The Teacher always Shines like the Sun

September 5th every year is celebrated as teachers’ day to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, famous scholar of comparative religion and philosophy, the first Indian to hold a Professorial Chair at University of Oxford, the second President of India, Bharat Ratna etc.

Please go through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan for further details.

World Teachers’ Day, as decided by UNESCO, is celebrated on October 5th every year to focus on "appreciating, assessing and improving the educators of the world" and to provide an opportunity to consider issues related to teachers and teaching. Please refer to the following for further details 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Teachers%27_Day

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Teachers%27_Days.

 

Here I present my views on teaching & teachers-

Teach= T each = Transform each & every student's life… So, teacher is the one who transforms the student's life with proper guidance & motivation to grow.

I have designed a greeting on Teachers’ Day with a theme behind it…

 

Now let me bring out the analogy---

Student= Seed

Mother= Earth/soil

Father= Water and other inputs for growth

Sun= Teacher

Atmosphere= Schools & colleges, the education system, policies, society and other conditions

Photosynthesis= Learning

Plant Growth into a Tree= Student becoming a good citizen

 

The student (Seed) needs the foundation from the mother (earth/soil) and father (water and other minerals & nutrients). The mother (soil) gives the strength to grow as a plant and the father supports its growth and healthiness with proper facilities for care & protection. The teacher (Sun) shares the knowledge (rays) impartially to all the students (all the plants) through the medium of the school, education system, policies & other conditions (the medium in case of Sun and the plants is the atmosphere). The transparency of the medium is also a factor for effective photosynthesis (Learning) and the plants’ growth (students’ growth as a good citizen). The obstructions for photosynthesis (learning) such as clouds (corruption in the system or improper policies and implementation), shadows of other big trees (influence of bad peers and friends) may impede the process of photosynthesis (learning) and ultimately slows down or prevents the growth.

 

Though the teacher is imparting the knowledge impartially to all the students, few students excel & few students fail depending on all other factors discussed above. But, it is to observe here that the Sun is impartial & always shines and takes no credit of the growth of big trees and vegetation. Vegetation and deforestation we only are doing… The Sun always shines and helps in vegetation trying to reach each & every seed possible when there is a transparent medium of approach. Thus, there is a need to improve the atmosphere (the education system & policies) so that the rays of the Sun (knowledge) reaches all the seeds and plants to grow big as trees. With such a system, we can see a big green forest in future…

 

Integrating Yoga, Meditation & Music...

Today is the International Day of Yoga (21st June), Music Day (21st June), Father’s Day (3rd Sunday of June). Please visit Wikipedia for the details and importance of these days.

Though they appear to have different themes and purposes, let us try to integrate these three different concepts into a holistic understanding. In my previous post https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2019/06/is-yoga-only-to-cure-roga.html?m=1, I explained how the yoga can be useful for our overall well-being and cleared the common myths about yoga. Today we will see how yoga is naturally integrated in our life… If we observe the infants and their movements and postures, they remind us about some of the yoga postures useful for the digestion, muscle strengthening etc. Just with this observation, I tried to find the analogy and luckily found it in one website… the link is here https://www.yoremikids.com/news/may-babies-do-yoga-yo-re-mi-for-child-development. Though we have not taught the infants about yoga & different asanas, they automatically and naturally do it… So it means the body is designed to have some natural exercises, which we do as infants and later stop to do and fall prey to different lifestyle disorders.

Even we can observe there is a strong association among yoga asanas, pranayama and meditation. In all the three, the breathing and the focus and regulation of breathing is the common element. That's why even the yoga and pranayama though they appear to give the physiological benefits, they also give the psychological benefits like stress reduction and mental peace etc. Thus, the yoga and meditation are well integrated and mutually supporting processes.

The other aspect we can commonly see is there is a soothing and pleasant music played in most of the guided meditations and yoga practices. It enhances the benefits. The music sets the mind and the mood and is useful in concentrating on yoga or meditation. That's how it gets well integrated with these.

In Indian culture, father is the head of the family and is the role model for the kids. His primary responsibility is to inspire the family members for good things by setting examples. Thus, the father has a role to keep his own health and well-being by setting an example for the wife and the kids to follow. The lifestyle changes such as making yoga and meditation a habit should start from the father sothat all the family members follow him. This is how on this Day of International Yoga ( This year's theme is Yoga for health- yoga at home), every father should take the lead to start practicing yoga and meditation daily for few minutes with all the family members. We can always integrate the music in this process for better results.

Everything is in Your Hands

Most of the religions in the world believe our destiny is in our hands… be it palmistry in Hinduism, Naseeb/taqdeer/kismat in Islam & the destiny written in the palms in Bible… Even the psychologists and motivational speakers etc always quote “You can create your own destiny. You can design your own future. It is in your hands.”

The more practical example I give from the Corona Pandemic… One of the key precautionary steps suggested to avoid the spread of corona is to frequently wash the “hands”. Dirtiness (corona virus presently) in the hands is deciding the destiny of the people and finally resulting in so many deaths of the people. Though other routes of transmission such as mouth, nose and eyes are there, hands may be the key contributing factors because with the hands only we keep the nose mask and the goggles & other PPEs to protect from the virus.  So, keeping them clean always is to be ensured. Even in the Karma siddhantha also, if you do good, goodness will be ensured. If we do bad deeds, definitely our destiny will be bad. Thus, the destiny reciprocates exactly what we do with our hands. If we help, bless or support someone with our hands, we will be destined to get those things in return in some or other form. If we use our hands to do anything wrong, definitely our destiny will be bad.

Washing the hands regularly makes me to bring the analogy to the introspection on regular basis about our deeds. Purifying the hands is like purifying the body, mind, heart and soul to do good to be good. Again, it is all about self-monitoring and control. If we want a positive future, we should have clean hands and deeds. We are always suggested to be positive. But the corona and other diseases are an exception. We should be negative to the negatives like Corona and other viruses, diseases and deceases.

 Finally, if we don’t wash our hands, minds and deeds frequently and keep them clean, our destiny will be washed away.

 Further, we can explore the analogies of wearing nose masks with the filtering the words we speak, mutual responsibility etc. We can learn from anything and everything… The important thing is how much we are applying…. Everything is in our hands only.

Let us spread the awareness before the corona virus spreads...

Save the Environment & Biodiversity from the “Inhumanity in Humanity”

Human beings are the only animals who can think and apply their mind to the fullest extent possible. Not only the efficiency of our mind, but also the direction in which it is applied i.e. the effectiveness is also very important for the growth of an individual, organization, nation and the world at large leading to sustainable growth. But the selfishness in the human beings has led them to go for excessive deforestation, damaging the ecological balance, climate change, ozone layer depletion etc. which are detrimental to the environment as well as human beings in turn. Mankind has become unkind towards the other species living along with us in the nature despite of the efforts made by the governments, stringent laws & regulations.

Nature, by its nature, has been helping us in many ways for our living and growth… We have been seeing how difficult it is when the nature takes the revenge in terms of natural calamities and the deceases spread by different species (Corona virus, Malaria, Dengue etc.). Recent Corona Pandemic has clearly given a message what happens when the nature becomes unkind towards mankind.  At least now, let us realize the importance of the nature and the need to protect it to protect ourselves from its revenges. That’s why it is said “If we protect the nature, nature protects us”. Let us realize and act with love and compassion towards the nature and let it reciprocate the same.

Today is the World Environment Day and the theme for this year is “Celebrating Biodiversity”.

In my view, if people are not able to embrace the human diversity (recent George Floyd’s death due to racism in America), how can we expect Bio-diversity to be protected. Even in the country like India, which is known for its cultural diversity, there is a recent incident of elephant’s death in Kerala. It drives us to think of caring for all the animals. Cruelty to animals is not at all acceptable.

Let all the animals live peacefully to let us live happily.

India is the only country in the world, in which the animals are associated with Gods and are worshipped... So let us keep up the spirit...

Please go through my previous posts on Environment in my blog www.researchsubbu.blogspot.com  & give your valuable feedback and suggestions-

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2019/06/happy-world-environment-day.html

https://researchsubbu.blogspot.com/2016/11/pollution-natural-environmentcorruption.html

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

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

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

'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….