Anxiety affects even the calmest of people. In a fast-paced lifestyle like ours, where there’s literally always multiple things on our minds, many of which worry us and several responsibilities to keep track of, who wouldn’t get anxious from time to time? However, fear not, for there are simple things to try when life becomes challenging and overwhelming. Grounding techniques in particular – coping strategies that reconnect you with the present – are a self-regulation mechanism that have been found to be very effective when it comes to dealing with stress and anxiety. Here are our top ..read more

  Culture and society are dynamic constructs that are constantly changing and ever-evolving. We have progressed and advanced in many fields such as healthcare, business, education and mental health, among many others. In recent times, one of the most important issues worth fighting for include the fight for the rights of people, no matter what their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religious or sexual orientation or status of disability. There remains is a great deal of stigma surrounding gender fluidity and sexual orientation and the LGBTQ+ community in general. Unfortunately, this stigm ..read more

  The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once wrote: “Compassion is the basis of all morality” With World Kindness Day around the corner on November 13th, it is a good time to think about offering kindness and experiencing the positive feeling of doing good deeds. We have been taught from a young age that being kind to one another is an important virtue of character. All the religious scriptures preach about the spirit of compassion. If you think about it, even our personal experiences may have something to say in its favor. Can you think of a situation where you went out of your way ..read more

  The theme that is being observed for this year’s World Mental Health Day (10th October, 2021) is ‘Mental Health in an Unequal World’. The theme is an apt and relevant one during a period of social inequality that prevails in various forms: classism, sexism, racism, discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, religion, or due to age or disability. Unfortunately, the list is long and the gap between the wealthy and those living under the poverty line grows ever wider. This has led to a system perpetuating widespread poverty, financial insecurity, and emotional unrest leaving ordina ..read more

  Sexual harassment that takes place online has gone largely unaddressed and ignored due to lack of awareness. Many may be harbouring the misconception that sexual harassment does not take place online owing to the lack of close physical proximity between the harasser and the harassed. But the truth is that virtual sexual harassment is indeed a real thing, and can be very damaging when it isn’t taken seriously. In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing medium of work becoming online/Work-from-Home, it is becoming clear how prevalent sexual harassment really is in the virtual m ..read more

  Change resides in the very nature of things. In fact, our biggest strength as a species is being able to adapt to change. We have managed to do this generation after generation by manufacturing opportunities out of challenges. Stress has always been a ubiquitous phenomenon, prevalent in both ancient and modern times. For our ancestors, it was the literally life-saving signal that equipped our bodies to respond effectively to a threat in the physical environment. We commonly refer to this as the fight-or-flight response. In modern times, stress can be as much psychological as it is physi ..read more

  This year’s theme for International Women’s day is Choose to Challenge. The premise underlying such a topic is that a challenged world is an alert world. It is about calling out inequality and injustice against women in terms of pay, treatment and access to opportunities. In the present-day cultural context, ignorance cannot be excused away easily under the guise of being old-fashioned. Gender relations are shifting rapidly and it is important to stay abreast of the changes in this dynamic dialogue on accelerating parity between the sexes. For many decades, women have experienced the gl ..read more