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‘If You Can’t Change the People Around You…’: The Psychology of Choosing Better Circles

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There comes a point in many people’s lives when they realise that love, loyalty, and effort are not always enough to sustain every relationship. Sometimes, despite trying to explain yourself better, be more patient, or give people endless chances, you still end up feeling emotionally exhausted around them. That is where the quote, “If you can’t change the people around you, change the people around you,” begins to hit differently. At first glance, the quote sounds harsh. It can feel selfish or even cold. We are often taught to adjust, compromise, and “stick by people no matter what.” But psychology tells us something equally important: the environment we emotionally live in shapes our mental health more than we realise. Human beings are deeply social creatures. The people around us influence our self-esteem, stress levels, motivation, habits, emotional regulation, and even the way we see ourselves. Think about the difference between walking into a room where you constantly feel judged ...
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When Love Becomes the Wound: Understanding Betrayal Bonds in Families

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How trauma, attachment, and silence shape a child’s world — and why safety must come first. By: Gurneet Kaur Jaitly, Counselling Psychologist Why This Conversation Matters In my years of working with children and families, I have learned that trauma often enters quietly.  In many Indian families, values such as respect, unity, discipline, and social reputation are deeply important. These strengths hold families together. However, when abuse occurs within a family system, silence may unintentionally delay protection. The impact extends beyond the incident itself. It affects trust, attachment, emotional development, and the child’s sense of safety.Children may feel pressure to maintain family izzat( honor), avoid conflict, or stay quiet. As parents, understanding this dynamic is essential for prevention and protection. What Is a Betrayal Bond? A betrayal bond forms when a child becomes emotionally attached to someone who is also causing harm. This can happen when the abuser is a fami...
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Main Character Syndrome: Living Like Life Is a Movie

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In Alice in Wonderland, Alice moves through a strange and unpredictable world where everything seems to centre around her experience. The story follows her thoughts, her reactions, and her sense of curiosity, which essentially places her at the heart of the narrative. In a similar way, many people today have started to view their own lives as if they are the main character in a film. This idea, often called “main character syndrome,” reflects a way of thinking where one’s own experiences feel especially significant, while others are seen as part of the background. Firstly, it is important to acknowledge that this ideology has developed not only due to social media such as Instagram, but also because of the impact that movies and trends have made on individuals.. Movies often present life as a carefully shaped story where every moment has meaning and every action leads to personal growth. People really begin to absorb these patterns and apply them to their own lives. For example, in Ins...
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The Science of Movement: How Physical Exercise Rewires the Brain for Resilience

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A motor movement is the blueprint of neural activities required to perform a movement. It is created and transmitted through organized neurons. The program is frequently updated. Learning and skill can be developed if the program is repeated often enough. Voluntary movement is accompanied by a conscious awareness of the action; in contrast, involuntary movement is not. All motor behaviors lie within a range and have both components in different dimensions. It is important to keep the motor program updated by collecting information from local levels through afferent fibers. Interneurons are synapses that gather inputs from both higher centers and peripheral receptors. Afferent inputs to local interneurons bring information about muscle tension, joint movement, and other factors, which in turn stimulate movements. The human brain is not fixed. It is not like a machine that stays the same forever. It keeps changing based on our daily activities, developing neuroplasticity. If we remain in...
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Less Cravings, Less Joy? Understanding the Psychology Behind GLP-1 Personality Changes

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There’s a certain kind of happiness many of us don’t notice until it becomes quieter. The excitement of ordering your favorite comfort food after a long day. The late-night craving for chips during a stressful week. The little dopamine rush from dessert, online shopping, or even scrolling endlessly when life feels overwhelming. For years, these tiny habits become woven into daily emotional survival so naturally that we barely question them. That’s why many people taking GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro are describing something unexpected. Yes, they anticipated weight loss and reduced appetite. What they didn’t expect was the emotional shift that sometimes followed. Some people describe feeling calmer and more in control. Others describe something harder to explain, a strange emotional quietness, as though certain cravings disappeared, but so did parts of the excitement attached to everyday life. Recently, the internet has started calling this “GLP-1 personality” or ...
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How Environment Shapes Our Minds, Moods, and Connections

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Winston Churchill once said, “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us”. Human behaviour does not exist in isolation. The spaces we occupy, such as our homes, classrooms, hospitals, and cities, quietly influence how we think, feel, and interact with others. This is exactly what Environmental Psychology deals with. It is the subfield in psychology that explores how physical surroundings shape cognition, mood regulation, and social behaviour. From the room lighting levels to nature, environmental cues constantly send signals to our brain. Research suggests that well-lit and open spaces can improve attention and problem-solving abilities, while cramped up or noisy environments often cause mental fatigue. Natural elements such as plants, sunlight, and fresh air have been linked to improved concentration and memory. This is why many people feel more productive in calm, organized spaces compared to cluttered/chaotic ones. Our physical surroundings also play an important role in mood ...
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Rethinking Originality: How AI and Human Creativity Recombine Ideas

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“Everything that can be invented has been invented,” a phrase often misattributed to the early twentieth century, captures a feeling that has quietly returned in a new form today. In light of the fact that AI is now able to produce essays, images, music, and new ideas almost instantly, one might say that the concept of originality has somehow diminished, leaving less room to be innovative by the moment. Given the fact that technology can create all this, it poses an interesting dilemma regarding the manner in which human beings think and come up with ideas. According to cognitive psychology, human thinking has never been a clean break from what came before. One of the core ideas discussed is associative thinking, where the mind basically moves from one idea to another through a network of connections built from memory, experience, and language. A single word like “ocean” might lead to “holiday”, then to “childhood”, and then to a memory of standing near water without thinking too much...
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Game Theory in Relationships: Trust, Betrayal, and Emotional Strategy

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If you sit with your own experiences for a moment just quietly, without trying to explain anything you might notice something small but very real. There are times when you almost say something, and then you stop. Not because you don’t have the words, but because something inside you pauses. It’s not loud. It doesn’t argue. It just gently holds you back for a second. That second matters more than it seems. Because in that moment, something is being weighed not in a logical, step-by-step way, but in a feeling-based way. A part of you is asking, “If I say this, what will happen?” And even if you don’t hear the question clearly, you feel it. That’s where relationships become deeper than just emotions. They become a space where your actions are shaped by another person’s possible reactions. And that changes how you move. You don’t just express what you feel. You adjust it. You shape it. You sometimes soften it  or keep it to yourself. Not because you’re pretending, but because you’re aw...
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From Screens to Streets: Collective Effervescence on Tamil Nadu Election Result Day 2026

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On the morning of the Tamil Nadu Election Result Day 2026, something unusual happened across the state. Streets that were usually filled with office rush and honking traffic slowly transformed into emotional public spaces. Tea shops became debate rooms. Apartment corridors echoed with loud television volumes. Auto drivers paused to discuss constituency leads. Families who rarely sat together for breakfast stayed glued to screens, refreshing updates every few seconds. And somewhere between television studios, WhatsApp forwards, party songs, memes, and celebrations outside counting centres, Tamil Nadu experienced something larger than politics, it experienced collective emotion. When the trends began shifting dramatically, especially with the rise of TVK and the emotional reactions from supporters across parties, the atmosphere became impossible to ignore. Supporters danced outside party offices, people burst crackers, some cried in disappointment, while others hugged strangers on the st...
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From 'Because I Said So' to 'Let’s Talk': The Rise of Negotiation Parenting

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By Gurneet Kaur, Counselling Psychologist A parent recently told me in a session, “I don’t want my child to fear me the way I feared my parents… but now I feel like nothing I say is final.” That sentence captures the heart of modern parenting. We are witnessing a powerful shift, from authority-driven homes to emotionally aware, conversation-led families. Today’s parents are choosing connection over control, dialogue over directives, and empathy over fear. This is the rise of negotiation parenting. And while it reflects emotional progress, it also brings a subtle complexity that many families are quietly struggling with. For generations, obedience defined ‘good parenting.’ But obedience without understanding often creates compliance, not character. Today, parents are explaining the why behind rules, encouraging children to express opinions, and validating emotions rather than dismissing them. Children who feel heard are more likely to develop emotional intelligence, confidence in self-e...
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