Dr. Varun Gupta is an Indian Peace Ambassador, a top Educationist, and Executive Vice President of Sky Global.
We spoke to him on how he stays motivated and focused during the current circumstance and what the student community can do to deal with the impact of COVID – 19.
“Every day students await eagerly to know if the educational institutions and campus learnings will be back to normality. However, with the COVID -19 pandemic, it seems that it might be a long wait.
Therefore, the students must get all the tools necessary that can help them in the current circumstance, for them to remain focused, deal with the interruption, and continue to stay motivated.
It is necessary that they accept the situation, stay in the present and renew focus on their academics, as well as arm themselves with tools that can help them to embrace the change rather than become dejected, sad or depressed”
According to him, practicing meditation will be of tremendous help.
Meditation is the tool that can assist students to not get bogged down by the prevailing situation.
Feeling overpowered by the current circumstance is natural, but with the help of meditation, one can avoid excessive thinking and pondering that they may encounter from one moment to next.
Meditation can be easily practiced by focusing on a specific point in a room, envisioning, concentrating on once breath, or even reciting a mantra.
Although the general perception of meditation is that one has to sit in a lotus position for long hours however, it can also be done while standing, strolling, or even resting.
It has been scientifically proven that the benefits of meditation are tremendous, and combined with yoga, it not only gives mental benefits but physical too.
Diminished stress and excessive thoughts that lead to pathological worrying are considerably reduced.
Current circumstance and given the uncertainty, the students are understandably concerned about their academics, and their future.
Therefore, even a few minutes of deep breathing or sitting silently in a composed manner will help recharge the batteries, experience calmness, enhance focus on the task at hand, and help in prioritizing.
Another benefit derived from meditation is helping in sleep disorders. Many students complain of disturbed sleep patterns, a lack of sleep, or the inability to fall asleep.
Simply by taking deep breaths at the time of sleep, helps in reducing the chatter of the mind, it calms the sensory perceptions and slows them down to a point where you experience a slackening of thoughts and the brain signals for the body to sleep.
Another step that can be incorporated with meditation is keeping an Appreciation Diary.
An appreciation diary is your guidebook in which you can write daily about the positive things that happen to you. In this way, the mind is trained to look, focus, and appreciate the positive and good things.
Even if there is only one thing that you put down in this diary, it will help you to be aware and acknowledge the good thing that is happening in your life rather than concentrating and giving energies to the negative aspects of life.
Appreciation of nature and spending some time in natural surroundings also helps in grounding the thoughts and in experiencing peace and tranquillity in once mind.
