Darkness: Are you ready to play this game?I am the shadow that extinguishes hope.I am the despair that lives in every heart. Me: Why are you doing this? Darkness: Because I need you to fail.Your strength is useless here—this is my domain.The battlefield of the mind. Here, I will crush your spirit, shatter your hope, and when you are drowning in despair, you will beg me to end your life. Me: No. I won’t let it happen. Darkness: You will die of a broken heart.Your family will suffer. You will fail the only mission that mattered.Everyone trusted you…and now, everything will be destroyed. Me: No! It can’t be over! Darkness: Yes. All because of you.Fear consumes all.Everything that lives is afraid of the dark.Everything is finished. Go to sleep. Me: I am afraid of the dark.The more I focus on the bad, the more it grows.Inside me, two wolves fight every day. One is anger, envy, hatred, despair, and fear.The other is joy, peace, kindness, love, and hope.The wolf I feed… is the one that wins. In my darkest day, in the blackest night, let hope guide me with its eternal light. Darkness: Why are you smiling? Me: Because even though I’m not sure I can win, when I feel your presence, I also feel hope. And hope whispers calmness, not fear.If only I had more strength… Hope (within): Then take mine.Take my calmness, my strength, my light.They are yours. Me: I don’t understand. Hope: This journey will test you. You will face trials and shadowsI would not wish on anyone.But know this—wherever you go, wherever you are, speak my name…and I will be with you. Always. Darkness: No! Stop!How is this happening? Me: Because now… I am in your mind. (Inspired by Ramayana)

We often believe happiness comes from people, events or things outside us. But the truth is, these experiences are neutral until we assign meaning to them. It's our mind that creates the story, someone cares for me is joy, someone ignored me is pain. The event itself has no built-in meaning, and then we ride the emotional highs and lows that follow. The paradox is we can never really know what another person is thinking or feeling, yet we create assumptions and as if they are true. This is how judgement, conflict and disappointment are born. But then if we take away this meaning-making would life feel empty? If there is no emotional rollercoaster- no big highs and lows-what remains? That question leads us to fulfillment. Fulfillment isn't about chasing happiness because happiness is temporary. One moment it's here, the next it fades. True peace is different- it's steady, internal and untouched by external chaos. When we realise that outside world has no real power over how we feel inside, the entire game changes. That doesnt mean life becomes dull. It means you stop giving power to things you can't control. You move through life calm, clear, and committed to your vision, without being shaken by outcomes. This inner calm is richer than happiness because happiness depends on conditions, while peace is unconditional.

This morning I was reading something, and it pulled me back into a memory I thought I had tucked away. The memory of buying a house with so much love, designing every corner with my heart, imagining a life within those walls — only to never live there. Circumstances changed, and eventually, I had to let it go. Selling it was not just a transaction; it felt like giving away a part of myself. The ache of that loss still lingers. By afternoon, though, the heaviness had shifted. I found myself playing one of my old favorite songs and, without thinking, I danced. I even recorded it and sent it to my family. In that moment, I felt alive again, reminded that joy can appear just as suddenly as pain. When I reflected on my day, I realized something important: this is what life truly is. It’s not just one steady emotion or one clear storyline. It’s a mix — grief and joy, despair and excitement, sometimes all showing up in the same day, sometimes stretching into long, quiet monotony. Pain teaches me that I cared. Joy reminds me that I survived.And somewhere in between the ache and the laughter, the tear and the smile, is the place where real life happens. It’s not always about beginnings or endings. Most of life happens in the messy, beautiful middle — the Wednesdays of our days. And that’s where I’m slowly learning to live.

Recently, I went through a difficult situation related to my past, and I realized that I was not choosing myself. It hit me like a stark truth staring me in the face: Why are you not choosing yourself? Why are you putting others first? And in that moment, I decided that in my life, whether anyone chooses me or not, I will always choose myself. No matter what. Even if others love me or not, choose me or not — it doesn’t matter. Because I will always choose me.🙌