About Meghana RaoRane

I care a lot about being happy.  I also love to dance.  For me, being happy is like dancing with a partner.  At times its easy, and everything just flows.  Other times, I fumble and I have to make an effort to find my rhythm again.  And sometimes, nothing works at all and I accept where I am until I can move on.   I have found that practice makes it easier, and I even start to feel like I don’t have to work at it any more.  Until I trip up, and I do.  Thus, my dance with happiness.

My most significant goal is to be happy every moment I can be.  I spent many years pursuing a good education, a good job, a fulfilling marriage, thinner thighs, and less unruly hair.  I thought I needed those types of things to be happy.  So, I went to law school and worked hard, tried to be the best wife I knew how to be, took care of my unruly hair by chopping most it off, and although my thighs weren’t as thin as I would have liked them to be, I peddled hard on my stationary bike while simultaneously reading for class.¹ I was on my way!

Yet, I felt like a mess.  I was struggling.  I struggled with my marriage, with feeling comfortable in my skin, with my expectations of myself, with my expectations of others and their expectations of me, with feeling torn between people I cared about, and with trying to express my love for others while never knowing how to love myself.  Eventually, I hit rock bottom, and there was no where else to go.

I began searching for answers to how I could be truly happy.  I wanted deep lasting happiness and peace.  I already knew in my bones how rock bottom, my only other choice, felt.  Dreadful.  So I went to therapy, meditated, read, and practiced what I had learned.   I turned my thoughts, beliefs, and feelings inside out and upside down, examined them closely, and challenged them.  It was hard and it took time, but I started to find myself.  And I grew.   I grew more peaceful, more loving, and slowly, but surely, happier.  And for that, I am deeply grateful.

I still struggle.  But I find that I am happy significantly more often than I am not, and more often than I used to be.   Circumstances don’t affect my mood as quickly as they used to.  I bounce back from set-backs more easily.  Wonderful people come into my life, and my relationships are more authentic.  Everything in my life feels real.  And I finally feel like I am living the life I was meant to live.

So, I want to share this “dance” with you.  Perhaps something I say will resonate with you.  It may even brighten a moment in your life.  And what a beautiful thing that would be!

Sincerely,
Meghana RaoRane²

¹ It is possible to read while peddling on a stationary bike.  If the tension is high enough, you can go slow enough to read.  These days, I just run to music that makes me happy.

² Pronounced, May-gh-na  Ra-o-Ra-ney