Duality in life is a given. It is the very nature of life. Joy, sorrow, happiness, sadness, good fortune, misfortune, illness and wellness, birth and death — alternate with unrelenting regularity. Sometimes a run of bad luck comes after a long spell of good luck, sometimes one event follows another all too quickly before we can even catch our breath — like in the case of a close relative in whose family three people of various ages passed on in quick succession.

As society we seem to exist on a shorter fuse these days. Fly-ing into a rage or blowing one’s top off, is all too commonplace — at home, in the office, in the gaze of the public eye, in places we are being served (when one is hungry and the food is taking time to serve.

Life can be described in many ways — a mystery, a puzzle, a tapestry or a suspense. The bottomline is that it is full of twists and turns. There is no knowing what comes next. Sometimes life can simply deliver knockout punches that leave one reeling under the shock and numb with pain. Which is when we need to remember the words: “Everything happens for a reason.”

A few weeks ago I happened to talk to a friend who had lost her spouse a year back. I got to know much later but thought that regardless of the delay it was important that I called to offer my condolences. She was inconsolable and wept at the loss of a very devoted husband, loving father and a wonderful human being.

Who am I?” This question has exercised the minds of philosophers and theosophists for ages. We usually tend to define ourselves in many ways — by whose child or grandchild or spouse we are, our station in life, our net worth, where we figure in the pecking order at work or in society, the power we wield and the influence we have, etc. In other words we, continue thinking at the level of the ego.

There is some apparent incongruity in our lives that suddenly hit me.

There is some apparent incongruity in our lives that suddenly hit me.

Try quizzing a handful of people as to what they want most and my guess is that the answer would most likely be “Peace of mind.” Peace of mind — that one elusive commodity that we all hanker after, is ironically not in the control of extraneous circumstances as we imagine it to be, but very much in our own hands.

Know that feeling in the stomach when you are gripped by fear?

That we all must work is a given. That said, what is our attitude to work?