As women, we often carry more than one life within us — the roles we play, the expectations we manage, and the quiet battles no one sees.
No other festival signifies the quiet personal battles as much as the festival of Dusshera does !! I see beyond the traditional concepts of the victory of good over evil — Goddess Durga slaying Mahishasura, Lord Ram defeating Ravan and his ten heads, and I recognize those ten heads not only as myth, but as a mirror of the struggles we all face as human beings.
The Ten Shadows We Carry
By and large the ten shadows within a lot of us are impulsiveness, anger, greed, arrogance, jealousy, hatred, despair, indecisiveness, delusion, and lethargy.
And the truth is — it is okay. It is okay to feel them. To be human is to feel everything, even when it isn’t flattering or convenient.
But just as Durga’s battle was not only external but deeply symbolic, our daily fight is also to rise, transform, and grow through these shadows.
The Ten Lights We Can Cultivate
For each shadow, there is a light:
- Persistence over impulsiveness
- Forgiveness over anger
- Integrity over greed
- Modesty over arrogance
- Kindness over jealousy
- Love over hatred
- Hope over despair
- Courage over indecisiveness
- Wisdom over delusion
- Self-regulation over lethargy
It isn’t a sudden transformation. It’s a practice — an intentional gravitation toward being the woman we want to be.
The Goddess Within
In The Enchanted Forest by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the goddess whispers through the trees, reminding us she lives inside us. Every time we choose forgiveness, every time we stand in courage, every time we soften into kindness, we awaken her within us.
For me, this is the essence of Dusshera. Not only a story told in tradition, but the story we live in our own lives, day after day.
Gratitude in the Journey
This year, I hold gratitude — for the shadows that taught me, for the resilience I have found, and for the possibility of becoming lighter, more authentic, more aligned.
Because to be human is to feel both the shadows and the light. And to be a good human is to keep leaning, again and again, toward courage, love, and wisdom.
This Dusshera, may we honor our shadows with compassion and grow into our lights with intention.
