Solitude

With so many studies extolling the health benefits of chocolate, does it mean that we can eat chocolate with complete abandon? Natasha loves chocolate with a passion. She would even steal it from the mouths of babes! She is not alone in her ardour. Chocolate has been called theobroma — the food of the gods. It is the one food substance that women have a strong love-hate relationship with. Melting sensuously on the tongue, it creates the most delightful sensations, intriguingly embracing one with intense feelings of love and being loved. It is hardly surprising that chocolate has become the symbol of Valentine's Day and is the number one gift to buy for a loved one. On the other hand, women also perceive chocolate as the devil's tool, the single temptation that often makes one wander off the path of healthy food resolutions. The production of cocoa has increased exponentially in the past few decades. According to the International Cocoa Organisation, production has

"Life is what we make of it.” We have all been told that a countless times. But do any of us take the time to understand this statement? Life can be beautiful, exactly the way we want it. There can be a world where there is peace and prosperity, where you are surrounded by the people you love and respect. All it requires is a change in perception and the realisation that we can create a world as we want it. We see what we choose to see and believe what we decide to believe. If we choose to focus on the goodness around, we won’t encounter the bad. Every experience that we currently perceive as negative and painful will then be perceived as a part of learning and growth. If we choose to trust, then betrayal will remain only if there is a lesson to be learnt from it. Yet, our shortcoming is that most of us are not in the habit of trusting in the goodness and in our power to create. We are taught that people don’t do things without a personal reason and that there must be