"Psychology Is Not a Profession, It’s a Lifestyle." - Japneet Anand


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1. Tell us about your background and journey.

I come from the city of Guwahati. I have settled in Mumbai for the last 11 years because of my love for this city & the vibe it has that matches my inner soul. I have been a hard working person throughout my life. 

Struggled in a toxic relationship for 10 years and finally took a stand for myself to integrate the parts of me. I always knew I didn’t belong to where I was. Hence I choose to be where I am today. Also coming from a supportive and humble family made me stick to my love for simplicity yet fight for what is my centeredness. 

If that was not enough, life taught me lesson through my professional life as well where I have left a successful entrepreneurial background of 7 years behind to live for my passion. 

As a child I grew with dreams of wanting to work with and for people and that’s how I am now a Counseling Psychologist and NLP Master Trainer. Professionally achieved a few milestones with degrees and qualifications. 

Being the Founder of Awaken the titan within which helps me reach out to people wanting to live their inner potential. 

All of this doesn’t mean I didn’t give up, I suffered from depression for 2 years when my personal and professional self was disintegrated and I must say it was a painful journey yet I did come out of it by giving everything that it takes and worked on every aspect where I needed healing to take place.

I am now living my passion and all of these experiences have taught me the lessons of life at a much younger age and i embrace these events as turning points for me. I owe my space in life today to these events & have gratitude to be able to walk through all of it with my head held high. 


2. What led you to take up this career path?

I have been a lover of self help books from a very young age & they have always inspired me & also shaped my life. The seeds of wanting to transform someone life was sowed much earlier hence I always grew with a vision to do something that could make a remarkable shift in a humans life. 

Adding to this, having fought depression made my belief in the field stronger hence understanding that when we cannot change a situation, we work towards changing ourselves, the beauty of that change is phenomenal on its own. 


3. What are some common myths in society about psychology?

Some of the common myths are - 
  1. A Counselor can read someone’s mind. 
  2. A psychologist will advise a person on how to live their life. 
  3. Counseling makes a person selfish. 
  4. A Counselor can not understand what a person is going through since they ain’t going through it. 

4. How can people practice mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the capacity of being in the here and now. Embracing the present moment & savouring the moment is what Mindfulness is all about. It is something we all have but due to life’s circumstances, often we tend to not be in the moment hence everyday following simple practices can help one to be mindful. 

Some techniques are : 
  1. Any form of Breathing exercise. Breathing can help regulate anxious thoughts & feelings. 
  2. Be kind to yourself with positive self talk & affirmative sentences to be used as a routine. 
  3. Practicing mindfulness through our daily activities like eating, walking. 
  4. Meditation of any form. A minimum 5 min of focused attention would be preferred. 
  5. Maintaining a gratitude journal helps one to know how one contributes for a better day. 

5. What are your tips for people who want to practice this profession?

It’s not a profession, it’s a lifestyle. Hence to be able to live upto the everyday challenges of this profession, one needs to make some healthy lifestyle choices of mental health exercises. 

The most important traits is to maintain empathy, non judgemental outlook and Mindfulness at all times. And finally, your work deals with the wounds of others hence one needs to make sure that they have worked sufficiently on their own wounds to be able to maintain the objectivity & understanding multiple realities through which all of us operate from. 


6. Is work-life balance a myth or reality according to you?

I believe in limitlessness of human potential & hence what one believes one achieves. For me, work & life balance is the most important & rather a prerequisite for living life. 


7. How according to you can one manage stress? 

We need to firstly identify how much of stress can we handle since stress is a part of life & it’s different for different people. When we understand our capacity for managing stress, we focus on to create boundaries. 

Here we are being aware of our patterns so one is aware where one is operating from & what all is possible keeping oneself safe. Awareness helps us to be & to be able to be yourself in itself helps one to practice acceptance & Mindfulness which otherwise is natural to us. 

Also, balancing the various fluctuations of everyday life through some breathing exercises & positive self talk helps one to be in control of ones emotional state & releasing stress effortlessly.

- Japneet Anand
  IG - japneetanand

- Interviewed By: Anurag Jaiswal