Saturday, 8 May 2021

Weekly Column in English | Window Seat | 9.5.21

 

Window Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee 9.5.21

Say ‘no’ to negativity

We are living in a trying time. The second wave of Covid-19 is wrecking people’s lives and country’s economy. Pessimism is on the rise. There is widespread anguish and anxiety. People are losing hope of leading a decent life. Negativity is growing.

It is now that we have to cling to positivity. We have to think positive. If you think positive, your attitude becomes positive. In other words you can will things to happen. Your thoughts are the framework on which your subconscious builds your reality. The emotion that you associate with a thought energizes the thought that gives it power. Thought is neutral until you associate emotion with it. The type of emotion you associate with the thought determine your actions.

Research proves that there are definite benefits of positive thinking including improvement in performance, longer life and faster recovery and less depression and mental illness.

Optimism is associated with good physical health, less depression and mental illness, longer life and greater happiness.

The question is: can we practice Positive Thinking? The answer is, yes, we can. The subconscious communicates by using pictures, feelings and emotions. It needs positive clear verbal statements that tell it what you want. The subconscious has to be convinced that you want change before it will change a behaviour or habit. You have to allow time for a change in behaviour to become second nature.

You have to say ‘no’ to ‘no’. You can consciously dispel negativity. Look around. The world is full of things that, according to nay-sayers, should never have happened. Men have set foot on the moon. We have flown like the birds. Enormous amount of data can be stored in a tiny chip or even in the cloud. Vaccine has been made to wipe out several diseases that threatened to wipe out humanity.

Here is the 3C Formula for Positive Thinking.

COMMITMENT: Make a positive commitment to yourself. Try to fulfill the commitment. Every highly successful person is a manic on a mission.

CONTROL: Keep your mind focused on important things. Mind has a tendency to oscillate between past and present, and cling to negative. You have to keep the mind busy in productive activity.

CHALLENGE: Life is a series of challenges. Learn to face challenges.

Let us win over the gloom and negativity. Let us win over Corona.

Cartoon by Subhani.

Cartoonists’ Day

Besides creating fun and mirth, lampooning and ridiculing, Cartoons- the funny drawing with a narrative often act as a chronicler and critique of social reality. Though one can trace the core constructs of cartoon in cave paintings, this usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. Since its inception in mid nineteenth century modern cartoon has illuminated and enlivened social and political discourse for nearly two centuries now.



May 5 is observed as Cartoonists' Day all over the world. It honours all those creative artists, past and present, and the fascinating pieces they have created. Throughout the years, their talents bring humour, entertainment into our lives while provoking thought and debate, too.

Cartoonists' Day is observed on 5 May to mark the beginning of comic strip and in the memory of American comic strip writer and artist, Richard Outcault (January 14, 1863 – September 25, 1928), considered to be the inventor of the modern comic strip. Outcault created the comic strips The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown.

It was on Sunday, May 5, 1895, the readers of the New York World discovered an exciting new addition in their morning paper. On the pages, they found Outcault’s full-color drawings featuring a big-eared, barefoot little boy with a mischievous grin. The first color installment of the cartoon was called Hogan’s Alley. Later it was known as ‘The Yellow Kid’ and was the first successful cartoon icon.

For many years, cartoons were viewed as low-brow in comparison to other forms of art. But the work of cartoonists is important and underappreciated.

The art form has grown in popularity with a younger generation that seeks to utilize both art and culture in their media expression. It has found a new platform and form in the shape of meme. Though there exists some fundamental differences between a cartoon and meme, it has become a new tool to create fun, comment on incidents and critique people and policies and ridicule the high and mighty.

Tailpiece: Crowd

In earlier times, we are afraid of ‘loneliness’

Now the ‘crowd’ is terrifying.

Khouf ‘tanhai’ ka tha pahle

Magar…

En dino dahsat

Bhid se hai

Original Hindi: Jatin Jaiswal

***

Anthology of this weekly column published in 2020 has been published in book form. Should you want a free e-copy, please write a mail to sephalicommunications@yahoo.in

This column is published in Gangtok based English daily Sikkim Express and www.prameyanews.com

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