I’ve been trying to cut out sugar in all its forms from my diet, especially when it comes in the form of a Yorkie chocolate bar, cheesecake or any type of cupcake. Try as I might, I find myself succumbing to my sweet tooth. I can restrain myself till the weekend, and then what starts off as a little indulgence ends up in a gluttonous splurge on anything resembling sugar.

I walked into my favourite restaurant and was pleasantly surprised to see that our table was reserved for only four, rather than the eight that were supposed to meet up. The other four had cancelled for different reasons and the three that remained happened to be the ones I was most comfortable with.

Right now you may be asking yourself, why am I reading this article? Will it help me in a way that none of the other million articles out there didn’t? But it’s true – I do hear this voice in my head. Let me just read a bit more and see what this is about.

There are so many memories that are stored in my unconscious under the folder “regret” —The girl who approached me to ask me out in high school and I told her I had other plans. Why I chose to leave the exciting challenge of working in London to come back to my comfort-zone in Ghana. The time I watched myself on video screaming at my 3-year old son for coming out of the wrong side of the car.

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Our physiology affects our state of mind much more than we like to acknowledge. We need to understand the difference between a state of mind, a feeling that is temporary and general well-being, which is an overall state of affairs and is permanent.

Happiness is a fleeting feeling, which makes us feel elated for minutes, hours or even days—watching your football team win a game in the last few minutes, enjoying a night out with friends or feeling good after a great yoga session—but won’t last for the rest of your life.

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Whisper it slowly. I’ll turn 48 this week. It’s true I’m not young anymore but would I want to go back in time? Probably, but only if I can take with me all my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned from life.

There are times, I look in the mirror and see the kid that was determined to conquer the world and other times, especially after a long taxing run when my knees ache badly, or after a rough day at work, I feel every single day of my 17,520 days I’ve lived on this planet.

I find myself in front of the Jardin du Luxembourg. The gardens are spread over many acres. All kinds of flowers bloom in different colors, offering differing scents that urge creativity whenever you breathe. I look around and see people laughing, children playing and lovers kissing. Most of all I see and feel life, and it’s everywhere. No one seems to care that I can’t write.

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However after listening to Patrick Awuah, the founder and president of Ashesi University on how he came to live his purpose, I paused and pondered about this new perspective on purpose. There was now a clarity that I lacked before.

This is when we zero in on the present thing that we are doing, such as watching a sunset, playing with our children or writing poetry where we lose ourselves completely and every minute becomes joyful and soul nourishing. Time just stops and nothing else matters. There is a stillness and a certain form of inner peace engulfs us. We stop talking to the outside world and more importantly we stop listening to our incessant inner voice.

José Mourinho boasts an impressive pedigree during his years as a manager, winning nearly every major European title from the Champions League to Series A to the UEFA Cup, 22 titles in total. He is regarded by a number of players, coaches, and commentators as one of the greatest and most successful managers in the world. He is very charismatic, pragmatic and always carries with him a certain wow factor.

Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.- Brené Brown

The end-goal will always be freedom. Freedom to live the way our hearts desire. Freedom to discover who we must become. Freedom to ask why we came into being. Freedom to change our lives and start again, if we are not satisfied.

We tend to lose track of our freedom and get distracted by our fears, circumstances, and the society. We allow the noise around us to drown the whispers that speak of our inner hidden truths.

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I was giving a seminar on the power of the mind. In the end, I was asked if I was able to change my behaviour with the knowledge I had just imparted upon my students. I paused and gave a weak reply. The truth was I hadn’t changed much. This happened almost six years ago. However, all that changed when I watched Brené Brown’s TED Talk The Power Of Vulnerability and when I read her book The Gifts of Imperfections. I instinctively knew that this was the missing piece in the puzzle.

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This love affair with writing has taken me from depressing lows that I can’t wish on anyone to ecstatic new heights. It’s a love story that can rival that of Henry Miller and Anais Nin. My journey started with writing my “Morning Pages” as heralded by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I would decipher my dreams and go on to analyze my previous day’s actions and take a deeper look into the fears that were holding me back. It also allowed me to celebrate my wins and constantly reminded me of why I loved myself.