Friday, August 03, 2018
7 tips for getting over disappointment
Getting knocked down is part of life. And so is bouncing back. Here’s how you can learn to do it right
Against my best judgment, I succumbed to Powerball fever and bought a ticket for a recent massive payout. Why had I been resistant to doing so? Because while the odds of winning the jackpot were 1 in 292 million, the likelihood of ending up disappointed were 291,999,999 in 292 million.
Most of us are aware the odds are ever not in our favor, but that inconvenient statistical truth does not prevent us from indulging a fantasy or two about what we would do were we to win. In essence, we buy hope for $2 [Rs 140] ticket — and that hope allows us to overlook the fact that we’re virtually guaranteed to lose. Hope gives us a few hours to indulge the extraordinarily remote if delicious possibility that we might actually win. Hope encourages us to visualise how satisfying it would be to march into work, tell our boss what we really think of them, and declare, “I quit!” or how rewarding it would be to see our parents cry with joy when we buy them a huge mansion.
Hope is great, but it comes with a downside — disappointment. The more time we spend fantasising about how amazing it would be to win, the greater our disappointment is likely to be when we lose. The day before the Powerball drawing, there was a lot of hope in the air. The day after? A lot of disappointment.
So, for the millions who had to force a smile and mumble a hello to their boss while dealing with letdown (myself included), here are seven strategies for getting over disappointment:
1 Give yourself a limited time to feel bad
Acknowledge the letdown but don’t get mired in it. If you didn’t win the lottery, give yourself an hour to feel bad. If you didn’t get a promotion or if your bonus was less than you hoped for, give yourself a day—but then move on.
2 Don’t ruminate about what might have been
The more you dwell on the disappointment, the more it will hurt and disrupt your ability to focus, concentrate, problem-solve, or be creative. So be careful not to feed the disappointment and deepen your emotional hurt.
3 Avoid self-pity
Self-pity comes with a price—it takes away feelings of empowerment and agency and makes us feel as though we don’t have control over our lives. So indulge it at your peril; it can foster a bad mood and even depression if you get stuck for too long.
4 Use self-compassion
Be sympathetic toward yourself and compassionate about the fact that you hurt. Don’t beat yourself up or become self-critical; doing so will only hurt your confidence, damage your self-esteem, and make you feel worse.
5 Put it in perspective
We often feel disappointed about things we are unlikely to remember in a month’s time. How many of us will think back from five years in the future to that day in 2016 when we didn’t win the lottery? Very few. If the disappointment you experienced was significant, try to focus on the larger picture of your life and remind yourself of all the things that are going well and for which you can be grateful.
6 Identify the next opportunity
This is easier to do with lottery tickets, of course, than with more significant events in your life that cause disappointment, but as they say in baseball: There’s always next season. Regardless of what disappointed you, spend a few moments figuring out when and how you can try again.
7 Remember: Success does not equal happiness
Research on lottery winners has found that their level of happiness rises dramatically after they win, but then reverts to the same level of happiness they felt before they won—usually within a year.
The writer is a psychologist with a private practice in Manhattan. He is the author of Emotional First Aid: Healing Rejection, Guilt, Failure and Other Everyday Hurts
Source: Mumbai Mirror, 3.08.18
Love Frees You From Greed And Discontent
An ancient Tao thought says: “Choose a job you love — and you won’t have to work a day in your life!” The first secret of success is: Don’t work just for wages, work for the love of God. You can work too, for the love of humanity, or for the love of work itself. Your work then becomes a source of joy and delight.
There is much talk about vocational education today. The word ‘vocation’ is derived from the Latin root which means ‘to call’. Let your work be a calling. Let your work be a labour of love, something that you love to do, and something that you enjoy doing, much more than just a source of monetary benefit. Labour of love leads to fulfilment.
In cities when people are assigned work, they always ask: “What’s in it for me?” or “What do i get for this?” People work only for wages; they have forgotten what it is to view work as a source of delight. So work has become a cause of so much boredom for some and frustration for many.
Andrew Carnegie tells us that there are three types of people. The first type: those who do as little work as possible. The second type: those who do only what their work stipulates, nothing more. But the third type comprises those who do their duty, and a little more. They are not bound by the clock. If there is work to be done, they will do it, and more.
In the Bhagwad Gita, Krishna expounds on the doctrine of karma yoga. He tells Arjuna: “Remember, to work you have the right, but not to the fruit thereof.” You must work, you must put in your best efforts, and you must not slacken your endeavours. But you must not be disappointed if you do not get the result you seek.
Perhaps many of you find this unacceptable. You will ask me, “But what about my just compensation? How can anyone work without wages in this world of growing needs?” Indeed, work and wages go together. They are two sides of the same coin. Whether you work for wages or otherwise, wages are sure to fall into your lap. I am talking about your attitude to work. It is your attitude that will make your life a success or otherwise. And your work should be an expression of your love. Those of us who work only for wages will never experience real joy. And when you love your work, you will find it a joy forever.
There is no happiness in wealth, but there is considerable wealth in the experience of happiness. I urge you, stop working simply for wages; start working for love. Many of us tend to equate success with money: more and more money, more material acquisitions. The truth is, external achievements and monetary wealth cannot constitute true success, nor can they guarantee happiness. Power, prestige, position, designations, perks, social influence, all these are in the outer realm. They touch the fringe of life; they don’t enter the depths within.
What then is success all about? Success is the ability to be happy and make others happy, the ability to love and be loved, and the ability to remain in peaceful harmony with yourself, with those around you and with God’s cosmic laws.
Source: Times of India, 3/08/18
All 23 IITs will work together to recruit foreign faculty
Centre’s Bid To Boost Foreign Rankings
All 23 Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are likely to come together to recruit foreign faculty in order to give a fillip to their global rankings. The ministry of human resource development (HRD) has asked the institutes to put up a collective front and collaborate during their visits to foreign campuses and research organisations to recruit foreign faculties, including research scholars of Indian origin
Number of foreign faculty and their research work are some of the key factors in various global university ranking processes and the IITs are likely to discuss this mechanism of collaboration in the forthcoming IIT Council meeting later this month.
“Many IITs are new and are not known. However, IIT as a brand is well known globally and therefore the ministry feels they can join hands while recruiting foreign faculty. This could come up as an agenda at the IIT Council meeting. We will discuss the possibility of a joint body for the same. The old IITs including the Guwahati and Roorkee have good international network and the collaboration will definitely help the new IITs,” said a source.
While the pay package could be an issue while recruiting foreign faculty, according to an official to be present in the IIT Council meeting, “At the time of recruiting the IITs will ideally target the young scholars in foreign campuses who are fresh out of university after completing their PhD.”
IIT Madras International and alumni relations dean R Nagarajan said, “Recruiting foreign faculty will not only improve the research profile of the institute, but also ensure fasted innovations...”
Of the 600 faculty at IIMMadras, there are around five foreign faculty and it is aiming at bringing it to around 5%. Meanwhile, IITs of Delhi and Mumbai after getting the Institute of Excellence status can recruit foreign faculty up to 30% of the total strength and have the autonomy to decide on the pay package.
Source: Times of India, 3/08/18
Thursday, August 02, 2018
Government launches logo, tagline for GI...
Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under Ministry of Commerce and Industry has unveiled tricolour logo for geographical indication (GI) certified products. The logo has tagline “Invaluable Treasures of Incredible India” printed below it.
Key Facts
In the open contest, winning logo was designed by Adri Chatterjee and winning tagline was coined by Akancha Tripathi. The purpose of logo and tagline for GI selected is to increase awareness about intellectual property rights (IPRs) and also and importance of GI products in the country. From now on, GI-registered goods will sport logo and tagline to make them more attractive...
GI tag is name or sign used on certain products which correspond to specific geographical location or origin. It is used for agricultural, natural and manufactured goods having special quality and established reputation. The goods and products having tag are recognised for their origin, quality and reputation and gives it required edge in global market....
So far, total of 320 products have been conferred GI status in India. Darjeeling Tea, Tirupathi Laddu, Kangra Paintings, Nagpur Orange and Kashmir Pashmina are among registered GIs in India. Karnataka tops with 38 GI products, followed by Maharashtra which has 32 GI products. Tamil Nadu comes third with 25 GI products....
Detention no cure: on RTE Act amendment
The amendment to the Right to Education Act will only undermine its intent
The legislation to amend the Right to Education Act to give States the power to detain students who fail an examination in Class 5 or 8 is a negative measure. Although many States want such a change, the amendment passed by the Lok Sabha goes against the view of many educationists, who argue that it would weaken one of the progressive features of the RTE Act, which is to guarantee the continued presence of the child in school during the formative learning phase. The proposed change will allow State Boards to declare a student failed and detain her on the basis of an examination, although Section 30(1) of the RTE Act holds out the assurance that no child shall be required to face any Board examination till completion of elementary education. There are genuine concerns on learning outcomes produced by India’s schooling system. But these are determined not only by a student’s effort but also by the number and quality of teachers, processes for continuous assessment and, crucially, active engagement of parents and the community in encouraging excellence. It is the lack of attention to some of these determinants that has created what Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar calls a “broken” school education system. Detaining already disadvantaged children can only break it further, and render the RTE Act a dead letter.
The case to replace the no-detention provision with one that reintroduces examinations in grades 3, 5 and 8 was made by a sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of Education set up to review the provision, but its assumptions were faulty. For one, it concluded that the crucial guarantee could be implemented only under ideal conditions, and these were not available, while the pioneering RTE Act wanted to extend it to all grades within its purview. Yet, the provision is central to the objects of the law, since it seeks to check dropouts and enable all children to attend school in order to derive benefits that go beyond rote-learning. In fact, in 2016 the NITI Aayog found, based on a study in Punjab, that bringing back detention in elementary schooling would increase the dropout rate, impacting the poor and Dalits the most as they depended on government institutions. Besides, the proposed ‘cure’ may make another problem worse: when parents are unable to ensure regular attendance of children due to social circumstances, it is inconceivable that detaining them for non-performance will act as an incentive to attend school regularly. The move to introduce examinations as filters has not been fully thought through, and may be a hasty response to demands from State governments which want to be seen as acting firmly in favour of quality. Tinkering with the RTE Act without sufficient thought will erode a major constitutional achievement.
Source: The Hindu, 26/07/18
Numbing numbers: on draft NRC
To begin with, the claims of those left out in the NRC must be heard carefully, humanely
At upwards of four million, the number of those excluded from the second draft of the National Register of Citizens published on Monday has sparked great anxiety about the legal status of so many individuals. As with the first list published on December 31, 2017, the publication of the final draft before the Supreme Court-mandated and monitored exercise moves to the next phase of claims and objections wasn’t accompanied by major turbulence. And this despite lingering doubts over whether the process was indeed foolproof, or even warranted. Causes for concern have been aplenty, from the frenetic pace to meet deadlines in the face of an unrelenting apex court to the omission in July of 1,50,000 names from the 19 million that had made it to the first draft. Monday’s list again had its share of notable omissions, including serving and former legislators. Given such a gargantuan exercise, it is to the credit of the NRC bureaucracy and its 55,000-odd workforce that timelines have been adhered to. But even a skilfully devised system of digitised mapping of family trees is subject to human interface, subjective bias, and the inherent flaws in the NRC of 1951 and the electoral rolls of 1961 and 1971 that make up the core of the ‘legacy data’.
The state owes it to those now left out, a staggering 40,07,707 persons, to ensure that their claim to citizenship is exhausted in its procedural entirety. But it also has a larger responsibility — to ensure that people who have lived here a long time, or those who know no other home, are not left high and dry in any eventuality. On that front, the Central and State governments must step up their assurances that there is no need for panic. While the modalities of a standard operating procedure for claims and objections are being worked out, to be placed before the Supreme Court by mid-August, the window for contestation could be extended by a month beyond September 28. The Union Home Ministry has also tweaked rules to enable applicants to move the Foreigners’ Tribunal, where earlier only the state could haul up a suspected alien before it. Bigger challenges lie ahead, especially after the final NRC list determines the precise number of deemed illegal immigrants; the state then has to grapple with what to do next. How India addresses the fate of those eventually left off the list will ascertain whether its democracy can lay claim to being humane or not. It is one thing to detain and deport illegal immigrants instantly when they cross the border. But when people have been allowed (or they have managed) to be in India for so long, when they have built their lives and become part of local economies and communities, they cannot and must not be rendered state-less on the basis of a list.
Source: The Hindu, 1/08/2018
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