All posts tagged: Mental-Health

Art installation of several circular pieces of carved wood and paintings set against a dark blue wall

The Power of Affirmations: How to Manifest the Life You Want

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Positive Affirmations and Manifesting your Reality are terms that are thrown around casually in most conversations and interviews these days. At first glance, it seems like wishful thinking or something happening in your life just because you really wanted it to.
However, each of us has at least one thing we really want, but it doesn’t always manifest in our lives. What makes the power of manifestation work for some and not others?
Affirmations become more than wishful thinking when we consciously remember and visualise our goals throughout the day.
If you are new to the concept of manifesting your reality, here are a few simple things to get you started.

hand holding a red lipstick writing Bye on a mirror with the lipstick

How to declutter your life: 6 kinds of people you need to let go of

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Do you feel like your life is filled with clutter? Maybe you have too many material things, perhaps the number of responsibilities has encroached on your free time, or possibly you just have a lot of people in your life who drain your energy and stress you out. In any case, it’s natural to want to declutter your life and simplify things.
Often, our mental space is taken up by relationships that ‘do not spark joy’. So what do you do when you realise that a relationship is toxic and it’s time to let go?
If you want to know how to declutter your life, keep reading!

caged bird looking out

Overcoming a difficult time: when molehills become mountains

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What are some ways you tackle a slump in your schedule?
Does it ever feel like the universe has conspired against you just when things are going right? One domino wobbles, and before you know it, the whole pile has fallen. The dominoes don’t need to be significant events. They can be just minor disturbances. But these tiny disturbances piled on top of each other can sometimes seem insurmountable. How do you overcome this? 

The Pressure Of Perfection: How to Help Kids Handle Stress and Anxiety

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In today’s society, children feel more pressure than ever before to be perfect. From academic expectations to social media, kids struggle to cope with the high standards that they feel they need to meet. This pressure often leads to stress and anxiety, which can have severe consequences for both the individual child and society.
Suicide rates among young people are on the rise globally. Studies show that depression is one of the leading causes of suicide among young people. Other factors include unmet needs and expectations, focus on success and productivity, lack of coping skills, and a sense of a lack of belonging.
One of the most important things you can do as a parent is to raise emotionally healthy children. This means teaching them how to regulate their emotions, set boundaries, and handle difficult situations.

painting of a woman

On Validation Seeking

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Have you ever said (or heard someone say) “I don’t care what the world thinks. I do what I want, and I don’t need the world’s approval.” This sentence is usually followed by a smug look, especially when others nod in awe. This person has just received approval and validation for feeling like they don’t need it. Seeking validation is human nature and essential to being a part of society. We are constantly seeking approval from people around us. It gives us a sense of belonging. A slight nod of appreciation or a Like on a social media post makes us smile and stand a bit taller with a little sense of accomplishment. Some harmless peacocking is good for the ego, but how do we know if it gets out of hand—when seeking approval turns into becoming dependent on approvals?  In light of some investigative revelations that Facebook’s research showed the mental harm of social media on teenagers, it’s worthwhile to reassess our reasons for seeking approval. Constant exposure to the extravagant ‘lifestyle influencers’ makes …

Living Through a Global Pandemic

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I have to say, even in my most paranoid moments, living through a global pandemic was not on my Bingo card. I am not one to get easily frazzled, but this has come close to completely unravelling me multiple times. At the beginning of 2020, I was just adjusting to a new home, my husband to a new office, and our son to a new school. We were dealing with health issues in the extended family, and we had to cancel a few plans. It wasn’t a chirpy start to the year. When reports of a novel virus came pouring in, I was concerned but only from afar. We stopped reading newspapers or watching the news on TV a few years ago, preferring to quickly catch up on events online. Once the virus started spreading, we were cautioned but not anxious. The sudden lockdown in India took everyone by surprise. The weeks that followed were heartbreaking because of the mishandling of it. News from other parts of the world was even more distressing.  Every day …

Kindle cover of Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi with a bunch of pink roses on a white fabric

Book Review: Transcendent Kingdom

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Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom reviews were almost entirely positive, so I was at first worried that it wouldn’t live up to the hype. But oh! It did. It is a book about relationships with family and oneself, religion and race, love and loss, and mental health. The narration is by a young woman named Gifty. She was born in America to Ghanian parents. She has an older brother who overshadows her at every juncture of her life, but he is also her hero – someone she loves and looks up to. She talks about how her mother migrated to America in the hope of a better future for her firstborn son. Her father had followed reluctantly. After she was born, she could see the unhappiness in her father, who eventually chose a path away from them. “My memories of him, though few, are mostly pleasant, but memories of people you hardly know are often permitted a kind of pleasantness in their absence. It’s those who stay who are judged the harshest, simply by virtue of …

Gentle Parenting: Why we should all be embracing it

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Being a parent is the best role one can have in life. It gives you both physical and emotional satisfaction. Your child’s well being and happiness are all you think about when it comes to decisions related to your child’s life. Childhood is one of the most critical years in a person’s life. It’s also a time when parents can drastically affect their kids’ future by deciding how much influence they will have over them. Parents just want to see their children succeed, and they employ a variety of methods to shape their kids’ futures.  How much of your parenting behaviour is based on what you went through as a child? Have you told yourself that you turned out fine, and so will my kid if I hit them for the sake of discipline? Or have you gone in the complete opposite direction and cannot enforce any discipline at all? Were you listened to as a child? Did your thoughts and opinions matter? Were you threatened with dire consequences at the thought of disobedience? Were …

Lone black duck in a lake

Taboos: Seeking Therapy for your Mental Health

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Have you ever been to a therapist? Or thought about seeking out one? Would you tell people if you did? Mental health awareness is shockingly negligent in our society. So many of us are broken, and we’ve been told to just deal with it on our own. Seeking help for your mental health is seen as the absolute last step you can take before it is too late. I had studied to become a counsellor, but life took me on another path. It made me realise how helpful a counselling session could be for someone going through a difficult time. Over time, as life went by, I never gave another thought to it. Then I became a mom. Every emotion seemed intense and amplified. It was challenging to manage them all at once. Even with a supportive family, I felt I couldn’t express all I felt. I feared judgement and hurting their sentiments. After my first session itself, I felt such an enormous boulder had lifted off my chest. I could say whatever I wanted …

6 Common Parenting Mistakes We All Make

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The main lesson I learned about parenting is that it doesn’t stop. Once a parent, always a parent! Each of us has an idea about good parenting skills. What makes a good parent? Does anyone have an answer to that question that will go unchallenged by someone else? Each child grows into their own person with all the inherent imperfection that this entails. Healthy parenting recognises and embraces these perceived imperfections. Positive Parenting Parenting styles differ from person to person. It should also differ from child to child. Each child’s situation is unique, and they respond differently to the same things. While one child may throw a temper tantrum to get what they want, another might prefer to crawl under the bed and cry silently. Positive parenting is recognising how best to make kids aware of their own needs and feelings without forcing your own. As I learn everyday, it is a darned difficult thing to do. Inevitably, I make mistakes everyday and learn something about myself in the process. The world is full of …