The Youth Thinkers' Society (YTS) hosted a "chiya-guff" session in collaboration with Happy Minds, a mental well-being platform, recently. The event centered around improving workplace well-being and fostering open communication among YTS members.
The session, which took place at 100 Spaces, a shared co-working and innovation space, located in Kathmandu was conducted by Mr. Aditya Dangol. A clinical psychologist with over nine years of experience in the field. A brief introduction session with him gave insight to the four students and one prospective student in the field of psychology.
Happy Minds started as an online platform to spread mental awareness and literacy. In recent years, they have grown to start in-house training and consultancy, as well as conducting sessions related to mental well-being.
The formal sessions started with the setting of ground rules at the count of one, everyone should take a deep breath. At the count of two, everyone should start clapping and at the count of three, everyone thumped and clapped at the beat of the famous song "We Will Rock You" by the British rock band Queen.
In the introduction session, the participants, who were the staff members of the Youth Thinkers' Society explained what the Organization meant to them. Sophiya, the academic lead for the EIMUN team, said that YTS felt her as a comfort zone. A place for her where she can completely express her feelings, and as a platform for personal and professional growth.
The members then, one by one expressed their experience and their feelings towards YTS. They talked about how YTS has been an overall positive experience and how much they have gotten to learn from it.
After the introduction session, The counselor, Mr. Aditya, asked an important question. What does being mentally healthy mean to you? This kept all the members thinking for quite a while. After which, the answers started pouring in. Miss Sophie Sangat explained mental health to her meant being herself. To Miss Sushna Gurung, having regulation over her emotions seemed to be the main aspect of being mentally healthy. The conversation then shifted towards overthinking. Why do we overthink so much? Many concluded that we tend to overthink when we have an empty mind and that an empty mind is a devil's workshop.
Then, Mr. Aditya gave us brief information about overthinking, explaining how we can conquer our overthinking habits and deconstruct our thoughts.
Why do we overthink so much? Many concluded that we tend to overthink when we have an empty mind and that an empty mind is a devil's workshop.
In the second part of the discussion, we discussed about managing stress. Both in workspace and personal space. Mr. Aditya explained how we can write our thoughts to reduce overthinking. Miss Sophie added to it by including swimming and other physical activity. Sushna explained how we humans tend to reduce stress when we have a sense of accomplishment. When we do something productive how she uses this method to remain stress-free and charming all the time.
Then came the highlight of the Chiya-guff session. The child finally arrived. Everyone took a break from the conversation and indulged in some freshly made tea provided by 100 spaces.
After the short break, the counselor explained to everyone the art of practicing mindfulness and being aware of all the sense organs around us.
The main highlight of the session was dealing with work-life balance. On the roles, we play willingly or unwillingly. Asking the important question. Why do we tend to play roles we are unwilling to? Why are we trying to push ourselves forward in the direction we don't want to? Why are we so much of a workaholic? He explained the importance of separation of work and personal life and its importance to make it forward in our careers.
The session concluded with a wrap-up session where the participants were encouraged to ask their questions regarding psychology, mental health, and the topics discussed in the session. The session ended with the co-founder of Youth Thinkers' Society, Mr. Kshitiz Bhattarai presenting Mr. Aditya with khada and gifts from the YTS Family.
