Fallacies and the Disturbed Mind: Unraveling the Chain Reaction

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते ।

एतैर्विमोहयत्येष ज्ञानमावृत्य देहिनम् ॥ ३-४०॥

"The senses, the mind, and the intelligence are the sitting places of desire. Through them, desire covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders them."

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We should reflect on why people are not getting peace, why there is chaos in our mind? This is because of desire. Having desire is not wrong but when desires take control of the mind then the mind becomes saturated and conflicts occur. This is a chain reaction. Unfortunately, instead of getting the right knowledge on those desires, we carried away with fake or false knowledge which is also known as fallacy.

Human beings are always disturbed because of desires. We have dreams, aspirations and peer pressure is fueling those. Dreams and aspirations are good and one should strive for it. However we should be clear what we are dreaming and aspiring for. If you are aspiring for something based on false assumptions and fallacies, then failures are inevitable. Dreams and aspirations create desires, desires pushes for actions and if the results of action are different from what is expected, frustration and disappointment is going to happen. So first our aspirations should be based on fair assessment of those aspirations and desires.        

False or fake knowledge is a form of ignorance that leads to attachment and desire. This attachment and desire can lead to a disturbed mind, as it creates a sense of longing and dissatisfaction. when a person holds a belief that is based on fallacy or false knowledge, it can create desires within them. These desires may be unrealistic or unattainable because they are based on inaccurate or incorrect information. As a result, the person may experience a disturbed mind, which can manifest in various ways such as anxiety, frustration, or disappointment.

For example, if a person believes that they can become wealthy quickly by participating in a particular investment scheme that is actually a scam, they may develop a strong desire to invest all of their savings into it. However, because the investment is based on false knowledge, the person is unlikely to receive the returns they were promised, and may even lose all of their money. This can result in significant financial and emotional distress, leading to a disturbed mind. It also happens with the person who is not competent to take the higher position, but his self image is so high that he thinks getting a higher position is his right. Similarly, if a person holds beliefs about themselves or others that are based on false knowledge, this can create desires for outcomes that are unrealistic or unattainable. For example, a person who believes that they are fundamentally flawed may develop a desire for perfection that is impossible to achieve, leading to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt.

It is possible for us to have desires, wishes or aspirations, but we do not have complete control over whether those desires will be fulfilled. There are many factors beyond our control. 

It is important to recognize that having unfulfilled desires is a common and natural aspect of human experience. While it can be disappointing or frustrating when our desires are not met, it is important to maintain perspective and focus on the things that are within our control, such as our own actions, attitudes, and responses to the world around us.

Please respond the survey, I am conducting, as a part of my research by clicking on >> Leadership Competencies required for managers while handling crisis situations. 

(Opinions are purely personal & does not represent my organizations, current or past) 

Author's books are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga. You can buy the print copy of Vitality in Human Resources on amazon. Click >> Vitality in Human Resource: Adding human dimensions in HR processes   

Anxiety at workplace

Anxiety & Stress at workplace

Image: nami.org

Last week one of my friends collapsed while he was visiting a customer for inspection. His colleagues rushed him to the hospital. Doctor said that this was because of anxiety. 

Anxiety is the inevitable part of professional life. Highly demanding jobs are creating stress at work. Pandemic and work from home has added another dimension into the stress. Long working hours and increased screen time, wrong postures are creating issues. Anxiety in the workplace is at an all-time high and is rising in professionals. Anxiety in young talent is the bigger issue for organizations. As per one of the research, there has been a 67% rise in the number of employees who reported they feel anxiety at work over the past two years. Employees are leaving jobs not only for monetary gain but also to explore the things which they have not explored in the past. However, one of the reasons is stress and anxiety. Employees are feeling that they are not taken care of enough. 

In spite of having this all, employees are not willing to discuss the anxiety at the workplace because they feel that employers and managers may  take it negatively impacting their performance and career. 

Stress is defined as a biological reaction when changes occur, to which the body responds physically, mentally, or emotionally. Anxiety involves the body and the mind and can be serious enough to qualify as a mental disorder when allowed to become chronic. The fundamental difference between stress and anxiety is stress is typically short lived and event-based where anxiety is a sustained sense of stress, fear, or worry that can interfere with life when left unaddressed.

Positive side of the stress

Psychologists are in the opinion that optimum stress is required. Positive side of stress is called “eustress” (Dr. Hans Selye). When focused on the positive, stress enhances motivation, builds resilience and encourages growth, promotes belonging among peers and is part of a meaningful life (It is the challenge that creates the moments of accomplishment and feeling of self-worth)

As leaders, we need to recognize and appreciate that a certain degree of anxiety is essential for driving performance. The goal for leaders is not to eliminate anxiety but rather manage the degree of anxiety a workforce feels. 

When challenges and high demand are inversely proportional to the confidence and competence, the chances of anxiety are more.  When confidence is low and challenges are high, then anxiety is the outcome. 

Emotional intelligence and empathy are the antinode for stress and anxiety. To address anxiety in the workplace and transform anxiety into performance, leaders need to demonstrate empathy. It is actually quite easy to do. All it takes is to ask, “How do you feel, and what do you need?”; actively listen to what they say, and then act upon it. Transforming anxiety into performance starts with caring enough to ask the question. 

One of the consultancy firms (the culture think tank) which extensively works in the area of stress, anxiety and wellness, explains three Dimensions of Anxiety:

• Security is the sense of confidence employees have in their position within the workplace and their ability to accomplish their assigned responsibilities
• Understanding is the sense of confidence employees have in knowing what is going on within the organization and how their duties support the organization
• Acceptance is the sense of belonging employees have within the organization 

Understanding and addressing anxiety in the workplace is not complicated nor difficult to manage. Managers need to be trained on how to respond to the above dimensions of anxiety. 

Organizations need to come up with key metrics to measure the stress and anxiety at the workplace. Health and wellness initiatives has to be considered as a one of the people agenda focusing on Physical, Psychological, Social and Proper Employee Assistance Programme. 

Managing anxiety is not something leaders need to actively address everyday; but it is something they need to address frequently. However, asking employees “how do you feel and what do you need?,” once a year during the employee engagement survey or performance appraisal is not a good idea to actively manage anxiety in the workplace.

(Opinions are purely personal & does not represent my organizations, current or past) 

Author's book are available on Amazon, Flipkart, Pothi and BookGanga. Income from books is used for social cause. 

Love Yourself

Recently there was a big news in media about suicide of Kushal Punjabi. At the age of 37, this TV actor ended his life without no reasons, (according to us). He may have some reasons for the same. Last week one Software Engineer living near our colony ended her life leaving her 1.5-year-old daughter behind. We read, listen many news about such suicides. As per the WHO data India has around 17 suicides per 1 lacs population. This is alarming. Reasons behind may be different like debt, bankruptcy, illness, marriage issues, relationship issues, love affairs, alcoholism, Stress at workplace, fear of failure in studies etc. 

Relations issues, marriage issues are top reasons and men and women both end their lives because of such issues. Our lifestyle is changing, a lot of pressure at workplace, less time at home, having negative impacts on relationships. Every human being is running in the race. Uncertainty in jobs, increased liabilities and lifestyle are creating more stress in our lives. Further bad roads and traffic situations adding it more. People are becoming more self-centred. People are migrating from one place to another, small town to big towns for jobs and career. In this process we are losing the support system which we had in the past. In the past, joint families were the big support system. Nowadays, we have nuclear families. Interactions, family bonds, are fading away. People don’t encourage their friends, families to be with them. Everything is isolated. 

Loneliness is increasing, everybody wants to be in the capsule. Professionalism is taking away friends at workplace. Of course, it is resulting in mental illness and symptoms like anxiety, excessive worry, intrusive thoughts, depression, mood swings and many more. We are a social animal. We need somebody to share our feelings. And the important thing is that is missing in the lives of most people. People don’t have elevations. You have to express your frustrations, feelings, emotions. But because of the social structure and all the above reasons, it is arduous. Now imagine a situation, where the person is in depression and he or she has nobody to share at that moment. Where he or she will go?

We need a society where we feel free to express and have a stress-free communication. Introverted people will find difficult to express but we need that support systems. Parents need to be more inclusive and not push their children beyond the limit. They should not enforce their dreams on their children. Spouses needs to be more mature to understand the feelings of their partners. And we need to make more friends who will come to you when you need them.

And finally, be open and always speak up, express. Life is precious, love yourself.     

Achieve Balance

How can you be successful in your work without sacrificing your personal life? Is it possible to maintain that desirable personal and professional balance? How can you achieve a balance between your family and your work? Attaining a personal and professional balance is another key factor for success.

During times of crisis and in our hurried lives, when our jobs demand greater commitment, when competition for a new contract, a promotion or a raise in pay is increasingly fierce, when we feel pressured to focus more on the task and less on the process, we begin to feel the many effects of imbalance.

We experience this imbalance in our bodies and our relationships. We get sick and we get headaches, stomach disorders and skin disorders. Our families feel the need to ask us for more of our time. Our friends complain that they rarely see this and us sometimes creates a feeling of guilt that is detrimental to other areas of our lives.

Seeking Equilibrium: Every one of us must to live with the paradox of seeking balance in an environment in which it is natural to lose our balance. Changes in work schedules, technological progress, the economic crisis, globalization, social challenges, and environmental transformations have disrupted the natural balance a human being needs.

But even in this environment, there are some people who find physical, mental and emotional balance, as well as balance with their family, neighbors and peers. They use their time so they can work effectively, play sports, socialize, and maintain a healthy equilibrium in their personal and group activities.

To be fully effective, we all need the inner balance between personal demands (being more intelligent, handling our emotions better, being healthier and more spiritual), and social demands (being a good parent and spouse, being a good professional, a good friend and a good citizen).

Regaining our Balance: To achieve balance in our daily lives, experts recommend certain steps that are simple but powerful:

For Personal Balance:

1.       Read 15 minutes before going to sleep.

2.       Begin a 15-minute routine of conscious breathing when you get up.

3.       Eat more fruits and vegetables, less fried foods and fewer foods made with flour.

4.       Drink more water and juices, less coffee and alcohol.

5.       Pray and be thankful when you get up, at each meal and when you go to bed.

6.       Get some type of exercise every other day.

7.       Keep a journal of your activities.

For Social Balance:

1.       Use an agenda or personal organizer to plan the use of your time each week. Learn to put first things first.

2.       Assign your time to the different areas of your life. Take care of that area you tend to relegate.

3.       Focus on working smarter rather than working harder.

4.       Avoid the hero syndrome. Ask people for help.

5.       Surprise your family or friends with unexpected activities.

6.       Unplug yourself by turning off the cell phone and the television and give yourself the gift of time.

7.       Begin to give an hour of volunteer service each week.

Achieving total balance is a challenge, but it is both possible and necessary. If we are creative and effective and ask for help, we can combine actions on the personal side, such as exercise, with actions on the social side, such as spending more time with our children. This will make us healthier, more productive, more dynamic, and more joyful people.

How you go at home from office? Cool, it’s simple….

Travelling back to the home form office is always another struggle. Sometimes I feel that most of the problems are created by human. To make the life easy, they manufactured vehicles so that we can commute easily from one place to another place. However as usual, he never planned to face consequences. The fuel prices and congested roads are the consequences. To take care of these consequences, human made industries so that people earn more money spending on such things. This is a cycle and we lost our sleep. Pollution, noise and stress are the part of our life.

The question is how to make this journey meaningful. You can’t hire the driver so that you rest at rear seat and read some good books, or just take a nap. If you hire a driver, still he will make you feel that you have made the mistake and at last you have to drive on your own. I made this experiment and then came to the conclusion that by hiring driver you make your life more complicated. Finding good driver is impossible.  

There are certain ways to make this daily journey meaningful. You can listen music, audio books or Vedic chants. Meaningless radio jockeys from FMs are also there to make your driving enjoyable. But then you get bored listening same songs and foolish commentary of radio jockeys.

After doing this all, I came to conclusion that you yourself have to take the charge of your life. Off course, I never speak on mobile while driving and even don’t use the hands free. I have seen people who plug hands free to the ear and don’t miss a single call even while driving. I always surprise why people keep themselves so busy even while driving. Great two –wheeler riders sometimes put their and others life in danger by doing this.

For driving, only driving skills are not necessary, if you want to make your life simple and stress-free, you also need to be great saint on roads. I tried this lot and I have accepted that in any condition, I need one hour to go home for 20 KM distance and I am not in hurry. I enjoy my ride back to home. When I stop on a red signal, sometimes person behind me bangs his horn without any effect on me.

I give the way to the pedestrian on zebra crossing. Once when I stopped, the group of small children waived hands towards me. Their smiling face made my evening. Near Hotel Sarja (Aundh, Pune) crossing, there is always a mess. During pick hours traffic wardens enjoy their paan and ghutka at corner paan stall. And you know, people are always in hurry crossing the road, banging the horns. They are more aggressive on road. Few days back, on the same crossing, I put my hand outside the window asking another person to stop so that I could cross the road. Surprisingly he stopped and as another people saw him stopped, they also stopped.  It was my duty to thank him. I did by it by saluting him. Next day the same car was coming, I thought the person yesterday stopped, let me stop today. And he waived his hands thanking me. Now we both know each other at least by face and help each other to cross the road without pushing our accelerators. Someday I do, next day he does.

Off course, the traffic problem is still there, but whenever coincidence happens and he is on the road on same day, we both make our life simple, juts by respecting each other. This is working.

Why always be aggressive when not required. Apply the mind and let’s be human…