How to Deal with Depression?

What Is Depression?

Depression is a disorder that is evidenced by excessive sorrow, loss of interest in enjoyable things, and absence of motivation. It is normal to experience feelings of sadness and despair in response to adverse life events. Such events could include loss, major life changes, stress, or disappointment. In most cases, the sad feelings resolve as you come to terms with the changes in your life. In situations such as bereavement, these feelings may persist for months and return at significant times, such as birthdays and anniversaries of the loved ones whom you have lost. According to a survey, depression is common. One in three people will experience a major depressive episode at some stage in their lives. While most cases of depression are mild, about one person in ten will have a moderate or severe episode.

How to Fight Depression On Your Own?

What is depression? Often, a demanding situation creates confusion. It causes mental stress, physical stress and also psychological stress. When a person is not able to cope up with the stress created by these difficult situations he or she falls into depression. It is a state when the person starts feelinghopelessness and a state of misery that triggers depression. In such circumstances, the person becomes a pessimist and feels that there is no solution to their problems. In such a hopeless situation the victim finds that life is absolutely meaningless. In extreme cases, the victim also thinks of ending the life by committing a suicide. In such a hopeless situation the victim finds that life is absolutely meaningless.

What are the physical symptoms of such a state?

The person does not feel like eating anything. Appetite is totally lost. Even if the victim was fond of eating or a foodie, they will no longer like to eat anything. The interest of food is lost because of the depression. The second indication is that the person keeps on brooding on the same spot again and again. The mind does not work creatively anymore. Old problems appear to be very large and solutions not to be seen. Even if the victim was fond of music, in the state of depression he or she will not like to listen to music, State of hopelessness becomes a sea of trouble and it is difficult to come out of it. Gloom perverts and the person is inflicted with dejection and distress.

Once, we understand the state of depression or what is depression, it is necessary to find out the reasons.

Each person may have different reasons. Some of them may be common but in order to work out the solution, it is necessary to understand the specific reasons which have pushed the victim into depression. For students, it could be classroom difficulties, something that has happened in the school, in the class or among peers. The peer pressure takes its toll and often creates an unwanted and undesirable pressure. Likewise, for an executive, it can be a boardroom pressure. If a person knows something but he is not able to explain for whatever reasons, he comes under pressure. Then he keeps on worrying about his deficiency. A state of dullness perverts, At such state its necessary to take all the actions to fight and root out the depression blues. Some people are able to adjust to these situations or too difficult people, while others are not able to do so. Further, pressure can also be caused by inadequate social interaction. If there is not sufficient trust among the spouses and each tries to hide certain things even that can create a pressure.

Studies have revealed that the US is the most depressed country.

She is followed by Columbia, Ukraine, Netherlands, and France. Survey reveals that rich are more depressed than the poor. Events of life are important to create an impact on the psyche of a person. While there are fewer variations in the life of the poor the same can be alarming among the people who are opulent. Further, depression can also be caused due to some infirmities in the personality. Some people are over emotional. They may also be negative thinkers. The negative attitude of a person surely takes him to depression. It is necessary, therefore to ensure that the attitude of a person is appropriate to correct the shortcoming. The person who continuously worries also finds the life a burden. His hopes are Diminished. His desire to do something creative dies out. Not able to do anything imaginative, the person feels useless and therefore the depression aggravates.

Eat the right foods

The first important thing is that one must maintain a proper regime of exercise. Exercise helps. Next in importance is sleep. One need to sleep 7 to 8 hours daily. If one does not go to the gym or have any kind of rigorous exercise, just a morning walk for about half an hour is also found very useful. It is also necessary to he eat healthy food. Junk food or fried and spicy food create indigestion which in turn reflects in one’s energy level. It also reduces mental alertness. The healthy food includes a lot of fiber. It is found in fruits and vegetables. One needs to take a lot of salad along with the cereals.

One must be resilient.

Can be another cause for depression. Man is a social animal and it is necessary that we should mingle with others. When we interact with others we exchange ideas which make moments interesting. On the other side, if you remain alone, you keep on brooding which does not create any imaginative environment. And finally one can gain strength of character by reading the books of the great leaders. Abraham Lincoln the most respect of U.S president is a great example. He failed in business, public life, lost his beloved in young age, did become a mental wreck but came out as a winner due to his resilience and positive attitude. so we must be resilient. These and such other examples are enough to convince us that we ourselves are not too bad. The self-esteem which might have gone down returns because there is a ray of hope.

Thanks for reading!

Keys to handle difficult people?

Difficult people are like the termites of the human spirit. They can be eating away at the tender parts of you for months on end before you notice, and then, suddenly, at a work meeting or a family dinner, you lose it. Most of us encounter unreasonable people in our lives. We may be stuck with a difficult individual at work or at home. It’s easy to let a challenging person affect us and ruin our day. Below are the keys:

Maintain self-control

In heavy traffic, you tend to lose your cool. Likewise, with a difficult person, you have a tendency to become impatient. Don’t do that. Stay calm. When you feel angry or upset with someone before you say something you might later regret, take a deep breath and count slowly to ten. In most circumstances, by the time you reach ten, you would have figured out a better way of communicating the issue, so that you can reduce, instead of escalating the problem. If you’re still upset after counting to ten, take a time out if possible, and revisit the issue after you calm down.

Find help

You may try to find help. Someone who you think can guide you or act as a mediator to avoid confrontations.

Ask questions

In the complex life today, it’s prudent to have a mentor. A mentor has no conflicting interests with you. All he looks for is helping you. After you have faced the difficult person with whatever results, it is useful to discuss the entire situation with your mentor.

Listen attentively

Let them talk and you should just listen. Often the opponents will not open their cards but when you listen attentively you may be able to discover the hidden agenda which will help you to deal with him/her. Besides, people want to be listened to. They want to talk.

Don’t hurt their dignity

Respect their ego. When you don’t respect you, opponent, the situation will only go from bad to worse. This needs to be avoided so that there is no escalation of the problem.

Don’t judge people

Try to understand that before forming your opinion about them. When you have already formed an opinion, there are chances that you will not try discovering the hidden need of the opponent. Therefore keep your mind open and do not judge.

Respect them

Respect Nature which has made all human beings individuals No two people are alike; not in their physical attributes but much less in their mental makeup. Thus, it would be a sheer folly to assume a particular method to deal with one difficult person will also work when we are dealing with another. Just like one size does not fit all, one type of response will not solve the problem with another. We need to contemplate a solution after clearly understanding the situation and the concerned person.

Act defensively

Tit for tat was an old-school story. Leave it behind. It doesn’t work anymore. Times have changed dramatically and now these are changing faster than ever. So every situation needs a specific strategy suited to the occasion. Don’t return anger with anger. Intimidation is freely used and abused. More importantly, if you lose your cool, you will not be able to use tact to your advantage. Further, you must not try to justify your actions and act defensively. This may only aggravate the problem. Acting defensively will make you weaker. The best strategy is to let the opponent puff out their steam. Better sense will prevail sooner than later. Lastly don’t ever try to win an argument. As they say, when you win an argument, you lose a friend.

Thanks for reading!

How to kill the hidden termites of your personality?

Everyone experiences negative emotions from time to time. It is perfectly human to have them after all, you cant be happy and cheerful all the time. Moreover, without negative emotions, we wouldnt be able to recognize and appreciate the positive ones. How would you know that you are happy when you have never been sad and despaired? What would calmness feel like if youve never experienced anxiety and anger? At the same time, when you have a tendency towards a particular emotional state, there could be some deeper reasons than you might realize.

Negative emotions can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions make you dislike yourself and others and take away your confidence. Emotions that can become negative are hate, anger, jealousy, and sadness. Yet, in the right context, these feelings are completely natural. Negative emotions can dampen our enthusiasm for life, depending on how long we let them affect us and the way we choose to express them.

Types of negative emotions and how to overcome it are listed below:

Sadness:

This is an emotion which hardly has any positive effect on life. In fact, it saps away the time that we lose because of this negative emotion. Except for the fact that we have a possibility to contemplate and experience nostalgia, there is no other gain from the emotion of sadness. It reduces energy. It reduces your desire to follow goals. You start feeling that there is no sign of life. If the sadness continues you lose your interest in life.

How to overcome?

The best way is to start doing something interesting. For example, if you are fond of painting, start a new picture. If you are fond of singing, start practicing a new song. If you are a health freak, it is time that you start doing some exercise. In short, dont sit and spend away your valuable time in remaining sad.

Anxiety:

Next on the list is Anxiety. Some people may say that anxiety helps you to analyze the situation. It prepares you to meet the challenge ahead. It forces you to do all the preparation that you need to face the new situation or a challenge. This is an example of a self-satisfying assumption. Anxiety will have a negative effect on your brain. Anxiety affects your ability to decide. And it should not be mistaken for a need to prepare for meeting any situation. That does not require anxiety. It requires only your decisive thinking and discipline. Anxiety will only cause stress which will affect your productivity. Whenever you are anxious for a particular challenge which has cropped up in your life the best way is to sit down and write what are the possibilities. You have always to make a choice. If you dont decide even that will add to your anxiety.

How to overcome?

The thing that makes fears and phobias so persistent is that virtually anything you do to oppose, escape, or distract from the anxious feelings and thoughts will be turned against you, and make the anxiety a more persistent part of your life. This is why people notice “the harder I try, the worse it gets”. They’re putting out fires with gasoline. If you come to see that you’ve been putting out fires with gasoline, you may not have any idea what to do next. But the first step is always the same:put down the buckets. Stop throwing gasoline on that fire. This is where the cognitive-behavioral methods of desensitization and exposure come in. They’re intended as methods by which you can practice with (not against) the symptoms, and become less sensitive to them. As you lose your fear of the symptoms, through this practice, that’s when the symptoms will fade.

Anger:

The third type of negative emotion is Anger. Anger is the negative emotion which can be used to your advantage. But it will happen only if you are keen to use it. Keen to use Anger to motivate you to do something which you have been postponing. Anger also needs to be in control. When in control you can be sure that it will give you greater energy to face the situation which is difficult and which requires all concentrated effort. However, if you think that Anger by itself will help you if you think that it will solve your problem by itself, you are sadly mistaken. Unbridled anger can cause havoc. It will increase your stress and generate further negative emotions like vengeance or enmity and the like. So, you should be cautious that anger should not be allowed to rule over you. You should only think of using the situation or using this powerful emotion for furthering your course. It definitely enhances your motivation. It definitely increases your willpower to resolve the problem. But as I said earlier you must be in control of your anger. You should not allow anger to have control over you.

How to overcome?

Forgiveness is a powerful tool. If you allow anger and other negative feelings to crowd out positive feelings, you might find yourself swallowed up by your own bitterness or sense of injustice. But if you can forgive someone who angered you, you might both learn from the situation and strengthen your relationship.

Lightening up can help diffuse tension. Use humor to help you face what’s making you angry and, possibly, any unrealistic expectations you have for how things should go. Avoid sarcasm, though it can hurt feelings and make things worse.

Guilt:

The fourth type of negative emotion is guilt. It is generated by your inner self. It happens when you feel that you have done something which you ought not to have done. It is indicative of a lack of discipline on your part. It is indicative that you are tempted by small things. It is indicative that you have lesser control over yourself. It is indicative of the weakness of ones character. How can we use this emotion to our advantage? We should remain self-aware and we should think before doing anything. Over the period you have realized that certain things which you did in the past, left the curse the feeling of guilt. It means that if you are shirking away from your responsibilities, you will have the feeling of guilt. So if you question yourself that you must avoid the negative feeling of guilt which will cause a negative effect on my health, on your thinking, on your brain, you may help yourself to avoid such inaction or even action which you feel will cost you dearly.

How to overcome?

Your first step is to explore your feelings of guilt and the corresponding events that took place.

Its important to gain immediate clarification about your feelings of guilt and the meaning and significance this has in your life. This is critical because at times your guilt might not be as clear as you might think. You might, in fact, need to do a little digging in order to decipher the primary reasons for your guilt. Ask yourself:

What am I feeling guilty about?

Why am I feeling guilty?

What is the underlying reason for my guilt?

What do I gain by feeling guilty?

Does this make any sense?

How does this guilt hold me back?

How does this guilt affect those around me?

Is it reasonable to feel guilty about this?

Shame or Embarrassment:

Last but not least we should talk about shame or embarrassment. This negative feeling or emotions demolish our self-confidence. It can reduce our self-esteem. This may not be entirely due to your character blemishes. It may be due to the environment. Oftentimes there are some incidents where your peers or colleagues or others deliberately try to embarrass you. So what should you do? Whenever you are likely to face such a situation you have to prepare yourself. Maybe you remind one previous occasion when some people misbehaved with you. At that time recall what was your conduct. What was your reaction? How did you deal with the situation? Recall, if you had not handled it properly and that became the cause of embarrassment. You can plan out a different response. In any case, if you want to avoid embarrassment which is affecting your personality, you have to do some kind of preparation. In life, if you want to be successful, you have to always prepare for challenging situations. Never be shy of preparation. Never think that you can handle anything and everything because of your ego. Ego has absolutely no place in life except when you mean self-confidence when youre talking about ego

How to overcome?

Theres a reason why we say were dying of embarrassment because while were in the midst of an embarrassing episode, dying really does seems like the better option. No human being I know is immune from these moments; however, I seem to have a knack at collecting a large variety. After a recent incident that made me want to hide in a corner of the world without Wi-Fi, my writing and spiritual mentor gave me great advice. Its okay to be embarrassed, he said. Its cleansing. This one has already passed, and passed nicely, like a kidney stone after the first day. You may relax.

Voice Modulation

Voice modulation is necessary for making your speech interesting. If someone is speaking without modulating his/her voice, they will sound like people who are not concerned whither you listen to them or not Voice modulation makes your listeners listen to you.

What is voice modulation? And how do we imbibe voice modulation techniques in our personality? These and various other aspects of voice modulation form an integral part of our unique voice modulation and public speaking course.

Definition

First of all let us understand the meaning of Voice modulation. The dictionary meaning of the word ‘modulation’ when referred to voice implies, regulating the voice as per requirement of your speech. Thus, you must bring in change in pace, pause and pitch while speaking. Without modulation, your speech will be flat and monotonous. Further, you must also change the emphasis on the keyword and the tone to improve the efficacy of your speech.

Objectives of Voice Modulation:

The following 3 objectives are Critical. 1) To enable the listener to understand you fully. 2) To enable you to express your ideas effectively. 3) To ensure that you are not repetitive or verbose. There would be many more benefits of voice modulation, but these 3 must be remembered so that you will always try to bring about a well modulated speech. During one on one conversation as well as speaking to a group or even speaking in public.

Techniques of voice modulation:

Speech is a matter of habit. Habits change very hard. Therefore, unless we use highly effective techniques of voice modulation, the results will be for from satisfactory. Through various innovative modulation exercises we train our students to learn these techniques. Repetitive process enable the trainees to imbibe voice modulation practice in their day to day speech.

 Who should practice Voice Modulation?

The one word answer to the question is: ‘Everybody’. Because everyone wants to express himself/herself clearly. Everyone wants that people should be impressed by their well modulated speech. Because everybody wants views. Thus voice modulation is vital for public speakers, those who want to make presentations and all those who want to succeed in influencing people. 

Thanks for reading.

The Bhagavad Gita Talks 22

The Bhagavad Gita is the ultimate book of knowledge and is duly recognized as such throughout the world. Its wisdom transcends the limits of time and space. I publish daily one message from the book which can be related to our daily life titled: Thought4TheDay

These are widely read and highly appreciated by my connections on LinkedIn, friends on Facebook and followers on twitter totally about 27000 people. As recommended by some friends, I am posting the same here. You may ask questions and/or post your comments which be appreciated. Hope you will find the initiative very rewarding. 

Thought4TheDay (19.10.2019) 

 

Lord Krishna says to Arjuna, "The person who has conquered his self, his senses and his body, and has given up all objects of worldly pleasures; such a person, without his dependence on hopes of any kind, can carry out his normal duties and perform all his work utilising his body and senses and yet remain free from sin of any kind." 

He accepts with joy whatever he receives, because he is not bound by his desire nor hankers after worldly objects. The person who has freed himself of ego, envy or jealousy of any kind, and who transcends the effects of pleasure or pain, remains calm and composed in success or failure. Such a person remains free from attachment. He continues to perform his duty with joy."

 When we understand and contemplate on these words of Lord Almighty, we find the futility of attachment with the result of our efforts. It does not mean that our efforts are affected by the lack of interest. It only means that we put our mind and soul in performance of our duty, without our anxiety about the results. We achieve the best what is possible. That is progress. That is growth. And, that is the real prosperity.

 

Thought4TheDay (18.10.2017) 

Lord Krishna says, " Arjuna, the ignorant people do not understand My prime attribute and consider Me like other ordinary human beings. Even though I attain the human form and wander amongst worldly life, I do so only for the benefit of human society. Yet they inadvertently consider Me the Almighty, as any other common human being."

"These people are engaged in futile actions and nurture unproductive knowledge. In fact, these are the people who have limited intellect and assume 'rakshasi', 'asuri' or ' Mohini' Prakriti' (lower category of human character)." 

"But Arjuna, the great souls assume 'devi' Prakriti (divine nature) and they understand Me as the endless cause of all living beings. They consider Me alone as the immortal and beyond destruction. They worship Me whole heartedly." 

It's only when we realise the presence of Lord Almighty in all things and everywhere that we maintain the right path. We are not lost in bewilderment which abounds in this illusionary world. We realise our significance of life and we contribute to the progress and growth of human society.

Please share this post with your friends for greater awareness, should you like it. Thanks.

Good Writing Skills

Blogs constitute the first step in making of an author, today. There never was a time when so many aspirant authors were seen to find their space. Further, if your blogs become popular, the chances are strong that when you write a book the same will also be widely accepted. That will motivate you to write more and try to become author of a bestselling book. The popularity of eBooks may have hurt the traditional book business, but more books are being written than ever before.

But that is only one of the many advantages of writing blogs.

The more commonly in use is the benefit of improving your writing skills in general. It will improve your vocabulary, your sentence construction and remove problems of syntax. Clarity of expression also improves your credibility as well as your productivity.

I am reproducing a document which I found on the net. It is very inspiring. The title of the document is:

The Importance of Good Writing Skills in the Workplace

“Profession

Obviously good writing skills are important when your job involves writing, be it as a journalist, paralegal or public relations professional – that goes without saying. If you are employed for your writing skills, having “good” writing skills is a job requirement. However, more professions require good writing skills than those traditionally associated with writing. Any time a profession requires written communication, writing skills become important.

Communication

With emails, notes, letters, texts and Tweets, most people spend a fair amount of time at work communicating via the written word. Whether you are messaging a colleague, writing to your manager, or crafting the company newsletter, your writing skills can boost or hinder your career easily, even if you do not have a “writing” profession. Basically, writing skills make a difference in how you come across.

Credibility

People with good writing skills are generally seen as more credible. Think to yourself how you would interpret an email from a colleague that was filled with typos and grammatical errors. At best, he was negligent in that he didn’t proofread his message or use spell check; at worst, he comes across as less intelligent and less capable. Better writers tend to get higher grades and be perceived as more competent and more intelligent than their less literary counterparts.

Considerations

In the workplace, you need to make sure that you proofread everything you write, from an email to a company memo. However, just because good writing skills are a plus, you still need to pick your battles. Correcting others can work against you, in some cases even undermining you. Further, context and tone are just as important as grammar. While obvious mistakes are a no-no, such as using “their” and “they’re” incorrectly, smaller errors, like confusing “who” and “whom” are less important.

Importance of Good Business Writing Skills

Learning and honing business writing skills can have a positive impact on an individual’s career advancement. Effective channels of communication make an organization run smoothly. Professional quality writing being sent through these channels improves productivity and the ability of all functional areas to work together, particularly in an increasingly global workplace where collaboration is the norm.

Persuasion

Sales and marketing professionals are particularly skilled at using the written word to persuade customers to purchase the company’s products and services--or at least pay attention to its advertisements. But everyone in the business world finds it necessary at times to persuade someone else to take an action based on written material they have sent. The chief financial officer of a company makes written recommendations to the chief executive officer about expenditures. Human Resources tries to make a written case for hiring a particular individual to the manager to whom the person will report.

Clarity

Clarity in writing is one of the most difficult skills to master. Word choice comes more easily for some businesspeople than for others. Venture capitalists sometimes receive business plans that are so unclear it is difficult for them to tell what business the company is in. Presumably, expressing it clearly on paper proved too difficult for them.

Professional Courtesy

In this age of text messaging, business communication increasingly comes in a shorthand fashion. Even email has a much less formal style in many companies than a letter. Taken to an extreme, this type of writing can seem lazy. If communication becomes too abrupt, it can send a message that the person receiving the message was not important enough for the sender to take the time to communicate in complete sentences or check spelling and grammar. Conversely, a carefully written email can be more impressive than a letter because it has the added element of rapid transmission--the other person was so important that the sender wanted to make sure the message arrived quickly.

Completeness

Business communication can be ineffective if a document does not completely express its intention. An instruction manual on how to operate machinery, for example, must not have gaps in the sequence of steps or the how-to explanations. The result of incomplete information could be failure to run the machine properly or even cause injury to the equipment operator. A financial report that has the quality of completeness would be one that answers the reader’s questions before he has time to ask them.

Inspiring Confidence

Supervisors and business associates who express themselves well in writing inspire a feeling of confidence in their abilities from employees or colleagues. Sharp writing conveys the impression that a sharp mind composed the words. Sloppy writing, on the other hand, can make others conclude that the creator is not intelligent. Some might even question their job-related competence.

Team Building

Written communication to employees is one way a company shows that it values their contribution and appreciates their efforts. Subtle but strong bonds of teamwork can be built through simple means such as sharing company-wide accomplishments -- sales milestones, for example -- with everyone in the organization. The tone of the communication is particularly important. If it is energetic and positive, the employees will respond to it in an equally positive fashion.”

Hope you find it very useful for not only writing blogs but also for enhancing your expression in general.

Thanks for reading.