept yourself first. Make this a part of your life. Watch the change in you- shaping you up in more ways than one. But yes, follow the three principles which would never let you down and would always brighten your smile, stay committed to yourself, be disciplined and don’t lose focus.