India, Oct. 25 -- If I gave you a pencil and asked you to balance it on your finger, what would you do? You'd probably start by looking at it, its shape, its weight, the eraser on the one end and the pointed tip on the other. Then, slowly, you'd try to find the centre. Maybe it wouldn't work the first time, maybe it would wobble or fall. But eventually, through a bit of patience and presence, the pencil would steady itself. That's what balance is, just the moment where opposing forces meet and hold steady.

Life is not very different. We can't truly understand balance unless we've touched both our extremes, the good and the bad. You need to know both your anger and your kindness. Your joy and your sorrow. Your light and your shadow. The p...