To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #109       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         Life never feels threatened by your self love.                     In fact, the more an intimate relationship you have with yourself, the more it loves you back.           Life is not meant to be a boring, mundane journey of routine, predictability, expectations, burdens and mere existence of breathing, eating, mating and protecting.           The beautiful life calls upon you to have a passionate, sensual affair with it, not a secret affair behind closed doors but a full-blown public display of affection. It is the seduction to let go of longing and live every moment allowing life to tease you, tantalise you and ultimately consume you with its raw intensity.           It is an invitation to wake up in the arms of your own magnificence and create moments of stolen kisses with the morning breeze, the sun, the coffee, the gratefulness for being alive. This is how your secret rendezvous with life starts - like any new affair begins with the subtle allure of touch, the sunlight caressing your face, the gentle whisper of the wind in your ear telling you secrets about your own hidden magic.           This is how life flirts with you when you flirt back with it. This not so secret affair comes with a promise new experiences. It invites you to allow life to completely engulf you. It starts with a feeling of breathless anticipation and as you melt in the arms of joy, you fully surrender to this intimate embrace.           Life then becomes your lover, one that is both demanding and generous - demanding you to give yourself to life fully, to feel deeply and love fiercely; and generous, for it gives you a lot more than what you give it measured in joy and delight of aliveness and abundance.           Abundance. The more you mine your riches and talents and offer them to life as a token of love and devotion, life opens up paths for you to use your gifts in a manner that you yourself become a gift to everything that life is.           A secret affair with life is an intimate dance of desire and uncertainty. There's an erotic tension in not knowing what will come next, the want to live fully keeps you on the edge.           And then, life swaggers in through the door, holds your hand and leads you to the dance floor where it keeps the tension high by giving you signs of yearning and craving, yet it holds you tight and as you flit from one dance to another finding intoxicating pleasure in the unknown, savouring each moment, you realise that in this intimate dance between you and life, you have become one.           And then the unimaginable happens. Life becomes yours. With a commitment for life. And now it's up to you to turn this relationship into another mundane one with drudgery written all over it or to keep it always raw, urgent, profound, a sacred bond that is yours and yours alone for no one else will understand this secret love affair with yourself.           Engaging in this affair with life means letting go of everything that keeps you away from this new, big life. This life will also come with its tests, its ups and downs. On some days it will lead you to new heights of pleasure and fulfillment and on some days it'll guide you into the abyss of deep personal transformation.           And life never feels threatened by your self love. In fact, the more an intimate relationship you have with yourself, the more it loves you back.                       Before we save the world, let's save ourselves.                     Gratefulness is our life-saving pill.           At this very moment, you are losing your cool because the coffee is not made just the way you like it. In this very moment someone sitting in a hospital bed, not allowed any form of stimulant, wishes they could have one sip of coffee, any coffee. Someone somewhere wishes they had your life right now.           At this very moment you are stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic, not moving an inch, your back is aching, you are screaming, you can't even open the door to stretch and all you can do is listen to some random DJ playing some random song. At this very moment, someone in a war zone is stuck in the rubble, can't move an inch, his lower body is numb, he is screaming and all he can hear is the sounds of bombs being felled and the cries of children. Someone somewhere wishes they had your life right now.           The rains are belligerent and there is no sign it will abate soon. You are bored of the home cooked food, you can't order in, your children are getting on your nerves, your clothes are not drying, your expensive carpet in the living room is destroyed, there's no power and no internet. Oh lord! This is just not the life you signed up for. In this very moment someone has lost her home, her children, her clothes, her belongings, her utensils, the floods have washed away every last remnant of the life she had so dutifully and lovingly put together. Someone somewhere wishes they had your life right now.           The party you are in right now sucks. The food is okay, the alcohol is basic, the music is drab, the people are boring, the vibe is just not happening. At this very moment, someone in solitary confinement is surviving on stale bread, rationed water, has seen no sky nor sunlight, and has not spoken to a soul for years. Someone somewhere wishes they had your life right now.           Our first reaction is to jump and become the saviours of the world. At this very moment, the old man with the terminal disease, the man in the war zone, the mother in a flood, or the prisoner in solitary confinement don't need us to save them. Help will come.           We need to save ourselves first. From our own greed, separateness, ego, fears, hatred, revenge, blame, anger. Let's start with being grateful. Show gratitude for our present, the coffee, the traffic, the home, the friendships.           This moment is a blessing. And when you see it like that, you end up becoming a blessing in this world.             Our upcoming retreats                         Munnar Full 19th to 25th January     Sitting amidst lush landscapes and misty mountains, Munnar offers the perfect backdrop for a retreat focused on self-discovery, growth, and renewal of life purposes.   More details         Jodhpur Last 4 Seats Left 16th to 22nd February     In a place of princely palaces and forts, travel back in time as we seek to relook into your life. Rediscover yourself amidst the undiscovered side of Thar at this retreat.   More details     Reignite conversation     Andretta Registrations Open 16th to 22nd March     To reconnect to your inner child at a beautiful hillside retreat with 14+ soulful individuals will make this a life-transforming experience. See you at Andretta!   More details     Reignite conversation           This week, let's revisit     Jodhpur January 2023                         Experience a life full of purpose                     The purpose of my life is to use expressive arts to create an abundant flow in the lives of people.   Vaishali Gandhi Kasauli, April 2022         I believe that the universe needs every great idea to come to life. I make ideas come alive.   Sowmya Mahadevan Tirthan Valley, December 2022               For a daily dose of Creativegarh and our retreats, follow us here:                                 Watch All Episodes Here                   creativegarh.com             You are receiving this newsletter because either you have subscribed to it through our website, interacted with us by filling an invite form or because you have asked us to put you on the database. If you would not like to receive any more newsletters from us, please click here to unsubscribe.