‘Soft skills important to succeed in career, life’

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 29

The Tribune Group of Newspapers, in collaboration with Chitkara University, organised a seminar on ‘Mind Matters: A Paradigm Shift’ at a hotel here today. 

The seminar was conducted by Dr Virat Chirania, a TEDx speaker and a young and dynamic trainer with over 5,000 hours of training experience in India and abroad. Also a certified Life Coach, Chirania is also a senior Art of Living teacher and has been teaching meditation workshops for over a decade now. 

Around 130 principals and coordinators from the tricity took part in the seminar. The event commenced with a talk by Senior Associate Editor of The Tribune, Roopinder Singh. He said, “Teachers are what make us what we are. When we think of our mind, we think less of what we focus on and focus more on the distractions. One of the precious things we have is to develop an ability to still the mind somewhat, to focus. Every individual has to have his own path towards arriving at that goal.”

He said, “In the world of distractions, constant media barrage has proved to be a problem for us. If you look at television, the 24-hour news cycle has inverted news. Instead of getting curated news, you have content coming throughout the day. When you have this kind of pressure, the quality suffers.”

“We need minds that are discriminating and that ability to discriminate comes from the training we get as children from our teachers,” he added.

Dr Virat Chirania, the key speaker, emphasised on the importance of soft skills in shaping the leaders of society. He said, “In today’s world, real success depends on soft skills and life skills and these originate in the mind. Unfortunately, schools and colleges don’t teach us how to tame and use the energy of the mind.”

A 15-minute meditation session was also conducted. The speaker empahsised the need for meditation in schools. He said at least 10 minute should be given to meditation in schools for flow of creative energy, which was instrumental in shaping the overall personality of students.

Dr Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor of Chitkara University, concluded the talk and said, “There is a huge hue and cry among the parents of college-going students regarding their relationships with the opposite sex. The thought process needs to change. Parents should be counselled through such training programmes. It is very important to talk with students and understand their frame of mind.”

Need for meditation in schools: Chirania

• he seminar was conducted by Dr Virat Chirania, a TEDx speaker and a young and dynamic trainer with over 5,000 hours of training experience in India and abroad.
• He said, “In today’s world, real success depends on soft skills and life skills and these originate in the mind. Unfortunately, schools and colleges don’t teach us how to tame and use the energy of the mind.”
• A 15-minute meditation session was also conducted. The speaker empahsised the need for meditation in schools. 
• He said at least 10 minute should be given to meditation in schools for flow of creative energy, which was instrumental in shaping the overall personality of students.

Principal Speak

We can facilitate the addition of mindfulness in the core curriculum in schools as soft skills are of greater value today than mere academic skills.— Vandana Saxena, Tribune Model School, Chandigarh

In order to be successful, one needs traits like humility, perseverance, hard work and integrity. No matter who you are, but what takes you far are these qualities only.— GUR K SERAI, Satluj Public School, Panchkula

Mind management course should be included in the school curriculum. This will help boost creativity, de-stress learners, control and channel their minds towards productivity.— Dr Niyati Chitkara, Chitkara Public School, Chandigarh

Today’s children have access to everything. We need to educate them on how to channel their mind so that they know what their aptitude is.— Maj Gen TPS Waraich, Yadavindra Public School, Mohali