Note From President Vineet Bhatnagar
WHY IS THERE INCREASING MENTAL STRESS IN MODERN LIVING? In several ways, post-WW2 reconstruction resulted
in economic well-being that stemmed from consumption rather than contribution. The metrics that we have applied to measure well-being are GDP, per capita income and wealth. We consume from outside in whereas we contribute from inside out.
It is the realisation of living beyond our self-interest that offers a recipe to achieving greater balance between consumption and contribution. We begin to find meaning in serving beyond ourselves. We start to yield to a higher purpose. And those who find a way to pursue a higher purpose are also the ones who discover a state of well-being.
So, it is the mental state of well-being that most of us are craving for as an antidote to mental stress. This mental state of well-being is ‘restedness’. It is not the same as ‘resting’. Physical rest could be the obvious response to overcome physical exhaustion. But it is certainly not the answer to the looming question of how to address mental stress.
Let us bring a guided approach in our lives that allows us yield to a higher purpose. Such an approach is ‘yieldedness’ which is just another way to describe living purposefully. For happiness and mental wellbeing we have to go back to the basics – is there something that we can offer as opposed to what next we can consume.
— President Vineet Bhatnagar