To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #199       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         Life has no skip intro or fast forward button.                     You can't skip chapters. Or paragraphs or lines or words. None at all. That's how life works.           You have to live every experience. You have to meet every character in every chapter and live every line of that page. You have to meet the demon in chapter three who turned your life upside down, and you have to meet the angel in chapter nine who resurrected you.           You won't enjoy all the chapters, and that's absolutely okay. Some pages will be a breeze and you will sail through them, while some chapters will be a storm that will put your entire life on tumble mode as you take yourself to the cleaners. Some chapters will take a few days, while others will break you for weeks, not making you stop mopping and crying for months.           Some chapters may be written in 50-point Helvetica, and you will get the lesson as soon as you turn the page. Some pages will be written in 4-point fine print, and your eyes will bleed, and your skin will run dry trying to make sense of all the complicated nuances of life. For some chapters of your life, there will be annotations and an appendix calling on you to take a hero’s journey of exploration far beyond your comfort zone and spoon-fed lessons.           On some days, you may feel that you are not on the same page with somebody's expectations of you. They may want to throw away your book, change your syllabus, and shove their book in your hands, demanding that you memorise all their lessons by heart so you can act and react the same way in life as they do.           You are never on the wrong page or in the wrong book. The universe knows exactly where you are at this moment. There are no administrative or delivery errors in the universe. Everyone gets their own book, only one among 8 billion books - exclusive only to you. You can read the books of others, but live only yours. You can empathise with the stories of others, but you can rewrite only yours.           As much as you will be tempted to, you have not been given permission to write anyone else's story. For in their story are their paths, their soul contracts, their karmic bonds, their soul’s journey. And to rewrite all this is messing with the universe’s design. You can help them rewrite, but you can't hold the pen for them - just hold space as they edit the stories that have owned them.           You can't skip the chapters, and you can't skip life. Let one chapter lead you to the next one. Open the book, throw yourself in and let words change your worlds.                 Kalesh is natural. Shanti is sacred work.                     In a transient world, from everything organised, life moves towards everything disorganised. The universe, at one level, moves in one direction - disorder.           Ice melts, stars burn out, fruit ripens and rots, homes gather dust, bodies age, flowers wilt, phones die, people drift, conversations lose fire, relationships cool, families move from dining tables to separate rooms. A room left unattended becomes a mess. A relationship left unattended becomes a chatterbox of logistics. A mind left unattended becomes a warehouse of noise. A family left unattended becomes a group chat with no real meeting of hearts.           In science, it’s called entropy, where energy does not disappear, it dissipates, spreads out, becomes less available, less useful, less coherent, creating a disorder of sorts that leaves the state of equanimity in a state of disarray.           And this disarray is true not only of matter and life but of the inner world too.           In spirituality, it’s called kalesh. But kalesh is not what we have been made to believe. It’s not the outer drama - the loud argument, the toxic text, the banging of utensils in the kitchen.           Kalesh happens long before it manifests in the outer world. Kalesh is the silent separation that happens first, the inner fracture, the subtle movement from oneness into me versus you, mine and yours, us and them.           In Gurbani, kalesh is born in doojai bhaav - duality. The moment the ego takes charge of the separate self and moves away from the unconditioned self. And this conflict of disarray on the inside then becomes the cause of conflict on the outside - that’s where the drama starts.           But here’s the thing. If kalesh is the force of drift, love is the force of return.           It takes no effort to misunderstand, to assume, to harden. But it takes effort to put the phone down and be present to someone, or pick up the phone to bridge the gap of misunderstanding. To ask one more loving question. To hold the thread of oneness when the mind wants division.           So the first step is not fighting harder, the first step is recognising, to stop and ask, is this thought bringing me closer to love, or pushing me further into hate and fear?           That one question interrupts the drift, creates a bridge and begins the return to shaanti and sahajta - natural balance, calm, effortlessness, ease and inner harmony.           Entropy may be the law of the outer world. But awareness is your answer to it. Things falling apart may be natural.           Things falling apart may be natural. But putting things together is sacred work.             Our upcoming retreats                         Kolhapur Last 2 Seats Left 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     Munnar Last 4 Seats Left 4th to 10th October     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     Andretta Registrations Open 15th to 21st 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           This week, let's revisit     Mandi March 2026                         Experience a life full of purpose                     The purpose of my life is to help people who never had a chance to express themselves through art.   Shilpa Tare Tirthan Valley, July 2022         The purpose of my life is to nurture mountains and spread love.   Saidaniya M Ansari Nainital, May 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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