The Mental Compass

Written By Gurneet Kaur Jaitly, Counselling Psychologist RPS International, Gurgaon “Sometimes the smallest arms hold the deepest need for comfort.” At a zoo in Japan, a young Japanese macaque nicknamed Punch-kun was given a small plush toy after being separated from his mother shortly after birth. Caretakers noticed he clung to the soft toy constantly — sleeping with it, holding it while resting, carrying it as he slowly learned to navigate his social world. Today, Punch-kun’s story is all over social media. Millions of people have watched this tiny primate hold on to comfort the only way he can. For many viewers, it has become a quiet but powerful reminder of something we often overlook — how deeply a mother’s touch, or even a simple hug, shapes emotional wellbeing. When a Baby is Separated from Its Mother For a baby primate, separation from the mother is not just physical distance — it is emotional shock. The mother represents warmth, nourishment, protection, and safety. When that p...

There’s a strange kind of silence that settles at night, the kind that doesn’t feel peaceful, but sharp, almost intrusive. The world finally winds down, notifications fade, the day loosens its grip… and suddenly your mind starts replaying conversations you thought you had moved past. A comment you made too quickly. A tone someone used that you can’t decipher. A moment where you laughed awkwardly or stayed quiet when you should’ve spoken. At 2 a.m., every tiny interaction becomes a scene under a microscope, and every sentence you said becomes evidence in a trial only you are attending. We replay conversations at night because that’s when our emotional guard drops. During the day, we’re in motion - working, studying, scrolling, talking, showing up for the roles we’re expected to play. There’s no space to linger on that one uncomfortable moment from hours ago. But when we finally lie down, the brain tries to finish the emotional processing it didn’t have time for. And often, the memories ...

Walk through any college campus, coaching centre, or online student community today and you will notice something surprising. Students who spend their mornings with textbooks often spend their evenings checking zodiac readings, watching tarot card pull videos, or waiting for the next angel number to appear on their phone screen. What once felt like a niche interest has now become a quiet movement. Tarot readers on social media have millions of followers, astrology pages predict exam outcomes, and many students now begin their day not with study plans but with weekly horoscope posts.  This rise is not a random trend. It reflects a deeper emotional crisis among young people who feel caught between pressure, uncertainty, and the unpredictable nature of the future. For many students, life today feels heavier than ever. Academic competition grows each year, job markets fluctuate, and the path to stability seems unclear. Even the idea of building a life feels shaky as the world changes s...

Given the emergence of modern dating terms like ghosting, benching, and situationship, it is crucial to teach today's youth how to navigate consent, recognize red flags, and set boundaries to foster meaningful connections while prioritizing their mental well-being. In this age of instant gratification and connectivity, whether offline or online, assertive communication and the art of setting boundaries, are essential skills to avoid feeling overwhelmed, used, or manipulated and to maintain healthy relationships, romantic or platonic. In any modern relationships, one of the most critical concerns is the fading of clear boundaries. The digital era has redefined friendships, which often overlap with romantic entanglements, further blurring the boundaries. This concept of consent is often misunderstood or misinterpreted or mishandled in relationships, whether in digital interactions or in person, especially in Indian context. Not everyone is aware of the legal aspects and cultural chal...

Being called “low-maintenance” is often framed as a compliment. It paints you as the easy one, the person who doesn’t demand attention, doesn’t stir conflict, doesn’t need constant reassurance. You become the friend who understands when others cancel plans, the partner who “gets it,” the colleague who quietly adjusts to everyone’s moods. And for a while, it feels good to be seen as adaptable, independent, unbothered. But beneath that polished calm, there’s a quieter truth that rarely gets said out loud: being low-maintenance often comes with a mental health cost that slowly, silently accumulates. Most people who grow into this identity rarely choose it willingly. It usually forms in childhood, in those small moments where expressing needs led to disappointment, rejection, or conflict. You learn quickly that being “too much” risks losing people. So you shrink a little, then a little more, until your emotional footprint becomes so small it barely registers. Over the years you refine this...

Public accusations can have detrimental psychological effects, particularly in the era of viral videos and hasty judgments. A 42-year-old man in Kerala recently committed suicide after a video of him acting inappropriately on a bus went viral. Millions of people saw the video. While investigations continue and perspectives differ, the emotional consequences of public accusation demand deeper psychological understanding. Examining the distinction between shame and guilt is essential to comprehending why such circumstances might turn tragic. According to psychologist June Tangney’s shame and guilt framework, these two emotions may appear similar but function very differently. And when shame becomes global and public, it can be far more psychologically corrosive than guilt. The Psychology of Guilt: I Did Something Bad Guilt is typically behavior focused. It arises when a person believes they have done something wrong. The internal narrative of guilt sounds like, “I made a mistake” or “I h...

February 14 is when the world turns pink, filled with blushy red roses and tons of sweets going up in sales, along with elaborate social media trends that flood our pages. Rom-com films are lined up to release during this time of the year, and the hype for Valentine's Day is built up. See something common here? Valentine’s Day is packaged as something to do with romantic relations. This is the time people ask each other out on dates after all! It, however, puts pressure to maintain this “romance-date image.” But what if I were to tell you that love is far more expansive than romance alone? It exists in friendships, in chosen families, and even with oneself. The reason non-romantic love is underappreciated is because of its lack of spectacle and sparkle. Unlike romance, platonic love is devoid of the “butterflies” and the emotions one would traditionally go through with a romantic relationship. However, that is exactly where the beauty of “love” as a definition lies. Having healthy ...

There are many ways to approach happiness, happiness can’t be defined universally; it is subjective in nature. The science of happiness indicates that happiness is a mix of genetics (50%), life circumstances (10%), and intentional activities (40%). Most probably, happiness depends on reward and motivation. Releases of dopamine and serotonin hormones result in happiness. Basically, dopamine and serotonin are chemicals that act as hormones. Releases of dopamine result in temporary pleasure, while serotonin is similar to dopamine but produces long-lasting happiness. Serotonin can work as a mood regulator, helping to stabilize the mood for a certain period. Low levels of serotonin affect mood, sleep, the digestive system, body temperature, and memory. Dopamine, the pleasure hormone, makes us feel good and often occurs because of rewards. Happiness is a basic human emotion, which has different types, including hedonic and eudaimonic happiness: Hedonic happiness is pleasure-based happiness,...

“Familiarity breeds contempt, Absence makes the heart grow fonder” This statement that we often hear has more meaning than it brings to the surface. In a time where the world is changing, so is the definition of love. Love has transcended beyond monogamy and genders, and the same also applies to distance, too (physical distance). There is a phenomenon of Long-distance relations (also called LDR) which has taken over the world, redefining the standard definition of being in a relationship. LDR is described as a ‘romantic relationship between two individuals, who are geographically separated from each other, for a significant period of time’. It occurs due to a plethora of reasons, from higher education abroad to job opportunities and even relocations. And living in a digital world, two people residing in two completely different ends of the world can also fall in love. That's the range of LDR’s. Psychologically, LDR’s have a huge impact on the individuals in a relationship. Unlike t...