Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Michel Neray,  a professional speaker, consultant and founder of momondays as a guest Influencer on Womenlines panel, sharing his expert knowledge related to public speaking with Womenlines readers. Michel has helped thousands of individuals craft and perform ‘purposeful’ stories to become more effective leaders, salespeople, coaches, teachers, trainers, speakers, and influencers of all types. He also uses Purposeful Storytelling to more effectively differentiate, position and brand organizations in the market. In this article, Michel is sharing how to improve your stage presence while delivering a speech-

Mick Jagger has it. So do Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen. David Bowie and Prince certainly did. Bob Marley performed in a kind of a trance that literally had audiences transfixed. Freddie Mercury was legendary on stage. Oh, and have you ever seen Michael Jackson? Among women performers, I immediately think of Tina Turner, Beyonce, Grace Jones, Madonna. Among speakers, Tony Robbins and Les Brown have it. Zig Ziglar absolutely had it.

I often ask participants of moSpeaker masterclasses what stage presence is, and I always get a variety of answers: confidence; the ability to engage the audience; believability; energy…

Stage presence seems to be one of those things that we can all recognize when we see it, we all want it for ourselves, and we ‘think’ we know exactly what it is, but as soon as we try to define it, no combination of words seems to fit quite right.

Oxford Dictionary defines ‘Stage Presence’ as ‘The ability to command the attention of an audience by the impressiveness of one’s manner or appearance.’ Well, yes, but like the responses I get in the masterclasses, that definition also seems to sidestep the real character of stage presence. If we can all recognize it when we see it, then let’s not bother with trying to define it. Instead, let’s put a spotlight on how you can get it.

After watching and listening to thousands of speakers on the momondays stage, and after speaking on stages in over eight countries around the world for the past 20 years, I think I’ve learned a thing or three about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to stage presence.

1. Forget all the tricks & techniques you learned in ‘speaker school 101’.
Tricks & techniques such as ‘power stances’, smiling, and classic hand gestures for speakers are wonderful to learn when you start out. They really are. But at some point, you have to forget everything you’ve learned. Relying on tricks & techniques ‘too much’ will make your performance appear mechanical and inauthentic. Instead, stay connected to the feeling and emotion of the story you are telling, and allow that to inform your physicality.

2. Don’t believe the most mis-guided speaker advice ever given: It’s not about you…
…it’s about the audience, right? I’ve heard this so many times, it hurts. Of course, you want to get your message across and of course, you want to have a meaningful, positive impact on the audience. It may be counter-intuitive, but placing your focus on these things actually get in the way of truly connecting with your audience. It really is about you first, not the audience. Remember, your most powerful performance is when you re-experience your own journey and allow the audience to come along for the ride with you. That journey begins with being connected to yourself, and it forces you to be present, vulnerable, authentic, confident — all those attributes that we associate with stage presence.

3. Give yourself an out-of-body experience by developing 3rd perceptual position awareness.
Instead of trying so hard to connect with the audience, develop an awareness of yourself, and of yourself in relation to the audience, outside yourself. It’s like having an out-of-body experience. In NLP, (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), we call this 3rd perceptual position. It takes practice, (and there are some exercises in the moSpeaker masterclass that help you develop it.) The third perceptual position allows you to gain a true experience of what stage presence actually feels like, which enables you to recreate it more intentionally in each performance.

Stop caring; start crafting.
Some people believe you are born with stage presence; other people believe anyone can develop it if they just work on it. Some people believe that stage presence is the platform on which everything else in your performance sits. Other people believe that stage presence rests on everything else in your performance.

Whatever you believe, one thing is undeniably clear — stage presence is linked to everything in your performance — the story structure, the writing and turns of phrases, your humour, your intentional pauses — as well as a host of other things that you can and must continually work on.

Stage presence is as individual as the performer or speaker who has it, and it takes time to develop. This is perhaps the most important thing about stage presence. If you take every opportunity to get on stage — and I mean every opportunity — whether it’s for speaking, karaoke, open mics, acting, improv or stand-up comedy, you will develop your own brand of stage presence… which is, when you really think about it, the only stage presence there is.

Womenlines welcomes ANJI HALLEWELL as an Influencer of Positive Mindset on the Womenlines panel. Anji is a Natural Strengths Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hidden Lava.  In her sharing for this month, Anji is talking about putting efforts in shining your light to get visibility in reality-

I’ve always been very curious about where life will take me, what I’m capable of and what impact I can bring to this world. I have travelled extensively, had great adventures and taken fond memories of the places and people I met along the way. Apart from being great fun, it grew me as a person and opened my mind to new and different perspectives. It’s fair to say that I nurtured my growth mindset and I’m pleased to say it remains that way today. As Albert Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.”. I take this to mean that growth is the essence of life.
When you run your own business, particularly in the service industry, you are the brand. When you are the brand you are the face of it – which means that you need to be visible. I remember when I started to create my own video content, how exposed and concerned about other people’s opinions I was. What will I talk about? Will anyone be interested? What if the people I know think less of me? What if I receive negative comments from strangers? At the time, the thought of truly stepping out was terrifying! Yet, there was a side of me that knew I had to if I was to fulfil what I had set out to do – empower people to bring meaningful and positive changes into their lives.

My mentor once taught me that we all have a light to share with the world and it takes great courage to override the forces that want to hold you back. These forces are internal and are responsible for killing more dreams than anything else. They will do whatever it takes to keep you right where you are – in your comfort zone. This is the opposite of the growth that Einstein was referring to in the earlier quote. The more important the thing is to you, the higher the internal resistance will be. Through my training, I’ve learnt to recognise when this is happening. Although, I realised today that I can become complacent towards it. Videos became the new normal and stepping out is now something different – talking in front of live audiences. On the video, you are essentially speaking to yourself! There are no faces looking back at you and no body language that you are frantically trying to read. It’s just you and the recorder. But a live audience of strangers, that’s a whole new level of intensity. The parameter of my comfort zone has become wider and there’s a new stepping out in town.

A little bit like when I started my videos, I wanted everyone to feel inspired and for it to deeply resonate. The reality is that more people will not be touched by the light you shine, than those that will. In fact, most people won’t even see it. And I say that with no judgement being passed, it’s just something I’ve come to realise. Should I feel hurt when I don’t get the level of validation expected, or am I focusing on the wrong group of people? What I am describing here would essentially be like trying to woo a gay man and feel deeply rejected when you are unsuccessful. You see, I would be setting myself up to fail from the outset by embarking on this impossible task. Rather than trying to achieve the impossible, I need to shine my light for those who can see it and for those to be drawn towards it. They are the people that matter because they are the ones that I set out to find. This all comes down to focus and attention. It’s a matter of switching focus from what hasn’t been achieved to what has. The wrong focus will only dim the light and at worst it will put it out altogether.
We all have talents to share with the world that can bring tremendous joy to people lives. Will you let your light be dimmed or will you shine it from the rooftops for those who are willing to see? No matter how well you think you know yourself or how strong your mindset may be, it’s a continual process of searching from within to guide you through to your true path. I know what my choice will be because one thing is for certain, no one will see my light if it’s not shining and that is a great disservice to what I can contribute to this world. Shine your light bright so those that need you can find you.

Anji Hallewell

Coach, Trainer & Founder

+65 8408 5042

Health is the real wealth and to manage this wealth Naturopathy can play important role in our life. Lady of the house is considered the pillar of a family and to make her family healthy she herself has to be healthy and happy. To help womenfolk to achieve excellence in health Womenlines is committed to creating awareness. It is such a pleasure to introduce  Saravanan Naturopathic Physicians as an Influencer for Naturopathy on Womenlines panel. This month Dr Saravanan Naturopath is giving tips on the art of healthy eating-

All kinds of stuff simply get passed on as food today. Many consumable products are edible but most are devoid of any nutritional benefits. Eating such foods is like a mechanistically loading and unloading of stuff in and out of your body. Unfortunately, these foods contain too many artificial flavours and colours, excessive sugars, preservatives, stabilizers, drugs and toxic minerals that I wonder how anyone could continue living after eating them. It is not a matter of identifying the number of toxins deemed to be safe for our body, but avoiding all forms of toxins in our body system.

During a taxi ride, I talked about food to the driver and he told me that Singaporeans do not need embalming when they die. They have so many chemicals and preservatives from all the processed foods they eat that the body will not decompose easily. While this might sound rather exaggerated, I must say that the taxi driver did have somewhat of a valid point.

The next thing we will need to understand is the difference between whole foods and dead foods-

We should eat whole living foods. Such foods exist in their natural or close to their natural state. Living foods are vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and seeds. They are ideally organic. Natural whole foods are healthy, full of energy, alive and robust. You could easily recognize them as food.
Dead foods are consumables that have been altered in every possible way. They can last longer and do not degenerate at room temperature. They contain lots of chemicals and they may be genetically modified. They are prepared in hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils. Manufacturers also add considerable amounts of sugar and process these foods at very high temperatures. Dead foods strain the digestive system and the liver. Prolonged abuse will compromise your immunity and this starts a vicious cycle of diseases like diabetes, cancer, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, skin problems, obesity, anxiety and depression, just to name a few.
Whole natural foods promote life while dead foods lead to mortality. Whole foods have natural enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fibres, phytonutrients and antioxidants. They interact with the digestive enzymes and promote a healthy body, proper organ function and efficient blood circulation.

The hidden cost of being modern
I remember an incident which occurred when I was presenting the art of healthy eating. A participant interrupted me by saying that it is impossible to stop eating what is available as food now. She added that going back to the traditional diet is primitive and not keeping with modern trends. She noted that we have to be “practical”. We are all well aware of how mad cow disease came about and the recent melamine-tainted milk and foods from China. Scientists are discussing the safe levels of melamine in foods as they think that the melamine problem cannot be eradicated. It is a fact that many people have died after eating these tainted foods.

Would it be “practical” or keeping with modern trends to still eat toxic foods? Think about it!!

Article was written by Saravanan ND – Naturopathic Physician and transformational coach. At Naturopathic Therapies Clinic. www.naturopathic-therapies.com

Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome Geetanjali Tandon as a guest writer on Womenlines panel. She has more than 15 years of experience in corporate finance specifically in Financial Planning and Analysis in various companies/ industries. In this article, Geetanjali shares how technology and support from her husband is helping her raising 2 kids as a dual career couple in USA-

My husband and I met when we were both studying. When we got together one of the first things I told him was that my career is very important to me. This became the basis of our relationship that continued through a long-distance relationship and then our marriage during which we have moved to various cities while maintaining a balance as a dual-career couple.

Maintaining this balance became even more challenging since the birth of our daughters. We are the parents of 2 beautiful girls who are 8 and 6 years old and keep us hopping busy. My husband is in academia in a U.S. university while I am a senior-level finance manager in corporate America. Both these jobs have high expectations and pressures that we need to meet. Success is defined differently for each of us. But we have also defined success for ourselves. One of our main principles is that no success is worth it if it takes us away from our family. So, with this principle in mind and our love for our careers and family, we are trying to raise our girls.

We have learned to manage this by dividing the responsibility in our household and asking for help or hiring help when needed. Trying to manage the schedule of the kids’ various activities with meetings that often run overtime is very stressful—so why not get someone to pick up the kids from school, feed them a snack, and take them to activities so that by the time everyone is back home we have some quality time to spend together? I have invested in technology to cook fresh food where possible so that I can spend less time cooking and cleaning. Rotimatic has been one of our biggest saviours in this regard. If needed, it takes 20 mins to get a simple dal, sabji and roti ready. The division of tasks between husband and wife is not easy and there is always a back and forth on that. We are by no means perfect in this regard but we do try. Cooking responsibilities are shared. I like cleaning so I tend to do that more but there are times that I will ask him to take over if my day was exhausting. Finance is my department while cars and technology are his. I find people to do repairs and schedule them while he tends to stay in the house and oversee what they do.  These roles change as needed—there is not a perfect management formula, but rather it is a daily balancing act.

On a typical day in our household, I wake the kids and coax them to get ready for school. It has become easier since they have started doing a lot of this themselves and I don’t have to get them physically ready. But the physical taxation has instead been replaced by constant verbal reminders and nagging to get ready and work faster. But then I must leave to get to the office by 8, so the morning breakfast duty, as well as lunch, is taken over by my husband who is very protective about this time with the girls in the mornings and does not allow our parents—if they are there—to interfere. He drops them off at school and then goes to his office. In the evening, we have a babysitter pick up the kids, get them home, feed them snacks, and do a little bit of homework before taking them to activities. By the time the kid is back, we are also back. Dinner is started by whoever reaches home first so that we have dinner ready by about 7 p.m. Growing up in a household with dual-career parents, I learned from my parents the importance of having one meal together  every day as this meal was the one where everyone shared what they did during the day and talked with each other. This is what I follow with my family too—dinner is the one meal we have together every day and it is the most precious time we have together as a family.  The kids have also started helping in cleaning up by doing their own chores. We then take time to catch up on the kids’ school work, sometimes play a little bit with them, and read books with them before bedtime.  Our kids go to sleep later than many other kids but it works for us as we get to spend time with them.

Dual-career parenting is a daily balancing act. But, the children learn about what you do, they start taking on more responsibilities earlier, they understand if you are not able to attend every event in school and, at some point, hopefully, they appreciate this balancing act. I was raised by dual-career parents and I have a lot of admiration for how they managed. So, have faith and carry on.

Geetanjali Tandon

Global IT Finance Lead

Monsanto

Greater St.Louis Area

https://dataandfpa.blogspot.sg/

Uplift- Network for Inspiration is a networking group in Singapore which organises networking meeting for women in Singapore so that womenfolk can meet, learn, get inspiration and have fun together. Uplift Networking Group is an initiative by e-Magazine Womenlines founded by Charu Mehrotra and Dream Catchers founded by Shalima Motial in Singapore. The Uplift group believes that just like food, inspiration doses are must in the present rush in daily life. Therefore on the Uplift facebook page founders keep sharing inspirational stories, quotations, videos every week.

To celebrate International Women’s day  2018 Uplift organised Makeup workshop which was conducted by Mary Kay experts at Mary Kay office on 7th March. Participants got an opportunity to network and to learn some grooming skills for themselves. International Women’s day was celebrated with great fun. Mary Kay experts taught makeup tips and skin care tips to participants. Participants were able to apply all learning immediately and practise in the workshop as it was hands-on. The objective was to make participants beautiful inside and outside and have some fun together.

Dream Catchers and Womenlines initiative Uplift believes in the power of networking. There is so much to learn from each other. Uplift Networking meets are organised once ivery 4 months.  Membership in Uplift Network for Inspiration is free. To become the part of Uplift Facebook page and keep getting updates please send request at this link- Uplift Network for Inspiration.

Womenlines Influencer for Yoga, Archana Amlapure sharing this month is about how Yoga Contemplation can be used for getting rid of negative emotions and phobias. There is a difference in Meditation and Contemplation. While Meditation is resting mind chatter, contemplation is training mind about certain thought only-

Do you feel stuck and stressed? Are you tired of dealing with illness or chronic diseases?

We humans carry and accumulate so many emotions within us. The mind is collections of thoughts, which arises from emotions like sadness, happiness, anger, frustration, fear, surprise etc. Emotions arise from our daily activities, interaction with self and society & our own expectations, in response to some event and the list goes on.

Some emotions get expressed and some emotions not. The major reasons why someone don’t express fully maybe the circumstances or don’t feel the necessity. The pleasant emotions associated with person or event when not expressed, get stored in your subconscious mind and is stored in memory. But if emotions are unpleasant and associated with pain, distrust, bad experiences, it will be stored in bad memory.

If these negative emotions stay long, it manifests into diseases e.g Diabetes, Migraine, Arthritis, insomnia, digestive related problems and many more. Contemplation is a positive auto-suggestion. It helps to release and clear those emotions and bad habits. Contemplation is seeing things carefully as it is – truth nothing else. Auto-suggestions/resolutions or contemplation is the ways to train your mind and face the truth.

How does it work on subconscious mind?

When you instruct mind, again and again, that thought will become part of the subconscious mind and scientifically each cell also store this as a memory and it becomes part of you and then a habit. Scientifically this is useful change and psychological all well. The cells follow the suggestions given to them. Thus, the feeling and neurons can be trained to do the desired thing. For a cerebral cleansing, the use of emotions is necessary. This helps to replace old habits/traditions with a new one. The same feeling if repeated can create sound waves. The sound waves recreate similar to sound waves in cosmos which radiate positive energy and the practitioner benefits positively. Contemplation, auto-suggestion, resolutions are not only meditation techniques but the process of inner transformation, it is the process of training every cell.

How to contemplate (practice)?

To practice contemplations, your mind needs to be calm and breathing deep and slow, when you are in the composed and calm state, you can see your feelings. The calm and steady mind thinks better. In this state, you can tap into your subconscious mind.

– Sit in Meditation, relax your mind and body
-Once your breathing is smoother and deeper, repeat your contemplation/Affirmation/Auto suggestion up to 9 times mentally with full faith and trust. Use short positive sentences as a resolution/contemplation
And remember, unless you believe what you are saying, it won’t work.
– You need to do it regularly and consistently. For better results.
E.g. If you feel constantly sick, you feel tired, depressed and sadly most of the time.

You can mentally repeat saying “I am healthy and I am happy “
If you have low confidence, you can use affirmations “I am confident, and I will face this bravely”.
If you are busy and can’t practice Meditation, you can repeat affirmations anytime of the day but with full focus.
Examples:
• I am confident
• I am at peace with myself
• I am happy being me

What can be achieved?
By practising Contemplations, you can achieve following things
• Cleansing mind
• Attainment of goal
• Attainment of peace
• Developing values
• Developing personality
• Working on social values
• Healing

-Archana Amlapure

Founder-http://Www.ojasyog.com
http://Www.facebook.com/ojasyog
Instagram: ojasyoga0704
Linkedin: Archana Amlapure

Turning 40 is a milestone moment and it’s a great age to be in. Especially for women who have more or less achieved their dreams: a fulfilling career, a beautiful family and an assurance and confidence no preceding age has been able to give them. However, all that self-assured existence is often marred by a certain uncertainty. Is it time? Am I there yet? With the many complications we face as women with menstruation already, menopause seems to be as confusing as it gets.

Is menopause to be feared or dreaded?

While menopause isn’t a disease that you need to address or cure, the uncomfortable symptoms can be lessened by far with the help of both prescribed medicines as well as a well planned nutritional diet. Adequate nutrition is essential at this stage to keep deficiencies occurring as a result of hormonal changes. A lot of people undermine the role of diet and nutrition when it comes to ease menopausal symptoms and is too quick to resort to medications. Thankfully, hot flashes, rise in bad cholesterol, bone loss and weight fluctuations are all effectively addressed by small but significant changes in your diet. Food is also an unexpected agent in calming anxiety and restlessness as well as maintaining the overall hormonal equilibrium. If you’re unsure as to what changes in your diet and lifestyle will speed up the easing process, get help from a professional. Because being in menopause doesn’t have to mean being in perpetual discomfort

Menopause diet would focus on getting enough calcium, iron, fiber, and other nutrients.

1 A well-hydrated body with enough water intake during the day is very critical. Skin dryness is most common during menopause and water will play a key role in retaining skin moisture.
2. Calcium stores need to increase as during menopause oestrogen loss leads to bone loss. Good calcium sources are Green leafy vegetables, sesame seeds, dairy products like milk, curd, Broccoli etc.
3. Vitamin D Stores are critical for maintaining bone health. Vitamin D supplementation is recommended to reach healthy zone.
4. Iron deficiency is most common and liberal intakes iron-rich food is recommended. Good iron-rich food includes red meat, Fish, eggs, nuts, and grains.
5. Whole grains are important to get enough energy and help manage stress. Good sources are oatmeal, quinoa, rice & wheat.
6. Eat plenty of fruits and Vegetables
7. Cut down on sugar and salt intake
8. Low calories foods are recommended post menopause. As we age, our metabolism comes down and hence our energy needs so if we continue to eat the same old way, we will add the weights.

Meenu Agarwal

Founder of Food ‘n’ Wellness, a food, and nutrition advisory company based out of Singapore. Meenu is a trained clinical dietitian & holds a Masters degree in Nutrition & Dietetics. She is registered with the Singapore Nutrition and Dietetic Association( SNDA).  She specializes in providing nutrition advice with an emphasis on managing medical conditions like diabetes, cholesterol, acidity, thyroid, blood pressure and weight-related issues. 
Visit  http://www.foodnwellness.com

Womenlines takes pleasure to welcome  Neha Dhingra Saraf, head of Business Development APAC in Singapore, as a guest writer. She is sharing her expert knowledge related to social media selling-

As a small business owner, do you ever see a successful marketing campaign and wonder what if you could do the same? Want to run your own business and don’t have the budget to spend on paid marketing? Here are a few things you can do with minimal resources:

Be where your customers are

Define your target audience and build your presence on the social channels most relevant to your product or offering. You don’t need to be present everywhere. E.g., if you sell cupcakes or handmade costume jewellery, build a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter etc. LinkedIn would not be relevant.

Bonus Tip: Once you select the most relevant social channels to build your presence, use the same username across all social platforms for brand consistency

Tell your story

“People like to feel they are buying – not being sold” – Dale Carnegie

Storytelling is the best way to explain your product and services to your customers and connect with them. It goes beyond the traditional buy-sell relationship. You want repeat customers and brand advocates who can amplify your brand’s message and vision. Use consistent visuals to communicate your message across all your social channels.

Bonus tip: use free tools like Canva to design high-quality website banner, social media posts, infographics etc.

Engage your audience

Consistently share meaningful content with your audience. It is not essential to only share content about your brand. Mix some topics, which are relevant to your industry and can resonate with your audience. E.g. If you own a beauty salon, besides sharing your services, share home remedies on glowing skin and beauty tips on your social media channels.

Bonus tip: Be consistent in delivering your message on social channels by building a content calendar to post regularly. You can use free scheduling tools like Hootsuite and Buffer to save some time.

Use Hashtags

Hashtags started with Twitter but now are applicable to all major social channels. Add relevant hashtags to your post to make it searchable.  Check out what hashtags are being used by similar business to yours and start using them to increase your visibility. Eg if you sell clothes or jewelry using hashtags like #style #fashion would get you in front of a wider audience. For Twitter and Facebook use no more than 3 hashtags per post but for Instagram 11+ hashtags per post have shown increased engagement.

Bonus Tip: Check out Hashtagify.me to analyze popularity and identify related hashtags

Customer Care using Social Media

Listen to your prospects and customers. You can get some feedback and reviews by listening to what your customers are mentioning on social media about your brand. Set up your social listening stream using google alerts of more sophisticated social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite and Mention. It would be easier to address questions and handle positive and negative feedback.

Bonus Tip: Listen to what people are talking about your competitors to identify their unhappy customers. Those could be your target customers.

About the Author:

Neha was born and raised in India and now calls Singapore home. She leads a team of business development professionals across the Asia Pacific at Oracle. Neha designs and delivers workshops, virtual training, webinars and initiatives to educate sales professionals and small businesses on how to use social tools to engage via various social channels.

Intertwined in this activity, she loves to travel, make friends, drink wine and collect and upcycle glass bottles – normally empty!

** Views expressed are my own and do not represent views of my employer**

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nehadhingrasaraf/

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+nehadhingra_nd

https://www.instagram.com/dhingraneha.nd/

https://twitter.com/Dhingraneha_nd

https://www.pinterest.com/nehadhingra_nd/

Diabetes is suddenly talk of the world.It is considered a global public health crisis in present times. Womenlines wants its readers to get rid of diabetes naturally. Follow these yoga poses as shared by Archana Amlapure, founder of Ojas yoga in Singapore and wellness and a health coach, a certified Yoga teacher, Yoga therapist and an Influencer for Yoga on Womenlines panel.

Archana has served the corporate industry for twelve years, she finally decided to give up corporate career and explore inner self through Yoga and help people to find their life balance using Yoga as a tool. Her gentle teaching style makes her students at ease and comfortable in the class. She believes that Yoga is a way of life and aims to incorporate all aspects of Yoga into her teaching. She is very enthusiastic about learning new things and new ways, which makes her classes interesting, focused on mind body and soul wellness.

http://Www.ojasyog.com
http://Www.facebook.com/ojasyog
Instagram: ojasyoga0704
Linkedin: Archana Amlapure

SPJIMR Alumni association recently organized a Madhubani art workshop in Singapore, so alum kids can learn the rich folk art tradition of India and also have fun. Mrs. Sundari, the wife of an alumnus, led the art workshop, to create awareness about the beautiful cultural heritage of Madhubani arts by teaching kids the subtle intricacies of Madhubani art.

Alums were also delighted to support their college’s prestigious mentorship programme Abhyudaya through this workshop. Abhyudaya is a 1.5 credit, year-long mentorship programme through which first-year MBA students at SPJIMR mentor bright, underprivileged children (who they call Sitaras) from the neighboring schools. Abhyudaya Sitaras had a concurrent session for the workshop. Connected over Skype in the session led by Mrs. Sundari and supported by Mrs. Vidya Sundaresan in Mumbai it was a unique experience for the Sitaras, where they were given a chance to explore their creativity and mold it into an art form.

Madhubani or Mithila painting is a folk art form, originated from Mithila region of Bihar. The paintings are traditionally based on mythological, folk themes and pastoral symbols. This exciting workshop helped discover the young artists in the children who took part in the workshop. Children learned various ways of creating Madhubani art. Alums thanked Mrs. Sundari for sharing her talent and knowledge.

Such workshops can play a very important role to promote art and culture in kids and also giving the opportunity to Womenfolk to share their talent with the world.

Womenlines appreciates SPJIMR Alumni association’s initiative of organizing a workshop to promote excellence in women and kids and also looks forward to more such initiatives.

Charu Mehrotra

Promoting Excellence in Women!

Womenlines welcomes ANJI HALLEWELL as an Influencer of Positive Mindset on the Womenlines panel. Anji is a Natural Strengths Coach, Trainer, and Founder of Hidden Lava.  In her sharing for this month, Anji is talking about the importance of mindfulness-

I made an assumption that since I lived in Asia, those around me would have a good grasp of what mindfulness was. After all, it did originate from this continent.  I assumed wrongly. Singapore is a multicultural, vibrant place that encourages innovation and professional development and because of this, there is a strong community of start-ups and innovation lead companies – producing one of the world’s stronger economies.

Like all educated societies, the emphasis has been on obtaining good grades to start your career on the right track. Well, that sounds good, right? Yes, of course, but what I am highlighting is the amount weighted towards it. There is something else missing from the equation for people to feel mentally and emotionally strong. When things get tough in life, work or personal, how have you been taught to cope with this? To suppress emotion?  To brush over it and think positively? Or maybe simply to “man up”? These strategies are not sustainable and you will be left feeling dissatisfied, disgruntled or burnt out because too much emotional baggage builds up.

What drives success in life?

As much as, 80% of a person’s success in life is attributed to soft skills, of which a large proportion is believed to be emotional intelligence (known as EQ). “Emotional what?”, I hear you say.  Well, you know what IQ is; think of this as the emotional version.  Here’s the thing, emotion drives all our actions, period. Therefore, it is essential for people to self-regulate their own emotions to feel internal equilibrium and for them to thrive in life. It’s simple, feel balanced and strong on the inside; and the outer will follow.

Crack this and you’ll be one of those people who will just know the right thing to do and say, you’ll start making clearer decisions, you’ll get noticed for your fresh approach and people will want to be around you. Sounds like great leadership skills to me! So, how do you achieve this Holy Grail? Simple, learn how to adopt a mindful mindset.

What is the role of mindfulness?

It allows you to be aware of and to regulate emotions when they arise. It’s like any problem, if you address it early it can’t snowball into something bigger.  Look at it this way, to hold on to emotion is like putting all your rubbish in landfill. Oh, and the landfill is your back garden.  It’s not sustainable and it will just increase over time. It’s far better to dispose of your rubbish in a more conscientious way.  Using this analogy is to recycle it into something new.

Mindfulness is to EQ; what education is to IQ.  The core components, such as open awareness, acceptance, and choice reinforce the self-awareness and self-management quadrans of EQ.  The more you flourish in these areas the more compassion is nurtured.  Studies have shown that people with a higher EQ have a higher level of perceptiveness, which means they are more likely to be socially aware and to manifest better relationships.  The link, they believe, is down to exercising self-compassion and compassion towards others.

All in all, it’s pointing towards mindfulness being highly complementary to a person’s EQ development.  So, I ask you, is it a nice thing to know; or do you see this as an essential life tool?  You decide.

If you are interested to find out more, why not attend one of my free previews – A Mindful Path.  Register here https://amindfulpath.eventbrite.sg

Anji Hallewell

Coach, Trainer & Founder

+65 8408 5042