Tridoshas & Trigunas - A Guide for Better Understanding

Indian school of perineal psychology has been one of the most ancient school of thoughts on personality. Lost in the thought currents of the western psychology, two interconnected personality theories have been thriving in the bosom of Upanishadic traditions of India. These personality models are not only explaining ‘why we are, what we are’, but gives us the guiding light on happiness and harmony of human life. Which is unlike of the most western personality theories.

In India, Ayurveda has described personality as –

A) Tridoshas: Vata – Pitta – Kapha – which is referred as the Tridosha Personality Theory.

B) Trigunas: Satva – Rajas – Tamas – which is referred as the Triguna Personality Theory.

Explaining the Tridoshas:

When the five eternal substances – space, air, fire, water and earth combine to form the human body, they do so by creating three vital energies, or doshas. These are the forces that govern all psycho-physiological functions in the body and mind respectively. They construct the body and serve to maintain it in a dynamic state of health. However, when these vital forces are aggravated, due to improper gross or subtle factors, the body- mind connection begins to suffer and the disease process begins.

Vata

It is the most powerful among the doshas. Formed by the interaction of space and air, Vata is movement, the body in motion. Warm food, moderately heavy textures, added butter and fat; salt, sour, and sweet tastes; soothing and satisfying foods, All are good for settling the disturbed Vata. Use food such as: warm milk, cream, butter, warm soups, stews, and hot cereals, fresh baked.

Pitta

Formed by the interaction of fire and water. The polarity of these two elements plays an important role for Pitta, which regulates the body metabolism and transformations in the body’s form. Cool or warm but not steaming hot foods; bitter, sweet, and astringent tastes, are what are perfect for this body type. Take cool, refreshing food in summer. Reduce the consumption of salt, oil and spices, all of which are “heating” to the body. Salads are good, so is milk and ice cream.

Kapha

It is formed by the structural properties of earth, with water in its role as a lubricant to different tissues of the body, which also aids strength and adds stamina to the body. Warm light food, dry food, cooked without much water, minimum of butter, oil and sugar are recommended for this body type. Stimulating foods with pungent, bitter and astringent tastes and deep fried foods are best avoided. Eat lightly cooked foods or raw fruits and vegetables. ‘Eat’ spicy, bitter and astringent foods. Watch out for eating that little bit extra, a typical Kapha tendency

Explaining the Trigunas:

Ayurvedic philosophy provides an idea of the creation of the universe, from which the concept of Trigunas of Nature is evolved out.

Sattva

Sattva refers to Pure hence indicates your personality type as such. Sattva Guna is the positive and spiritual quality that, when dominant, you have a natural tendency to be kind, caring, and Hence possesses Sattvic Personality. 

Sattva Guna is present in a correct proportion in you if you are:    

• Mentally Strong
• Respect your Teachers (Gurus)
• Non-violent
• Kindred
• Self-controlled
• Meditative

Rajas

Rajas people are very desirous and full of attachment. Due to their acute self-interest, sometimes they may face difficulties in differentiating between right and wrong. It is called Rajasic Personality.

Rajas Guna is in the balanced proportion if you are:

• Enthusiast
• Deeply Interested
• Dedicated to Work
• Restless
• Self-centered
• Achiever

Tamas

Tamas means Darkness, which indicates the psychological state of Illusion, negativity, dullness, and inactivity. 

The state of the dominance of Tamas Guna is indicated by the 

• selfish 
• uncaring 
• cynical behavior 

& hence called Tamasic Personality.

To know more about your Trigunas and Tridoshas attempt this test at https://brainberg.in/i-persona/ and get a report of your own.

Psychometric Assessments

Have you ever heard of the words, Psychometric Assessment? If not, these long words may seem really scary with some heavy meaning. But you don’t have to worry, we are here to help you out and explain what really psychometric assessment is!

Simply put, psychometric assessment has a bunch of tests which calculate different things about the person taking the test. These tests are of different types which we will learn more about further in this article.

They may measure what kind of personality you have, for example, if you like hanging out with people more or if you like to stay at home and read in quiet places; if you get nervous easily or if you can stay calm even in stressful situations; if you like to explore new things and people or if you like to stay with the people you know and do things the way you always do, etc.

A psychometric test may measure your level of knowledge in a certain subject like, mathematics or a language, or even your overall intelligence level for your age. It may calculate the level of skills you have in a specific area, such as your communication skills, how well you can talk formally with people, or your technical skills, how well you can use particular software on a computer.

A psychometric test can even measure your stress levels and motivation levels; how do you deal with stressful situation and how much motivated you feel when studying or working. We can make plans on how to do better in the areas we are lesser in based on the test results. The students who are at the age of deciding their careers especially need to take psychometric tests, so they can know more about their own interests and skills. This will help them to make right decision about which stream of further study they want to take; they will also be aware of what career options they have.

Psychometric tests basically tell you what talents you have, how good or bad you are in something, what your strong areas are, how your nature is, etc. It gives you more information about yourself that you may not know before. All you have to do is solve or answer the questions in the test honestly. So the person taking your test can calculate your results and help you learn more about yourself.

Our regular school exams focus more on the book knowledge and how well a student can remember and learn it. Other parts of his/her personality and the abilities he/she may have are usually ignored. So we need to do a more complete evaluation of a person to know about their strengths and weaknesses. Psychometric assessment does just that for you. It helps you to know what your capabilities are and a good career counselor can help you in using those capabilities to your benefit.

Aptitude is the potential or the future ability of a person to do better in certain field of study or a skill. Many schools these days let their students take aptitude tests in the higher grades like 8^th, 9^th, or 10^th standards. These tests help them in understanding where and how well they can do, career-wise.

In today’s world, we need to prepare our children for the harsh reality check. Psychometric tests help you in that by telling you where to work more and improve the skills that the children already have. By knowing what things your child likes to do, you can help him/her follow that as a career. And a person does far better when he/she has interest in and likes the work he/she does.

There are different types of psychometric tests available in market nowadays.

1.     Intelligence (IQ) tests: These are the most commonly used psychometric tests. They measure your intelligence in particular areas, such as, mathematics, language, etc., and also your overall intelligence. They can also measure your memory and other intellectual abilities.

2.     Aptitude and Ability tests: These tests calculate your skills or abilities in certain area, such as your logical ability, problem solving, etc. They also measure your aptitude in a certain field of study. How well you will be able to do if you chose that career.

3.     Personality tests: These tests tell you more about your own nature and personality. What qualities you have that can help you more if you chose a certain career. They can help you understand why you behave like you usually do. How you would react in certain situations.

4.     Interest inventories: These are the tests that help you in understanding where your interests actually are, what professions and career options are better for you based on your interests.

5.     Stress batteries: These are the tests that tell you about your stress levels. How well you can deal with stressful situations. What career options are better for you based on that?

6.      Emotional Intelligence tests: EQ or Emotional quotient is something that has become important in recent times. It is an ability to understand, manage, and use our own emotions and feelings in a good way. It helps us build strong relations with others, make good decisions, and deal with difficult situations. Knowing and improving our EQ can help us choose proper career and do extremely well in that career. 

Benefits of Psychometric Assessment:

1.     As stated above, psychometric tests give complete information about the person taking the tests. They focus on the whole instead of just certain parts like our regular schools exams.

2.     Psychometric tests are completely neutral and impartial. There is no chance of personal opinions and errors to get in the way of correct results. They are completely objective.

3.     They help us to understand our own skills, talents, interests, and abilities in a way nothing else can. We can then make right decision to select a proper career path based on our strengths and interests.

4.     They are very cost-effective. As it only takes little time to give a psychometric test and get results, we save a lot of time. Most tests are affordable, so we save money as well and that too while making proper decisions about our children’s futures.

5.     As these tests are made scientifically and by following all the rules and regulations, the results of the tests are almost always correct. There is almost no possibility of errors or mistakes.

We are now living in a world where it is becoming quite normal for us to get psychometric assessment done. It is important for our children to have good future and psychometric assessment is the way to go for that. So, we have no other option than being aware about this ever-growing service industry and making use of it for our and our children’s better future!  

 

 

 

 

Mindfulness to Well Being

 

The world has become a turnover, we practice our schedule’s whilst we stay indoors, that has become the new normal. On a daily routine, you might fold the laundry while keeping one eye on your kid and the other on the television. You might jot down the plan for the next day while listening to the radio or while having lunch. Finally, the weekend arrives and you alleviate with a gripping book or a fascinating Netflix show. Always being in a rush to complete tasks, do you often find yourself losing connection with the present moment? Do you have a habit of slipping off to the past or what future would be like? Did you notice your favorite tree has shed leaves or how forsythia blooms along your route to work? Mindfulness is the practice of focusing attention to the present moment – well, let’s explore that. Shall we?

The culture of mindfulness dates back to Buddhism. This technique helps to mold your thoughts from your current preoccupations so that you perceive a larger perspective on life. Let us look at the benefits of mindfulness.

·        Mindfulness and Physical Health – Mindfulness helps treat heart diseases, lower’s blood pressure, reduces chronic pain, improves sleep, alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

·        Mindfulness and Mental Health – Mindfulness meditation is the secret to a long and happy life. It has treated depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder etc.

·        Mindfulness and Well Being – When you focus on the now, you are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past. You deal with adverse events more affectively. Extensively focusing on present activities, does boost self-esteem and creates promising connection with self. This technique has been brought into mainstream medicine. It brings positive psychological symptoms and other changes in health, attitudes and behaviors. 

Practicing mindfulness involves staying alert, focused relaxation by consciously paying attention to thoughts and sensations without any judgement. This will allow your crisp mind to refocus on the present moment. Let’s explore some mindfulness techniques.

1.     Basic mindfulness meditation:

·        Sit quietly, focus on your natural breathing or on a ‘mantra’ that you repeat on loop.

·        Allow your thoughts to be passengers, they will come, stay for a while and then leave.

·        Focus on your breathing or mantra whilst your thoughts pass by.  

2.   Focus on body sensations:

·        Notice the subtle body sensations such as tingling, fear, restlessness, without judgement.

·        Notice each part of your body for such sensations from head to toe.

·        Don’t lose on your focus on breathing or mantra whilst you notice these sensations.

3.     Focus on sensory:

·        Notice the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and touch, around you.

·        Name them silently accordingly ‘sight’, ‘smell’, ‘taste’ or ‘touch’, without any judgement and let them go.

·        Don’t lose on your focus on breathing or mantra whilst you notice these sensory. 

4.     Focus on emotions:

·        Notice the emotions that erupt or have been there since a very long time, without any judgement.

·        Begin a steady and relaxed manner of naming the emotions silently like joy, anger, frustration, without any judgment and consider them as passengers. Let them go.

·        Don’t lose on your focus on breathing or mantra whilst you notice these sensory. 

5.     Focus on urge surfing:

·        Notice your cravings for any addiction or behaviors and consider them passengers. Let them go.

·        Notice how you feel as your cravings enter your body. Replace your desires with your knowledge, in order to let it recede.

·        Don’t lose on your focus on breathing or mantra whilst you notice these sensory. 

The effects of mindfulness meditation tends to be dose related; the more you do, better the results. It takes both time and patience to utterly surrender to the peacefulness within. The only goal of mindfulness is to stop giving the authority to your thoughts and emotions. Just remember that in a world where people, including you are a part of rhythmic routine, it is important to take a moment to just breathe and live in the moment. Let go of the past and worry about the future when it onsets.

 

7 Habits to Buoyancy

 

                                                              

If there is one thing we would like to say to all fresher’s this year, it would be to take it slow. For someone who has just graduated, the result is a life of frantic insecurity, and, in the age of anxiety in which we live, mental illness gets greatest chance to attack us. For these young adults, life is not a playground, it’s a jungle. It is full of tough issues and life-changing decisions. And, that of a student’s parent isn’t any walk in the park either. Allow us to give you a compass to help you navigate the problems these young adults encounter daily. As a parent, it’s all well and good to tell kids how to live their lives, ‘young adults watch what parents do more than they listen to what they say’. How will a fresher deal with peer pressure? Motivation? Success or lack thereof? Through author Sean Covey, Let us duel on the 7 habits, shall we? 

1. By being proactive!

Being proactive is the key to unlocking other habits. As young adults, you need to take control and responsibility of your life. Proactive people understand that they are responsible for their own actions. 

2. Begin with the end in mind 

As young adults, you aren’t clear about where you want to end up in life, your values, goals, and what they stand for, you will wander, waste time, and be tossed to and fro by the opinions of others. You have to create a personal mission statement which will act as a road map. It will direct and guide your decision-making process. 

3. Put first things first 

This shall help you prioritize and manage your time so that you create a balanced focus between your personal and professional life. Prioritizing also means swotting to overcome fears and building yourself to be a strong soul. 

4. Think win-win!

You, fresher’s can learn to foster the belief that it is possible to create an atmosphere of win-win in every relationship. This habit encourages the idea that in any given discussion or situation both parties can arrive at a mutually agreed solution. This will help you celebrate the accomplishments of others instead of being threatened by them. 

5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood 

Most people lack the understanding of ‘listening’. One of the greatest frustrations in life is that many feel ‘not understood’. This habit will ensure you become an active-listener throughout important communications. 

6. Synergize your energies 

This happens when two or more people work together and create something that could not be done alone. This will ensure that you learn that it doesn’t have to be ‘your way’ or ‘my way’ but rather a better way, a higher way. This energy allows one to value differences and appreciate others better. 

7. Sharpen the saw 

As a young adult, you begin the process of emerging out of adolescence to enter a bright adulthood. When fresher’s ‘sharpens the saw’, they keep their personal self-sharpened to deal better with life. This means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of life – body, brain, heart and soul. 

As long as the basic four dimensions of life are under control, adulting will definitely get a lot better. As freshers or young adults, life is a maze, the only way to get through is to take ‘one-step at a time’. 

Mental Hardiness

Mental Hardiness

“Mental Wellbeing” has proved to be another important facet during the Covid-19 as most of us are going through stress, sadness, irritation, anxiety and other mental problems. The New Normal demands us to stretch our mental capabilities and deal problems in ‘not so normal’ ways. In such cases, do we have the right strategies in hand to dispense? 

Mental Hardiness is the new flexible way to cope up and revive from our stressors. “Hardiness has been put forward as the pathway to resilience under stress.” (Bonanno 2004; Maddi 2005) Hardiness provides a person with a power to deal and manage stressful situations with active coping strategies. Hardy people transform the potentially threatening events and build an upward spiral of learning and growth.

Here is a model of Cognitive Hardiness given by Kobasa and Maddi. The 3 dimensions or the three Cs of hardiness are said to concomitantly affect the cognitive appraisal and the behaviour in response to the stressors.

   Challenge- challenges are inevitable. Life is perceived as naturally challenging and being as innately stressful. If a person is mentally hard, she/he accepts and embraces the challenging nature of life and recognizes the growth possibilities. This mental framework not only helps the person to think alternative solutions while dealing but also increases the wisdom and confidence to handle any future stressful situations. Challenges keep a person in constant learning mode, where faith in oneself and wisdom are the outcomes. One has to come out of comfort zone and confront the challenge. And believe that life will give you challenges in order to help you grow. A non-hardy person is constantly complaining about the stresses and cannot accept the existence of a challenge in life. Rather they tend to negate any stressful situation and remain un-optimized. 

    Control- control is the attitude that makes a person feels ‘in power’ rather than powerless during stressful situations. Control is characterized by

·         perceived control over life events

·         internal locus of control

·         persistence in getting fruitful end results from the stressful event

People who are in control of the situation bring in more creative ideas and deal effectively with the situation. The person never tries to be passive or go powerless. This attitude helps the person to find alternative routes to reach the solution.

    Commitment- in a very generic sense, commitment refers to the dedication and involvement towards family, organization, and society. Mental Hardiness vouchsafes the person to be committed even when things get harder or difficult. For example a hardy person will be committed to a partner even though conflicts brew up between them.

Generally, we see that a person detaches herself or himself from the stressful work and dispenses less energy. People who are committed tend to show tremendous attachment and involvement towards the event or the organization even under stress. The person is more active player than a passive receiver. As defined by Maddi & Kobasa, “Hardiness is a general sense that the environment is satisfying, which leads a person to approach situations with curiosity and enthusiasm or commitment.” 

What can you do?

ü  Acknowledge and embrace the challenge.

ü  Get out of your comfort zone.

ü  Be committed and show energy while dealing the situation instead of alienating.

ü  Try to find out alternative ways of dealing.

ü  Have an internal locus of control.

ü  Learn and take help from your loved ones.

ü  Use active coping strategies like problem solving.

ü  Focus more on task.

Do not let difficulties and stressful situations hinder you from reaching your goal. Take effective and active steps towards solving the problem. Try to bring in these hardy attitudes in life. You surely would grow along the way.