Condolence

My deepest condolences and prayers to the people of Nepal whose  lives were lost in the devastating earthquake. May the souls rest in peace  May the affected be healed soon. Om Mani Padme Hum

Self-improvement?

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” 
                                                                                                                     ―Buddha

In New Year, people often commit to do or not do something.  We make resolution in every New Year that comes by. Whoever started the culture of New Year’s resolution, I am happy that they did. It makes a person develop both short and long term goals in life. In short, it gives person a will to self-improvement. Some new year’s resolution goes from joining gym, losing weight, saving money to finding love.

Whether out of my curiosity or due to a want for self-improvement, I did make few promises to myself.   After 3 months of it, I am looking back at my new year’s resolution. I have committed to take my goals very seriously this year.

My New Year resolution are to(not in any order of preference);
1. Join a reading club
2. Observe the National reading Year by reading the double of previous year. That makes me obliged to read almost 36 books this year.
3. Learn to drive. A thing I should have done long time before. Somehow I have not taken it very seriously. It’s now a vow this year.
4. Join a volunteer group. I am yet to decide where I want to join. There are several volunteer groups in the capital that I can choose to join. Though I have been active in my college days by being in almost 4-5 volunteer groups. I have been very dormant for the last one year. It’s high time I wake up for the greater cause.
5.  Look for a spiritual guide. Well, that is the toughest of all. There are several teachers I know, but I want to feel connected to the one I choose. I want to find myself through the guidance I get (it’s tough one though!). For greater realization, understanding and transformation.

 I am deeply inspired by this quote by Sogyal Rinpoche “our master is your living link with the truth, and because of your personal connection to your master, just seeing  his or her face connects you to the inspiration and truth of your own nature.’

Unlike the other years, this year is a very special year for me solely because of the resolutions I made.  My only pray is to be able to keep all commitments and to live by it.

The Stagnant Soul

It has been so long that I neither updated my blog nor my diary. My diary is supposed to be my daily reflection but my daily ritual is now at stand still. It has been weeks. The reason is simple; my empty mind which has lead to laziness.  I have not been hard on my mind either. I have let it dawdle own its own.   Same is with my eloquence. I have remained withdrawn and silent in the conversations in all situations.  There are two things I am writing about here:  on my transition of my personality type and writer’s block.

The routine of life has made the once dynamic soul into dormant stage for time being. Is this stagnant phase a sign of freedom or lost me?

I sense the lost ‘magic’ in me for now; the magic with which I used to charm my World (although it was a small).  It’s like the long slumber of the Dark Ages of European literature. Although that might be too huge a comparison yet my soul is experiencing the same dark era.  Or I am also probably suffering from writer’s block even though I do not credit myself as a writer. My writings are purely for myself, for my own satisfaction and reference.

On my personality type: I have been an extrovert .Neither did I hesitate to talk in gatherings nor was I uneasy to start a conversation with strangers.  I was brave and out spoken.  I do not see this in me anymore.  I have become anxious and conscious of every word I speak. I rather choose silence as an ultimate solution.  

Certainly, I have all the opportunity in the world to gather all the creativity, all the knowledge and wits. Yet the mind is blank and still. Should I blame my surrounding for it? I surely would not dare that. This is what the transition to adulthood has possibly made me.

I am not supposed to be like the one I am today.  I am eager to become the person I dream of; the one that is lost for the moment.  I want this dark era for both eloquence and writing to end.   I want to write more and  talk with confidence.

As I write this, I find myself constantly in search of ‘right words’. I find my fingers carelessly pressing the backspace button every time I type a sentence.   I pause for several times before I actually finish each paragraph.

Mental Health : Let us be serious

                                                                                          

I am doubtful if the Bhutanese took mental health seriously in the past. However, at time like  this: when the   pattern of our  economy is changing, when globalization is diffusing fast into our borders, when our life style is changing, when we are bombarded with information, we must take the mental health seriously.

Time has come where number of people suffering from various mental disorders has increased over the last few years. The number of people visiting the psychiatrist in the capital has increased over the years.   The Annual Health Bulletin 2014, reports the total mental disorders of 3520 in 2013 from 3044 in 2012 in the country.

                                                                             

                                      

Photo courtesy: http://production.miningaustralia.com.au/

Anxiety, psychosis, depression and substance abuse are attributes to mental health disorders. However, whether mental disorder is caused by the consumption of alcohol and drug use( psychoactive) or if the consumption of this substance is caused by mental disorder is yet to be found.

One of the probable consequences of mental disorder is suicide.  The staggering numbers of suicide from 2010 till October 2013 is 293 cases (reported case). We saw 68 suicide cases just in this year (Zam, 2014). This is a very huge number for small nation like ours.Just few days back, we saw another two youth take their lives. 

What does this number show? It shows that something is terribly wrong somewhere. We are either overlooking or complacent about our mental well being. The suicide and suicidal attempt could be due to the ignorance of the parents to their child’s emotions, poor communication, inability of the person to cope up with depression and stress, problems amongst peers and inaccessibility to counseling services.

The increasing mental disorder in the country is the alarm to our society that we need to take mental well being very seriously. Its time where frequent dialogue and communication in the family and between friends must be revived. We must put aside our mobile phones, laptop and television for some time and sit together. Of course,  we have mails to respond, meetings to attend, urgent appointments and follow ups to be done.  Yet in our busy schedules, we should find time for our families and friends to do that little exchange of dialogues.

The government is making some intervention. The counseling facilities will be made available to all walks of life. If a person feels that he/she has mental disorders, the person must come forward to avail these services. They must talk and not hesitate to come forward to get help.

References

Ministry of Health. (2013). Annual Health Bulletin

Ministry of Health. (2014).Annual Health Bulletin

Zam, N. (2014). Bhutan Sees 68 Death By Suicide Cases So Far This Year.                                                                                                           Retrieved from www.thebhutanese.bt

Humanity Crisis

For past hundred of years; wars were fought, lives were taken in the name of religion, politics, revenge and many other unnamed reasons. Now, its another phase of this war we are fighting. 

Planes go on missing. People are kidnapped. Cities are bombarded. Families are separated. A father loses a daughter in trafficking. A son is kidnapped to become a suicide bomber. Journalist are tortured and taken as captive. Family members kill each other for money and property.Our homes are on fire. What is happening to humanity? Where are we heading to?

I switch on my television. I see crisis in country X. I get disturbed and change the channel. I see open firing on civilians in country Y on another channel. I see people in pool of blood. The children are screaming and yelling. The war  has consumed all the resources, people are going hungry.They are abandoned from their own country. The schools are captured by terrorists. The children no more go to schools. They stay locked in their homes. Yet the families are not safe in their own homes. The 'sound sleep' is a distant word. 

Where are our values?Is this the destiny of human beings? Is this ever going to end? Our leaders are debating. They are talking.Solutions are vague. Our future is in haze. In the process of our perplexity, there are more blood sheds, magnifying collisions and  heightening crisis.

As I listen and watch this,  I feel sick. I want to run away. I no more want to live in the  World of chaos.I do not want to live in the World of fear and horror. I want peace and love. As I am writing this, several hundred may be evacuated from a war zone. Number of them might have breathed last.

Does this crisis have an end ?  Will humans go extinct in war with each other? What is the purpose of a war that is taking our sound sleep and hormony?  Every night, I sleep with this disturbing questions only to wake up with news of another terror. 

Mismatch?

Exactly two months and 13 days had passed by without updating my Blog. That accounts to eight weeks and 15 days. The simple fact is that I am lost in the daily mundane of life. Some how,  I seem to have lost track of time. Today, I am all over the thoughts of being a general graduate and the challenges I foresee upon myself in this technical World. 

When I first joined MoH, I had no idea what difference it would make in being a general graduate. I never foresaw the challenge ahead.   Even when I went to appraise our Secretary on my first day  at  office,  he stressed  on the challenges of  general graduate in the technical World. I wondered about it then . Now, I understand  what he meant as I begin to feel the mismatch of my qualification and job.

If I were to  take the survey of Bhutanese people working in various organization, there will be almost 50% of the people in the wrong place. They will either have mismatch of  job and qualification , or mismatch of job and skills or mismatch of job and interest. However, for good performance and meaningful contribution at the organization, there should job-qualification-skills-interest match.  Of course it is like asking for an ideal match. Yet,some absolute mismatch in our workplace are worth the thought.

For instance, an Information Technology student (IT) becomes a marketing officer.  History major student works in a financial institute. A biology student is employed as Trade Officer. A student with finance background is Human Resource Officer.Now go around and look in your own organization, see how many of such kind you can find. I bet there will be many. 

Should we call this blessing? Destiny?Chance? I know that cannot be called  'a job by choice.' A person  would always want to  apply the knowledge they learnt in their high school or college at their workplace.Nonetheless, we could also look at this from a different angle. May be that student was forced to take up the course they did not like(or by chance). Now, they may be  in the job of their choice. But this coincidence can happen only with few lucky ones. 

Is our recruitment into organizations flawed? Or is it because we have taken the course without studying the market situation? Or did the ones who developed the curriculum failed to be futuristic?(applies to Bhutan only)

In my case, I do not know if it is mismatch between job-interest or qualification , I am definitely handicapped at my own inability to contribute in the technical reports and discussions. I feel my energy untapped. While I also feel my potential to contribute lies else where.  Of course, I  am in the place where many dream to be but for me, its causing my self esteem.  I know there are  hundreds who are still hunting for a job and that I should be complacent. Yet, the uneasiness(inferiority complex)  brought this thought in me. 

Do not think I am giving up( nor any one would). There is still a hope inside me, the hope to make myself capable enough to handle the situations I am faced with. I know I will never become a doctor or specialist . But I also know I can built that same capacity inside me so that I no longer will feel sorry at myself. Thank God, I have  people at work place who motivate and never let me down.

I feel  the need for the change in the current scenario so that other people like me will no more suffer with the feeling of helplessness. 

List of Gratitude(Thank you Rhonda Bryne, you made me a grateful Person)

I am grateful to wake up alive today morning I know hundreds have not seen the morning's daylight.

I am grateful to be able to breath the fresh air because it is keeping me alive.

I am grateful for giving me wonderful parents and understanding siblings because they made me the person I am today .

I am grateful to be surrounded with joyful friends because they add colors to my life.

I am grateful to reach where I am today because I feel proud of myself.

I am grateful to have a perfect partner because he gives completes my World.

I am grateful to be meet with great teachers because they taught me the values of Life.

I am grateful to be able to  make my prayers everyday because it gives peace to  my soul.

I am grateful to have all my senses because I can see,feel,hear,taste,smell ;  some do not have the ability to do this. 

I am grateful to have a good boss because she is an inspiration to me.

I am grateful to be able to accept the way I am because its a challenge for few to accept themselves.

I am grateful to be working in my office because its a comfortable space I am given to work.

I am grateful to be born in Bhutan because its a peaceful country and I can live without any anxiety. 

There are many things I am grateful in life. Even in a day there are several things I am grateful for. There are people I am deeply grateful for.As I count on my gratitude in life, I feel the magic happen to me every seconds of my life. I feel satisfied and see happiness growing inside me. It brings the glow that life could bring ant happy man on earth. Our life is worth the gratitude because Magic is what we make happen to ourselves through gratitude. 

Be grateful each day, each moments of your life. Its worth it.   

I am practicing Rhonda's "The Magic" and it made me....

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