Can dreams come true?

One day while working on my first book draft, I received a phone call from a marketing company. Jesse said, Amritha, we got your contact from one of our sister concerns, and came to know that you are publishing a book. Would you like to launch your first book at the Manhattan book confab. ? The word Manhattan rang in my head, Manhattan, Manhattan, and brought back some old memories from my school days.

Have you ever heard a word or a song or a sound that immediately brought back memories?

Back in grade 11, when I was in India, a classmate of mine said, you know, I'm about to take a trip with my family to Manhattan, and I thought, wow, what's Manhattan? Then, when I found out, I remember thinking, wow, he's got a rich dad, it’s easy for him.Will i ever go to Manhattan? This thought remained as a distant dream for many years in my heart and i moved on.

Many years later, when I heard Manhattan again, it seemed like the distant dream was a possibility.

Good luck is when preparedness meets what? Opportunity - Exactly .

Immediately when the opportunity came up, I was ready. Without a second thought, i signed up for the book launch in Manhattan. I was so excited and shared this big news with my family. My husband and girls couldn't believe it in the beginning and when they knew i was not joking. They were so happy and excited. I wanted to shout to the sky and say to everyone - We are going to Manhattan. I bet some neighbours thought - What’s Manhattan!

We booked our tickets, began packing our bags and making a list of the places that we wanted to visit from Times square, Broadway, Statue of liberty with secret hopes to stumble on our favourite celebrities preferably Tom hanks on the street.

Days passed quickly and the day of the trip arrived. We boarded the flight with lots of hopes and excitement. Within me i felt like a celebrity going for an award show and treated me the best with special food in the flight. I couldn't wait to get off the plane and get to Manhattan where they would roll up a red carpet. Few hours later, we arrived in New Jersey and took a cab to Manhattan.

As soon i stepped out of the cab, i was in the midst of a massive concrete jungle

I stepped out of the cab and stood in the streets of Manhattan to take a glance of the city. In Awe, I thought, Wow! This is a massive concrete jungle. People were rushing from all directions running from somewhere to somewhere in search of something. I looked at their faces. Anger and sadness is all that I saw. This was not the Manhattan that I had expected. The world's richest place did not seem to be the happiest place on the planet.

In surprise, I continued walking to the book launch location and opened the door.

Smiling faces of authors and organizers greeted me inside. I walked onto a red carpet and was amazed to see photos of my book and banners of me were on the wall.I couldn't believe I was sitting with renowned authors and publishers from different parts of the world. I felt so proud and blessed when people around the world wanted to take pictures with me and get my books autographed.

Feeling deeply grateful, i sat among the authors waiting for my turn to present my book talk and launch my book.

Few minutes later, John the MC got onto the stage and said Next lets welcome Amritha, author of Wisdom of the Unshakeable to share her book talk.

I walked to the podium as the audience cheered with applause and lifted my book - Wisdom of the Unshakeable. At that moment I felt God exists. Have you heard God remembers the smallest things that you forget?

My dream led me to my purpose to share my message to inspire,educate and uplift people around me.

Let me ask you - What do you think made my dreams come true?

Faith in a higher power, self belief , courage to act on opportunity and support from my coaches and family is what guided me towards my dream.

Dreams are gateways to your personal growth. Launching my book was not just a goal. It was a dream that helped me break barriers of self doubt, overthinking, procrastination that ultimately guided me to shine my inner light to the world around.

So dream big and create your destiny because the world is waiting for you.

What is your dream? How can you make it true?

I would like to leave you with a quote from Walt Disney.

All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.- Walt Disney

Have you ever felt overwhelmed?

Me too.

14 years ago, as a working mom, emotional stress was part of my daily life. Everyday was an internal battle with anger, guilt, shame, self doubt and more. I used to pile up these emotions inside my mind until they broke apart in severe pain as acute cervical spondylosis.The pain was so intense that i could hardly get out of my bed. No doctors were of help. The only option left to me was to surrender before a higher power. I surrendered and began reflecting on my suffering. After many days, realized that my physical suffering was a manifestation of my emotional pain. Although it did not help me heal it lead me to a great naturopath expert who treated me for a year and brought me back to life.

I returned to work and began noticing myself fall into the same old pits of emotional suffering. One day after work, i sat crying . Suddenly a question popped in my mind - Who is suffering? After many hours the answer came to me as my mind. I stopped crying and began looking for ways to calm my mind. This is what lead me to look into solutions within the ancient Sanskrit text - Holy Bhagavad Gita.

I began experimenting with the techniques on self discipline and detachment. Eventually I began noticing that I was able to gain control over my thoughts and emotions that led me to quieten the noises in my mind and find inner peace regardless of the people or challenges at the workplace or home . As I gained mastery in training my mind to a place of peace and resilience, I had a strong urge to share this wisdom with people around me to bring a similar inner transformation within them. This is what led me to discover my higher purpose with the help of my mentor Dr Vincenzo Aliberti and become a Jay Shetty Certified Coach – dedicated to helping others cultivate the same resilience and peace in their lives.