GUWAHATI, May 27 - As part of its �Webinar Speaker Series�, Royal Global University (RGU) held a webinar titled �The best way to live life is with an attitude of gratitude� on May 26 in which more than 400 academicians, faculty, students and staff from different universities and schools across India participated, said a press release issued on Wednesday.
RGU Vice Chancellor Prof SP Singh went down memory lane recalling how during his formative years, his father would ensure core Indian human values which were instilled in his kinsfolk for life. Today, as a Vice Chancellor for 5000+ students and father to his children, he deemed it fit to have a webinar on �attitude of gratitude� wherein to discuss lost human values, psychological well-being and ways forward in life post COVID-19. He stressed how behavioural science is a strong subject in character building and instilling an attitude of gratitude for posterity. As an educationist, it becomes every teacher�s duty to charter a student�s life along its right course, he said. A child holds a blank slate and what parents/teachers write, becomes his destiny. It is imperative that parents teach children the history of India, thank the farmers for the food people get to eat and inculcate in them the sense to respect all, he said.
Prof AK Buragohain, Chairperson Academic RGU, deliberating on his many years of service to education, pondered on gratitude, a strong positive emotion which is an active area of study in positive psychology. Philosophers since time immemorial have propounded that gratitude played a pivotal role in civilisation building. Though every human being has innate values, it takes a pandemic to change and challenge every life and instill a sense of gratitude, he added.
Prof Anuradha Devi, a mathematician with a scientific bent of mind, quoted a research study of 15 years which proved that being grateful has a positive impact on the health and mind, reduces high pressure and cholesterol, improves sleeping and keeps depression at bay. �The day we start conversing in �we� instead of �I� is the day of reckoning for gratitude,� she said.
Anita P Yammiyavar, a staunch supporter of preserving Nature while constructing buildings, stated how Uttarakhand was an apt example of man going against Nature cutting down trees or blocking water bodies and the result is for all to see. She advocated gratitude to be shown to Mother Nature or else �we will perish�.
Dr Soumitra Sen spoke on the fact that life does not provide guarantees and warrantees but offers endless possibilities to thank the frontline warriors fighting a minuscule virus. The new connotation of SMS is - sanitize, mask and social distancing, she pointed out.
Dr Gitumoni Konwar spoke on past pandemics like the Spanish flu, black fever and the great famine teaching valuable lessons of kindness and gratitude to humankind. �This pandemic has taught us to retrospect on our lives and inculcate good habits through yoga, healthy lifestyle and thereby creating �happy hormones� in the body,� she said.
RGU Registrar Angira Mimani said COVID is making each individual introspect on materialistic gains and delve inwards to re-evaluate one�s attitude towards life. A belief was created that human beings could �achieve it all� but the pandemic punctured that myth, she said. While the �haves� eat in luxury, the �have nots� are still struggling to get home, eat a meal with family, she said.
The webinar was moderated by Ayushman Devraj.
