Tag: festive season

Learning from the Navdurgas

As the festive season sets in, there are ways to enrich ourselves by understanding the Navdurgas.

image for article about learning from navratri

As Navratri sets in, we begin with the festive stretch of the year.

Whether you are here for the devotion, the culture, or just the festivities, there is something for everyone.

Festivals are not just here for our enjoyment, but also our enrichment. They teach us important life-skills, approaches and enable us to live a fulfilling life.

So, without further ado, let us dive into how we can wield the festive spirit to the best of our advantage!

Understanding Differences in Approaches: Navratri has nine forms of the goddess (the ‘devi’), the ‘Navdurgas’ and each form represents not only a quality but an approach to life and the world. Every form is equally valid and no approach, no quality is of less importance. They are ultimately part of the universal shakti, the energy that runs the world according to the mythology.

Shailaputri represents stability, Brahmacharini represents ascetism, Chandraghanta beauty and peace, Kushmanda creation, Skandmata protection and motherhood, Katyayani courage and strength against evil, Kalaratri destruction of fears, Maha Gauri radiance and enlightenment, Siddhidhatri accomplishments and fulfilment.

Different situations require us to channelise the different approaches. Some days we need patience to approach a task. Some days, anger helps to get things done. Some days we need wisdom with our decisions and some days fearlessness. Some days we need to lead and nurture, and on other days, we need to be still.

Thinking about a task with the question of ‘how do I need to approach this particular situation?’ enables us to develop flexibility and context-specific decision-making.

Understanding your Own Strengths: Closely related to understanding how each goddess-form represents an approach to life, is an understanding of each one’s strength.

Each one of has a strength, a characteristic quality that we can wield like no one else.

The goddess-forms too have their own defining characteristics. The grounded nature and stability of Shailaputri is unparalleled. The anger of Kalaratri and the warrior-spirit of Katyayani are literal forces of nature. Maha Gauri’s calm energises us in an altogether different way. Do we try to find the energy of peace when we are looking for the intensity, or vice versa? No, right?

Similarly, each one of us has a strength that almost works as a gift for us. Instead of comparing ourselves to others, why not find out our strengths and channelise them to our advantage? One might be an excellent organiser, while someone else might be an excellent communicator. Another might be an excellent multitasker, while one might excel in deep focused work. Finding our strengths is the key to understanding how we can contribute to our own development as well as development of those around us, whether our loved ones, or the company we work for.

The goddess-forms ultimately are a part of the cosmic ‘shakti’, the energy. They are not really separate from each other- the approach takes the centre-stage based on what the situation requires. Similarly, we have everything within us- calm, strength, anger, agency, wisdom. It is tapping into what works for us the best that enables us to run things. Whether it is running the universe, a company or a team!

Changing Gears with the Festive Energies

This festive atmosphere is a great time to lay the foundations for your new year plans.

festive season image with happy businessmen and businesswomen

What is that one thing that we notice big and small companies doing these days?

Be it online shopping giants or local vendors, everyone is basking in that festive energy. The festive energy around the country guarantees clients and customers in a good mood, and hence, a great give and take of services and rewards.

The Navratri festivities may have wrapped up, but in line stands Diwali. Around the world, from Asia to Europe to America, we have numerous holidays and festivals lined up for the next few months, which will stretch right till the new year.

The air is crisp. If you are lucky, the trees in your country might be showing bright colours of orange, auburn, yellow, reminding us that letting go is a beautiful as well as a necessary process, a part of the cycle of life. You may have just witnessed joyous, dance-filled celebrations of devotion. Wherever you are, chances are the spirits are high around you. This is a great time for businesses as well.

As the festive stretch of the year goes on, here are a couple of things professionals can do to make the best of this festive energy around:

Start New Ventures:

Why wait for the new year to start something new? Why not start right away! This is a ripe time to start new ventures. A venture started now will mean one starts their new year with a plan already in action. What better feeling than to go into the new year with a plan already in the process of implementation?

Going into a New Gear with already existing plans:

If not a new venture, this is also a great time to take the implementation of your plans up a notch. The projects that need to be finished, the tasks and objectives that need to be untangled from the knots, the festive energy can provide that much needed push. It’s all in the air!

Flip the Script of Difficulties:

An anecdote comes to mind here. Ved was sitting in low spirits in the office cafeteria. Manoj almost breezed into the cafeteria with an energy that was hard to ignore. Ved asked, ‘How do you manage to have so much energy? Don’t you feel sad that you must work when everyone around us is enjoying these festivals?’

Manoj, in his infectious energy responded, ‘On the contrary, I feel great. I love that everyone around me is having a good time. I know that all of us have some celebration, or some ‘pooja’ or some event to look forward to. It makes me want to work with more energy because I know that there is a celebration right around the corner. It makes me want to work extra hard because I know I will enjoy as much later. Even when I get tired, it is the sweet kind of tiredness, where I know I made the best out of everything: the festive cheer and my own professional ambitions. Look around, the energy is everywhere! If not the cultural celebrations, there is so much good to look forward anyway: right from the weather, the food, the decorations to all the hubbub around.’

Manoj continued, ‘In fact this time around, I feel like I have more energy to deal with any difficulties that may arise. This energy around helps me flip the script of difficulties…’

With this, Manoj breezed out, with Ved quietly smiling to himself as he started to plan the rest of his day enthusiastically. Festive energy is indeed contagious. Positive energy is indeed contagious!

This time of the year is ripe with opportunities. Opportunities to start afresh, to get into a new gear, or to simply have a more enthusiastic give and take. Whether at the level of cultures, or at the level of ventures and initiatives, the energies are high- make the best of it!

Working through the festive season ahead and feeling gloomy about it? Worry not!

Festive season also brings some festival blues. Here’s how to cope.

As we talked about in our earlier article, this is a good time to bask in the festive spirit. Major festivals are taking place around the world as we write this and within the next two months. This part of the year is high on energy- spiritual as well as celebratory. As the Diwali celebrations conclude, we have Thanksgiving and Christmas in the air.

As many of us look forward to holidays, celebrations and office parties, there are some of us who may have to work through it all. Reasons could be multiple.

  • Maybe your job is such that the festive season demands extra work from you.
  • Maybe your company is going through a period when taking off days or celebrations aren’t very profitable and sensible activities.
  • Maybe you were not able to travel back to your family for some reason.

And so on.

It is difficult to ignore all the celebrations around and find your focus. It is also difficult for many of us, who do love the festivities to not feel what is popularly known as ‘FOMO’, the ‘fear of missing out’. What are some strategies to use if you are someone who is going to be working through the festive season?

Find ‘other’ ways to break the monotony:

While it might not be possible for you to get a leave, it might still be possible to break the monotony by changing your perspective. After all, breaks, holidays or celebrations of any kind, festivities included, are ways to break the monotony of the mundane life. They are rituals to signify a change in rhythm of life. Festivals are shifts in life’s gears offered by traditions.

This change in rhythm of life can be created by oneself as well. If one cannot change the gear via the method given by age old traditions, we can create our own ways of changing gears. This could be creating simple practices and rituals. Simple, doable practices. For example, if it is not possible to dress nicely at your office, you can still make a tiny, micro change in your bearing and routine to feel the change, like wearing a different watch. Or changing the wallpaper of your desktop or cell-phone. Or taking something different for lunch. Or preparing your tea differently than usual.

Simple change in your own modern ‘rituals’ can still work as a break in the monotony.

Noticing your commute with slightly empty roads, the unusualness in your regular inbox, the way your office building feels different and being mindful about countless other small changes can still be ways to find the magic in the mundane, to break the monotony.

 Be happy for others:

Being happy for others is an underrated superpower.

Often times, the ‘FOMO’ mentioned earlier comes from the simple fact that we are envious of the ones who are getting to take a break. We want what they have. We feel that lack, that injustice, the unfairness. We feel tired and exhausted by looking at the photos of others posted on social media.

Many people will tell us to block out these ‘distractions’, to remain so focused on our work, manage the tasks such that we don’t feel like there are festivities going on out there. That is definitely one way.

But what if we flipped the script there and tried to enjoy through others, vicariously?

Looking at the photos of festivities around, and feeling a sense of gratitude that one lives in a place where there is so much hubbub around, or have that kind of access, might actually improve our mood instead of having the attitude of missing out. Listening to the stories about vacations and office celebrations with a sense of curiosity and love, instead of a sense of lack and unfairness might give us the warmth we didn’t experience directly.

Warmth doesn’t need festivities:

As the Diwali sweets are stored away, Christmas decorations brought out, and the gloom of working through the festivals still around, it would be a good reminder that one can find the spirit all year round. Meeting loved ones, and keeping the love and laughter alive could be a year-round thing! A gentle reminder to self that festivals are one of the ways to take in the warmth of human connections, and not the only way could go a long way in changing that script of FOMO to that of the joy of simply being.

Focusing on our work or denying the unpleasantness might be counterproductive. Instead accepting that we are missing out, but still being curious to know how others are celebrating might be a bigger step towards feeling slightly less unpleasant.

While it is true that missing out on the festive season, for whichever season might lead to a gloomy mood and a sense of unfairness, it is also true that magic can also be found in the mundane!

Making the most of the Festive Energy

This time of the year is perfect to make the most of your productivity, as the energy is ripe with the triumphant spirit of overcoming any form of darkness.

This time of the year always feels very energetic. Whether you are a resident of India or a country abroad, there’s so many festivals around the world to look forward to. Whether it’s the Dussehra to Diwali time-period in India, or Halloween in USA, or the Oktoberfest in Germany, or the various autumn and fire festivals taking place right from Japan to Thailand, the autumn air brings in much festivity around the world. There’s a number of major festivals to look forward to in November and December too. The momentum, the festive spirit could work as great productivity boosters.

How can you make most of the festive energy to boost your productivity?

Make the most of the high:

As we suggested, the energy levels this time of the year are on a high. The moods are on the high. Now is thus a good time to undertake tasks you had been putting off all year. Whether it’s starting a new project, or cleaning up your drawer. This is also a good time to undertake a difficult conversation, whether it’s talking to a difficult-to-persuade client with a pitch, or raising a long hanging issue in a meeting. Why? Because chances are, everyone else might be on that high, and might be easier to persuade than usual, more willing to work on things than usual. Willing to stay in a good mood, more than usual.

If the persuasion or the pitch don’t work out, the next point has got your covered.

There’s something to look forward to, no matter what:

As mentioned earlier, having multiple festivals to look forward to is a great mood-booster, especially when things don’t go as planned.

Usually when plans fail or tasks fall through, it takes some effort to recover from those failures. But thanks to the high energies at a spiritual as well as collective physical level, recovering becomes even more easier. Not just easier, it can be potentially transformative. Call it the killing the ‘Ravan’ within, or call it the effect of the Halloween ‘spooky season’, there’s a metaphor to deal with the darkness, available close by.  

One may or may not ‘believe’ but at the very least, the office-level parties, the holiday, or the holiday ‘mood’ themselves provide avenues for often necessary distractions from gloom and act as levelers. They provide as things to look forward to, especially if you’ve had a horrible day.

 Make the most of the season:

Whatever culture you belong to, the weather this time of the year is optimal at most places. The air is crisp with the oncoming winter, and if you are lucky, your country may have beautiful autumn colours around, symbolising the need to shed, and acting as reminders that a ‘fall’ doesn’t have to be ugly or graceless. It may get dark outside earlier, but that brings with it deep shades of blue and orange.

It is no wonder that so many festivals around the world at this time of the year in one way or another deal with the darkness with lights in some form.

It is neither too hot and neither too cold. It’s the perfect weather to undertake difficult tasks, conversations. It is the perfect season, literally and figuratively, with nature and the spirit of human celebration giving ample opportunities to either recover or celebrate, through its cozy yet energy-filled atmosphere.  

Everyone wants to keep their mood good when there’s a celebration to look forward to, right?