LEARN TO HOLD ON

LEARN TO HOLD ON — THE MUSCLE CALLED SELF-CONTROL.

Patience. Focus. Restraint. Detachment. Self-control. Every time you hold

yourself back from an impulse, you build the strength to move yourself

forward. One morning during his online strength-training session, Dr.

Abhishek Gilara’s coach asked him to lift a weight—and then simply said,

“Hold.” Within seconds, the exercise changed. The weight had not

increased, the body was hardly moving, yet the muscles were working

intensely, raising a powerful question: could life be training us in the same

way? We are constantly told to release stress, but should every stress be

released?

What about the constructive stress of discipline, the patience required to raise children well, the responsibility of caring for

ageing parents, the discomfort of controlling an impulse, the consistency required to build health, the pressure of meaningful

growth, the responsibility of leadership and the effort involved in helping someone whose pain was never originally ours?

Perhaps some burdens are not meant to be escaped; perhaps they are meant to develop us. In LEARN TO HOLD ON, Dr.

Abhishek Gilara explores the invisible muscle of self-control through fitness, parenting, family, business, leadership, service

and the spiritual wisdom of abhyasa, vairagya, dharma and karma. But the journey leads to an unexpected conclusion: strength

is not merely knowing how to hold; strength is also knowing when to release. Hold your discipline. Hold your values. Hold

your responsibility. Hold your patience. Hold your focus. Hold your word. Hold your effort. But release ego, resentment, comparison,

possession and the need to control everyone. And after doing everything sincerely within your power, release the

result. Because perhaps the highest form of self-control is not saying, “I can hold everything,” but having the wisdom to say:

“I WILL HOLD WHAT IS MINE TO HOLD—AND I WILL SURRENDER WHAT WAS NEVER MINE TO CONTROL.”