Archives July 2022

Healthy Morning to everyone!

Do we really follow the rythm of our body? Most times, we don’t listen to the rythm with which our body operates.

Haven’t you observed your body at different hours in a day? Sometimes you will be energetic, sometimes you will be lazy. Assertiveness and aggressiveness can be felt while taking decisions at different timings in a day. On some odd days, the perception, judgement, choices in decision making, some of our emotions and behaviors also get distorted.

These things can happen due to many reasons. One of those is because, of the imbalance & non-synchronized lifestyle managements. To live a balanced life—and enjoy the good health it brings—we need to keep our daily rhythms set to the age-old ayurvedic clock.

Let’s learn simple things about Ayurveda for BETTER HEALTH & Peak Productivity Performance:

Vata, Pita & Kapha are the three Doshas of the body. Perfect balance of three Doshas leads to health, imbalance in Tridosha leads to diseases. “Dosha” is a central term in Ayurveda originating from Sanskrit, which can be translated as “that which can cause problems” (literally meaning “fault” or “defect”), and which refers to three categories or types of substances that are believed to be present in a person’s body and mind.

Normally, we break our day into THREE – Work Time | Our Time | Sleep Time. However,

Ayurveda breaks a day into SIX Four-Hour Zones.

Day Starts: 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. – Kapha Time – Cool, Heavy & Earthy

Mid Day: 10:00 a.m. to 02:00 p.m. – Pitta Time – Hot, Sharp and fiery “High Digestive time”

Afternoon: 02:00 p.m. to 06:00 p.m. – Vata Time – Light, Dry & Airy

Then, the cycle continues: 06:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. – Kapha | 10:00 p.m. to 02:00 a.m. – Pitta | 02:00 a.m. to 06:00 a.m. – Vata.

To put it simple:

• The rising (dawn) and falling (dusk) of the sun are connected to “Kapha”.
• The peak of the day (midday) and the peak of the night (midnight) are related to “Pitta”.
• The transition between night and day and between dusk and dawn is related to “Vata”.

Activities for Vata time: Vata dosha includes the elements of ether and air. This time is the best time to access the ether and spiritual connections (for those who believe in it), others can be with the nature.

02:00 a.m. – 06:00 a.m. | Cool, Heavy & Earthy

• Body prepares to wake up and gets ready for elimination. | In India, we term “Brahma muhurta”, 96 minutes before sunrise, is the best time to wake up. Brahma means knowledge and this is the time to seek knowledge.
• This is the auspicious and sacred time, the best time to meditate, visualize, and create.
• It is also the ideal time to go out for a walk and do yoga.

02:00 p.m. – 06:00 p.m. | Light, Dry & Airy

Best time for communicating, socializing, and sharing creativity. At Dusk, practice Meditation & lighter exercises. | It is best to have the last meal before 6:00 p.m.

Activities for Pitta time: Pitta dosha includes the fire and water elements. Hence, the most productive part of the day.

10:00 a.m. – 02:00 p.m. | Hot, Sharp and fiery “High Digestive time”

Ayurveda also encourages us to eat our primary meal in the middle of the day, when the fire of pitta dominates. Pitta supports our ability to digest all things—food, thoughts, and feelings.

• Pitta time is for planning, taking action, and organizing.
• Plan and execute your most physical or analytical tasks during the Pitta day hours.

10:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. | Resist The Second Spell

• Let’s allow body to repair itself. Hitting the bed before 10 p.m. helps the hormones such as serotonin and melatonin to do their tasks in our body. Best time when our mind is in a subconscious state, and when we experience colorful dreams.

Activities for Kapha time: Kapha dosha comprises earth and water elements. The nature is heavy and nourishment & It is a perfect time for self-care rituals.

06:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. | Blissful Morning

• Rise up in the Kapha hours so as to draw prana (life force) into the body.
• Morning ablutions including full elimination should happen.
• Practice Exercises or Yoga.
• Break the Fast and get energetic and prepare for your day.

06:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. | Winds Down Slowly

• Slow down and assimilate your energy.
• Be with loved ones.
• If possible, a warm oil massage (Abhyanga) also adds to a feeling of heaviness that will relax your body and senses, and help you achieve deep rest.
• IMPORTANTLY: Turn off your screens and get ready to hit the bed. No activities that can go deep into your mind to disturb your sleep.

Knowledge of this Ayurvedic routine has been around for thousands of years and it has been passed down through the sciences of yoga and Ayurveda. However, our modern lifestyle has made it difficult for us to comply with natural rhythms.

These rhythms are not rules invented by Ayurveda, they are the basic needs of our body and mind. By understanding your dosha and how it functions, you can better understand how the energy around you affects your constitution and inner being.

Let’s live healthily! Wishing you all good health, peace and prosperity!

In Gratitude – N.R.Rakesh Babu | Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar

Experience (noun): Event(s) of which one is cognizant. Eg: “It was an experience he would not soon forget.”

Expertise (noun): Great skill or knowledge in a particular field or hobby. Eg: “The scientist has expertise in the field of nuclear fusion.”

It is understood that there are vast differences in Experience and Expertise. It is not necessary that an Experienced Person to be an Expert in the field he/she is associated with. However, an Expert need not to have decades of experiences though. In some places, it can be found that an Expert has decent experience as well.

Expertise comes from the drive towards learning the process. When an expert is in a team, he/she strives to share the knowledge. It will help the team to grow and he can inspire the whole team. This indeed can help the team members to grow personally and can be a significant contributors for the growth of the organization too.

An expertise of an individual is creating vibes all around him/her and they can be a beacon. Passion towards self-growth and new learning continuously helps one to become an expert and such expertise are helping the growth organically.

Experience in terms of “Years” without learning or passion cannot be counted for the better performance. People with sheer experience & greater passion can support well for their generation and also can preserve more memories for the next generation.

There are lot of examples and one such person is India’s Former President Late Dr.A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. He went through turbulent phases of life personally, socially and professionally. However, nothing changed him from being an Expert in his area of expertise.

In a conversation with one of my friends, I came to know the other end of the experts as well. He said that some experts never teaches what they learnt. They may think, why should I teach? I learnt it hard, let others also can gain the knowledge on their own. Listening to this view, I am little worried. If they can share the knowledge, it can be used effectively. At the end of the day, it is all about how everyone thinks to live. To EXIST or to LIVE. To just EXIST, they can proudly say that I have decades of EXPERIENCE. However, to LIVE, EXPERTISE will be exposed, explored by many and to emulate by the nextgen.

Let’s LIVE!

In Gratitude,

N.R.Rakesh Babu
Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar
www.rakeshbabu.com | www.rbac.in

Peace Of Mind Matters!

It is up to us to start the day with the desired emotions and mindset!

Zigs – Zags will be there. However, if we decide to make it enjoyable, then the journey will be #fun. If we feel it as trouble, then we may end up in worries.

What makes a person #happy? It’s their own mindset! We know this better. Sometimes, some turbulences pass through us and these motivating mindset or attitude may get affected. The one who can withstand that with “Let Go” attitude can live peacefully. This is what we say, “Live in the present”.

Think about the output. What kind of output you need. Is it a happier one or #worrisome one? Accordingly, make yourself engaged in the present moment. This is “Mindful Thinking” or “Mindful Doing”.

When Mind Is FULL, there is no Mindfulness. Think! What actually you want – MindFull or Mindful? When we do it mindfully, with awareness, with alertness, we will be safe. Be a #Meraki.

How to become aware of such turbulence which passes through?

Learn and Practice:

1. Breathing Exercises

2. Meditation

3. Yogasanas/Other Physical Exercises

4. Eat healthy balanced food

5. Take Enough Rest.

It will keep oneself aware and alert. Thus we can be more mindful.

Mental wellness is more important or equally important as physical well-being. An equilibrium of both can give the actual happiness that a person desire and deserve.

Let’s live happily and mindfully!

In Gratitude,
N.R.Rakesh Babu
Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar
www.rakeshbabu.com | www.rbac.in

How Many “Meraki” Professionals are here?

While reading an interesting article, found this word. Just loved it.

“Meraki” – Putting a part of yourself into what you’re doing!

(Noun / Origin: Greek / me·ra·ki)

This is a modern #Greek word that’s often used to describe the instance wherein you leave a part of yourself (your soul, creativity, or love) in your work — so it’s like when you intensely love to do something or just about anything that you put something of yourself into it.

In Psychological term, it is “Mindfully” doing something. When we do something mindfully, we will put ourself into it! Aren’t we?

In Gratitude,
N.R.Rakesh Babu
Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar
www.rakeshbabu.com | www.rbac.in

“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.” – Rumi

Gratitude is an attitude to live with! Gratitude or Gratefulness cannot be expressed in words, however, we can experience the benefit of it. I feel that if everyone of us live with the gratitude, greed never hit anyone. If there is no greed, the there is no comparison, jealous, emotional violence etc.,

We should foster gratitude to children right from their early age and can also be practiced at schools. Love is contagious. When we inculcate good values in children, they grow naturally with good values and ethics. It is important to teach or preach the effects of gratitude. There is a Viatnamese Proverb – “When eating fruit, remember the one who planted the tree”. When they remember the farmer while eating the fruit, an unconditional love evolves in them, which can develop the attitude of gratitude.

Now, what is Gratitude according to researchers?

Religious traditions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism all encourage cultivating gratitude as an important moral virtue. For millennia, gratitude has been a popular topic among philosophers:

• Cicero said gratitude “is not only the greatest one but also the mother of all the other remaining virtues”;

• Seneca “ranked ingrates below thieves, rapists and adulterers”;

• Hume wrote, “Of all crimes that human creatures are capable of committing, the most horrid and unnatural is ingratitude”;

• Adam Smith believed that gratitude was vital for maintaining a society based on goodwill

Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough define gratitude as a two-step process:

1) “recognizing that one has obtained a positive outcome”

2) “recognizing that there is an external source for this positive outcome.”

How Gratitude Helps Brain & Body – According to Research?

Scientific studies reveal that the effects of gratitude on the brain and body are complex but calming, mentally strengthening, and motivating. With the rise of positive psychology in the 2000s, the study of gratitude has tremendously expanded. – Mind’s Journal.

A study by Kyeong et al. in 2017 states as follows:

1. Gratitude Modulates Heart Rhythms in a way that enhances mental health.
2. Gratitude Strengthens The Emotion-Related Activity Of The Brain.
3. Gratitude Enhances The Motivation-Related Activity Of The Brain.

   In another study in 2008, it says “that gratitude causes synchronized activation in multiple brain regions, and lights up parts of the brain’s reward pathways and the hypothalamus. In short, gratitude can boost neurotransmitter serotonin and activate the brain stem to produce dopamine. “Dopamine is our brain’s pleasure chemical.”

How to practice Gratitude?

1. Always feel that you are given with what you want and are enough with it
2. Write down your gratitude notes/journal
3. Meditation keeps you still and will be able to be in contentment
4. Be a Philanthropist – Doing Service/Charity to the needy helps a lot.

   Anything when you start it may be challenging. However on continuous practice it will become a habit and can be in gratitude mode ever. This happens with neuroplasticity due to continuous practice.

Finally, I feel happy and blessed to write this article on “Gratitude” today. It is a day to offer gratitude to the masters or Gurus who have given or transcended the wisdom to us. Happy Gurupurnima!.

Much gratitude to my Father & Mother, all my Teachers, Professors, Professional Mentors and Spiritual guides. Also to all those masters who came to this world and got enlightened!

I am grateful to my master Global Humanitarian and Spiritual Leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar for spreading love and compassion to the world through his wisdom.

(Emmons & Crumpler, 2000), (McCullough, Kilpatrick, Emmons, & Larson, 2001), (Manela, 2015).

(Reference: Kyeong, S., Kim, J., Kim, D. et al. (2017). Effects of gratitude meditation on neural network functional connectivity and brain-heart coupling. Scientific Reports, 7, 5058.)

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05520-9

Disclaimer: Pictures that are relevant to this topic has taken from different sources. Credits to those original creators.

In Gratitude

N.R.Rakesh Babu | Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar
www.rakeshbabu.com | www.rbac.in

“Anger is One Letter Short of Danger! – Eleanor Roosevelt”

Anger can create any sort of Danger at any point of time, as it is one of the challenging emotions that we deal with. When we are angry, our mind is not in our control and it will be like a vortex. To calm down the vortex, we should be still and calm for sometime. It helps to come out of the Danger Zone.

Anger leads to poor choice of words while we talk, poor decision through thought process, it can break the relationships.

So long as we don’t know how the anger affects our body and mind, we don’t deal with it properly. That’s the truth. In this article, I help the readers to demonstrate with the help of the picture which I got it from NICABM.

Emotional Vortex not only stir your mind but also the body! I re-iterate this Mind-Body connection in most of my posts. It is inter-connected.

How Anger Affects Your Brain & Body?

Anger is an Emotion – That triggers “Amygdala” -> Amygdala Activates Hypothalamus -> It Signals Pituitary Gland -> Adrenal Glands -> It then secretes Stress Hormones!

It is necessary to educate this simple mechanism right from the school to avoid unnecessary anger that creates right from the childhood, else it will aggravate and the adulthood will become a mess. Early education will help the society for non-violence.

Psychologists/Therapists can educate this mechanism to their clients also for the better understanding.

To Stay Calm in Anger: Take Few Deep Breaths | Observe Your Breath | Let it come Normal | Drink a cup of water | If needed Take a short Nap

When you are normal, think about the source of Anger – It may be disappointment, Fear, Frustration, Judgement, Rejection or anything else. Start working on that, you will be alright.

I read a recent Tweet from Global Humanitarian and Peace Ambassador Gurudev Sri Sri Ravishankar, he states, “Anger is the punishment one gives oneself for someone else’s mistake. #SaveYourMind at all costs.”

Let us not put the remote control of our happiness in other’s pockets.

This post can help the readers in a certain way to make themselves calm and to help others by understanding the reality or practical happenings in our health system.

Mental health fraternities are working towards peaceful lives. Let Peace Prevail In This World. Peace Starts From Us!

Disclaimer: The attached picture’s source is “National Institute of Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine’s website”. Picture Credits to the original creator.

In Gratitude – N.R.Rakesh Babu | Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar
www.rakeshbabu.com | www.rbac.in

Happy Birthday Howard Gardner! Born: 11 July 1943 (age 79 years)!

Howard Earl Gardner is an American developmental psychologist and the John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Research Professor of Cognition and Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education at Harvard University. (Source – wikipedia | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Gardner)

As a Psychologist who deal with career development and career consultation, I personally explored lot on Howard Garner’s Mutiple Intelligence Theory. It shows the various Intelligences that an individual posses and based on that how we can nurture him/her accordingly.

According to Gardner, there is no ONE WAY to become smarter. Since the smartness associated with different parts of the brain, he thought there may be many ways to become smarter. He did research with kids and adults to discover more about how people learn. He named his theory as Multiple Intelligence Theory or MI Theory.

He came up with names for the different kinds of intelligences. Here are the eight kinds of smart he talked about: (1) Linguistic Intelligence, (2) Musical Intelligence, (3) Logical/Mathematical Intelligence, (4) Spatial Intelligence, (5) Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence, (6) Interpersonal Intelligence, (7) Intrapersonal Intelligence, and (8) Naturalist Intelligence, (9) Existential Intelligence (Life Smart).

There are few assessment tools to decode these smartness in children & adults. Post decoding, the assessor should be competent enough to explain the significant findings of the assessment to their parents (for children) or to them (for adults).

Since I am practicing this theory for quite a long time, I feel that decoding and explaining anyone can do. The challenging part is nurturing. Any nurturing needs perfect practice with continuous effort. For children, even when we find the smartness in them through MI Theory, they cannot explore their smartness 100% in schools.

In India, the Smart System should get implemented in all schools, irrespective of the curriculum. Setting up or organizing the classroom in such a way that areas of the room are dedicated to specific intelligences. Although students can certainly engage in MI activities while seated at their desks, the use of long periods of seat time places significant limits on the kinds of MI experiences they can have. Restructuring the classroom to create “intelligence-friendly” areas or activity centers can greatly expand the parameters for student exploration in each domain.

Looking forward to implement this wonderful assessment to all children with proper system in schools not only in India but across the world.

Let’s create SMART WORLD with Smart NextGen!

Note: I have attached few pictures which are downloaded from different sources in internet. As an author of this article, I don’t claim any credit for those pictures.

In Gratitude – N.R.Rakesh Babu | Psychologist | PhD Research Scholar | www.rakeshbabu.com