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There are more truths out there...

FOR the first time it hit me that there's a version of truth out there that's beyond my truth, it was like a ton of bricks being lifted off my shoulders. It was a hugely liberating experience and rejuvenating also. The 'other' truth was nothing like mine and had a distinct personality of its own but when I looked closer, it was merely an extension of my truth. Only people who are constantly - struggling with the question 'what's the right thing to do' - and in the process fighting lone battles with this conundrum of truths raging within them can understand what it feels like to have company. It's like the first raindrop that hits a parched land, to be followed by heavy rains in no time. You never knew it would come your way so you want to absorb it all. I recognised that I have the power of choice from what's out there. We live what's true for me.

What is truth? For me they are those subtle, unsaid, quiet, hardly visible pointers that silently push and help me in making my choices to respond but not react. We always operate from the standpoint of our own truths. Where my truth begins, yours ends or there could be overlaps but never the same to choose from. Why, because we believe in our truths and have faith that they help, guide in the directions to take life forward. It dawned very early in life that we are all here for just one purpose - live the life that you have been given. How and why are just the stories we make to justify our living! The only true story begins with breath and ends with 'no breath'. Simple.

In living, there are truths you learn from success and happiness. There are truths that are learnt from defeat and despair. They come in all shapes and sizes and colours too! There's a very comforting diversity in truth. There's one for each one of us. Personal and customised. Some truths come to teach you a lesson and some leave you in order to become a lesson. But there's one thing common for all versions of truth - they are an indelible part of your existence as a person, in their own inimitable, ubiquitous and idiosyncratic way. The boundaries to my truth are set by me. All the emotions that I feel are my own creations. The stimulus could be external but the responses are always, everytime my own. We all are living our bespoke, individual versions of truth and wasting time in justifying them to others. Embrace what's yours and keep refining it for best results! That's what being alive means to me.

I am always happy or unhappy at any given moment in my life depending on what version of my truth I am then. There are no external benchmarks. Varying intensity of all emotions are always measured against what I have already experienced. I cannot know what I have not experienced through my five senses. Isn't it? At best I can make a measured guess but some version of the truth will always be out there. My understanding will always be against some personal encounter or conscious participation or emotions. There's always a "been there-done that" touch to all my choices in truth and how I choose to respond. Rest is all pure, calculated guesswork.

No one. No one gets happy or depressed or cries experiencing someone else's pain or exhilaration. All of us feel our own happiness and pain in the 'shared emotion' and accordingly the response follows. The tears roll down my cheeks because of what I interpret - as similar thoughts or feelings. I empathise but for that too the reference point is within, not without.

So why are we always looking at correcting what's happening around me? The external circumstances are result of collective actions, consciousness and consequences. The moment we realize our responsibility and control what I do as a person - things will change. Trigger is always - ONE. One push. One shoulder. One hand. One touch. One smile. One smell. One sound. One step. One voice. One look. The issue is - we are always looking and waiting for that 'other' person to initiate the change. Why not me? That's because not everyone has the strength to bear the consequences. We all have our own bouquet of truths to choose from but response, now that's a different game. The indomitable will required is lesser for initiating as compared to sustaining the thing that we want to start or get into. Do something about the truth you are living right now.


It's never the beginning of the story that we dread. It's always the end because that's my truth I will have to deal with. Just for a moment step back and respond from the belief that my truth is not the only truth so why not look out before responding, because there's another truth out there…

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