The Magic of the Present Moment

As a kid, every summer, we would visit my native village in UP. In the burning June month, without electricity or amenities, it was a veritable hell. But come evening, things would cool down. At night, lying on an elevated cot-like bamboo structure (‘machan’), we...

Excellence is not perfection

In 2009, when I moved back to India, the first thing I did was to buy a car. And in the very first week, in the parking area, a big coconut fell on its bonnet, putting a crater-sized dent. When I saw it in the morning, I was really heartbroken. Fast forward a decade...

The Lessons of Struggle

In 3rd grade, once our Social Studies teacher gave us a project to build a model of an object that helped humans survive. I built a really ugly model of a cave using stones and cardboard, painted with grotesque colors. The next day, when I reached our school carrying...

Overcoming negative thinking

To overcome negative thinking, we must identify thought patterns that cause negative feelings, and replace them with more balanced and healthy ways of thinking. Negative thinking must be handled at 3 levels. Strategy: Handle negative thoughts at 3 levels To overcome...

Pushing Our Limits

About three times a week, I run 10 km in the morning. The distance feels just right to me — long enough to give a huge endorphin rush, but not so much as to cause any injury or pain. And I have happily been at this ‘10 km plateau’ for a long time. Not that I...