A minute with myself

Traditionality is generally considered ideas which are right leaning on the political spectrum. It is the set of values and ethics that have been prevalent in society for decades and centuries. Since man is a social animal, he must follow some of these principles if he wants to be a reputed member of the society. In countries like India and China, eastern philosophy of collectivism thrived throughout history. These cultures put an emphasis on developing together as a family and society. Thus, the elder members of the family always imbibed the cultural values in the young. Also, men and women in these societies were restricted to gender roles such as to earn a livelihood as a man and taking care of the children as a woman. However, starting from the late 20 th century these eastern philosophies moderated their stance on the treatment of women and started giving them more educational and employment opportunities. On the contrary, Liberalism stemmed from Western democratic nations. These...

More than two years have gone since I came to Germany. It feels like I am living my dream life. I recently finished my studies and started working full-time at a multi-national company. I am being paid well and have enough time outside of work to explore my hobbies. I have been hiking, traveling, going to book clubs and poetry events, meeting new people and exploring spirituality. Never in my life have I been more spiritually inclined than right now. The Bhagwat Geeta gives me mental strength, humility and guidance to live my life. I have realized why Indian people turn to God when they live outside of India. They frequently engage in festivities, Indian gatherings and Bhajan Kirtan events. In short, they want to feel close to Indian culture and Indian people when they live outside. Part of the reason is also because life in Western countries tends to be lonesome and hyper individualistic. Most people do not have anyone whom they can trust outside of their spouse and children. This i...

Disclaimer: This article has generalized some traits of men and women’s sexual nature; however, it doesn’t mean that all men and women act in this way. Read on more to find out! From a masculine perspective, testosterone plays a huge role in how a man’s body and mind function. It is the hormone which develops traits like a deeper voice, a physically strong body, rational thinking (as opposed to emotional thinking) and disagreeableness in a man. It is the same hormone responsible for sexual desire in them. A woman’s sexual desire is more mental. A man’s sexual desire is more physical. It means a woman generally needs a lot more time and effort to get turned on. She must feel very safe, secure and be in the right mood and should be with the right person at the right time to think of having sex for the first time with a new person. This contrasts with how a man acts if he sees the opportunity to have sex. In other words, women are very picky when it comes to choosing a sexual partner....

  “Loneliness” is the sadness that a human being experiences when he or she doesn’t have friends or company. Socially, all human beings are hardwired to interact with other humans. Evolutionarily, our ancestors used groups or company as a means of survival. A lack of group meant that the individual had to survive alone and thus, was in more danger of getting killed. As a result, our ancestors had no choice but to stay in groups and survive. What if I told you that loneliness is a universal experience and that all humans, regardless of their status, power, money, health, looks, or careers have gone through a bout of loneliness. If you are feeling lonely, it doesn’t mean that something is wrong with you apparently. It is not a mental health issue however, longer periods of it can lead to social isolation which can result into serious mental health related problems. Even with all the technological advancements and social media, our biological needs are very basic and common. We ca...

E very place has a different vibe associated with it. Its as if like that vibe is not available anywhere else in the world. Moving from my home state Gujarat to a city in Haryana, Gurugram for work, the culture changed. Back in my state, alcoholic drinks were banned for human consumption. Here, the party culture was pre-eminent. People of Gurugram used to consume a lot of alcohol in parties on weekends and public holidays. Every Saturday night held a special place in the heart of a person staying in Gurugram. In essence, the night life of the city was something to adore even for a person who didn’t drink or smoke. I embraced this culture and enjoyed my limited stay there. Personally, the struggles associated with living a nuclear life had always daunted me. When I was 18, I left my home for the first time to study and obtain a bachelor's degree. I was about to stay at a hostel with a bunch of unknown people. I remember that when my family came to drop me to the hostel, I cried. I...

Singlehood can be generally painstaking for a person who is constantly lectured by the society on the importance of coupledom. It can be depressing to see other people holding hands, whispering to each other, and enjoying the company of their other half while not being able to experience it themselves. I see that many of my close friends have already been in a relationship earlier or are in one presently. I observe that many of these relationships happened because the parties involved were subconsciously afraid or terrified of being lonely. Even though, the couple were a terrible match, they decided to give it a shot because of their bodily needs and fear of ending up alone. Others were a great match but didn’t have the maturity required to sustain a relationship. A few others grew out of love or had external circumstances dictate terms. While I am not saying that relationships formed during teenage and early adulthood don’t survive the test of time, but it is the society’s brainwash...

Concepts like Purpose, Passion and Drive have been occupying my mind lately. I cast my mind back to when I was younger. I remember that my father gave me a CD titled “the secret” which is a world-renowned documentary with real incidents of ordinary people describing the power of the mind. I recall that this is my first ever encounter with the word “Purpose”. As a teenager, the purpose of my life was simple – to get good grades in studies. I remember a time when in one of the clips in the film, a person mentioned that by manipulating the mind we could achieve what we desire (in my case it was getting good grades) even without having to put in the hard work. I thought to try it for once and see if it worked. So, before my difficult English exam, I decided that instead of focusing on studies, I would train my mind. The result was that I recorded my lowest exam score ever. Some years later, I realized that perhaps, I was too naïve to understand the contents of the documentary. Years went b...

Physical intimacy is the feeling of touch and closeness which one gets with another human being. In this article, I am specifically referring to the intimacy one craves for in a romantic or sexual relationship, however, this term is very broad. One can also have a warm tight hug with a friend, and it can be one form of physical intimacy. During one of the lectures from Jordan Peterson about the importance of touch in humans, an experiment showed that most of the orphan babies which had minimal to zero touch during their formative period died and the ones which survived had physical or emotional abnormality while growing up. The experiment showed evidence that physical touch was necessary, and it was a biological need. As humans it is inevitable to crave physical intimacy. People devoid of long-term intimacy tend to have negative emotions inside them. They tend to be isolated from the pack and prefer to stay alone. Conversely, some people feel lonely even when with a group. There is...

Every living thing on this planet is driven evolutionarily. Humans are no different. With the general classification of men and women, we are evolved as per our biological conditioning. Due to this reason, we differentiate the masculine from the feminine. Some character traits like physical strength, courage, leadership, and assertiveness are associated with Traditional Masculinity. Stereotypically Feminine traits are kindness, nurturance, sensitivity, supportiveness, and warmth. In the new world order, however, with the advent of Feminism men are taught to be feminine and vulnerable. Contrastingly, women are taught to become the bread winners and provide. While I don’t claim that it is a bad thing, but as much as we want to change the gender roles, we are disrespecting the rules of nature and evolution. Anyways, in a traditional household, the man used to go out in search of work and earn money for his family. He was supposed to provide for his family food and shelter. The woman was...

When you go on a date, you always tend to dress well. You get obsessed with your dressing to a point where you become a little self-conscious. You want to make sure that you want to impress your date to stand the best chance with them. Now, I am not saying that dressing well is not important, but to dress to impress is more like seeking validation. You are always sub-consciously thinking that you have more interesting stories to tell. You think that your date should listen to what you have to say rather than the other way around. Let us imagine for a moment that you free yourself from the expectation of looking good and impressing. If you are listening to their stories and what they have to offer, then they will feel happier indeed. This is because your mind is sub-consciously now programmed to portray the other person as interesting and your words and actions will convey a message that you want to hear more of them. In the above example, I want to stress on the importance of loving ...

Peeps, it is interesting how most of us grow up. I mean if we talk about a typical Indian middle-class household, with a working father and a house making mother, we are taught to struggle for everything. This is because by the time we grow up and become young adults, we are expected to earn a decent amount of money and take the responsibility of the family on our shoulders. I am fortunate to be receiving a decent education at this point of time when my Quarter life is approaching. Most of the people of my age, generally, don’t have a clarity of thought as to what they want to do in their careers and their personal life (and that is totally fine). Again, I am thankful to be having the clarity of thought in my career. My dear friend, who studied in Europe for years had to travel back to India because he couldn’t find a job there. He has been in India now for a few months and still can’t find a job there. I think luck plays a bigger role in your life than you anticipate. My German dr...

During my final days in my Bachelor studies, I was so frustrated to end my studies and concentrate on earning money for few years. I got into a decent job which obviously did not pay me well but was handy for the time being. I adored the way I was able to handle the pressure situation that arose there and the challenges that rose every day. However, after only about 6 months of work life, I had my first feeling of quitting my job and getting back to what I did best, and that was, to study. It is not like I know everything I study or that, I desire to study everything. But one thing is certain and that is that study is my comfort zone and University or college is a place where I think I belong. So, I had this deep desire of studying again and this time for a master course. After surviving two jobs and two massive COVID-19 waves, my plan of studying my masters finally came into fruition. Every step along the way came with a lot of frustration as I knew it was going to be a long and pat...

So, in the modern world with increasing urbanization and westernization, we can tend to be over-ambitious and at times, neglect some things which might be as important as our career and goals. So, in a similar urban setup, one husband failed to tell his wife about her workaholic attitude that was causing him problems. He, to an extent, even thought of separating from his wife in his mind. He realized that the damage was irreparable and hence, went down a deep swirling spiral where he was confused, anxious and worried about his marriage. This can be the story of any 30-something individual regardless of gender and geography. So, today I will list out a few aspects of life where the Power of Communication can go a long way in ensuring that we live a better version of ourselves every day and improve our relationships with our spouses, colleagues, friends and family members. Overcoming Depression and Anxiety: My friend was faced with a very critical situation of facing her gr...

So, you wonder why you are always sad, anxious, depressed and above all worried about stuff that is going on with you in your life. You attend a lot of meetings, meet 30 people in the day, drink 50 coffees, attend 5 parties and change 10 pairs of clothing throughout the day. And then you wonder if you are close to a breaking point. In the modern era, the digital world has eased a lot of things for us but at the same time, decreased our focus on physical and mental health. As a result, we are constantly anxious about stuff that might not be in our control. So, we ourselves are to be blamed for our mental conditioning in this modern era. So, today I will list out a few things that will may or may not help you to overcome your problems but will at least help you to remain calm and relaxed regardless of the circumstances that you are facing. Sleeping: In the constant battle of achieving your goals and desires or a corporate position, we have forgotten doing the most efficient thin...

So, you had just had a bad day at the office and you are preparing to go home. At home, you meet your wife and start complaining to her about stuff that went wrong at the office today. But guess what? She is in no mood to listen to any of that as she herself has had a terrible day at her workplace. So, you realize that you can’t do much about this fact and put a smile on your face and help her out in the kitchen. You dine together after a while and catch up later. You finally talk and communicate to each other about your respective days. You both realize that life is much more about complaining and lashing out at each other. So, whenever you feel down and sad and depressed about stuff that is going on with you in your life, Breathe, sit back and Relax! Not everything that you wish goes according to plan. So, today by listing out points I am going to be reminding you about the fact that Life is worth living and Life, in essence, is a Celebration. Stay Detoxified: Stay away f...

So, you planned at 16 that when you get out of school at the age of 18, you will pursue engineering from an NIT, India and then at the age of 22, after graduation you will pursue masters from UK and then get a good job and apply for permanent residency. But guess what? Part or whole of it didn’t work out. So, this is the plan of many of the Indian people where they choose either Engineering or MBBS as a career option and most of them fail to become good engineers or doctors. In a nutshell, this is Plan A for a 20 something Indian or in a broader range, Plan A for a 20 something. Nationality has nothing to do with it. So, here I will list out the reasons why this Plan A failed to come good and why your backup Plan B will almost always succeed. 1.       Lack of Implementation: This is the single most reason why your Plan A might fail to come good. Besides, circumstances play a huge roll as well. Plan A is generally the first plan that you have made for ...