'Prevention is better than cure' - Can it be applied to accidents?

Definitely accidents are preventable if proper precautions are taken. Prevention of accidents is always better than cure as some of the fatal accidents do not give the cure option. Here are my views on Prevention of accidents is better than cure at workplace-

Safety Slogan

Safety Poster

Communal Harmony - The Harmonium of India

The moment we say "Communal Harmony", the entire world looks at India as India is the country of  rich "Cultural Diversity" with many religions, castes and creeds, yet maintains "Unity in Diversity" always. The following are my views on communal harmony and its importance -

Is “Yoga” only to cure “Roga”?

Yoga is the spiritual and physical process which ensures both the mental and physical health and well-being. It is also useful for stress relieving and improving concentration. There are many more advantages.

Making Yoga a habit…..

Ø  Convince yourself that you need to do yoga

Ø  Start with simple exercises

Ø  Try to make it a habit

Ø  Don’t worry if you can’t go as per your plan

Ø  Try again next day when you are free

Ø  Be mindful and enjoy the process of yoga

Common myths and obstacles in yoga practice are….

1.       Only for the patients?

Many people think yoga is for the people who have the physical or mental ailments (Roga- sickness). Yah it is true that yoga cures many deceases.  But it is not meant only for curing the deceases. It also upkeeps the good health and well-being of the people. It is the effective tool to continually improve our health and well-being. This is how we can have sustainability of the health and well-being. Similar to the types of maintenance we have for our vehicles and the machines  such as Breakdown maintenance, Preventive maintenance, Predictive or Pro-active maintenance, we need to maintain our body and mind as per the needs. The effective maintenance of both the body and mind is done by Yoga.

Patients of some deceases (especially people with backpain, hypertension) think it is not for them as they can’t perform these exercises. Actually, there are very few exercises which restrict these people from doing those exercises.  They can perform remaining exercises.

Yoga has a vast pool of exercises with clear instructions and restrictions of each & every aasana (exercise).

2.      Age

Children or young people think that yoga is for the old people. The old think it is for the young to do. At this old age they think they can’t perform the yoga.

Whereas the fact is that yoga is for all the age groups. It is for all whoever wants to be happy and healthy.

3.      Time

The common myth is yoga has to be performed only in the early morning. Many people can’t wakeup early and so they decide yoga is not their cup of tea. But yoga can be done before the first cup of tea u take after waking up irrespective of time. Try to follow the scheduled time for yoga. If not possible, then also feel happy to do as and when the time permits. Moreover, Praanaayaama (Breathing exercises) may be performed whenever you feel stressed. Of course, you can do it even in a minute for the relaxation.

4.      Guide

One more apprehension many people express is that they don’t have the guide to supervise the yoga when they are performing. It is said that yoga had to be practiced under the expert supervision. But with the advent of IT, one can use the YouTube videos to get the guided practice of yoga similar to guided meditation.

5.      Region or religion

People think that yoga belongs to a certain region or religion. But it is not so. Yoga is a universal practice to unite with the universe. With the advent of International Day of Yoga (21^st June every year) declared by United Nations, yoga has got global recognition. This year the theme is “Yoga for climate change”.

Please go through the following links about International Day of Yoga….

https://www.un.org/en/events/yogaday/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Yoga

https://yoga.ayush.gov.in/yoga/

The Common Yoga Protocol is herewith shared

https://yoga.ayush.gov.in/yoga/public/assets/front/pdf/CYP%20Leaflet%20(E).pdf

You can also visit my previous posts related to this…

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/04/happiness-main-goal-of-life.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2016/07/kings-habits.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/05/whose-wealth-is-our-health.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2016/04/dynamic-or-diabetic.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2018/05/knowing-numbers-first-is-themost.html

Happy "World Environment Day"

World Environment Day is celebrated on 5^th June of every year. This year’s theme is “Beat Air Pollution”.

Please go through

https://www.un.org/en/events/environmentday/action.shtml

https://youtu.be/GVBeY1jSG9Y

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Environment_Day

Here are my views…

Environment Slogans...

Please go through my previous write-ups on environment.....

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/08/inclusive-growth-of-agriculture-and.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/06/environment-sustainability.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2016/09/ptotect-ozone-layer-to-get-protected.html

'ThinKING' is the real King

Earlier, in the previous post https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2016/07/kings-habits.html we have seen  how smoKING and drinKING (S&D) are wrongly perceived as the King’s habits. We have understood that there are good habits such as walKING, which make us the real King. On the day of “World No Tobacco Day” (31.05.19), I introduce you to another wonderful King’s habit i.e., ThinKING.

ThinKING about quitting bad habits such as smoKING and drinKING and go for good habits is the first step required for the change.

ThinKING about why people are going for S&D will reveal some of the reasons-

Ø  To come out of the anxiety and stress- There are many causes of stress. Please go through https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/06/please-find-herewith-attached-link-to.html for understanding about stress. S&D is not the solution because S&D may give temporary relaxation from the stress, but when the stress recurs, again subjecting to S&D. Moreover, S&D may also increase the stress caused by feeling of guilt, addiction, loss of self-control etc., which further raise the temptations to go for S&D and the vicious cycle goes on.  Anxiety and stress can be managed through yoga, meditation, deep muscle relaxation technique and other scientific methods of relaxation.

Ø  To relax- S&D is not the choice. There are proven relaxation techniques which are very good for health.

Ø  Social obligation/ Peer’s pressure- We have to only bear the consequences of S&D. No one is responsible for one’s health. We ourselves are responsible for our health. No one can save our life or not even help in recovering from the chronic deceases due to S&D. Please go through https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/05/whose-wealth-is-our-health.html.

Ø  Status symbol- We have discussed this in detail in the previous post of King’s habits. Never ever perceive S&D as the King’s habits.

Ø  Parents’ Habits- As the father is the KING for the children, he becomes the ideal for imitation by the children. They follow the parents’ footsteps. Thus, parents should behave responsibly.

Ø  Passing time/coming out of boredom- Some people engage themselves in S&D for passing time when they feel bored. Idle man’s brain is devil’s workshop. Never sit idle. Always focus your mind on something which is useful.

There are many ways of bringing in the change. Where there is a will, there is a way… There are wonderful techniques for self-management and control such as mindfulness, concentration, thoughtfulness, meditation, emotional intelligence and various stress management techniques etc., available in YouTube. One can go through and practise for the great benefits. Still if one feels difficult to come out of the addiction to S&D, psychologists and psychiatrists are always available to help out.

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is celebrated every year by WHO (World Health Organization) and its partners on 31.05.19. This year’s focus is “tobacco and lung health”.

The campaign focusses on

• the negative impact that tobacco has on people’s lung health, from cancer to chronic respiratory disease,
• the fundamental role lungs play for the health and well-being of all people.

Please go through https://www.who.int/news-room/events/detail/2019/05/31/default-calendar/world-no-tobacco-day for further details.

THINK before you ACT…….

Corruption - A Virus? Do we have an Anti-virus for it?

Happy World Mental Health Day

World Mental Health Day (WMHD) is celebrated every year on 10^th of October. This was started in 1992 by World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH). This year, the theme is “Young people and mental health in a changing world”.

Let us now separate the words in WMHD to understand it better.

Health

If we ask someone how is his/her health, it is presumed that he/she was suffering from some illness. Health is always attributed as connected to illness in the background, which has some negativity. The moment we ask someone how is his/her health, the other people around will immediately ask what has happened to him. On the contrary, we say “Health is Wealth”. If it is so, why people have a negative feeling in the background. The perception towards health earlier was simply it was just the absence of disease. Let us now see the latest WHO definition, which clearly added positivity to it.

As per WHO (World Health Organization, “health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." There are two important things in it. One is the word “well-being” is the most powerful word added intentionally to bring the positivity to the word “health”. The second is in addition to “physical” word, “mental and social” words are used for ensuring the complete well-being of a person. This holistic perspective of health everyone needs to understand and strive for the complete health of self and society at large. Social well-being is basically dependent on the reciprocity of the values, ethics and morals in the society and how we follow them.

Mental Health

Mental health is defined by WHO as “a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community”.

If we see the definition carefully, out of four aspects

1. Realizing his/her own potential
2. Coping with the normal stresses of life
3. Able to work productively and fruitfully
4. To make a contribution to his/her community

except “Stresses”, remaining all the words are positive. Thus, the perception of looking at “Mental Health” as a negative thing should change. Moreover, the definition itself starts with a positive term “well-being”. Sometimes, “Mental Health” is confused with “Mental Illness” and both the words are used interchangeably. But both are different words. Both are not antonyms also as from the very definition of health itself we understood that it is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Mental Health Day

Is “Mental Health Day” different from “World Mental Health Day”? Yes both are different.

Wikipedia says “a ‘mental health day’ is the day when an employee does not come to work and takes a sick day for reasons other than physical illness”.  “Mental health day” thus, represents lack of mental health.

World Mental Health Day

As per WHO, World Mental Health Day is observed on 10 October every year, with the overall objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.

The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.

Thus, World Mental Health Day is different from Mental Health Day.

Happy World Mental Health Day

“Happiness” is the main goal of life. Let the awareness about mental health converts into the reality of maintaining mental health, thereby complete “health” which brings “wealth” to all of us.  Please go through my posts on Happiness - The Main Goal of Life & Whose Wealth is our Health?

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/04/happiness-main-goal-of-life.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2015/05/whose-wealth-is-our-health.html

Please go through the report of WFMH on this year WMHD-2018 theme-

https://wfmh.global/wp-content/uploads/WMHD_REPORT_19_9_2018_FINAL.pdf

Be an 'Actor' of 'Emotions'

In Bhagawad Gita, it is said that life is a drama and we all are actors. Even Shakespeare reiterated the fact by saying “All the world’s a stage and all men and women are merely players”. These are used in different contexts to explain different concepts useful for mankind. Taking the thought further, from this analogy of life with drama, we can find some more useful concepts….

We should not be carried away by the success or failure. If we see great actors, they are never carried away by the success or failure. They stick to the basics of acting and fulfil the responsibility as an actor to continue to excel in their profession. Not getting carried away by any emotions and having good emotional intelligence is one of the qualities of “Sthithaprajnatha” described in Bhagawad Gita. Some actors who had spent a lot of money on luxuries in their successful days without thinking of future, faced a lot of problems in the days of failure. Thus, always predict the unpredictable and be cautious and save money for future also.

We should not be jealous about others’ roles and charisma. In a movie or drama, many actors act together, out of whom some may be veterans, charismatic and some might be not good at acting. But unless all the actors play their roles properly, the drama can’t be a success. We can observe that they don’t bring in the jealousy at all on the stage while performing. Each individual concentrates on their individual role and performance which adds value to the team performance. 

No blame game. Just imagine if a play is going on and an actor makes a mistake, we often see the other actors nicely manage to continue the play with perfect emotional intelligence and their concentration towards their role. Even they try to cover up the mistake done by the co-actor. It is all done spontaneously and effortlessly on the stage. This speaks of the team spirit and clearly explains we should not do blame game. It is quite often seen that many people blame others that because of his/her fault my work is getting delayed or I could not complete the work etc. This type of blame game has to be changed and mutual cooperation is expected as in the example of the play mentioned above.

Be passionate about our work. We can observe the amount of passion and dedication they show towards the art on the stage. So much of hard work they put in and many rehearsals to perform with perfection. We should get inspired by it…They respect their profession as God.

Teach the skills to the future generations to save the art. The sustainability of some forms of the art is missing already as those have not been transferred to the next generations. Thus, sharing the tacit knowledge and skills including the trade secrets to the next generations is the only solution to ensure the sustainability of the art of working.

As we are termed as actors, let us try to learn how to deliver different emotions with high emotional intelligence as per the scenes and situations of the drama….

Know the Numbers and Optimize the Blood Pressure...

Knowing the numbers first is the most important thing before doing additions or subtractions… The same thing applies to blood pressure also…

The blood pressure should be neither too low (Hypotension) nor too high (Hypertension), should be maintained at the optimum. What is the desired level of blood pressure? Let us “know the numbers first” before doing additions or subtractions.

17^th May of every year is celebrated as World Hypertension Day- An initiative of World Hypertension League (WHL) affiliated to the International Society of Hypertension (ISH). For the period 2013-2018, the theme is “Know Your Numbers”.

The blood pressure of the body is measured in mmHg by using the device called Sphygmomanometer/Blood pressure meter or monitor. It gives two values systolic pressure (peak pressure of the arteries during cardiac cycle-when the heart beats) & the diastolic pressure (the lowest pressure during the resting phase of cardiac cycle-between the heartbeats). The difference between these two pressures is the pulse pressure.

The normal Systolic/Diastolic pressure is 120/80 mmHg for a healthy person. Please go through "Understanding Blood Pressure Readings".

By now, it would have been clear that unless we measure it, we can’t know the blood pressure as the symptoms may come at very high or low values. So, always it is better to check the Blood Pressure periodically so that corrective actions may be taken to avoid further raise or fall in case any deviations are there.

As there is a famous saying, “Unless you measure it, you cannot control it”, blood pressure control may be effectively possible with consistent monitoring and corrective actions. Please go through my posts 'Test' for the 'Best', Whose Wealth is Our Health?, King’s Habits, Dynamic or Diabetic?.

Improvement in Workplace Safety

Is only zero accident the main aim of Safety? Is continual improvement possible in Safety also?
Let us see...

Firing the Fire - From God to Ghost

In Indian culture, Fire is considered to be God and is worshipped. The fire under control is truly Godly as it gives heat for cooking, protection from cold wave, in the boiler to generate steam and thereby electricity etc. But once it goes out of control the damage it causes is unimaginable as it becomes a Ghost and the losses are irreparable, irrevocable and irreversible. Thus, understanding the basics of fire, the fire safety measures, the fire fighting methods are very important for one and all.

To commemorate the loss of lives in the fire accident took place at Victoria Dock in the Bombay Port on 14th April, 1944, every year April 14th is observed as Fire Service Day and under the guidance of the Fire adviser, Ministry Home Affairs, Government of India, all the organizations observe the Fire Service Week (FSW) in all the industries.

My views on the topic " Fire Loss is National Loss - Let us adopt Fire Safety Measures" are herewith shared...

All the Credit goes to You...

We find the term “Credit” in finance (Taking the credit from a bank or financial institution) as well as in HR (Taking the credit for some work or achievement).

Some analogies—

Giving credit/Taking credit always pays good returns only if it is given to/taken from the right person at the right time.

There should be a balance between the assets (efforts) and liabilities (credits).

Effort=Asset, Credit=Liability

Considering above aspects 4 categories emerge-

1.Effortless Credit   Effort=Asset=0, Credit=Liability   Outcome=Liability

Effortless credit means without efforts taking/giving the credit. If a person takes the undue credit without efforts the outcome becomes a liability. So it is not desirable to give/take undue advantage of something in which no efforts are made.

2.Effort less (minus) Credit          Outcome= Asset-Liability

Putting efforts but not taking credit/Putting efforts and giving credit to others/Motivating for further efforts by not giving credit is this category. This always maintains continual improvement with sustainable competitive advantage for good managers.

3.Effortful Credit       Outcome= -Asset+Liability=Liability-Assets

In this all the efforts are put for taking/giving credit. It is not desirable as the resources are getting drained in taking/giving credit.

4.Effort full (plus) Credit   Outcome= Asset+Liability

Putting efforts and taking the credit for it. The moment we take/give the credit, the feeling of achieving the goal may come. People may get satisfied with the short term goal achievement. It may lead to complacence. But some people may take it as a motivation for achieving the long term big goals.

Let us put all our efforts to be in the 2^nd category or at least in the 4^th category.

Building the Safety Culture...

To build the safety culture in India, National Safety Council was formed on 04-03-1966.Since then, every year on 4th March, Safety Day is celebrated. From 4th March to 10th March- Safety week is celebrated during which several safety awareness programmes & competitions are conducted.

Here are my views on building safety culture in business organizations/industries/power plants...

Similar to the financial statement for the financial year, every organization may prepare the Safety Report of the activities related to Safety for every Safety Year. Even the individuals may also analyze their concern & contribution towards safety in every safety year... 

From here on wards, 04th March from current year to 03rd March of the next year may be considered as the Safety Year for all the planning, implementation, review & analysis purposes...

Without Safety there is no life, hence no work, no family, no growth. Safety is the most important element to be ensured in each & every walk of life.

Let everyday be a Safety Day...For that the Safety celebrations should not get restricted to Safety Day or Safety Week... It should be "Safety Year"...