Author Archives: Ramya Ranganathan

I have (as happens to many of us at some time in our lives) been sailing in rough open stormy waters these past few months. One of the things that has been keeping me afloat (as well as moving in directions I seek to) has been the practice of choosing to consciously direct my attentionContinueContinue reading “Attention: Our Gateway to Change”

I have been teaching a PhD class in Positive Psychology for the last five years but this year I was in for a surprising insight on my own beliefs about money. Tanvi, a doctoral student in marketing who has taken the course as an elective this year, conducted a short exercise for the rest ofContinueContinue reading “Money and its Correlates: What are YOUR beliefs about Money?”

From as early ago as my school days I have been an efficiency pundit. I have no clue where I picked it up from but I somehow latched on to the whole idea of ‘let’s try to get maximum output from minimum input’ during my school days itself. Of course this helped me crack examsContinueContinue reading “From Efficiency to Soulcrafting”

I have had this obsession of wanting to be the ‘best’ ever since I can remember. I wanted to be the best daughter, the best child, the best student, the best player, the best artist and the best all-rounder. It was a list with no beginnings and no ends. I don’t remember how it startedContinueContinue reading “I Want to be the Best – But What on Earth does that Mean?”

My sister and I were chatting last weekend about ‘judgements’ and our respective learnings on why they are best avoided. We touched upon various reasons, ones we had read and ones we had experienced. Indeed there are different philosophical and moral reasons why judging others might not be a good idea. However, my own journeyContinueContinue reading “How Our Judgments Can Become Our Prisons”

The other day my son asked me, “do you have enough money to take me to a five star hotel?”. Being someone who is not a particular fan of five star hotels I was a bit jolted by the question. I decided to explore his request a little more. I asked, “So you like goingContinueContinue reading “What Do You Really Really Like? What Do You Really Really Want?”

Some days back the father of one of my son’s classmates gave us a ride back home after a birthday party. As the two 8-year-olds chattered and played in the back seat, it was time for us adults to take those first conversational steps in transitioning from being total strangers to co-travellers. Inching along inContinueContinue reading “In Pursuit of Worthiness”

Quite frankly I had never been able to relate to the stories and characters portrayed in either the Ramayana or the Mahabharata. I remember reading short summaries of them in my History textbook way back in primary school. In my textbook the Ramayana had been duly summarized (in one page) as an epic which portrayedContinueContinue reading “Lets Read Something Epic!”

Today was a stressful morning (or so I thought), as I entered my campus gate after dropping my son off at the bus-stand for school. I was wondering if things were going to get easier once my son would get older. Perhaps it will get better if I hired a full time housekeeper who couldContinueContinue reading “Letting go of an Internal Battle”

‘Embracing Power’ is a short story I have written as a part of a series of stories titled ‘Deathbed Reflections’. Dalilah was a young and intelligent Princess. Due to a peculiar set of circumstances her father (although he was still alive) handed over the throne to her and took to a more relaxed and retired lifeContinueContinue reading “Embracing Power”