To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #158       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         Anger is not a weapon, it's a shield.                     When someone is always angry, pause, don’t label, just listen.           Anger is just a shield, a quick reaction, a form of self-preservation and protection, a Superman suit over a brittle inside that can break anytime. What looks like rage, hate and anger on the outside is often pain that was never allowed a voice. A lifetime of ignored feelings, quiet suffering and the deep ache of not being seen.           Anger is a secondary emotion. Beneath it lie the quieter ones like sadness, shame, grief, loneliness. Emotions that never got space, that were silenced, dismissed or punished. So anger became the only one that could roar loud enough to be heard.           Children who are not given a safe space to feel, who are told to “stop crying”, “be strong”, “don’t be dramatic”, grow up to be adults who carry fire in their chest. And when the world continues to ignore their truth, the fire spills out. And how!           It’s easier to stay angry than to sit with grief, betrayal or abandonment. Also because anger gives us a sense of power and control, albeit a false one. Letting go would feel like defeat, where the stories that we have written crumble to the floor word by word and what we are left with is our wound, which we don’t want to face.           The thing is that when they were never given a place to express themselves, anger gives them the audience. Being loud gets them what sadness cannot: it gets people to actually stop and hear them. Even if it’s a negative connection, it’s still a connection. Anger becomes their core emotion because it’s the easiest to express. They might get the room to go quiet and be heard, they might control the conversation they always wanted to, but truth be felt, they get to avoid going quiet themselves and having a deep conversation with their own being.           Anger is not the problem. It is the smoke rising from a fire that has been burning for too long.           It’s the fire that needs to be doused, not the smoke that needs to be cleared. Behind every angry outburst is a child inside, desperate to be held. Behind every slammed door is a soul that once wanted to be heard. Behind every entitlement not met is an angry adult-child who suppressed his feelings of unworthiness, neglect or deprivation.           Anger is not a personality flaw. It’s a survival strategy and all survival strategies were once brilliant, for they helped you stay afloat in an unsafe world.           Healing begins when you realise that you are not that child anymore. You don’t have to scream to be heard. You don’t have to rage to be respected. What you needed was someone to sit beside your sadness and say, I hear you, I see you, your feelings matter.           And today, you can be that someone for yourself.                 True awakening kills your reality. That's why it's scary.                     True awakening kills your reality. Not only kills it but plunders it and buries it, leaving no proof and trace of the you that you always thought was you.           Awakening is not gentle. It is not scented candles and meditation playlists. It is a death blow that burns your illusions to the ground, the version of you that you had lovingly curated.           Your version of you started getting created when, for the first time in your life, you realised that you are relationally dependent on others in this world. And to be loved and to survive, you had to let go of parts that they did not approve of and take on parts that were not true to your essence, just to keep them happy.           You did not know any better.           From the heart, you moved to your mind, creating a strategy and coping mechanism to be loved and the ego donned the suit of your self, but when it saw itself in the mirror, it saw nothing, just expectations, survival patterns, borrowed beliefs, ancestral fear, a kind of cursed, curated reality shaped by culture, programming, trauma, duty, identity, relationships, faith, ambition, even love.           A false self.           The ego tries to prove to you that it is the real you and its only role is to strengthen this image of you and protect it with fierce manipulation. Then happens the darkest night of the soul, the rock bottom, that moment of complete emptiness.           Awakening may seem like a walk to the gallows but it is the pilgrimage of knowing who you really are before you masked up to keep yourself loved and protected. And no, this pilgrimage is not playlists, yoga mats and gemstones. It is dungeon work, going deep within yourself with torchlight and tissues to meet your shadows and extract those diamonds that you really are made of. Awakening asks you to question everything. It rips the comfort out of your certainty.           It is scary, very very scary. Because now you are at the threshold of losing everything you have ever created and that is not a calming thought. It breaks you. It is terrifying to realise that the life you thought you built and fought for is not who you really are, but a blatant lie you told yourself. It is frightening to walk away from identities that once gave you safety but now suffocate your soul. The familiar feels false. The unknown feels like home, but you do not yet trust it.           The phoenix does not rise until it burns. And you will burn to the last nerve and become ash. But that rubble is sacred. From it, the purest self will rise and recreate itself, you, a seed of the divine.           You will lose everything but you will find you. You lost nothing if you gained God in the journey.             Our upcoming retreats                         Andretta Last 6 Seats Left 16th to 22nd November     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     CG Breathe Only for Creativegarh Community 12th to 16th November     Creativegarh Breathe is a heartful breathwork program rooted in holotropic breathing, yoga and meditation, designed to help you reconnect with yourself.   More details     Reignite conversation     Munnar Registrations Opening Soon 7th to 13th December     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     Reignite conversation           This week, let's revisit     Mandi March 2024                         Experience a life full of purpose                     I believe existence should be empowering towards nature and my purpose is to achieve this through Brand Acceleration.   Shashank Agarwal Tirthan Valley, December 2022         My purpose is to be a catalyst in shifting people's perspectives, to help them see the possible in the impossible.   Anitha Ranjit Munnar, October 2022               For a daily dose of Creativegarh and our retreats, follow us here:                           Mantra Gold Coatings & The White Paper Creative         Sunita Somani         Pedal On               View Our Collabs for Joy                   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. 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