Solitude or Stillness?
The countryside this afternoon feels different. The harsh golden sunlight of the year’s final days stretches across the dyke slopes, the wind carrying the pungent scent of freshly harvested rice stubble and the lingering smell of cooking fires. I wheel my bicycle out through the gate, beginning a journey that…
The Illusion of Busyness
For 12 years working at a multinational corporation, I lived like a spinning top — constantly proud of my packed schedule and a phone that never stopped buzzing. I used to wear busyness like a badge of honor, proof of my worth within the system. Then one morning in Chennai,…
I Stop Creating, I Stop Trying!
When I first laid the foundation for ahaalife.com, I shared the news with a close friend. He looked at me with a hint of surprise and asked: “So, are you a content creator now?” I smiled to myself. My background is in engineering—focusing on product quality and overall project management—roles…
LIVING AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE IS THE NEW NORMAL
My memories began in an ecosystem where poverty was a “universal” baseline. Back then, being poor wasn’t a tragedy to lament; it was a constant, an unspoken reality that blanketed every household. We grew up on simple rice and river fish, harboring dreams that didn’t even have names yet. This…
Just a Thought
How to Run 7,777 Kilometers
7,777 kilometers – the distance from Vietnam to Europe. It sounds extraordinary. But it didn’t come from exceptional talent or rare bursts of brilliance. It came from habit. 6 years, 3 months, 5 days. Not every day was perfect – but every day was a chance to begin. No complicated…
Who Will We Be Before Leaving This Earth?
During long coffee chats, when stories have meandered through every topic from work to current affairs, I often suddenly ask my friends a question: “Who will we be before the day we leave this earth?” Most of the answers I receive are gentle shakes of the head or dismissive smiles.…
I’m No One!
Having journeyed through more than half of my life and tasted its many highs and lows, I have come to realize: True peace does not stem from how the world perceives us, but from our own internal disposition toward the world’s constant shifts. I have learned to remain serene amidst…
Life's Playbooks
How to Win Friends and Influence People – 15 Years of Practice
I’ve never been the type to gravitate toward “life advice” books. In a world of KPIs, quarterly targets, and the relentless pressure of running a multinational operation, I tend to favor what’s practical and measurable. But one book shattered that bias entirely – and has kept it shattered for 15…
Understanding the Heart: Know Yourself, Know the Universe
When I was eight or nine, I spent an entire afternoon on the porch of our house, carefully knotting together scraps of thread I had collected from the seamstresses in our village – blue pieces, red pieces, white pieces – into one patchwork kite string. When the kite finally caught…
THE MIGHTY SMALL
One handwritten question every morning. Thirty minutes of financial study every day. One page of a book every night. Nothing remarkable about any single action. But stack three years of them together and they turned a financially illiterate engineer into someone who reads cash flow with confidence – not through…
Think and Grow Rich – A Journey Toward Freedom
Most of us spend our entire lives trapped inside a loop: rush to work in the morning, drag ourselves home in the evening, repeat until retirement. But have you ever stopped mid-loop and asked yourself – is there a different blueprint for this life? I used to live that exact…