To view this newsletter in the browser, click here                 Issue #216       A newsletter from Creativegarh to help you live a life of passion, purpose and meaning.         Radha What is higher than love? Krishna Freedom within love.                     It seems like we have got the definition of love all wrong. We probably believe that the more we love someone, the more tightly we need to hold onto them. The intoxication of My and Mine becomes heady and undeniable irreversible over time. My partner, my child, my person, my friend. And somewhere, almost without noticing, Love becomes ownership, and ownership slowly begins putting down terms, conditions, and expectations.           I love you, therefore choose me. I love you, therefore call me. I love you, therefore understand me. I love you, therefore don’t change too much. I love you, therefore don’t leave.           And with simply no realisation, suddenly love has an accounts department with invoices and receipts. I gave you seventeen units of affection, three thoughtful messages, two surprise dinners and one magnificent birthday present. But love doesn’t send invoices. The sun doesn’t send the earth a bill every evening for the light it gave all day. A tree doesn’t keep a spreadsheet of everyone who sat beneath its shade. A flower doesn’t ask the bee for acknowledgement. Nature gives because giving is its nature.           And love is like that too. Love doesn’t love because it will receive love. Love loves because love is what it has become.           Attachment is different. Attachment says, I love you, therefore I need you to stay. Love says, - I love you, therefore I want you to be free.           We start with a wound. And then we have a fear. Something then gives us joy, security, validation or belonging. We begin desiring it. Desire slowly becomes need. Need creates the fear of losing. And fear eventually begins controlling the very thing we say we love. Most of these are simply our wounds asking another human being to make them feel safe.           Freedom within love doesn’t mean having no needs, boundaries or agreements. Nor does it mean accepting disrespect or walking away from commitment. It simply means I don’t make you responsible for completing me. You don’t carry the key to some locked room inside me.           I come to you whole. You come to me whole. And from that wholeness, we choose each other.           Maybe that is why the most beautiful love isn’t between two people who cannot live without each other. It is between two people who know they can, yet wake up every morning and still choose to walk together.           Love isn’t holding someone’s hand tightly that they cannot leave. It is opening your hand completely, and discovering that they still choose to hold it.                 There's wisdom in knowing when to not give wisdom.                     Each one of us is creative. We are magicians, miracle makers and alchemists. We have the power to turn fiction into reality, to make the unreal seem real, to create stories that define the way the world thinks and looks at life. We can create something from nothing at all.           That's our superpower. And well, also our superweakness - to create something from nothing at all.           The stories we tell ourselves over the years are the stories we start living. The stories we project in our mind are the stories we perceive in our lives.           If we tell ourselves that we are not loved, we create that reality for us. If we tell ourselves that we always have to create drama to be noticed, that's what we seek and do every living moment. If the story we tell ourselves is that people can't be trusted, we live that reality every moment and manifest the same.           We are made of beliefs, not truths. We are either the stories that have been told to us, or the stories we have created to protect ourselves. The event that happened is the truth. Our shame and drama slapped on it is the story and our belief.           The rejection from a loved one is the truth. Us being born unlovable is the story we tell to apply balm on our broken hearts.           The passing away of someone we immensely loved is the reality. The guilt of not doing enough is what keeps us in survival mode, reasonable and invulnerable.           Being stood up is what happened to us. The story of how we were never cared for and don't deserve to be loved is how we choose victimhood, the safe space, the ego hook.           Someone giving us a low score in an art project is the reality. The belief that we suck at creativity is the belief, the sham story, the fiction.           The experience is our autobiography which we never accept. Our experience of the experience is our fiction which we pass off as our story.           When you rewrite your story is when you heal. And when you heal, nothing is fictional, not even the miracles.           Rewrite the stories that define your life from the inside so you can write the stories that can change the world on the outside.           When you stop owning your stories, they stop owning you. And when nothing owns you, you become a fearless creator of your life.             Our upcoming retreats                         Andretta Last 6 Seats Left 21st to 27th February     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     Bhimtal Registrations Open 14th to 20th March     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     Kasauli Registrations Open 4th to 10th April     The stunning vistas and holistic experiences at Kasauli create the perfect space for self-discovery and ensure this retreat is a transformative and unforgettable experience.   More details     Reignite conversation           This week, let's revisit     Athoor September 2024                         Experience a life full of purpose                     The purpose of my life is to bring joy and happiness to the lives of the underprivileged.   Mitul Doshi Kasauli, April 2023         The purpose of my life is to breathe new life into old clothes.   Ayushi Agarwal Kasauli, April 2023               For a daily dose of Creativegarh and our retreats, follow us 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. 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