Thrive - 7 Principles to Radically Transform and Renew Your Life

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Abandoned by parents as a one-year-old, sent to boarding school at age five, Ajay Kalra's profound self-alienation divorced him from his natural gifts for writing and self-awareness. It pushed him into a joyless career in accountancy and a bitter struggle with addiction. Just when he felt he could not take it anymore, his life transformed. He found the inspiration to lead a purposeful life.

He shares his journey in Thrive with unsparing honesty. Through the acronym PRESENT, he reveals the seven principles for physical, emotional and spiritual well-being that turned his life around. In the book, not only does he convey complex philosophical and yogic concepts in a simple, engaging, and humorous manner, his deep insights will enlighten and inspire you. Above all, he provides practices that you can put into action today, to start living a happier and healthier life.

Ajay Kalra is a personal growth writer, life coach, therapist, counsellor, Yoga teacher, and mindfulness practitioner. He enjoys facilitating emotional healing, self-inquiry, and authentic self-expression for individuals and groups. Having spent years aspiring to an extraordinary life, he is now content with the simple and ordinary. Visit www.ajayakalra.com to know more about him and to read his works.

Thrive captures a phase of my life when I rewired my brain to form healthy habits, using will power. Having led a very impulsive life, I was ready to do what it took to live purposefully. It was at this time that I came across The Yoga Institute. The next few years were devoted to learning, teaching and being part of a yoga community. I was inspired, fulfilled and creative. I taught what I believed in and practised.

During the pandemic my life underwent a change. Doing dropped. Being bloomed. If I were to write a book now, it would be about presence, letting go, allowing life to unfold. Yet I see the value of exercising choice, until one realises choiceless awareness. Every step we take towards our growth is vital. Our sincere effort makes us eligible for grace.

I am aware that the candid disclosure of my life journey will impact me, and people close to me, in ways I will know only after this book is published. It is the emotional price I have to pay for telling my story. I hold the pain of others affected by my sharing, as gently as I hold mine.

I first met Ajay Kalra a couple of decades ago when he sent me an email one day in appreciation of some articles we had published in Life Positive. We soon became good friends for I found in him an ardent seeker. He was intelligent, thoughtful and articulate, so at some point I suggested that he write a piece for Life Positive. To my astonishment, I found it to be passionate, cogent, fluid, and well structured. He was a natural writer. What was even more astonishing was that he himself had not the slightest idea that he had a gift in this area. He ended up writing several really excellent pieces for Life Positive, which, in turn, helped him recognise his own considerable talent.

Then we lost touch. When we made contact a few months back, it was because Ajay had written a book - this very one - and wanted me to write a Foreword for him. It took me only a few pages of reading Thrive to recognise that he had made huge strides in both spirituality and writing. In fact, it was clear that he had outpaced me in both spheres. They say that there is nothing that pleases a guru more than when the shishya outshines them. I never was his guru in spirituality, but I do assert, as a seasoned editor, and now a practising facilitator of writing workshops, that Ajay was one of my first students.

"You have been unfair to me!" I said with cold anger to God. I was on my way to Nashik to immerse the ashes of my grandmother. As the car sped across the countryside, I reflected on my life. Abandoned by parents, sent to boarding school at age five, choosing a career divorced from my natural self, and the recent realisation that I was addicted to sex. "How can a single life be filled with so much suffering?" The thought kept repeating itself in my head. God did not answer. In response to his cold indifference, I decided to get back at him in the only way I could. If he could fill my life with so much suffering, I could choose not to suffer. I would end my life.

"I am going to an astrologer, would you like to come?" a friend asked me. I agreed. I was curious to know what the future held for a man who had decided to end his life. There was also the fear that the astrologer would confirm my untimely death. "You will become a guru," she said. I was speechless. How could a man who had failed miserably at living his own life teach others how to live? "You will be associated with an institute and have a godmother," she added. That seemed even more incredible. I disliked authority of any kind.