Heard this phrase on a popular English soap opera and it struck home.

‘Sorry’ – a much used and abused word. Does accepting an apology mean forgiving the person who caused us hurt or harm?
That’s the popular myth; when someone says sorry to us and we genuinely accept it, we forgive ourselves and that is the greatest gift. » Continue reading “27 Jan 10, Wednesday: “when we get it right, ‘sorry’ is the greatest redemption”.”

Adjustment disorders and stress – When a person’s capacity to adapt to a new scenario is overwhelmed by events, stress results. The event may be insignificant, if considered objectively. Even favourable changes like promotion (stress of coping with increased responsibility) and relocation (stress of adjusting in new environment) may cause stress.

» Continue reading “Maladjustment & Stress”

Ravimohan, 52; Ranjan Das 42 – two of the recent sudden unexpected death(s) that rocked the corporate world!
Handling insurance claims, it is now common to get cases of men (yes! Only men) who succumb to a heart attack between 28 and 35! And mind you these are proven after an autopsy shows a pale patch of recent infarction and most large branches of coronary artery with large atheromatous plaques.

Such instances of sudden death(s) bring forth the question – ‘you eat well; you exercise regularly BUT are you truly healthy?’

» Continue reading “Stress related sudden deaths”

A regular adult spends maximum time of the best years of his life at work; yes, do the math; in a 24-hour day, we spend at least 8 hours or more at work and that time spent carries with it STRESS – both physical and mental.

While the physical stress is visible and thus easier to deal with it is the mental or emotional stress that is the silent killer.
And often, emotional stress manifests itself in the form of physical symptoms such as, recurring headaches, nausea, aches and pains which do not have any pathological explanation; add to that irregular eating habits, erratic sleep pattern and lack of exercise and you have yourself a recipe for disaster.   » Continue reading “26 Jan 10, Tuesday: Stress at the workplace.”

I am sure this piece of news came as a welcome break to many of you BUT the sceptic in me is not getting mollycoddled so fast.
Let me first see the Boards first do the ‘smaller’ things, like modify the absurd exam timetable for SSC and HSC students (refer blog dated 24 Jan 10).  If they really care about students’ welfare, let them first come up with an exam schedule that has adequate gaps and thus allows students to write their exams at least in a good physical state.       » Continue reading “Mumbai Mirror, page 5, Monday, 25 Jan 10 – ‘State Board scripts new chapter in reducing classroom stress’”

Was overwhelmed with a wave of frustration when I read this article and hence broke my scared rule of ‘no-working-on-Sundays’ and decided to pour all the angst into this blog.
WHEN WILL WE LEARN? WHEN?

Just when the state boards of education seemed like they were waking up from their deep deep slumber, came this news that puts them back a few hundred steps. » Continue reading “Sunday Times, page 7, 24 Jan 10 – ‘No gaps in SSC, HSC exams give students sleepless nights’”

A heartfelt, detailed and candid view on the recent spate of student suicides in the country from one of India’s leading filmmakers, Karan Johar.

A large majority of parents I am sure, loved and applauded the film ‘3 Idiots’ and agreed that the message the film gave is the ‘need of the hour’.
Parenting however is tricky business with ALL parents wanting nothing but the ‘best’ for his child.

The issues with parenting however are deep-rooted; it is embedded deep in the Indian psyche and often as parents we are unaware of the pressure that we put on our children.  How can we aware when we haven’t seen any better? » Continue reading “Bombay Times, page 1, Friday, 22 Jan 10 – ‘Parent trap’”

It is indeed heartening to see that survivors of attempted suicides are coming out and talking about their struggles and in their own special way trying to reach out to others in the same boat.

What made the reading more sensitive was the fact that a ‘suicide-survivor-now-volunteer’ talks about the emotional impact that an attempted suicide leaves on the concerned person’s family whom she correctly labels as the ‘biggest victims’.
This is just so true because it is this group that is often neglected; a lot of time and attention needs to be given to the family and close friends of a suicide victim or survivor, to help them understand and deal with the emotions that they go through.
In the absence of timely counselling a lot of permanent psychological damage is done leading to lifelong feelings of guilt, anger and despair.  » Continue reading “Bombay Times, page 10, Thursday, 21 Jan 10 – ‘I was a fool to attempt suicide’”

Ronnie Screwvala’s story and success is inspiring but the article left me with some mixed feelings.
» Continue reading “Bombay Times, page 1, Wednesday, 20 Jan 10 – ‘if Ronnie can, you can’”

Pretty much made my morning; finally, a first-hand account from a parent-child team who have been through the tough and trying phase of a child contemplating suicide.  » Continue reading “Mumbai Mirror, page 1, Tuesday, 19 Jan 10 – ‘thinking of suicide? Read my story first’”