Sunday 18 October 2020

'How are you feeling?' - Taking first step towards positive mental health

 “Whenever I am upset I talk to someone who can understand me. If that doesn’t help then I use social media however that just frustrates me more”

After a very engaging and productive mental health awareness workshop with 60+ students from Government School on International Mental Health Day, we conceptualized yet another workshop with same objective and intention for young people. Mental Health is crucial in all times, however due to Covid-19, it has taken a major hit and people are struggling to cope with it. We invited people all across India that includes students, activists, grass root workers and others to devote few moments just for themselves to get in touch with what’s going on with them. In this quest, we came across many near and dear ones who are finding it difficult to cope with stress, anxiety and uncertainties in various dimensions of their lives. While curating diverse activities for Mental Health awareness month, we didn’t schedule or intend to provide direct counseling or psychological support, however with the mobilization for this workshop, the opportunity came up on its own that lead us to some very crucial one on one sessions. That made our work more holistic, contextualized and reflective on the current needs for mental health.


The workshop had 17 participants from different parts of India - Mumbai, Delhi, Noida and Bihar with an intersection of age, gender, social context, education status, region and language. This made us more proactive in creating an inclusive space where the diversity would be respected and celebrated to create a learning environment.



The workshop began with a brief introduction on who we are, what will happen in next one and half hour and warm welcome to the participants. This was followed by mindful meditation practice to allow them to absorb the space, bring their thoughts in, and be fully present in the moment in sync with the breath. In the next activity, they were invited to write down an experience where they felt sad, upset, angry or frustrated during this year or any point of their lives.

Life can be really touch, challenging and not everything goes as we plan so what do we do when we are at odds with the life –

‘I listen to the music and it calms me down’

‘I cry, write and share it with my partner’

‘I eat my favorite things, go to park, play with animals who really sooth me’

‘I go to some place away from crowd, where there is no one, sit in silence to experience peace’

‘I go for long walks, enjoy the open sky and nature. It makes my problems look tiny’

‘I sit my guitar, play music’

‘I sit with pen and paper and let my imagination flow – write or draw. Sometimes I go to my friends and talk for hours’

‘I listen to music and that is according to my mood – so sad music for sad mood’

‘I cry a lot and then speak to my sister’

‘I go to the praying space in my house, sit and pray’

‘When I am sad or in distress – I write and that helps me to understand what I am going through. So if I have a conflict and I feel it could be resolved by talking to concerned person – I go and solve it and if it can’t be solved that ways then I meditate’

‘I do sketching, play with dogs, watch BTS group, listen to loud music and dance’

With the help of these responses we build an understanding on healthy and unhealthy coping mechanisms while facing a distressed situation. These responses were so incredible, the vulnerability and openness brought a new light to the session and I couldn’t be more grateful to share space with these wonderful people.


In the next part of the session, we explored some of the most profound self-coping practices which could help in dealing with the situations in a better way. The first one being positive self-talk:

‘I love myself, people might think I am self-obsessed but I like who I am. I love clicking my pictures, posting them and writing interesting captions’

‘I am hard working, supportive, I try to treat people equally and not judge them of any social parameters’

‘I am caring, loving and I sympathize with people easily’

‘I am good at giving advice, whenever someone asks me of a situation – I help them make better decision’

‘I never shy away from admitting my mistakes, I am sensitive and love learning new things’

‘I care for environment and animals and I don’t take kindly to people who don’t do right by them’




The thing about positive self-talk is that they are your own words for yourself – what good qualities you have rather what others tell you so when in difficult situation, reminding oneself of those can help you find your way out and support you in keeping your mental health in check.

We then invited the participants to draw or write their dreams – what they have for themselves with a reminder that they belong to them and are curated by them and not the ones which are dictated by parents, family or society.

‘I want to have a house with my name plate over it, earned by me; I want to go to ladakh whenever this lock down gets over and I want to travel the world on my own’

‘I want to travel many places with my friends with no phones or just phone to click pictures with no cell service’

‘I want to take my parents many places and yes no phones for me too. Also I want to study hard, achieve my goals and buy car for myself’

‘I had put my PhD on hold, I wish to ace it one day’

‘The thing about dreams is they keep changing with age. When I was a young boy I wanted to pass metric with 1st division but couldn’t because of 4 marks, then I wanted to became government official but couldn’t qualify, then I wanted to become rich unfortunately that path lead to the place where I didn’t want to go. Now I wish to live in peace and love without any expectations’

‘I wish to visit Korea and meet BTS band’

‘I want to become successful and celebrated; may be direct a documentary or film’

This was one of the most beautiful part of the workshop because it made me realize the beauty and power of dreams; if you dream you are alive, you have the light in you that could help you overcome any damn difficulty, challenge or struggles. While sharing the dreams, there was this smile on their faces, gleam in the eyes and charm on the face – I think that’s why we strive for dreams, live and love.

Following this, the participants were engaged in the practice of journaling where they were invited to write about their happy moment/day and don’t let the pen stop till we say.

In the last part of the workshop, we asked the participants to think and share what are the things they are grateful for –

‘I am grateful for my parents, that I am alive despite this pandemic, this beautiful space where I am working and learning each day’

‘I am skilled so I can always earn and not go without food’

‘I have a dream’

Happiness doesn’t lead to gratitude, gratitude leads to happiness. This one sentence changed my life. We always crib, cry, get angry, frustrated or lash out because things didn’t go according to us, something bad happened to us, betrayal etc but in the rush to feel miserable we forget to cherish and be thankful of the things that makes our life beautiful and amazing! Be grateful is a wonderful way of living, to enjoy the little joys of life, to express it makes life thousand times better.

‘From entire Bihar, I would like to thank you. I can’t express how wonderful I am feeling at the moment. If we make 20-30 people sit and do these things, they would create such a change. People fight, argue, have conflicts for no good reasons with these practices they can feel better than taking it out on others. I loved meditation practice, it grounded me and I have never felt so refreshed. Thank you’     

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