Anushree Dindorkar is a certified happiness coach on a mission to help people discover the power of art to increase their personal happiness and well-being. She creates awareness about the importance of happiness through her Instagram handle.
IcyTales is in conversation with Anushree Dindorkar about her experience as a happiness coach and blogger so far.
Q) Can you tell us about yourself and how you became interested to be a happiness coach?
Anushree Dindorkar: I am an artist and a certified happiness coach for the past three years and I have been learning about it at Berkley Institue of Well-Being. Prior to that, I was working full-time as a product manager with Peter England.
I completed my masterโs from NIFT in fashion management. In 2015 I was diagnosed with clinical depression and agoraphobia which is an anxiety disorder.
What really helped me was therapy, but most of it was self-reflection. I used to write my thoughts down or draw them. I used different color mediums, doodling, and drawing random stuff.
In 2020, I got married and I had to change jobs because I was relocating. During that time, I used to draw random doodles and write about my journey and experiences with depression and agoraphobia. During 2020, I was cured but my drawing and journaling stayed back with me.
So I started writing down things and started sharing them on Instagram on how one can use these tools to become better mentally. People started resonating with my art.
But it was then, when I felt that since I do not have a psychological background so it would be better if I get a certification. I became a certified coach and then I started guiding people on how they can use art in their daily life as a medium to increase personal happiness and explore themselves.
Q) How do you define happiness, and how do you help your clients achieve it?
Q) How do you define happiness, and how do you help your clients achieve it?
Anushree Dindorkar: Happiness is a very subjective thing. It is different for everyone. For example, for someone, it can mean family for someone it can mean a career. As per the dictionary, it is just particularly feeling contentment and fulfillment. But happiness is not just pleasure.
Pleasure is a short-lived feeling and is a tool of distraction. It is not happiness, it is a form of addiction. For example, Netflix might provide you with short-term pleasure but not happiness.
Happiness depends on internal factors and is long-lived. It depends on our surroundings too and it is a more holistic thing.
Q) How do you tailor your coaching approach to suit the unique needs of each individual client?
Anushree Dindorkar:ย I try to keep my sessions very open-ended, I donโt have any structure for my sessions. It is on my clients how they want to take it further.
I donโt set any rules around the exercises I give them. The meaning that they derive from that exercise is on themselves. I try to increase their self-reflection.
Q) Can you give an example of a particularly challenging case you worked on, and how you were able to help the client achieve greater happiness?
Anushree Dindorkar: There was a client who questioned on the first day itself that since happiness is very subjective, how can you teach happiness, how can one learn it?
So I told her that whenever we feel happy our body releases four hormones called Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins (DOSE).
For example, Serotonin, and Endorphins are released when we do a physical activity such as a workout, so we need to step outside to do that workout so how do we step outside if we do not have it in our schedule?
So to follow it we need to stick to a schedule and practice it regularly. We need to create atomic habits by practicing. So happiness can be learned if we bring that into our schedule and practice it regularly.
Q) What do you find most rewarding about your work as a happiness coach, and what are some of the challenges you face in this role?
Anushree Dindorkar: Being happy is a rewarding thing. And there is no joy more than seeing another person happy and smiling because of you, hence it is very rewarding.
One of the challenges is to inculcate a habit to practice being happy and to create a habit of doing an activity that will make them happy. It is up to the client if they really follow what you share. You can not force someone.
Q) You share about burnout on your Instagram handle, can you please share more about it and how should people deal with it?
Anushree Dindorkar: I think people can learn to enjoy small things in life to avoid that. Another thing is that they can be mindful in their lives such as how they define their morning routine.
It can be as little can waking up 30 minutes early and stretching out and reading a page of a book. It is just spending time with yourself.
Journaling, both art and writing is proven to help reduce burnout. It is just spending time writing your own feeling from a very natural perspective.
Q) Listening to a lot of people must also take a toll on your own mental health. How do you balance the desire to help others achieve happiness with the need to set boundaries and take care of your own well-being?
Anushree Dindorkar: Yes, it really takes a toll on oneโs mental health after emotionally exhausting sessions, so one can define boundaries. You can define the number of sessions you want to take.
You can concentrate on the quality of the session instead of the quantity. Even if I have two workshops in a month, it is enough for me. I can move back and self-reflect on myself too.
I journal too, but I do not write about my professional life. It is all my personal life, it gives me a perspective in life. I also draw some lines and doodle and it really helps me.
Q) What do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions people have about happiness, and how do you address them in your coaching practice?
Anushree Dindorkar: One of the biggest misconceptions in the coaching business is that people think I will provide them with therapy. I do not give any medical or practice therapy, I am not a licensed therapist.
I am a happiness coach and I make them discover and provide tools and techniques for happiness.
One thing I would advise them is to check, licensing of a coach who provides therapy.
Q) What is your mantra for a happy life?
Anushree Dindorkar: I believe in enjoying the little joys of life. One should see the joy of things around you. We do not value things around us such as parents, partners, and friends.
โArt heals the dust of your soulโ by Picasso and I urge people to live by that.ย I think everyone is born an artist and creative. We should not allow society to box us.
Anushree Dindorkar is an artist and a happiness coach and believes wholeheartedly that Art should be included in the day-to-day life of every person.
Last Updated on by kalidaspandian
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