The multifaceted and effervescent Pooja Bedi was in town on August 1 to be part of an on-stage conversation for Cafe Pehchaan 4.0, the annual event of Career After Family Enterprise (CAFE), in association with The Telegraph and the Council for Fair Business Practices (CFBP) and powered by Indcap. Career After Family Enterprise (CAFE) is an organisation built for and by women entrepreneurs, and Bedi, who has a career spanning various fields and is the founder of holistic wellness initiative Happy Soul, was a key speaker at the event. The Telegraph caught up with the actor-columnist-talk show host for a quick chat after her session at ITC Royal Bengal.

How was it addressing an audience comprising women who are involved in entrepreneurship like yourself?

I think human beings in general need inspiration and motivation, and in whatever form it can come to them. So I’m happy to do my part, let’s just put it that way. Women, of course, get inspired by other women a lot, so that’s a motivating factor — “If she can do it, I can do it”, that sort of thing enters their mind. And at the end of the day, I think any one seed that is sown in someone’s brain germinates and takes root, and that spreads, like a ripple effect, forward into society. You compliment someone, for example, and that person feels really good about it, so their energy becomes really positive. They go outside and transfer that positive energy to somebody else and that whole process continues… so this ripple effect that you create by simply sowing a seed is very powerful, and that should never be underestimated. What I aim to do continuously through my workshops, through talks like this, or any events that I attend, or even personal discussions with friends or people I meet, is always try to, in some way, leave them with something that is impactful and positive and can lead to more change.

What was nice about today is that it was a whole community of women, who are a community to each other. I think that’s very special. I think it’s very special that everyone is there to help each other be better. And that’s wonderful because a woman can be another woman’s best friend or her worst enemy. So it’s very nice to see women enabling women and empowering them.

In your session you spoke of finding one’s purpose and following where life takes you. Is that the same advice you would offer to young women like myself, who are trying to navigate the complexities of today’s world?

Oh, yes! Enjoy the journey! Don’t take it so seriously, like you have to do this and that — you don’t have to do anything. Do it because you want to do it. Today’s day of technology is so enabling in so many ways, and so disabling in so many ways. You have to use tech and make sure tech works for you and not vice versa. Your life can be swept up into wastefulness because of it or you can get the highest productivity because of it. The reason I’m saying this is because your generation, you didn’t know what life was like before the cell phone, or before social media. Therefore, you need to be more aware of your human journey, or chances are you are or will be quite distracted by the mire and the maya of social media. Of course, social media is very useful and hugely empowering in many ways. People are making their living off it, learning things from it, people are using it for all kinds of benefits, but as I said, let it be an enabler and not a disabler in your life. Recognise when it’s an enabler and recognise when it’s not.

You’ve been very involved in Happy Soul for the last few years, and the kind of success and reputation it’s built for itself is quite commendable. How has it been, being part of something that’s lifted so many people over the course of the years?

That’s very kind of you to say. I believe that we are here to do what we are here to do, and it is up to us to do it to the best of our ability. That’s always been my mantra, so to speak. It’s a wonderful feeling to enable. It’s a wonderful feeling to make people smile, whether it’s as an entertainer or a columnist or as the founder of Happy Soul — to know that I’m bringing joy into people’s lives, no matter which avatar I choose to morph into. That I leave the world a happier place, and for any way I have taken anyone’s life journey forward, I thank the universe for having given me the opportunity to do so. Because I feel good being that person.

Gratitude is the most important thing, because unless we count our blessings, we don’t acknowledge what we have been given and what we can do, and the joy of what actually being on this planet is all about. The moment you have expressed gratitude you are aware of all the good things that surround you. And once you are aware of the good things that surround you, you can only amplify those.

I always say focus on your dreams, don’t focus on your fears. Because where thoughts go is where energy flows from. Everything that surrounds us is energy. So whether it’s money, opportunities, people, everything is energy. What you send out is what you get back. So if you think positive, you receive positive. And do it repeatedly. Don’t do it for a couple of days and say, “Oh, nothing happened”. It must be a repeated continuous process.

First, what comes from you is like a trickle. Then it becomes a small little stream, then a river and then an ocean. So start expressing gratitude, even if it’s a trickle. Even if it’s a drop. Start expressing it and let it become amplified. The more you amplify the good, the more good comes your way. So it’s a really important message to focus on your dreams, and not focus on your fears, because what you focus on is what will come into your life.

Picture: B Halder