Stop hypnotizing yourself towards your failure! The word and concept of ‘Hypnotism’ has an eerie emotion attached to itself, that is what we have been fed throughout our lives, through stories, cinema, and generic conversations. However, various psychologists have been conducting research and practicing hypnosis for treatment purposes all around the world for decades altogether. The concept of hypnotism needs to be looked at with a different angle altogether in order to use it for our benefit. If I say, you hypnotize yourself with every single serious thought of yours, will you believe me? It is the truth, our thoughts have the capability to hypnotize ourselves. How?

Let’s know more about this below.

Thought governs your mind, your life. You all must have heard about ‘induced trance’. Trance can be induced via various external agents, however, thoughts can induce trance as well. A high or a happy state of life induces a happy trance and a low life state, extreme negative thoughts can induce a negative or a consuming trance-like state. Hypnosis involves induction of trance which leads you towards one direction, makes you act in one way or another.

While through happy thoughts and motivation, you hypnotize yourself to have a positive outlook towards life and hence are encouraged to face every challenge with confidence, negative thoughts, and fear can hypnotize your mind into believing in lies, and you eventually lose faith in yourself.

I’m sure you all must have come across the ‘Pavlov’s dog theory’, the theory which talks about training your dog at the sound of a bell to have its meal.  Your mind is that dog, and your thoughts have the capability to train it. Let me share with you an incident to explain the effects of self-hypnosis:

As a child in school, we were supposed to assemble for morning prayers and announcements in our school ground. One day, one of my friends felt uneasy and nauseous in the assembly; she fell down unconscious. She went to visit a doctor and she was told that she fell unconscious because of suffocation and that her nausea was a result of an upset stomach. However, she became so scared after this incident, that she began to avoid the assemblies out of fear. The picture was set in her mind, she had connected crowd to suffocation, and further to dizziness. Her fear had consumed her in a psychological trap so badly that she actually felt dizzy every single time she stood in the assembly, or joined a crowd. Despite being healthy in her body, she had infected her mind and hypnotized herself into believing that she will fall or feel suffocated in crowded places.   Her repeated failure was a direct result of self-hypnosis.

It’s almost like you being scared and extra-conscious of falling in a pit, and you end up falling right into it. You attract your thoughts and your fear, and hence become psychological slaves to those thoughts. However, one needs to realise that self-hypnosis can also be done for good, for changing the course of your life in a positive direction. How? Let me tell you:

• Change the stories you tell yourself and to others!

Have you ever noticed that if you tell a lie repeatedly, with conviction, you start believing it to be true, and eventually you end up turning it into reality. Why does that happen? Because you give energy to a thought by repeating it in your mind, or through your words. Changing your story, your words, is extremely important to change the course of your life. Tell yourself, that you’re capable of overcoming any challenge and achieving success, start believing in the same and you eventually will. Everyday you wake up to a positive thought, you will automatically act in the direction of bringing it into reality!

• Ask yourself, are you believing too much and too quickly?

Every time you realise that you’re dwelling on a negative thought, check yourself, have you been believing too much on what others or what the social media has fed you? Social media in today’s date is one of the biggest hypnotizers of the mind. Fact check everything, before you place your belief. Be careful with every thought you’re letting in your conscience.

• Begin training yourself, today!

Instead of letting your negative beliefs train your mind to act in a negative direction, make conscious efforts to train your mind in the other direction. Imagine the scenario you fear, face your fears head on, and imagine utmost success for yourself in that event. Imagine it repeatedly, every day. Believe in your success like there are no two ways about it. This is exactly the story you will create for yourself. This is how you train your mind to act in a particular manner, for your benefit!

• Meditate to de-clutter your mind!

In order to use self-hypnosis for your benefit, the mind needs to be free of complexities and doubts. If you’re unable to think straight, it becomes difficult for your mind to focus and it begins dwelling in confusion. Remove confusion, and meditate in order to get clarity of thought.

In the current global lockdown-like situation, the fear of coronavirus has consumed numerous minds and people are unable to fight against the negativities that surround them. Be conscious not to self-hypnotize yourself, or to create your own problems. Realise the opportunities that come your way. Train your mind to succeed, instead!

Stay Motivated, Happy and Stress-Free!

In this blog, we shall talk about gratitude, the antidote to mental illness. But what is this gratitude? How it is different from thankfulness? Gratitude is a feeling which comes from within and it can come for the benefits received by you or for nothing. Thankfulness is an act from the person who received the benefits. Gratitude can be expressed in thankfulness. A ‘Thank You’ with the feeling of gratitude has the power to transform your life and change its course towards positivity. It is a powerful cure to your mental block and illness. How? We shall talk about it further in the blog. Since the coronavirus pandemic has struck the entire world, thousands of people have been finding it difficult to keep a control on their emotions of hopelessness and agony. The necessary evil, i.e. the lockdown has also pushed many people into solitude and without human touch, most of them are finding it difficult to maintain a high life state. However, in such situations we often forget that no matter what the situation, one has numerous things they can be thankful for. Why should one be thankful for everything they have? Let me answer that question with a short example.

Mike, a young lad, had recently been offered his dream job. He was extremely excited as he joined the firm and wanted to display his potential to his best. Suddenly his company had some issues and to support his company he started shouldering more responsibilities beyond his job specifications. Everything worked in his favour, he was in constant touch with his manager, and he was being appreciated at great lengths as he worked at his best for a few months. However, gradually, he began to feel that the levels of appreciation have reduced. He began to feel as if he is working for no gains. He started to lose his interest and began to feel that his company and manager has probably taken him for granted. He felt as if he isn’t being respected and this eventually became evident in his quality of work.  “I am taken for granted in this company!”, “Everyone here is thankless!” This is what he thought. On the other hand, his manager had begun to believe that Mike had reduced his dialogue with him and has stopped respecting him. “I think he has taken me for granted. He is not feeling gratitude towards how well I trained him. Maybe he forgot how well I trained him at the start!”, his manager thought.

One factor became the sole reason for the dispute in Mike’s work life, i.e. Lack of Gratitude. One cannot feel the zeal to do well at a place where there’s lack of appreciation. It is a vicious cycle of negative energy. You attract what you believe in. Overload of fear, lack of appreciation, and negative energy swarms your life and seizes the functions of your mind. This in turn leads to mental illness. However, basing your actions on gratitude and thanking your surroundings for what you have instead of focusing on what you don’t, leads you towards abundance!

How does gratitude cure mental illness?

1) Improved Sleep: Balanced and sufficient sleep is a must for a peaceful state of mind. People who realise the importance of gratitude in their lives end their day by thanking the universe for everything they have. This creates a focus on things that are positive in life. Sleeping on positive and happy thoughts results in a satisfying sleep. Gratitude also releases stress and helps relieve anxiety and depression which results in better sleep. Gratitude in this manner improves sleep, thus, in turn, maintaining the balance of mind.
2) Self-love: Once you realize that you are fortunate to have a healthy body and mind, which are the key ingredients for success, and you’re fortunate in numerous terms for your life, your gratitude towards your life increases. This will reduce your self-criticism and will increase your self-love. You love what you have, and you begin to accept yourself the way you are. Focus on ‘what is’ than ‘what is not’ shoots up self-love and makes way for positivity in life.
3) Building effective social relationships: Gratitude is the key to building effective and fruitful relationships with society. Man, being a social animal, depends on society to a great extent for his well-being. When you begin appreciating and paying gratitude to the person next to you, you build harmonious relationships. Harmony and goodwill help an individual in maintaining mental health.

Begin paying gratitude in your daily life in the following manner:

1) Appreciate and accept yourself, the way you look, the way you think, your achievements as well as your failures. Begin by writing what you really love about yourself and meditate on those positive thoughts. Be thankful for what you have and begin focusing on working upon yourself to grow in life each day.

2) Appreciate your family, your friends, the society you live in. Pay gratitude to the person in front of you. It is not necessary to always show to them that you’re thankful. Being grateful at heart is conveyed through positive energy.

3) Pay gratitude to the universe for all the materialistic things you possess.

Where there’s gratitude, there’s abundance. Use the power of gratitude to fill your life with positivity.

Stay Grateful, Happy, and  Stress-free!

 ‘How to conquer fear, our greatest enemy!’ you might be wondering about the title. So, let me ask you a question when was the last time you did not feel afraid of anything for an entire day? It is difficult to remember a day like this, am I right? Fear and anxiety are both human emotions, and no one can completely get rid of them. Fear is supposed to act as an alarm for situations which require sudden reactions and can be called a ‘saviour emotion’ in instances where sound decisions are a need of the hour. However, over-information, misinterpretation or overthinking may lead to an immense amount of fear, which can, in turn, overpower your mind and can lead to dire circumstances.

Fear, if not put under control can kill you faster than any disease. How is it so? Let me explain.

Uncontrolled and extreme fear is the direct cause of various health and personality disorders. However, where does fear come from?

We human being in our day-to-day lives experience various kinds of fear:

• Fear of Pain
• Fear of Loss
• Fear of Failure and Embarrassment

In general, we fear the unknown or the repetition of a painful scene in the past. As kids, we feared injections, why? Simply because the memory of pain is attached to that of an injection in our minds. We do not want to undergo painful situations, be it physical or emotional. Certain people do not wish to invest emotionally in anything or anyone. Why? Because they are often stuck in the clock and fear that attachment might cause pain.

Money, being one of the most vital elements of human life, comes along with a fear of loss. Certain people do not spend on themselves, fearing that it would lead to a loss of money. Fear of failure, of any sort, keeps us from taking a step forward into anything new. Fear of change goes hand-in-hand with the fear of failure.

Don’t quit even before you’ve started. Let us know the reasons why fear is the biggest killer of all!

Paulo Coelho

• Effects on Physical Health: It has been proven by the research studies conducted all over the globe that stress and anxiety can directly lead to a deterioration of human health at an extreme level. An external stimulus or a thought acts as a stimulus for the brain to release stress hormones, primarily, cortisol, which is responsible for various changes in the body. Stress and anxiety directly lead to an increase in blood pressure, in turn posing a high risk of heart disease. It also curbs the immunity of the body, and its tendency to heal. This directly makes the body more susceptible to infectious diseases. An Imbalanced sleep cycle is another stress-related disorder which has an adverse impact on mental health.

• Effects on Mental Health: Anxiety directly hits your brain cells and may also be an outcome of a condition known as ‘Brain Fog’, a block, as you may say, wherein you are unable to make any decisions whatsoever. Fear of the unknown, or fear of change gives way to negativity. As I’ve told earlier in my previous blogs about the Law of Attraction, you tend to attract what you strongly believe. Constant and overpowering fear pushes you toward the realisation of your fears.

“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There are a few simple steps you need to follow in order to take control of your fear and anxiety:

• Know Your Fears and Face Them Head On: A clarity of vision is necessary for achieving that goal. In the same manner, clarity and identification of your fear is the first step to tackle it. Once you know exactly what you’re fearful of, it becomes easy for you to find the required solutions.

“If you try to get rid of fear and anger without knowing their meaning, they will grow stronger and return.”

Deepak Chopra

• Meditation Helps Clear the Clutter:Regular meditation helps you to slow down your thought process in order to develop a sense of clarity. Stress arising due to misinformation or confusion is the worst to tackle. Analyzing all the sides of your fear is one way to take control over it.
• Physical Exercise:Regular exercise releases ‘hormones of happiness’ in your body and hence helps to conquer conditions such as ‘brain fog’. Increased blood circulation and adequate supply of oxygen to the brain has been proven to reduce anxiety and cure depression.
• Visualize Success: Imagine your success before you take upon a new challenge. Make sure to remain clear in your imagination and work towards that goal without paying heed to the thoughts of failure. Focussing on success will give your brain lesser opportunities to entertain the thoughts of anxiety.
• Have Gratitude for What You Have:  The universe will only continue providing for you as long as you appreciate what you have. If you’re grateful for the people and the material wealth you have in your current state, you worry less about the next moment. Effective communication and positive relationships with people around you have always helped reduce the thoughts of fear, loneliness and anxiety.

Cherish your relationships and friendships amidst these times of crisis. Owing to the CoVID-19 pandemic, where people are fearful of the virus and depressed about the current situation, it is important for us to realise that our fear in such circumstances is our greatest enemy! Focus on what you have and learn about natural ways to create wellness in life.

Register for 15 minutes free Power Coaching Session to utilize this time of crises to its best and turn the direction of your life towards positivity. Stay tuned for my upcoming blogs.

Till then, Stay Fearless, Healthy and Stress-Free!

In this blog we will talk about - ‘ Is cooperation the reason behind the success of a company?’. Research and surveys have shown that the employees from most enterprises around the world do not believe that they are able to cooperate with each other. They face a disconnect in the team they work with. This, basically, becomes the reason behind their dissatisfaction, job stress, low productivity, unhealthy competition and in extreme scenarios, a desire to quit. What exactly makes cooperation such an important pillar for success? Let us discuss this corporate attribute in detail.

In my previous blog, I talked about the importance of collaboration for a productive work environment. The most important question here is “What is cooperation, and how is it different from collaboration?”

Collaboration refers to working together towards a shared vision or goal. Each department putting in efforts to compile a project can be referred to as collaborative working. However, cooperation refers to working with each other, helping each other in induvial goals and tasks, and building a healthy work environment. Cooperation and collaboration are interdependent, since on one hand, without the cooperation and with friction, the employees shall find it difficult to work in one direction. Where, on the other hand, a requirement to work towards a shared vision instils cooperative spirit and camaraderie among the employees.

What are the advantages of a co-operative environment in the workplace?

1. Improved Communication: Instilling a cooperative spirit is directly connected to enhancing communication amongst themselves. Effective communication, as we have discussed it in previous blogs, pushes the growth of an individual towards success. Effective communication with one’s teammate at work, in turn, builds confidence in clearly putting your thoughts across in every instance.
2.  Better Decision Making: When the employees cooperate with each other, understand each other better, decision making for a team becomes easier and more effective. Division of work becomes smoother and the conclusion is reached smoothly, without friction.
3. Reducing Unhealthy Competition: As we have always read in the past, that healthy competition is very necessary for one’s growth. There’s as much truth in this fact as it lies in the fact that jealousy or unhealthy competition may lead to one’s quick downfall. Cooperative teams manage their time well, investing in growing together, helping each other out, rather than wasting time devising ways to outgrow each other. Cooperation builds a healthy relationship among team members.
4. Growth and Learning: Sharing enhances knowledge; a team which helps each other in completing their goals, grows exponentially in terms of knowledge and confidence. We’ve often mistaken jealousy as envy and vice versa. Being envious of other’s knowledge pushes you towards growth. Cooperation in a team makes member help each other without being jealous of their intellect or growth.
5. Increased Job Satisfaction: What better than a workplace where you’re recognized among your team, and there are friendship and constant work support. Cooperative environment instils positivity, reduces work stress and anxiety, and increases job satisfaction.
6. Instilling Collaborative Spirit: ‘No one has to lose for you to win!’ We have already talked about the importance of collaboration at the workplace. Cooperation is the basis of collaboration. When employees work for each other, they are more likely to work as a team towards a common goal.

How do we achieve a cooperative environment in the workplace?

The leaders in an organization are responsible to a great extent to make or break a team. If you are a leader, make sure that you work upon the following to build camaraderie at work:

Different ways in which cooperative environment can be encouraged at work:

1. Encouraging Team Building Activities: Team building is a skill which good leaders must learn to practice! The more united yet open to ideas the team is, the better it will perform.
2. Peer Review: Team members should be open to criticism, ready for debate as well as guidance. Peer review responsibility for every team member can be a great way to instil trust and confidence in the team.
3. Instilling Motivation: Effective communication with the team and conducting motivational exercises on a regular basis is the responsibility of a leader. Motivation pushes employees towards personal as well as professional growth as a team.
4. Open Opportunities: The basis of cooperation as well as collaboration lies in the fact that whether or not their work is being recognized. No individual member should feel left out or given lesser opportunities as compared to others. Fair chance and opportunity to succeed to everyone directly brings a difference in their productivity.
5. Know your Teammates: Before acquiring every bit of knowledge about your client, about their likes and dislikes, ask yourself, ‘Do I know my team well?’ The more you as a leader know your team, and the more they know each other, chances of friction are lower.
6. Fostering Commitment Over Compliance: What is the difference between commitment and compliance? A compliant employee will finish work in time and be extremely ethical at work, however, he/she may lack the x-factor a committed employ will display.  An extra edge by the employees of the company is the secret to its success. Commitment is only achieved when the employee feels included, recognized and satisfied at work. Encouraging members and building them into committed individuals is what instils a cooperative spirit in employees.

When each employee is well informed about a project at hand, he/she is able to cooperate and collaborate with the other employee to make the best out of the task. In this next blog, we shall talk about the last, but not the least pillar of corporate, coordination.

Till then, Stay Healthy and Happy!