The Beautiful Mind

THE BEAUTIFUL MIND

by

MURALI MURTHY

The mind is it's own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven!

How many of us have watched "The Beautiful Mind" movie and awe-stuck with the brilliant performance of actor Russell Crowe. The movie very well portrayed one of the mental health issues - Hallucinations.

One of the latest Web Series I watched on Amazon Prime - BREATHE that deals with Multiple Personality Disorder, where Abhishek Bachchan switches between two personalities and he himself is not aware of this switch.

Many of us were shocked to hear the sad demise of the actor Sushant Singh Rajput, who succumbed to Depression.

When I picked up this topic to write, I was confused if I have to talk about this enormous power of mind or it's health implications.

The Mind is indeed the powerhouse of our body and even the medical world is probably not fully aware of how brain works and its ability to store memories of one's lifetime.

As I am into Software Development, I have realized this fact. While we code to implement all possible use cases, logic, algorithms, constrains and variables to solve a particular problem, our mind can solve the same problem effortlessly.
Even during my sales pitch I tell my customers that the Software can automate certain routine activities and pre-programmed use cases, it can never replace Human Intelligence.

While the abilities of mind to think, imagine and store are lauded by all, the games it plays with our body is a cause of worry.
Though Split Personality issue is very rare, Hallucinations and Depressions are not really uncommon.

I was personally involved in a case of Hallucinations, as my good friend Ravi was the victim. His imaginations were so real that he truly believed some rowdy elements were threatening him and waiting outside his house to attack him. He used to hear them abusing and throwing stones at his room window, waiting for him to come out.
It scared him so much that he locked himself in the room. He believed I could save him from those rowdies, as he thought because of my physical build and network, he could portray me as a Cop.
I did my best to visit him regularly and pretending to scare them away.
With that and some force-fed medications, he came out of the Hallucinations.

Depression is something that we come across more often. I personally know some of them who fought depression and came out of it, and I also knew someone who took the path of Sushant Singh Rajput.

Thanks to the Covid era we live in, most of us are going through difficult times for over 3 months now and God knows how many more months, years this is going to last.
Many of us are affected mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially. With so much happening around, bad news almost everyday, financial struggle, it is bound to have an impact on our health.

As any other small business, even my company is going through a crisis with an unknown future.
In these unprecedented times, finances are hit badly. My health had to pay the price for the stress, worry and constant deliberation of ways to manage finances and salaries during this crisis.

I ran to multiple Neurologists to get myself tested. Though I am put on medication for the primary issue, I continued to visit some specialists as the symptoms recurred. All the Neurologists echoed that what was happening was due to stress and anxiety. I was even put on Anti-Anxiety medication.
That really put me off, not only does it make you drowsy but makes you a Zombie.
And this was the phase I personally experienced Depression.
It makes you lose interest in everything, you don't want to do anything, you don't want to talk with anyone and you want to be left alone.

Many suggestions and remedies come from your well-wishers to overcome depression..."stop worrying about things you cannot control", "start exercising", "do yoga"...
All of us go through stress and anxiety all through our lives, but what we all are going through in these Covid times are extreme and out of ordinary.
No one intentionally worry about something...if something is bothering your situation, it is unconsciously playing in your mind in a loop.

The scare News Channels and WhatsApp Forwards create, the boredom, the worry, being holed up for Months together, unknown future prospects and the scare of being infected - all messes with your mental health.

How many times haven't we googled to get specific Corona Symptoms. All these unwanted information, scare actually makes you feel you are infected.
I have had 3 episodes of throat irritation and fever since the virus spread accelerated. Are they real? Or are they just Hallucinations the mind is playing out?

My personal experience tackling Depression is to first acknowledge and identify immediately that you are going through a Depression. It's easier to nip it in the bud. I stopped all medications, I started exercising, meditate, tried to be happy and smile a lot, even if it was artificial.

Every individual is different, and there is no one magic pill to come out of depression. You have to find your own ways to deal with it. Trust me, no one can help you, not even your loved ones.

One of the Neurologists whom I visited said something that is etched in my memory "Our Mind is very egoistic in nature. It will not like you to think that it couldn't handle stress, pressure and it gives your body misleading signals that something else is wrong with your body".

My wife who is Ofcourse worried in general on whats happening around, otherwise unaffected and continues to be busy with household work and keeps herself occupied with some craft work which she loves to do.
She is infact even more busier in these Corona times as she has to cook more and do more of household stuff.

Two days ago she started feeling tired all of a sudden, came to me and said "I am feeling restless and feeling anxious for no reason. I feel something is going to go wrong" when actually nothing was Wrong and it was Anxiety that troubled her. A good night's sleep and she was absolutely normal.

These are very bad times and can affect anyone. I urge each of you to take good care of your mental health, apart from general health.

Even today evening times makes me weak and Anxiety sets in. Even my friends share the same feeling that they go through weak moments in the evenings.

As this Pandemic goes beyond 2021, my unscientific, "gut feeling" analysis says 50% population might be suffering from Covid and the other 50% could be suffering from the mental health issues.

Let's either learn to control our mind and thoughts, or Beware of your Mind!