Karina Pandya

  “Nothing is what we thought. Emptiness is not what we thought. Neither is mindfulness or fear. Compassion – not what we thought. Love. Buddha nature. Courage These are code words for things we don’t know in our minds but any of us could experience them. These are words that point to what life is when we let things fall apart and let ourselves be nailed to the present moment.”   Fear is a natural reaction when we move closer to the truth.   No one tells us to stop running away from fear. It’s sometimes close and sometimes far, but it is always there lurking somewhere in the background. Fear can even come very close but the only advice we are ever given is to sweeten it up, smooth it over, take a pill or distract ourselves but by all means make it go away.   The intimacy of fear can never be predicted but the certainty of fear is always present. It could be as small as the fear of a spider. We may look at the spider in the eyes and have all the emotions of fear, ange...

  “ Only in an open, non-judgmental space can we acknowledge what we are feeling. Only in an open space when we’re not all caught up in our version of reality can we see, hear and feel who others are, which allows us to be with them and communicate with them properly.” #Pema Chodron Suppose we want to help someone and this person is at a deprived status, perhaps living on the streets. Nobody would want to pay a glance at him or even hear him out. At this point when you (or anyone else) are determined to help him out there has to be a sense of compassion that is paid towards him. This compassion may also be accompanied by unresolved triggers that sporadically pop up making it all the more difficult for us to help this person out.      Showing compassion is a pretty high order and while we all may be in relationships of different sorts, the level of compassion is different as per the type of bond we have with that person.  However, if we choose to help someone,...

  Have you ever wondered what your sense of purpose in life (ikigai) is? Your career is what you spend the majority of your life engaged with and is what fulfils your day. There are many reasons one may choose to pursue a career and it is very important to understand that.    Either it is an activity that ‘energises’ you, is based on the hard skills that you possess – the knowledge that you have or is based on the soft skills and abilities that you have.    Hard skills  refer to specific abilities that a person possesses, capabilities a person can demonstrate. Some of these may include SEO, marketing, social media, editing, writing, analytical skills, content management, copywriting or management.     On the other hand,  soft skills  refer to people’s skills. These include good communication and interpersonal skills, work ethic, problem-solving, leadership, time management, etc. These characteristics can be carried over to any posit...

  Have you ever wondered why you behave or act out sometimes the way that you do? Most likely it stems from certain events that have happened during your childhood that have left certain wounds behind. Maybe you were bullied, maybe you lost a parent, maybe you were neglected by loved ones; but whatever it has been it has been some negative event that has led you to behave a certain way in your adult life.    The internal war you wage with yourself may not be seen by others but it is always felt by you! Lorraine Dawn Nilson   As an adult have you succumbed to some sort of addiction, or are you constantly seeking external validation from others? Were you emotionally neglected? Whatever it may be, inner child wounds affect your behaviour as an adult.    Your inner child is a part of your subconscious mind that has been picking up messages way before you were able to process them completely (mentally and emotionally). It is the forgiving, free-spirited part of ...

  As Norman Vincent Peale rem arked, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.”  This shift in thinking can transform our thoughts and also our lives. The power of positivity leads to tremendous transformations in our lives and it is through positive thinking and our attitudes that help us stay mentally healthy and able to combat challenges in our lives .    When we talk about mental health there is a myriad of terms such as anxiety, depression, stress, anger, grief, fear, etc. that come into the picture.   Concepts such as motivation, positive thinking, emotional resilience and happiness play a very important role in combating these mental health issues.    Positive psychology plays a very important role in dealing with mental health issues as the role of positive emotions, happiness and wellbeing is essential for a person’s well-being.    Internalising capabilities is one of the hallmarks of positive psychology and it diverts treatm...

Life's most persistent and urgent question is "what are you doing for others?" .”The unselfish effort to bring cheer to others will be the beginning of a happier life for ourselves” – Helen Keller After a fulcrum meeting that t ook place on 6 th  January 2024  of over 25-30 NGOs to provide a strategic and single platform to one another,  Vinay Somani - the founder trustee of Karmayog organised another  on 13 th  April 2024.  O ver 40 attendees thronged the C.K. Nayadu Hall at CCI Club.    While issues such as  organisational capacity; implementing and fulfilling their mission is quite a task for organisers and trustees of NGOs, maintaining momentum for the work is also quite a challenge. From environmental, social, advocacy and human rights work, there are several issues the NGOs gathered together had to discuss.    While each attendee not only introduced them in the room, it was heartening to hear about the dire concern to push for...

  “You got a dream, you gotta protect it. When people can't do something themselves, they're gonna tell you that you can't do it. You want something, go get it. Period." Chris Gardner as played by Will Smith in the movie" The Pursuit of Happiness."   Happiness is by far the most crucial aspect of our lives and we seek it through a good profession, relationship, self-love, doing things we love, having thought processes such as self-compassion or gratitude, doing things we enjoy, family, and friends or any other activity bringing us contentment.   Have you heard of the half-empty and half-full glass analogy of optimism and pessimism?  If we have a cup of water, how do we interpret it? Is it just a glass that is half-empty (pessimism) or is it a glass that is half-full (optimism)? Is this how we can view our situations and life as a whole?  We are constantly searching for or in the pursuit of happiness, yet we are subconsciously plagued by negativity. However, i...

  Have you ever had a task to perform, but all you felt like doing was brushing it aside?  If you are like most of us, then you must have engaged in the most commonly termed association of procrastination or simply put ‘escapism’. Escapism is a tendency to seek any form of distraction from certain realities.     Delaying or putting something off is just what procrastination is all about. Suppose I have some spare time and I have to go to the gym today but I choose to put the gym off till tomorrow, it’s a simple yet excellent example of what we mean by procrastination. Procrastination is by no means helping us in any way so why do we constantly find ourselves in the loophole of engaging in procrastination for various events?    Most often procrastination is confronting uncomfortable feelings associated with a task and that is one of the main reasons why we engage in the same. Going back to the example, suppose going to the gym makes me confront feelings such...