Ray of light

About twenty five years ago, in an interview, I had declared that I hoped to write a book someday. As life went on for the next two and half decades, this became more and more of a distant dream and I often wondered when, if ever, I would write it. The answer always seemed to be the same. Wait to see how it ends. Although the story never truly ends, I knew it was speaking more to the conclusion of the book. To be honest there were times when I thought this was a nice excuse I was feeding myself, but I had not yet learnt to differentiate this voice from the sound of my thinking. Today I trust it implicitly.

I started writing almost nine years ago without ever realising that it was towards a book. In fact it was so far from what I had imagined my book to look like, that it was easy for me to not see the words, hastily scrolled on the back of receipts and napkins, as belonging together. My ignorance could not have set me up for a greater surprise than when I sat down at my desk a few years ago. As I started to pull out these miscellaneous pieces I had put away thinking that they needed something more or that they needed fixing and began reading them once again, I experienced what I can only describe as a total paradigm shift. In a moment of profound humility I discovered that the poems had always been complete. It was I who needed to catch up.

The voice that speaks through this book is simple, full of clarity and steeped in truth. It offers hope, compassion and healing. I cannot say enough about how the writing of it has essentially saved me. I could not have been more lost, more without hope. These poems have opened my eyes to the beauty of our flawed selves, to our courageous quest for love, to the struggles with our demons and our eternal search for nirvana. It has made me see that we are all connected and in this together; that separation exists only within the mind and the way forward is not through intellectual discourse but through love and a raised awareness of our oneness.

My book comes through my personal experiences but it is not about me. It is a story of each and everyone of us. The journey of a Human Being, part mortal, part eternal on the path to awakening.

I am so grateful and so proud to share with you the news of my upcoming book, Coming Home.

Best
Afshan x