Heroes and She-roes in the Pandemic
The year 2020 highlights Charles Dicken's astute observation of duality of human experiences: "best of times" (heroes and she-roes in the pandemic) and "worst of times" (multiple COVID-19 surges, unbearable losses of human life, strained health care system, attacks on science and medicine which guide public policy, political turmoil, economic
Endurance: Psychological and Spiritual Reflections
An Exhausted WorldThe theme of exhaustion (physical, psychological and spiritual) seems a key theme in people's conversations during this holiday season of the pandemic. I feel the exhaustion too, body, mind and spirit. Dr. Paul Thagard describes COVID fatigue as people experiencing a range of emotions, such as, sadness, loneliness,
Grief, Loss and Letting Go
Many LossesThis pandemic has been the year of grief, loss and letting go. There has been tremendous losses of lives due to COVID-19 and grief for their loved ones. Losses of fathers, mothers, children, brothers, sisters, grandparents and aunts. There is also shutting down of academic institutions, with a generation
Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Healing a Divided Nation
The idea of effective and healing conversations among polarized groups for healing and stabilization of a country is not a new idea. Even though, I had read about Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Council meetings (TRC) in South Africa several years ago, I remembered the effectiveness of these councils
Reading Man’s Search for Meaning (Victor Frankl) in a Pandemic
Meaning and resilience.Victor FranklThe concept of creating meaning out of adversity is critical to resilience. Making meaning out of a situation also requires a level of acceptance of what is the reality and grieving and letting go of the previous reality. In Man's Search For Meaning, Victor Frankl,(1946) writes about
POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY IN A PANDEMIC
The literature in positive psychology originated with the work of Dr. Martin Seligman, who argued that psychology is too focused on psychopathology and dysfunction. He called for the positive psychology movement to study what is optimal mental health. Seligman discusses his research suggesting that authentic happiness comes from living a