Seize the moment

Seize the moment

June 2023

Life sends us many moments when we are goaded into making a decision aligned with our  values, intuition, and Higher Self. Taking that decision will change our lives forever, says Suma  Varughese 

“There is a tide in the affairs of  men which, taken at the flood,  leads on to fortune. Omitted,  all the voyage of their life is bound  

in shallows and in miseries.” —Shakespeare 

Around the middle of January 1996,  one such moment presented itself  to me. I had just had the realisation  that the values of Society, a people  and lifestyle magazine that I was  then editor of, and my own, were  not reconcilable. I knew that if I  continued to work for it despite  recognising the dissonance, I would  be destroying my own soul and  forfeiting my self-respect. What was  I to do? My inner voice whispered  that I should freelance instead and  painted before my eyes a dazzling  vision of possibilities. Convinced, I  put in my papers.  

For the rest of the day, I was caught  in a maelstrom of anxiety and fear.  How was I to look after my mother,  my cat, and myself? That night at  around 9 p.m., I got a phone call  from Parveen Chopra, the founder 

editor of Life Positive, who I had met  once four months earlier, telling me  that he had started a body-mind spirit magazine and was looking  for a bureau chief in Mumbai. My  heart leapt as I falteringly asked if  I could be that bureau chief. That  one decision changed my entire life  and set the trajectory that made me  

who I am today—authentic, value based, and very much my own  person. 

I believe that such a moment  presents itself time and again in all  our lives: nudges from a Universe  committed to making us whole.  Those who take up the gauntlet  free themselves considerably of  the hold of familial or societal  influence and coast into an  exhilarating trajectory co-created  by themselves and the Universe. 

 A friend of mine was to the manner  born, having studied in the best  school in Mumbai, lived in a large  flat in South Mumbai, socialised  with A-listers, and frequented the  best clubs. She fell in love with a  middle-class boy from the suburbs  and married him. That decision  instantly elevated her into her  own person, someone capable of  taking hard decisions for the sake  of love without regrets. Another  friend, beautiful, intelligent, and  armed with a slew of degrees, met  and married a man who had not  completed his graduation on the  grounds that “he made her happy.”  I still count that marriage as one  of the most successful that I have  known. 

J Krishnamurti, the maverick  philosopher-teacher, was groomed  since he was a child of 12 by the  Theosophical Society head, Annie  

Besant, and other leading lights  to become a world guru. He was  put in charge of a new movement  called The Order of the Star in the  East to prepare the world for this  event, which soon had innumerable  members and attracted considerable  donations. Came the day, though,  when Krishnamurti gave a fiery  speech in front of Annie Besant  and about 3000 members, affirming  that “truth was a pathless path,”  and dissolved the Order. He  subsequently left the Theosophy  movement. That moment truly  did crown him as the world guru,  for he went on to become a world renowned spiritual thinker. 

Our lives are meant to be something  more than mediocre. We are meant  to rise above the entrapment of  parental, communal, or societal  pressures. Our spirit clamours  for freedom and self-expression.  Happiness, fulfilment, success,  prosperity, love, and, above all,  self-satisfaction and growth may  accompany us on this path. All  we need is the courage to take the  decisive step. 

Suma Varughese is a teacher of words and wisdom.  She broadcasts spiritual truths and a love for  writing in her various capacities as columnist,  

writer, writing coach, and the founder-facilitator  of the popular Zen of Good Writing Course. She is the former editor of Life Positive and Society  magazines. She has authored Travelling Light,  Travelling Lighter, and 50 Life Lessons. She can be  contacted at sumavarughese@gmail.com

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