To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #185       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         No one is coming to save you. And yet, you’ve been saved every day.                     It's true that no one is coming to save you. No baes or beaus, no bubs or hubs, no spouses or spices, no saints or sinners, no friends or foes - no one can fix you, and no one can be your saviour.           But what about that one time when no number of notifications on your phone could fill the emptiness of your being, and you were saved by the smile of a stranger in the metro? Remember that time when a little puppy saved you? When the deathly silence of loneliness was broken by the loving woof of a pooch?           When your heart shattered into a thousand pieces, every shard a painful reminder of lost love, you were saved by a love song that randomly played on the radio. When the heavens cried, the clouds burst, the rain poured, and floods drowned hundreds, you were saved by the kindness of a stranger who held your hand, helped you cross the road, and then opened his home to you as a safe shelter.           You were saved by the kindness of a neighbour who filled your stomach and your heart with homemade biryani just when your refrigerator and wallet were emptied by a rough life. Remember when you were saved by your colleague, who did a double shift to cover for your lack of enthusiasm? You have been saved by a butterfly that got your attention; had she not, you may have been hit by a speeding motorcyclist.           You have been saved by an abandoned mouth freshener in your bag when she was ready to kiss you. You have been saved by an ice cube on a hot summer night and by the shade of a tree on a sweltering afternoon. You have been saved by a cup of coffee that helped kill the effects of too much gin from the previous night. You have been saved by an anonymous donation. You have been saved by a suicide helpline, and you have been saved by someone just hearing you out with no judgment.           Stranded while swimming, you have been saved by a dolphin, and you have been saved by a bee that chooses to pollinate every day without any cheat days. You have been saved by a Hallmark card and a cassette that an old lover put your favorite songs on. You have been saved by a teacher or tutor appearing from nowhere to teach you something you needed to know. You have been saved by someone who put their trust in you and gave your business a new lease on life.           You have been saved by the kindness of strangers. You have been saved by the kindness of nature. You have been saved again and again so you could save yourself from feelings of separation and isolation, from living your life in the slavery of your ego and not in the service of your soul and the universe.           You may feel that the world has hit you with unkindness, but you can always strike back with kindness.                 Turn your grind into devotion, your hard work into heart work.                     Grind. Hustle. Push. Prove.           Most of us are taught to worship hard work. But hard work is nothing but image management, a manipulated answer to a simple question -how will this make me look? Hard work has been sold to us as the remedy for all fears - fear of failure, irrelevance, being replaced, being judged, being unloved, unwanted. Hard work is the way we buy our place in the world to be seen as how the world expects us to show up. It’s a performance to protect a self-image, a kind of performance that eventually leads to burnout, resentment and exhaustion.           Sometimes what we call ‘ambition’ is just a beautifully dressed trauma response. It’s the part of you that learnt early on, If I excel, I’ll be safe. If I achieve, I’ll be loved. If I keep winning, I won’t be abandoned.           So you chase goals not just for joy, but to outrun shame, emptiness, or old memories of not being enough. There’s nothing ‘wrong’ with wanting big things, but it’s worth asking if the ambition is coming from devotion or a wound. Is it to build a life you love, or build an armour so you never have to feel that old pain again? You realise, hard work then is just a subconscious safety ploy.           But then there is heart work that cares nothing about image management but devotes itself to sewa. The question quietly changes from, what will this make me look like to how can this serve with love?           Hard work makes you the doer. Heart work makes you the instrument. Hard work clings to rewards. Heart work chooses wonder. Hard work tries to impress. Heart work tries to express. Hard work is tangled in kartavya - in doership, saying, I am the cause, I am the owner of results. Heart work moves towards Nishkama Karma - I am responsible for action, not for fruit.           When you are ready to move from hard work to heart work, you have to empty yourself a little. You have to empty yourself of the need to impress, the need to be perfect, the need to win every time.           You have to sit in that still space of nothingness - Ground Shunya - where you are not the role, the designation, the label. You are pure awareness with two hands and a willing heart full of love.           The journey from the head to the heart, from ego to Shunya, does not change the action, but changes the intent. The same work becomes an offering, the same conversations become presence not performance, the same feedback becomes creative fuel, the same coffee becomes elixir, the same deck becomes collaboration not competition. You still plan, execute, show up, maybe still put in the long hours, also. But the inner grip loosens. Work becomes sadhana, not a survival mechanism.             Our upcoming retreats                         Bhimtal Last 2 Seats Left 10th to 16th May     Bhimtal offers a rare kind of Kumaoni serenity. This landscape creates the perfect setting for inner work, allowing reflection to unfold naturally.   More details     Reignite conversation     Mandi Last 4 Seats Left 14th to 20th June     Mandi in summer is a calm escapade. Cool mountain air, green slopes, and quiet mornings create space to breath, rejuvenate and slow down.   More details     Reignite conversation     Kolhapur Registrations Open 12th to 18th July     Escape the city's clamor, reconnect with your inner light. Indulge in a life changing retreat, experiencing the discovery of your true self, within the arms of nature.   More details     Reignite conversation           This week, let's revisit     Athoor September 2024                         Experience a life full of purpose                     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         My purpose in life is to inspire creators.   Pravin Shekar Nainital, December 2021               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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