Tuesday 28 February 2017

A page out of my life

Feeling contented ....
            It was exactly an year ago that I noticed that not even 2% of the entire people having problems doesnt consult a psychologists or a counselor. I was pursuing my Masters in Psychology when I realised that.  Even I had gone through stress, anxiety and depression during varied facets of my life, yet I had never taken help. Those simple problems or fears that we get could have been easily eradicated with an open talk were mostly healed over time, after undergoing lot of stress and strain in the process or  some fears lay buried within us even without us knowing till the time comes when something else triggers it to surface back. Some people live with it for the rest of their life while some unable to come out of it end up in self destruction.
Even when we live in such a developed society why is this happening? There are many psychologist ,counselors, life coaches and even counselling units that are absolutely free. Still people find it difficult to approach them. Why?
I realise it is simply because of two fears, one internal and the other external . ...The primary internal fear to speak up and accept the situation they are in right now and the second the external fear of what the society or what the counselor might think of them after hearing it out.I wanted to do something about that . 
For me the study of psychology was not time pass nor out of influence, but out of my passion to understand the complexities of our thoughts. As I read through many cases where people landed in self destruction because of some small ,easy tackable problem, the urge in me to do something about this increased.
The  primary fear could only be dealt through counselling , but how can we counsel our speaker when they aren't ready to open up because of the secondary fear of getting exposed. 
It was then I thought of launching a website where people could come and talk to us any time from any part of the world. More than the convinence factor, the speciality of  the site would be the client/ speaker being able to talk to the life coaches without revealling his or her identity.
The hunt for a site name ended in svaastika, which is a sanskrit word meaning 'self initiated' . Well that sounded truely Indian and indeed apt. The logo that I designed was a mixture of the ancient Indian symbol of psychology which was later accepted worldwide(the shape of TRISHUL, the weapon of Lord Shiva) and the first letter of the name 'Svaastika'. Thus Svaastika the online counselling site came into existance.
After listening to some of the counselling sessions online, I understood that majority of the problems arose out of their lack of knowledge to deal with situations. So we started conducting talkshows and workshops to educate people about their own powers. We needed a legalised organisation to extend our activities in this realm.
It took 2 months for us to legalise Svaastika into an NGO. Thus the NGO Svaastika took birth by May 2016 to initiate the concept of well being with its headquarters in Trivandrum,kerala.
Now as we cross an year we have grown into a global organisation with chapters in India,US and Middle east with a strong board of trustees, an advisory board of eminent members consisting of Lawyers, Doctors,HODs, and more than 500 volunteers.
Within an year we have diversified our reach into other activities like campaigns, free education camps, fund raising events, animal welfare, infrastructure development, food distribution camps along with our Mind spa, our online and offline counselling wing.
We do give assistance in infrastructural development by renovating libraries, computer labs and other basic amenities for backward schools, academic and non academic supportive classes , free food for the needy, Free skill based educational programs , animal protection acts along with motivational and supportive talkshows and workshops.
We have been  successfully managing a 24/7 counselling helpline for anyone in distress through our skype id Mind.spa where anyone could consult our life coaches without revealing their identity.
As I retrace my previous year , I have to agree that it was indeed hectic trying to run ahead of time, sacrificing lazy moments,  solitude compramising my personal freedom. Yet when I read through the acheivements of our team ... I feel really blessed and contented to  have followed my heart.
At this juncture I have to confide that when I started my journey I heard more mocking voices than inspiring ones , more doubts raised than assurances and saw stumbling blocks than stepping stones. Yet my heart told me there would be a day when my deeds will be applauded because I was doing it for the good of others and now.... it's not just a day .....but many when my actions are praised. I no longer hear those mocks nor those doubts , but only looks that reflect confidence and beleif in me.
Now as  I stand strong finally proving to myself that I was right, I would like to thank the many hearts that stood with me in this journey and request you to follow the voice of your heart just as I did. If your goal is for a good reason and if it's a selfless act of  goodness, it would render you only happiness....

Sindhu Nandakumar
Founder and Executive life coach at Svaastika
 https://www.facebook.com/svaastika/  and www.svaastika.com. 

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