The Mental Compass

Think about how we react when we see a puppy tumbling over its paws or a baby panda rolling down a hill. How we feel when we hug a soft teddy bear or see a puppy with big, round eyes is universal. There is something about these round shapes, soft textures, and oversized eyes that immediately makes us smile, coo, and want to protect. It feels so natural, almost impossible to resist. But why do we respond this way? Scientists suggest that our love for fluffy and cute animals is rooted in evolution and the way our brains are wired. Much of this comes down to something called the baby schema effect. When we see features like large eyes, chubby cheeks, or small noses, it triggers strong emotional responses. We instinctively want to nurture, care for, and protect. This reaction is so powerful that even as adults we cannot resist animals that look like babies, whether it is a fluffy kitten, a round bunny, or a tiny hamster. These features tap directly into our caregiving instincts and make us...

There’s a moment many new parents experience but rarely talk about. It usually comes quietly, maybe in the middle of a sleepless night, or during a rare pause in the day. You look at your child, feel an overwhelming sense of love, and almost in the same breath, feel a strange longing for the life you once had. The freedom, the spontaneity, the uninterrupted sleep, the version of yourself that existed before everything changed. And then, almost immediately, comes the guilt. How can I miss my old life when I love my child this much? This emotional contradiction is what parenthood paradox is referred to in psychology. From a psychological perspective, this is not only normal, it is expected. Becoming a parent is not just a change in routine; it is a profound identity shift. You are not simply adding a role to your life; you are reshaping how you see yourself entirely. Earlier, your identity may have been tied to your career, relationships, hobbies, or independence. Now, a large part of yo...

“Growth begins the moment comfort ends.” Understanding Why the Brain Fears Change Change often feels intimidating because the human brain is naturally wired to prefer familiarity. The brain seeks patterns, predictability, and routines because they require less energy and offer a sense of safety. When something new approaches whether it is a new job, a new relationship, or a shift in environment the brain detects uncertainty and triggers a protective response. This response is rooted in the brain’s ancient survival system that views anything unfamiliar as a potential threat. As a result people tend to feel fear, hesitation, or anxiety even when the change is positive or necessary. Another reason change feels scary is that it challenges a person’s sense of identity and stability. When something shifts around them they may feel they are losing control or stepping into a role they do not yet understand. This psychological discomfort is often misunderstood as a sign that one should avoid ch...

Ahh my lips so red, That is why i look bad, To be alone I am sad, But I like it for myself i am glad, The redness is rare, Maybe others need a topic and cant bare, But I need to be  I, I am confident and I am what  I want, So let them taunt, Because I believe in me, My lips are now smiling with glee. Let them mock, For myself I have rocked. They won't stop, So that social judgement needs to be dropped Human beings have a tendency to judge people, isn't it? We often judge people based on their weight, height, colour, and physical appearance. If I talk about a vice versa situation, people often judge us as well, isn't it? Have you ever wondered about our response to these judgements? For example, one might start dieting the very day he or she is judged to be fat, but then there may be a person who does not care about what others say about them. In this very realm of life, it is important to see how you perceive or judge yourself. If we almost tend to see ourselves negatively ...

There’s a very specific kind of silence that hits right after your last board exam. It’s not peaceful. It’s… suspicious. You walk out of the exam hall expecting background music, slow-motion relief, maybe even a dramatic “this is the beginning of your new life” moment. Instead, you get heat, traffic, your parents asking “Paper eppadi?” and your own brain going, “Wait… now what?” For months, your life had a script like wake up, study, revise, panic, repeat. Even your stress had structure. And suddenly, just like that, the script ends. No timetable, no syllabus, no guilt-driven productivity. Just a very unfamiliar thing called free time. At first, it feels amazing. You tell yourself, “I’m going to sleep, watch everything on my list, meet friends, learn a new skill, fix my life.” The post-exam bucket list is longer than the answer sheet you just filled. But within a few days, something strange happens. You wake up late, scroll aimlessly, maybe open Netflix and then close it because nothin...

Curiosity is a fundamental and biologically driven, and intrinsically motivated human urge to bridge the gap between what we know and what we want to know. It acts as a gateway drug to learning by engaging reward circuits in the brain  such as the mesolimbic dopaminergic circuit releases dopamine to enhance memory and information-seeking, acting as a crucial driver for knowledge acquisition.  There is a quiet moment that happens almost without notice. You come across something you don’t fully understand. It could be a sentence, a problem, a person’s behavior, or even a small detail in a video. For a second, your mind pauses. Then a question forms. Not because someone told you to ask—but because your brain cannot leave it alone. That small moment is curiosity. It may look simple, but from a scientific point of view, curiosity is one of the most important forces in the human brain. It is not just a habit or personality trait. It is a built-in system that pushes the brain to lear...

We have all heard of these terms used together before: Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s. We worry about mixing them up when someone dear to us starts forgetting things, moving more slowly, or showing changes in thinking. While these conditions all affect the brain, they actually are very different in how they develop, the parts of the brain they target, and the symptoms they produce. Understanding these distinctions helps us know what is happening and how it can be approached. Dementia Dementia is a broad term for a set of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, and reasoning. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but there are others like vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. Dementia often starts subtly, with forgetfulness or trouble focusing, and gradually progresses to more severe cognitive difficulties. While it mainly affects memory, it can also impact language, judgment, and emotional control, depending on the type. Alzheimer...

“What to eat this fine day, In The Realm hot sun ray, Dal I had for lunch, Rotis are becoming everyday bunch, Cutlets are an snacky eve, But deciding upon dinner would then be daily grief, Breakfasts light, Alas, what should I take in my everyday diet.” A common question that may arise is: what to eat? Sometimes, isn’t there a feeling that you are bored of everything, or you feel you have already eaten that quite some days ago? In the Hindi language, we often hear the saying, “Kya bnaau/bnwaau, samajh mein bhi toh nahi aata,” and that stands true for all of us indeed. To get out of this chaos, some people with a running 9–5 schedule prepare timetables, some prefer to skip meals in this chaos, and you may have your own ways out. The fun part is that this has become a routine. From those tasteless bottle gourds, of course examples may vary and yours may be different to those sugary, tasty cold coffees that cannot be taken daily, we are reverted to having a balanced diet. Further, eating ...

Fasting is simply the act of not eating food for a certain period of time. Many people today think fasting is some kind of new health trend, but actually humans have been doing it for thousands of years. In ancient times fasting was usually connected with religion or spiritual practices. People believed that by controlling their eating they could also control their mind and body. In the modern world though, scientists started looking at fasting from a different angle. They try to understand what really happens inside the human body when we stop eating for some time. What they found is quite interesting, because the body does not just become weak immediately. Instead, it begins adjusting itself and activates some processes that help it survive and sometimes even improve certain functions. The first thing that changes during fasting is how the body gets its energy. Normally our body uses glucose as its main fuel. Glucose mostly comes from carbohydrates that we eat every day like rice, br...