Liberating our minds with this Independence Day IIIT Delhi

Independence, freedom, Liberation, one of the most wonderful feelings one can ever experience. It’s the 68th year of our National independence and we are proud of it. Our generation is lucky to be born in an independent India and yes we love it. But how independent can we call ourselves if we are slaves of our situations, feelings and thoughts.

How often we tell our selves “Don’t get angry” or “Don’t be sad” or “don’t think too much about this”? But we end up being even, angrier, sad or stressed up by exactly that which we do not want to think about. We conclude by that its not in our hands. Does this mean that we are slaves of our situations, feelings or thoughts? This Independence Day lets pledge to attain freedom that matters the most. FREEDOM OF THE MIND.

We all would love to be in control of our selves. Not be sad when we don’t want to, not be anxious if we don’t want, and most of all think of only what we want and not of what we don’t. There are ways to liberate ourselves from these shackles. For that it’s important to know that according to the theory of cognitive psychology all our emotions arise from our thoughts, for example, a thought like “its unfair to us” makes us feel sad, similarly if we think ” the other person is wrong” we feel angry, and so on and so forth. It’s so important and at the same time so easy to monitor our thoughts, which are many a times irrational. It’s the habit of our minds to straight away jump to the worst case scenario situations and underplaying ourselves.

Monitoring and studying our thoughts would first of all help us to understand the root cause of our stress. It’s a fact that its not the stress which is the problem, but why are we stressed is the real problem. The thought which is causing that stress is the real problem. After we learn how to monitor and study our thoughts, the next step is to logically bring them back to reality. Bringing the thought back to reality will make us realise that the actual situation is never that bad as we imagined it to be, immediately making our emotions a little comfortable. Thoughts are the basis of all emotions and behaviours and he who learns to have a control over his thoughts is the one most liberated and free.

Also, from this independence day let us all start practicing positive mental health practices like yoga and meditations which make us relaxed and more poised in life. The world is waking up to the benefits of yoga and meditation, with an exemplary show on this International Yoga Day, then why not us. Besides, Yoga and meditation not just relaxes us but also improves our physical health, increases our concentration, gives us better control over our feelings and makes us a wholesome healthier human being. This Independence Day let our mind and soul fly high with the kites, souring in the sky with freedom and happiness.

Dr. Akshay Kumar, akshay@iiitd.ac.in (9999801130)

Dr. Amita Puri, counselloramitapuri@gmail.com (9838732232)