Ways to overcome sadness in dark times

Happiness lies in our attitude

At some or other point of our life, we all face dark moments, sorrows, sadness and pain. Life is always full of ups and downs and cannot always give you joy, laughter, happiness and sweetness. Even a straight line in ECG machine declares a person dead. Through these dark experiences, we evolve, learn, grow and unlock newer dimensions of life. But our happiness, however, depends largely upon our attitude, if we look at the brighter side of the problems; we begin to understand that everything in life happens for a reason.

Courtesy: AK Mishra Library

Accept and embrace the present situations

Whenever anger, sadness and anxiety are incited by a difficult situation, it simply means that you are attached to the situation and your over thinking about the cause triggering your suffering. Let go of what according to you should have happened and embrace the fact you are living and what has happened. Try to figure out the master plan of God and the reason behind whatever has happened.  Remember the answer is inside you, which can transform your attitude and your thoughts. Although yes, we all have the power to take charge of our life, but before all, we need to learn the art of taking charge of our emotions, ourselves; which comes through acceptance of present situations. Have the courage to make right choices for your life and embrace the reality.

Do not judge the situations over and over again

Let go of your judgmental thoughts of why it happened this way and not the way you expected. Don’t blame others or yourself for what has happened, if you’ll do; you’ll keep thinking about the situation and keep letting the situation overpower you positive thoughts and happiness. In order to free your mind, let go of negative judgments.

Thank God for the present moments, rather crying for the adversities

Gratitude helps you find happiness. Although happiness does not always make one grateful, but being grateful surely helps one to bring a smile. Gratitude begins with mindfulness and by embracing the present. We often make present moments unhappy while replaying past situations in our mind. Be grateful for the present situation and let the positive things enter into your life by accepting what has happened and by letting go the miserable thoughts.  

 

Try to make other smile and shift your focus from your own worries

During the hours of crises or adversities, we often think about our worries and make our situations even worse. When you find yourself lost in your worries, try to help someone else and try to make someone else smile. This will help you smile and release out your worries.

Revive the kid in you

Undoubtedly, keeping oneself optimistic in a difficult situation is not easy; still just try to take at least 15 to 20 minutes to enjoy the calm and stillness within you. Shut out the chatter which is going inside you and around you and spend time with the little kid inside you, hug that kid and begin loving yourself.

Be open to happiness

Just because you’ve experienced a difficult situation, do not shut yourself away from manifesting more reasons to smile and find happiness. Try to be in a company of positive people, look out for humour, be around with people who make you laugh, and try to smile and be present at the situation, and you’ll soon bounce back to a happy go lucky zone.

Pros and Cons of Corporate Politics

One often hears statements like “I had a bad day at work today as there were too many politics!” or “I am fed up of these petty corporate politics”.

So, what exactly are these ‘corporate politics’?

Courtesy: AK Mishra Library

There is no exact definition of ‘corporate politics’ given in the Oxford or the Collins dictionary. It is a term which has come into use very extensively over the last few decades due to the emergence of a number of MNCs and large corporates and the competition amongst the members of these organizations for personal or professional interests.

Just like the way there are two sides to every coin, each and everything in this world has its plus points and its negative points or as we say its pros and cons. One always tends to focus on relating to only the negative aspect of corporate politics. The term ‘corporate politics’ tends to make people cringe. But, corporate politics has a number of advantages as well. Let us have a look at both the sides of this coin.

The Pros:

Let us start on a positive note by looking at the pros of corporate politics which are as follows:

1.      It has rightly been said, “Success is not a destination, it is a journey”. So, to make this journey in the corporate world a success, one has to learn to follow the policy of ‘live and let live’. Corporate politics makes one understand and learn the art of not being ruffled by unnecessary petty politics and focusing single-mindedly on the task at hand.

2.   Strength is a very strong attribute to the development of one’s character. This strength cannot be achieved if one tends to run away from situations in life. Corporate politics definitely makes an individual stronger as these large organizations follow the policy of ‘survival of the fittest’ and in order to ‘survive’ in a corporate, one automatically learns to become strong.

3.      A positive attitude in life is a must to grow as an individual. One often has to ignore the politics going around and overcome all negativity by adopting a positive approach and having a positive outlook. So, corporate politics teach us to be positive at all times, no matter what the situation is.

4.      In order to obtain a shining precious jewel, a gem has to be mined, has to be polished and has to go through a lot of hardships to finally attain its form as an invaluable precious gem. Similarly, in order to become successful and thereafter enjoy the taste of success, one has to go through a number of hardships in work life, corporate politics being one of them.

The Cons:

Now, let us explore the negative aspects of this ‘unnecessary evil’ of the corporate world.

1.     ‘Time and tide wait for none', especially not for petty politics. Corporate politics lead to a lot of time wastage. Things like plotting, planning and scheming for all the wrong things like how to let down someone or how to promote selfish interests, gossiping, insulting people around due to personal grudges etc. are all a waste of time which results in non-fulfillment of targets and inability to meet deadlines at work.

2.      The ability and capacity to work of those who engage in office politics or those who become a victim of those politics drop down drastically. If one is continuously engaging in office politics or being a victim of those politics, then from where would the energy or concentration to work come from? Hence, in order to enhance the capacity and potential of all employees which eventually enhances productivity, it is important to have a healthy office environment which is free from politics.

3.     Stress acts as a major obstacle in the path of progress. Corporate politics gives thousand times more stress than what regular office work does. It also leads to an unfriendly atmosphere at the workplace and causes ill will amongst colleagues. These petty politics spoil relationships and friendships which could bloom into beautiful flowers are nipped in the bud due to these politics.

4.     Most importantly, the growth of the organization is adversely affected by corporate politics. Corporate politics are often backed up by personal motives and selfish interests rather than interests of the company. So, instead of focusing on the growth of the company and individual professional growth, those who create politics focus only on those politics. For the organization to grow, it is important to have diligent workers who focus single-mindedly on work.

Thus, we can see that like everything else, corporate politics too has both its good and bad points. Ironically, if at one hand, it hampers the growth of an individual, then, on the other hand, it gives the strength, the confidence and the wisdom to grow. By focusing on the pros of corporate politics while being a victim and by avoiding any engagement in politics, one can indeed create a love towards the work and ease down unwanted stress level. 

How working professionals can utilize their time well while traveling long distance from home to office

The regular commute from home to work and vice-versa has been commonly experienced by most of the working professionals. Although the decision to do so is in itself a challenge as it often hampers our personal life and makes it more challenging for us to bring healthy work-life balance. Many of us place the emphasis on prestige, better holidays, working profile, money, prestige and other material goods and we tend to neglect other factors of key importance, such as time for self, hobbies, personal relationships, social connections, etc. 

However, there are many working professionals who travel unbelievably long distance every day by driving for almost 2 hours or by using public transport to reach home from office. This travel is stress-inducing and drains all their energy and by the time they reach home; they just look for food and a bed to sleep. So where are we landing at the end? Is this the ideal life we chose to live? We are earning, working well at the workplace for what? Just to go home and sleep? No!

Courtesy: AK Mishra Library

We can utilize our traveling time well not to drain our remaining energy but to charge us to spend quality time with family, and to spend some time on the things we love to pursue.  The people who drive themselves while traveling can listen relaxation music, which not only keeps you focused but gives a soothing effect to your mind and helps you do away with all the stress. But remember, not to put earphones as it can distract your mind while driving, but play a soothing relaxation, stress releasing music on background (music player). Such music has incredible power to help you release your stress and is easily accessible in music stores. Music also helps us think deeply and strategize the things well and makes us more focused and calm while driving.

Having a healthy breakfast in morning and calmly having dinner with family after reaching home from office and spending quality time with them, going out for a walk then helps release the remaining stress and makes you more enthusiastic and competent to take up the challenges for next day.

While on the other hand, when one has a personal driver to help commute, nothing can be great than this. One can read a book they love, reading helps release most of the stress, one can maintain healthy social connection by calling a friend or loved ones to talk, to laugh, to share their experiences. One can also mediate well while traveling through relaxation music, or just by closing their eyes and focusing on breathe to connect deeply with self.

For the people who use public transport while traveling are not less lucky. They can also utilize their time well in reading books, Newspapers, or listening to a relaxation music using ear phones which give thousands time better impact to let quickly release unwanted stress. One can also think well while listening to music; are they going well? What are the things they are lacking in? What can they do to improve their personal relationships and professional life? We can utilize this time very well to bring out our refined and a better personality.

The people who travel less don’t have this luxury of time to spend with themselves, so do not consider yourself less lucky than the ones who don’t have to travel long from home to work. Instead of cribbing in traffic, watching and judging other people in public transport, we can utilize the time very well to release our stress, beat our targets at workplace and met our family in evening with a refreshed mind.