New Delhi, March 1 -- Humans often spend their lives suspended between two giant magnets; the first is what "lies behind us," our past mistakes, our childhood traumas, our previous successes, and the labels society has pinned on us. The second is what "lies in front of us," the looming deadlines, the uncertain economy, the fear of ageing, and the pressure of our own ambitions.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American essayist, poet, and philosopher who led the Transcendentalist movement in the mid-19th century, suggested that these two forces, while they feel like the entire universe, are actually secondary.

"What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you," Emerson said in Essays and Addresses....