7 Positive Life Lessons from Rumi

On October 21, 2024October 21, 2024 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, Mind, Mind-Mental Health, Positive Self Reflection, spiritual healing10 Comments

Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, mystic, and philosopher, left behind a profound legacy of wisdom. His teachings, rooted in love, spirituality, and the human experience, offer timeless life lessons we could all benefit from.

I have been reading Rumi since I was 12 years old. I was drawn to the way the words flowed and felt on the page. I didn’t understand much, but I just loved how his words made me feel. I began truly understanding his wisdom a lot later in life. I’m always in awe of the sheer depth of his words and how beautifully he saw this life as a spiritual journey, not just a physical one.

Here are some of his quotes(that I love), along with the positive lessons we can draw from them:

Continue reading →

We’ve become SO independent, it’s depressing us(and what you can do about it)

On September 15, 2024 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, healing, Mind, Mind, Heart& Soul-Motivation&Inspiration, Mind-Mental Health7 Comments

_{Photo by Jure u0160iriu0107 on Pexels.com}

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” ~ Ryunosuke Satoro

Many years ago, one of my spiritual teachers shared this story with me. I would like to share it with you all today.

The story is about a village where all the women washed clothes together down by the river. When they all got washing machines, there was a sudden outbreak of depression and no one could figure out why. It wasn’t the washing machines that could do such a thing. It was actually the absence of time spent doing things together. It was the absence of community.

We’ve all gotten so independent these days… Our birthday wishes have also becomes so impersonal over texts, whatsapp or facebook. We rarely pick up the phone to talk, everything is done over texts. I feel like the human to human connection in this uber connected world is severely missing. Read on to know what you can do about it…

Continue reading →

How to Be Kind with Yourself – 5 Gentle Ways

On September 2, 2024September 2, 2024 By Zeenat Merchant Syal-Counseling Psychologist|Spiritual CounselorIn Emotions, Mind, Mind-Mental Health3 Comments

“The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself.” ~ Maya Angelou

Do you tend to be your own worst critic? Do you judge yourself harshly? Do you blame yourself for anything and everything that goes wrong?

Firstly, let me clarify that its good and healthy to hold yourself accountable, but self-compassion, kindness and gentleness with yourself is a necessity for mental health and healing as well. Let me offer you some tried and tested ways to practice being Kind and Gentle with Yourself…

Healing through treating yourself with Kindness

“When we give ourselves compassion, we are opening our hearts in a way that can transform our lives.” ~ Kristin Neff

People often assume that the best way to motivate yourself is to keep on being self-critical with yourself. That could not be further from the truth. Unfortunately, being constantly critical with yourself can take a real emotional toll. It can trigger depression, anxiety, immensely low self-esteem and self-worth issues, or an unhealthy and unreal level of perfectionism.

If you have found that you tend to be hard on yourself, don’t worry. There are many things you can do to change that negative cycle. I am listing many such positive and healing strategies below that I sometimes reccommend during therapy session, which can be effective treatments for anxiety and depression.

Continue reading →