Beyond Secrets: Story of a counsellor who failed to counsel himself.

by Alka Dimri Saklani

Déjà vu. That’s what I felt as I opened the broad rusty gate and entered the premises.

The dinner was simple; negligible oil and minimal spices; rather no spices, hardly edible. I was scared how I would eat the same tasteless food for the next six months

I bet you will come back home in 15 days; life in orphanages is not as easy as you imagine.”

“His parents left him. They were not financially stable.” Then why did they create the baby? I wanted to ask but didn’t.

Societal pressure often forces mothers to leave their infants at the doorsteps of orphanages.”

When I was safe in my mother’s lap, eating plenty, safe and sound, a child was out there crying with hunger, pleading for protection.

Peace lies actually in accepting the truth, not fighting it.

It is so easy to think about spirituality when you are rich, your stomach is full, the real test for spirituality starts when you are hungry.

I thought about all the philosophies of life I had studied in my counselling career; they were all false. The only adjective for life is unpredictable.

Every problem comes with two things – a suffering and a message. The only difference between a winner and loser is which one of those two things he holds on to.

“There are only two ways to deal with a problem – break it or let it break you.