World
India
Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” It is a sentiment echoed through time, resonating in the hearts of those who have endured suffering and emerged transformed. Pain, though an unwelcome visitor, often becomes the crucible in which resilience is forged. Through the lives of those who have faced profound loss, illness, and despair, we uncover a powerful truth—adversity is not an end, but a beginning.
Sanjay Lazar – Wings of Loss, Wings of Angels
Sanjay Lazar’s journey is one of unimaginable tragedy. He lost his entire family in the Air India Kanishka bombing—the deadliest act of terrorism in aviation history before 9/11. Orphaned as a child, he found himself not just battling grief, but relearning life itself. In his book On Angels Wings, he describes his healing as a cathartic process: “When I started writing, I realized I had never truly grieved in forty years. I fell at every stage, but I learned to walk again.” His story is not one of traditional success but of perseverance through failure. His greatest lesson? That pain must be expressed—bottling it up only delays healing. Books like Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach provided him with moments of insight, yet no single book held the answer.
Saroj Dubey – A Prescription for Resilience
Dr. Saroj Dubey, in Rx for Resilience, offers a deeply personal reflection on suffering. He recalls a patient who underwent surgery, developed complications, and passed away—a loss that shook his very core. It wasn’t just grief he faced, but a crisis of capability, questioning his own skills and purpose. His message is simple yet profound: Say yes to this moment. Inspired by The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, he embraces the idea that surrendering to suffering is not weakness—it is transformation. Like an alchemist turning lead into gold, he believes pain can be transmuted into wisdom. he found solace in When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön, a book that illuminated the path from despair to acceptance.
Eshita Singh – Creativity as a Lifeline
For Eshita Singh, creativity became a sanctuary. As she battled the turmoil of COVID-19 and its medications, writing became her anchor. In Happens Like a Dream, she explores how artistic expression helped her navigate the unknown. Her most cherished book, Autobiography of a Yogi, was a constant source of revelation. Each reading felt like peeling back layers of understanding—what seemed incomprehensible at first would later unfold with newfound clarity.
Meetu Sehgal – The Shift from ‘Why Me?’ to ‘Now What?’
Meetu Sehgal’s journey through fibromyalgia was a battle not just against physical pain, but against an invisible emotional weight. Her teenage years—seven long years—were marked by a relentless question: Why me? But one day, she reframed it: Now what? That single shift changed everything. In Happy Inside Out, she delves into the intricate relationship between emotions and healing. Struggles are inevitable, but often, people don’t even realize what they are truly grappling with. For her, The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda and the Bhagavad Gita became guiding lights. A lesson from her mother stayed with her: “Let everybody run in the race, but there is no race.”
Pain as a Portal to Transformation
Each of these stories reaffirms a universal truth—pain is not a full stop; it is a comma, a pause before the next chapter. The most profound transformations arise not from escaping suffering but from embracing it, understanding it, and ultimately, transcending it. Perhaps the greatest alchemy of all is this: the ability to turn wounds into wisdom, loss into love, and suffering into strength.
ALSO READ: Study Finds Body’s Signaling Mechanisms Hold Key To Understanding The Brain
