Our world is not so perfect
Yet it must go on
And Ants know it best
They work as a team to solve their own set of problems.
All fingers of a hand are different
All are meant to be for a purpose that is not yet visible.
Yet much can happen in coordination & collaboration.
When one that is weak is supported by the stronger.
There is a semblance of balance
In this ball of blue.
Savvy
According to Psychologists, there are four types of Intelligence:
1) Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
2) Emotional Quotient (EQ)
3) Social Quotient (SQ)
4) Adversity Quotient (AQ)
People that have higher EQ and SQ tend to go further in life than those with a high IQ but low EQ and SQ. Most schools capitalize on improving IQ levels while EQ and SQ are played down.
A man of high IQ can end up being employed by a man of high EQ and SQ even though he has an average IQ.
Your EQ represents your Character, while your SQ represents your Charisma. Give in to habits that will improve these three Qs, especially your EQ and SQ.
Now there is a 4th one, a new paradigm:
When faced with troubles, AQ determines who will give up, who will abandon their family, and who will consider suicide.
Parents please expose your children to other areas of life than just Academics. They should adore manual labour (never use work as a form of punishment), Sports and Arts.
Develop their IQ, as well as their EQ, SQ and AQ. They should become multifaceted human beings able to do things independently of their parents.
Finally, do not prepare the road for your children. Prepare your children for the road.”
✏️ Author unknown
My friend Ali Anani from Jordan proposed an interesting question last evening.
“As a poet dear Savvy I just wonder how much do you trust planning?”
Here are my musings…
Poets and Planning
A poet has a lot of structuring to do…
The poet steps out of the box
Knowing only too well that thoughts needs to align in time.
Without trust in the divine plan there is no way the poet can create.
And without a plan that visualizes the bigger picture as much as the little details, the verse will not make sense.
So poets and planning have much to do in trustfulness.
Now speaking personally,
Spontaneity seems to surge
In the throes of a thoughwave.
Yet much is happens in following the flow.
Synergies are sensed
In the amalgamation and associations.
Of thoughts into verses.
As words then fill the void spaces
Making meaning out of matter.
Spontaneity too then is preordained in the divine plan
And poets are simply messengers
Enriching thoughts in a meter of sorts.
To make the ordinary words come alive!
Savvy
Power of one candle to light the darkness
Power of one tree to give shade
Power in one smile to change the mood
Power of one hand to feed the hungry
Power of one kind word to change hearts
Power of one heart to ignite hope in the world
Power of one touch to lift the soul
Just one heartfelt move… makes all the difference!
Life is precious
Hearts sacred
Rhythms divine
Kindness humane
And in these interconnects
All is truly well & miraculous
Savvy
If only we could realize how valuable it is to be appreciated and supported .
If we could only know how important it is to feel inclusive in our diverse ways.
We must understand that love and kindness is the only way besides adopting a non-judgmental approach.
We must realise how vulnerable life is, but beyond feeling victimized and create further suffering due to negative thoughts
We need to respond with empathy, show unity through kindness and compassionate deeds.
The power of kindness is truly infinite.
KINDNESS IS THE PRAYER IN ACTION.
Savvy
It’s not how much distance you cover
It’s how much you walk with all of you
If you are simply stepping forward as your feet are moving
You will feel drained in time and lose interest soon
As you will feel, it is a chore to do.
If you can begin to sense the way it feels, as you walk
You might be engaging with all of you
Sense the ground as you walk
Time your breath in awareness
Acknowledge the world around you
Witness the changing scenarios as you walk.
As well as the way you are feeling.
Be one with your present movement and your breath
You are on a journey into your conscious self.
Nuture your movements with care consistently.
For they matter a great deal.
Walk for Wellness.
Savvy
To remember to be kinder to oneself as much as another
Is a habit of a lifetime to cultivate.
It’s good to acknowledge the now
And remember every movement is happening
As it is preordained.
Let worry take a backseat
As well as the need for overt perfection.
Just keep the faith and hope alive in your heart
Simply know deep within…
All is well as it is meant to be.
Savvy
Life reflects itself through the things you do, the people you meet as well as in your passions and perseverances, in so many intriguing yet enthralling ways.
One such beautiful reflection I experienced in my travels earlier in France.
A sense of deja vu, a throwback to the fond memories of teaching dances to people in the different places, all thanks to the Dance & the magic of movements.
While visiting France I met my colleague from the world of dance, Celine Maheo who resides in Rennes
Celine is a practicing clinical psychologist and an Argentine tango dancer.
What’s beautiful is that she is a dedicated professional who uses the dance therapy for helping Parkinson’s patients with their movements through Tango dance sessions.
My interest was piqued, as earlier I had been conducting very similar dance sessions as well, especially remembered our Seniors Dance for Wellness workshops back in India.
So over a beautiful meet and greet sipping cups of hot herbal tea at the Les Grands Gamin at the heart of Rennes, ensued a free flowing conversation where we exchanged notes on each others life. Our passion for dancing was the visible to see as we hardly knew how moments passed by.
To dance is to sense connections beyond the dancing bodies.
To dance is to honour life and its unique expressions in the movements.
Savvy Raj
And when Celine invited me to her next Tango Therapy Workshop, it was an offer I could not refuse. I was actually keen to understand whether and how the cultural differences change the way of conducting and experiencing workshops here.
Dancing can improve the mobility and balance in senior adults.
Adapting the dance to suit the requirements of the group, like simplifying the steps, the placement of the feet, improves their coordination, mobility and balance.
The dance session was deeply engrossing & truly inspiring to witness and participate as well. The music played that day stayed with me well after the session.
So the next step turned out to be me conducting a Chacha session for them. The challenges of language barriers were surrmounted easily as Celine offered to translate my teaching from English to French.
Everything fell in place beautifully and voila time flew again.We danced a bit of Chacha that day and also some more in the next few sessions as well. I was told later by the learners how much they enjoyed it!
It was an amazing experience sharing the joys of movements and I thank Celine for her inclusivity in requesting me to conduct the dance sessions as well. And I deeply appreciate all her beautiful learners that I met,connected and danced with. It was a truly warm and wonderful time spent with them all.
After the sessions we would gather together and discuss opening many facets of the learning and imbibing. It was a beautiful way of empathising and understanding each other.
Some of the beautiful souls I got to interact with in the few months I was there.
Dance has a way of soothing your entire being and bringing forth and connecting you with the depth of who you are. That is when dance begins to feel meaningful and transforms life.
The dance connects established, in those sessions is a beautiful memory etched in my heart, that I will cherish forever.
I chanced on these beautiful moments again as I found the photos I clicked back then and I decided to give them a little artistic effect.
All across the world April 29th every year is celebrated as International Dance Day, although every day is a great day to dance!
I dedicate this post to all my dance friends and colleagues and all the dance educators in the world who are making the world a better place, with every step in time.
Savvy Raj
There is difference between living life as in ‘everyday’ as if it is’ every day’!
Everyday is ordinary or typical
But seeing it as every day is ‘each day’
Embrace the gift of this day
Every day is a fresh new start
Make it matter.
Live life well
Savvy
True Appreciation nurtures
The nature of the individual.
Care to nurture an attitude
Of true appreciation and share
Whenever and wherever you deem fit.
It doesn’t hurt to appreciate in authenticity
You might be surprised by melting walls.
And at work how teams bond along the way.
Savvy
On Beliefs
Our beliefs are self created patterns
A representation of our expectations
Of how things relate in ourselves
And how the world ought to conform.
It’s our anchor within to navigate
With or without proof of existence
In a sea of uncertainty called life
As much as the challenges of change.
At the meta level are our beliefs are about beliefs in the sensing
At the emotional level it’s based on feelings
At the interpretational level are the opinions, feedbacks that are based in communicating
At the contemplative level its based on predictions in thinking.
But beliefs are within you to choose.
Do know your beliefs can create an ‘Empowered You’.
And you have the power to choose well.
Savvy
‘Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children‘ Kahlil Gibran
A life well lived
Includes experiences
That makes us who we are.
We are not set in stone
Or cast in iron that cannot mould
Our emotional being cannot be suppressed
We are life living breathing and exploring possibilities.
Our infinite ways of expressions is unique to our being
We surf the tides of changes and flow
And we learn as we go.
Savvy
This is heartfelt share of a beautiful story forward .
Sometimes while performing some duties, does such a thought come to mind that why should I do this work, what’s in it for me?
Contact Lenses
A true story!
Brenda was about halfway to the top of the huge granite cliff. During her first mountaineering attempt, she was breathing while standing on a ledge. While she was resting there, the safety rope hit her eye and the contact lens fell out from her eye.
“What now?” She thought, “Here I am on the edge of a cliff, hundreds of feet above the ground, and now everything has gone blurry.”
She looked around again and again in the hope that somehow she might reach the top of the mountain. But she couldn’t see any way.
She felt panic growing inside herself, so she started praying. She prayed for inner peace and she prayed that she could find her contact lenses.
When she somehow reached the top, a friend thoroughly checked her eyes and clothes for the lens, but could not find it. Although she was calm now as she had reached the top, but she was sad too, because she could not see clearly across the mountains.
She prayed to God that, “Oh Lord, you can see all these mountains. You know every stone and leaf, and you know very well where my contact lenses are. Please help me.”
After a while, another group of climbers reached the top peak. A member of the crew shouted, “Hey, have any of you lost contact lenses?”
It was quite shocking, but do you know where the climber saw it? An ant was walking slowly on a twig on top of a rock, and that contact lens was on it!
The story does not end here. Brenda’s father was a cartoonist. When he heard the incredible story of the ant, prayer and contact lenses, he drew a cartoon picture of an ant with the title, “God I don’t know why you want me to carry this thing. I can’t eat it and it’s too heavy as well. But if that’s what you want from me, I will carry it for you.”
I think we should all happily say, “God, I don’t know why you want me to carry this load, I don’t see anything good in it and it’s too heavy as well… but if this is what you want of me, I will definitely carry it and that too with full enthusiasm.”
Nature doesn’t invoke the worthy, it makes whoever it invokes worthy. ♾️
“We remain conscious of God in everything we feel, think and do in constant connection with God. The easiest way to do this is through acceptance and surrender.”
The Degrees that we acquire
Are but an endorsement of our skillsets
But degrees do not define our nature.
No matter the set expectations.
Our behavior day in & out,
Is a testimony to our true education
No amount of degrees can guarantee our behaviour.
Our ways of being and our attitude towards others speaks a lot more…
Of how we apply our education in our lives.
Savvy
Savvy Raj 