Pratima Shah

   Our life is full of sweet - bitter memories; and we humans focus more on the bitter / negative aspects / memories. We remember the positive events for a very short time and the negative events imprison our minds for a long time. Confucius once said, 'To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.' But human as we are, we focus more on negative events / inevitable experiences. Life is a mixture of positive and negative but still we dread the negative events and relish the positive events with immense joy.     We are able to accept the day to day minor wrongs but the grave ones leave an indelible impact over our lives. They are nurtured as wounds by us and keep on reminding us about the trauma that we faced in that particular negative / bitter incident of our life. The behavior that is prompted by any person during the trauma is that some may take pleasure in self pity by nursing the wound for a life time or some may become bitter, vindictive and...

Time and again God, the Almighty takes away from us what we have had. It could be a relationship, a job, an ability or anything that we hold on. We feel everything that we possess is eternal and ours. But God takes it away; his taking it away is a way to make us realize that 'it was God's grace and it was never yours'. This holds true for each and everything we possess. It is true with our relations too. Eventually whether we like / dislike we keep losing our relations too - either through death or any other reason. When we begin to lose our relations we try making the grasp firm; because we feel sad and deprived of the person without whom we cannot live. When faced with such situations, one needs to ask a question to the self - What is it that I will take with me? The answer would be NOTHING. We have no control over death which very cold bloodedly separates us from every ability / wish / person / cherished possession. Grasping tightly to things makes us realize that t...

    When one does not love the self, one keeps on trying to prove something to someone - that you are a good person, a good partner, a good employee or a good parent. But the fact is unless and until one doesn't learn to love the self , you will forever run yourself ragged and never feel complete. One may play blame games by blaming the self, or by thinking that one lacks being organized enough, that you are not able to take correct decisions and many other escape mechanisms that will give a boost to your self destructive pattern of negative thinking. Why does one need to say 'yes' to someone for doing a task even though you don't have the time, energy or desire to help. It is because you don't want to disappoint the ones who count on you. But its OK to refuse help at times. Its OK to ask for help when you do not have time. Do not put yourself in such an unloved state that you keep on hating yourself more and more. Set priorities and make your SELF the top most p...

   Francis P. Robinson, an American educator wrote a book titled 'Effective Study' in 1946. In this book he proposed the SQ3R method of studying textbooks. According to him, SQ3R stands for the initial letters of the 5 steps involved in studying a text: Survey : To survey means to have a quick glance through the title page, preface, chapter headings etc of a text. Through the survey the student can gauge the main ideas of the text. Apart from the author's name, date and place of publication the title page gives an idea of the subject area and the level of focus in that particular text. Whenever a student surveys the index / bibliography the student can easily identify whether the text contains what he / she needs. Question : The survey that the student does will raise questions in his / her mind regarding the text. Turning to particular chapters / sections in a book trigger specific questions in the mind of the student. Read : Advocate a critical approach in readi...

     Recall the moment when you have a firm grasp to avoid a pothole while riding a bicycle. You hold tight to avoid the fall by balancing yourself properly. It is this balance that saved you from the fall. Balancing yourself in this age of competition and flux is the need of the hour. Life has its own share of turmoil, challenges and unwanted twists and turns. Retaining your equipoise when in tough times / when things conspire against you makes you a winner. Each one of us needs to stay balanced. Train the mind through practice to remain calm and composed in order to stay balance and manifest the stillness which makes you triumphant and feel glorious. Only when the agitation within the mind ceases calmness will prevail. Living with such a mind changes your life and will make you feel liberated.    The balance will reflect in everything you do - your thoughts, speech, behavior, diet and the way you live life. You will be filled with joy, you will be mindful...