The Mental Compass

There may be moments from the past that when you recall today, may seem magical. An old photograph that appears in your gallery. A familiar song starts playing. You catch the smell of something that you haven’t experienced in years and suddenly, you’re back in the memories; at school, on a college trip, maybe sitting with old friends or even living through a chapter of your life that you haven’t thought about in years. For a moment, it feels like everything was simpler back then, maybe, even better. And then we often find ourselves saying, “Those were the best days,” or “Things were so much better back then.”  But were they really? Maybe not. Maybe our minds have been simply good at remembering the past in a certain way. We don’t remember the past exactly as it happened At times, we tend to think of memory as a recording: something happens, our brain stores it and we retrieve it later. But cognitive psychology tells us that autobiographical memory is more reconstructive than that. ...

Meera was fifty-three when she finally admitted to herself that loneliness inside a marriage felt heavier than loneliness outside it. After thirty years of smiling through silences that cut deeper than words, she walked out, not because she wanted freedom, but because she wanted peace. The world whispered that starting over at her age was foolish, but she was tired of shrinking herself to fit into a life that no longer felt like hers. Healing came slowly, like sunlight leaking through curtains after a long night. She learned to eat alone without feeling abandoned. She learned that choosing herself was not selfishness but survival. And she learned to sit with grief without letting it define her. On a rainy Tuesday, at a community library class she joined just to feel less invisible, she met Arvind, a quiet man with kind eyes and a history full of bruised edges. He, too, carried a past that had taught him love could be conditional and companionship could turn into captivity. They spoke l...

Have you ever seen God? My social studies teacher posed this question to me when I was in sixth grade, while studying the Ramayana and various other historical works. Out of curiosity, I asked her, "Since these mythological books refer to God and, as a matter of course, God exists, why are we discussing the origin of God?" She replied that we can view these texts as moral lessons to guide our own behavior, in which case the psychological value of the lesson remains meaningful regardless of underlying theological debates. Well, God felt completely real to me then. How could anyone refuse to acknowledge the creator of our world? Yet, a few moments later, my mind turned to Darwin's theory of evolution. Since science provides an empirical framework for understanding our physical origin, what then is the role of belief? How do we understand the deities seated in our mandirs? Over time, I came to realize a subtle shift in perspective: while objective proofs of the transcendent ...

There was a time when playing cricket required absolutely nothing except a bat, a ball and enough friends to form two teams. The bat could be a piece of wood. The wickets could be three bricks. The boundary could be an imaginary line that somehow everyone agreed upon until someone hit the ball too far. And the rules? They changed depending on who was winning. Nobody needed a fitness tracker. Nobody was recording their strike rate. Nobody was asking whether playing cricket would improve their résumé. We simply played. Today, the picture looks a little different. We have group chats full of people saying, “We should meet sometime,” followed by weeks of absolutely nothing. We watch professional athletes exercise on screens while sitting comfortably on our sofas. We order food instead of walking to get it. We scroll through videos of people playing sports, but somehow struggle to find the time to play ourselves. And perhaps the strangest part is that we have never been more connected digit...

Written by : Ms. Blessy Jenifer Joannah. H Counselling Psychologist and Student Counsellor Blessy Jenifer Joannah H. is a Counselling Psychologist and Student Counsellor at RCM Matriculation School, Avadi. Her professional work and research focus on adolescent mental health, with a strong interest in understanding the emotional and psychological challenges faced by today’s adolescents. She is deeply committed to supporting young minds through counselling, awareness, and early intervention. The start of a new year is often viewed as a fresh beginning, especially for students entering into a new academic phase. With new schedules and higher expectations. The students are encouraged to aim higher and achieve more.  Although goal setting is seen as an encouraging step for the students, the importance of being emotionally prepared to handle these expectations is often neglected. When emotional growth is ignored the new year can quickly shift from the source of motivation to a period of ...

The five senses are essential for how we physically navigate the world, but they also have a powerful psychological impact on how we interpret and remember it. Sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell all shape perception, but among them, smell is especially closely linked to emotion and memory. The sense of smell helps us detect danger, recognise familiar environments, and even influences appetite and attraction. In addition to the basic biology, scent has a special place within the psychology of the senses, as it relates to processes of emotion and memory. Scent is a sense in which meaning precedes conscious understanding. Imagine the smell of freshly baked bread, a perfume wafting through a room from an unseen source, or the smell of rain on earth. Each of these does far more than create an olfactory sensation in the brain; each creates an emotional response as well. Scent triggers emotions and memories associated with them, creating our experiences of other people and the world around...

There was a time when Onam meant waking up early with one very important mission: flowers. Not buying them. Not ordering them online. Actually finding them. We would run around looking for different colours, carefully pluck flowers, argue over who found the prettiest ones, and return home with our little collections. Someone would draw the outline for the pookalam, someone else would start arranging the petals, and somehow, without anyone really planning it, everyone would end up sitting together on the floor, contributing something. The pookalam may not have been perfect, but it was ours. And then came the sadya. As children, we didn't know anything about the cultural significance of twenty different dishes, the symbolism of the banana leaf, or whether a particular preparation was traditionally made a certain way. We simply knew that there was a banana leaf in front of us and an unbelievable amount of food on it. We waited impatiently for the next serving, mixed everything togethe...

Written by : Dr. Jaikumar Velayudham, Consultant Psychiatrist, Chennai and Vellore Dr. Jaikumar Velayudham is a consultant psychiatrist with a deep interest in the intersection of history, psychology, and leadership. Through his writings, he explores the minds of iconic figures to uncover timeless mental health insights. He is a regular contributor to Mental Health Compass Magazine In the landscape of Tamil literature, C. Subramania Bharati stands not just as a poet, but as a phenomenon of sheer psychological intensity. While history remembers him as the "Mahakavi" (Great Poet), a modern psychiatric lens reveals a man whose cognitive architecture was a masterclass in dopaminergic drive and emotional resilience. The Neurochemistry of Fearlessness: Beyond "Achamillai" In clinical terms, fear is a survival mechanism mediated by the amygdala. In his iconic anthem “Achamillai, Achamillai,” Bharati doesn’t just ignore fear; he performs a cognitive override. By repeating t...

Have you ever found yourself sitting in a crowded room, staring at a bustling feed on your phone, or surrounded by coworkers, only to be hit by a heavy, hollow wave of isolation? It feels contradictory. We tend to think loneliness only happens when you are physically alone. But you can have a massive contacts list, a packed schedule, and a permanent smile while chatting away, yet still feel empty inside. Everything looks fine from the outside. You are talking, laughing, and getting through the day, but a quiet voice keeps asking, "Why do I feel so isolated when I'm clearly surrounded by people?" The key lies in understanding what loneliness actually is, not as the absence of people, but as the absence of felt connection. According to the WHO In its report From Loneliness to Social Connection: Charting a Path to Healthier Societies, social connection is defined as the ways people relate to and interact with others. Loneliness is the painful subjective feeling that arises ...

What is Caregiving?   Caregiving is the act of providing daily support, be it is emotional or physical, to people affected by aging, disability, injury, or chronic conditions.   If you are a caregiver and someone comes up to you and asks, “Do you feel physically and emotionally exhausted by taking care of someone who cannot take care of themselves due to their health issues?” And if your instant answer is “YES”; then caregiving might be impacting you more than you know.   The Real cost of Caregiving  Historically, the nature of caregiving, both formal and informal, has been invisible to society. The burden of heavily taking care of a close family member or a patient, battling disabilities, chronic or terminal illness may take a drastic toll on both a caregiver’s mental and emotional health. If you are a formal caregiver like a nurse, or especially, if you classify as an informal caregiver, meaning you are an immediate family member of the care recipien...

You might be an adult now, but some of the things that you learned as a child may still subconsciously influence the way you live, love and respond to the outer environment. Why can’t some people take criticism well? Why do some struggle to say no? Why do some find it difficult to trust people, express their emotions or ask for help from others? Our adult personalities are shaped by many things including our temperament, experiences, the friendships we have and the culture that we are born and brought up in. But one of our earliest influences comes from somewhere much closer to home: our parents and the environment in which we grow up. Parenting is not simply about teaching a child what is right and wrong. It also helps in shaping a child’s early understanding of relationships, emotions, boundaries, safety and self-worth. In many ways, parents serve as some of our first role models for how to interact with others, resolve conflicts, express affection and respond to mistakes. Parenting ...

There is something strangely comforting about telling yourself, “I know I shouldn’t spend this money, but I deserve a little treat.” Maybe it is an expensive coffee after a difficult day, a cute blind-box collectible you absolutely did not need, a fancy dessert after work, or that tiny online purchase that somehow turns into three more things in your cart. You know your bank balance exists. You know adulthood is expensive. And yet, for a few minutes, that little purchase makes everything feel… slightly better. Welcome to Treatonomics, the growing habit of spending small amounts on affordable pleasures, especially when larger purchases feel out of reach. When financial anxiety is high, people may become more cautious about major spending while still looking for small ways to experience pleasure. The result Instead of the expensive holiday, there is the ₹250 coffee. Instead of a shopping spree, there is a cute keychain. Instead of a weekend getaway, there is a ridiculously overpriced pa...