INNOVATIONS AND START- UPS ARE THE PRODUCTS OF A STRESS-FREE MIND

A STRESS-FREE MIND IS MORE INNOVATIVE AND WORK PRODUCTIVE 

When I was studying Medicine at the famous King Georges Medical College in Lucknow, way back in the late seventies, we (my colleagues and me) were trained to be kind and compassionate to the patients we treated, as part of our education ,because we were taught they were in a lot of physical pain and agony and needed our kind healing touch and treatment. Gradually with the passage of time, the focus of treatment shifted to Good Holistic Health which included emphasis on the importance of Good Mental Health as well Good Physical Health.

Later, while practicing as a doctor I found that many patients who came for treatment and investigations for their ailments, used to be very stressed and anxious, for multiple reasons. Either they were worried about their disease, or the cost of treatment entailed or the repercussion it would have on their family. This stress compounded their illness and made it worse!

Many a time the patients suffered work pressures, peer pressures, family tensions, financial strains and so on, and these constraints made them so stressed that they had headaches and burn out, which further deteriorated their work performance, and this made them more stressed.

A vicious cycle followed, which could not be relieved by any medication, no matter which brand or how much. Psychosomatic disease is the term given to such ailments-which simply means—body symptoms due to mental stress!

As my children were growing up through their adolescent years, I encountered many of their friends and numerous other students who were stressed/ depressed ,due to a plethora of reasons like peer pressure, parental pressures, self –expectations leading to pressures, academic pressures and so on-the list is never ending. This large chunk of stressed youth had no one to turn to for help, as their parents, who were believed to be the natural support systems for children some years back, were also in the same boat as their children today, and were very stressed and disturbed, lacked adequate parenting skills and were not able to communicate rationally with their children. All these factors resulted in the children moving away psychologically from parents and family into the clutches of addictions and substance abuse. The situation had catapulted from bad to worse.

Parent -child conflicts were rampant, relationship issues were so common and divorces were taking place at the drop of a hat, road rage, anger and aggression reigned supreme in the family and on the roads .What was happening to the society and in the society was beyond anyone's comprehension. The saddest part was that children and the youth bore the brunt of all this and had no one to turn to for help or guidance. They instinctively turned to their peers for support who led them to maladaptive coping.

Stress, I found was the root cause of all these maladies .If people knew how hazardous stress could be to their mental and physical health, if youth just understood that stress could lead them to drugabuse, alcoholism, depression, and many more such maladies, and if they were AWARE and EMPOWERED that Stress could be Coped and Prevented and told How they could do so, their life would be stress-free, anxiety- free, happy and they would be able to live a more work productive and enriched life.

At this point I took up the challenge of doing this and founded PARI FOUNDATION a NGO which is an Acronym for Psychological Assessment And Rehabilitation In --all people, especially children and youth. Our NGO uses the tool of CBT---Cognitive Behaviour Therapy--and empowers and educates youth that their THOUGHTS are completely in their control and by changing/shaping their thoughts they can change their attitude towards a specific problem thereby countering or overcoming it successfully. Thus they can PREVENT BEING IN STRESS.

PARI FOUNDATION focuses on SELF-IMPROVEMENT with the help of CBT.

Our Destiny , we advocate, is not in the hands of any supernatural power, as we were made to believe in, by our fathers and forefathers. We can ALL shape our destiny the way we want it to be, just by focusing on the quality and quantity of our thoughts and changing them accordingly. This is self-empowerment and works wonders and keeps stress at bay. This is also ‘adaptive coping.’

PARI FOUNDATION has worked with thousands of students in hundreds of schools in India, in and around DehraDun ,UP and we are rapidly moving on to newer horizons. We have empowered hundreds of youth to PLEDGE AND SAY NO TO STRESS AND DRUGS. Technology has been a boon for us and has helped us dramatically in our endeavour to reach out to more and more youth all over the country, Students attend our LIVE-workshops ,have Interactive sessions with our team, whereby we help them think differently and find rational solutions to numerous problems which plague them, thereby helping them ward off the stress. Internet services made available far and wide enable us to talk to youth even in the remotest areas by e-conferencing. Skype sessions with students who need them, e-mails, mobile chats and messages, further ensure that students can reach us easily. Our videos/films/questionnaires help students gauge their stress and anxiety levels and they find quick remedies on our website, at the click of a button.

Our aim is to have stress free and happy society which will automatically be more efficient and work productive. Stress-free people can work better and harder and sustain themselves and their families in a much more conducive way. We believe that rather than being stressed and then learning to manage it—let us all --PREVENT STRESS .This is also our motto and it is 100% possible today. Awareness and Empowerment are the keywords.

Dr.Sona Kaushal Gupta

Neuro-psychologist

Founder- Director PARI FOUNDATION

www.parifoundation.c- om

9411028002

parifoundation@gma- il.com