Savvy Raj

Live Life Lovingly!


8 Comments

Space Between The Steps

chords sheet on piano tiles

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Just like the sounds of music in the spaces between the notes, there is dancing in the spaces between the steps. It is only when we become aware of the value of the spaces between the thoughts that we can truly reflect, revel and live with ease through our lives.
The pinnacle of access to our realization of the creative entities at work would actually be in the silence, in the intentions, in an emotional journey of profound fulfilment. The trick is to find that point of the immense creative surge and be able to nurture it.
02181b0
Rest and activity go together just as much as night and day… and like the yin and the yang, the pauses in between two breathes, inaction in between the action, brings forth the clarity, purity, and the intensity of that which is evolving.
1975951
It’s disheartening that our world has become so hyperactive. Multitasking has become the order of the day, people spend time having dinner in front of televisions, reading is done with music, and very often we have mobile phone calls that cut through a real conversation. So much has there been an abuse of our bodies and mind that we truly have forgotten the importance of non-activity and quietude.
The stillness between your actions or movements are the bridges to our conscious experiences and the greater your awareness the greater the creative potency of the action itself.
Savvy
26f6739
Dancing socially de-stresses the body mind and spirit holistically. Taking a momentto value the steps you dance together, valuing the music you are dancing to, appreciating this moment & appreciating the partner you have at this moment will only cultivate the value for oneself and will help in centring oneself deeper in the action with a joyful heart and soul.

When you dance, if you still your thoughts to simply learn to flow with the partner, the atmosphere, the music you will undoubtedly enliven yourself in the process and what you have is a beautiful dance of togetherness bridging the spaces between the steps with a conscious awareness …… And that is when dancing feels like a miracle that’s happening!

photo of a man sitting under the tree

Photo by Samuel Silitonga on Pexels.com

Few more thoughts in the flow….
  • Start the day with a few minutes of silence and observing the breath
  • Take time to pause and watch nature and try to be one with it . .. Maybe a sunrise, a sunset, a beach view watching the waves, the stars in the sky, the moon, the sky, or a rose or any flower or potted plant, or maybe a tree in your garden.
  • Make sure to have moments where you are free of your cellphone, tv, computer, or any electronic appliance.
  • Make a point of actually listening and understanding as others speak and allow the other to speak as much as yourself.
  • Accept every moment in the life you have now and cherish it for what it is…cultivating an attitude of gratitude.
Savvy
savy_email-signture3


8 Comments

Let Peace Prevail

Let peace prevail

Be in touch with peace all the way

Witness the miracles unfold

In every move from the heart of peace.

For peace is the way!

Open yourself to peacefulness and you will find others drawn to it like you were …

In Peace there is no exertion as the power of peace is in its sheer presence itself.

Savvy


8 Comments

The Magic Circle

In continuation to my earlier post

A hug is a magic circle

Here are some very interesting facts.

The average length of a hug between two people is 3 seconds. But the researchers have discovered something fantastic. When a hug lasts 20 seconds, there is a therapeutic effect on the body and mind. The reason is that a sincere embrace produces a hormone called “oxytocin”, also known as the love hormone. This substance has many benefits in our physical and mental health, helps us, among other things, to relax, to feel safe and calm our fears and anxiety. This wonderful tranquilizer is offered free of charge every time we have a person in our arms, who cradled a child, who cherish a dog or a cat, that we are dancing with our partner, the closer we get to someone or simply hold the Shoulders of a friend.

A famous quote by psychotherapist Virginia Satir goes, “We need 4 hugs a day for survival. We need 8 hugs a day for maintenance. We need 12 hugs a day for growth.”

Whether those exact numbers have been scientifically proven remains to be seen, but there is a great deal of scientific evidence related to the importance of hugs and physical contact. Here are some reasons why we should hug::

1. STIMULATES OXYTOCIN

Oxytocin is a neurotransmitter that acts on the limbic system, the brain’s emotional centre, promoting feelings of contentment, reducing anxiety and stress, and even making mammals monogamous. It is the hormone responsible for us all being here today. You see this little gem is released during childbirth, making our mothers forget about all of the excruciating pain they endured expelling us from their bodies and making them want to still love and spend time with us. New research from the University of California suggests that it has a similarly civilising effect on human males, making them more affectionate and better at forming relationships and social bonding. When we hug someone, oxytocin is released into our bodies by our pituitary gland, lowering both our heart rates and our cortisol levels. Cortisol is the hormone responsible for stress, high blood pressure, and heart disease.

2. CULTIVATES PATIENCE

Connections are fostered when people take the time to appreciate and acknowledge one another. A hug is one of the easiest ways to show appreciation and acknowledgement of another person. The world is a busy, hustle-bustle place and we’re constantly rushing to the next task. By slowing down and taking a moment to offer sincere hugs throughout the day, we’re benefiting ourselves, others, and cultivating better patience within ourselves.

3. PREVENTS DISEASE

Affection also has a direct response on the reduction of stress which prevents many diseases. The Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami School of Medicine says it has carried out more than 100 studies into touch and found evidence of significant effects, including faster growth in premature babies, reduced pain, decreased autoimmune disease symptoms, lowered glucose levels in children with diabetes, and improved immune systems in people with cancer.

4. STIMULATES THYMUS GLAND

Hugs strengthen the immune system. The gentle pressure on the sternum and the emotional charge this creates activates the Solar Plexus Chakra. This stimulates the thymus gland, which regulates and balances the body’s production of white blood cells, which keep you healthy and disease free.

5. COMMUNICATION WITHOUT SAYING A WORD

Almost 70 percent of communication is nonverbal. The interpretation of body language can be based on a single gesture and hugging is an excellent method of expressing yourself nonverbally to another human being or animal. Not only can they feel the love and care in your embrace, but they can actually be receptive enough to pay it forward to others based on your initiative alone.

6. SELF-ESTEEM

Hugging boosts self-esteem, especially in children. The tactile sense is all-important in infants. A baby recognizes its parents initially by touch. From the time we’re born our family’s touch shows us that we’re loved and special. The associations of self-worth and tactile sensations from our early years are still imbedded in our nervous system as adults. The cuddles we received from our Mom and Dad while growing up remain imprinted at a cellular level, and hugs remind us at a somatic level of that. Hugs, therefore, connect us to our ability to self love.

7. STIMULATES DOPAMINE

Everything everyone does involves protecting and triggering dopamine flow. Low dopamine levels play a role in the neurodegenerative disease Parkinson’s as well as mood disorders such as depression. Dopamine is responsible for giving us that feel-good feeling, and it’s also responsible for motivation! Hugs stimulate brains to release dopamine, the pleasure hormone. Dopamine sensors are the areas that many stimulating drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine target. The presence of a certain kinds of dopamine receptors are also associated with sensation-seeking.

8. STIMULATES SEROTONIN

Reaching out and hugging releases endorphins and serotonin into the blood vessels and the released endorphins and serotonin cause pleasure and negate pain and sadness and decrease the chances of getting heart problems, helps fight excess weight and prolongs life. Even the cuddling of pets has a soothing effect that reduces the stress levels. Hugging for an extended time lifts one’s serotonin levels, elevating mood and creating happiness.

9. PARASYMPATHETIC BALANCE

Hugs balance out the nervous system. The skin contains a network of tiny, egg-shaped pressure centres called Pacinian corpuscles that can sense touch and which are in contact with the brain through the vagus nerve. The galvanic skin response of someone receiving and giving a hug shows a change in skin conductance. The effect in moisture and electricity in the skin suggests a more balanced state in the nervous system – parasympathetic.

Quite a bit of indepth information on the healing powers in a simple hug.

Such is the magic in a warm embrace

Embrace, embrace with your heart.

When you are hugging a child, always be the last one to let go. You never know how long they need it. ~Author Unknown


33 Comments

On writing

Grateful for this moment
With this day I complete 300 days of writing continously and publishing my works on WordPress.

Gratitude for the creativity from within and thankful for the experiences that allowed me to go into witness mode.
As a writer there is a space for thoughts to collect and flow as and when you feel like it.

This gathering of thoughts is moments of reflections in ruminations
Of life experiences
Of circumstances
Of happenings
Of situations
Of silences
All resounding reverberations in the responses to the resonances.

Writers need to be grateful…
Writers without pressure
Are at ease to allow thoughts
To seed as they germinate
And settle as they arise in time.

A far cry from spoken words
That simply must happen
When the speaking happens
For it its often relentless in the flow
Unchangeable and undoable

My gratitude extends

To writers and my readers alike

For in the flow of these words

Forged are many friendships

Linked in through these inked expressions.

For the buds of creativity blooms and thrives

In support and appreciation

So grateful to be able to write.

Savvy


12 Comments

Every Word Matters

“Before you speak, let your words pass through three gates: Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”

Truth

Words of truth when spoken
Nourishes the speaker and the world
Cleansing the toxic facades of lies
Creating a trustful disposition
Let truth prevail.

Need

Every word matters
Words are priceless
They are worth their weight in gold
Waste not words unnecessarily
For they will lose their value
Speak when words need to be said.

Kindness

Let the words you speak
Flow from the heart
Let it emanate kindness
Let it open the gates of love
And embalm the lives it touches.

Savvy


4 Comments

Acceptance

When life pans out
All the colours of the spirit and soul
Just as much as the joy’s in the hues and tints.
There are many shades and tones that challenge…

The path is interspersed with light and dark
Reflections of light
Dance and disappear
Like the passing clouds…

At times an incessant downpour of density
Like unrelenting thunderstorms
Even flashing lights through without respite
Excesses have a way of wearing itself out.

Like the colours of nature
Are known to balance themselves out…
Accept to blend and flow
In the seasons that change

And yet stay clearly distinguished
Maintaining the beauty in their vividity
Know the night moves on to the day
All is in flow in the circle of life.

Savvy


4 Comments

Spare a thought

Would you spare a thought
For the way your appear
Yes indeed
People spend millions
For the way they look
Beauty is big business
Image consultancy is huge now.

But would you spare a thought
On the way you make another feel
Your words
Be it in written or spoken
Have immense power
To hurt or heal
For words leave lasting impressions.

Tune in to the way you sound
Check your pitch and tone
As you speak to another
Reread the words you write
Remember words live on in eternity
Think twice and check
If what you write can make a difference
To someone somewhere

Spare a thought
As you take a step
Every step leaves a trail
That another may follow
Choose to step well.

Thoughts to action
Words to deeds
Each play a role
For all are significant
In life and living.

Savvy


6 Comments

A dance of infinite wonder

A bird, a tree & a mountain

Far above at the top of the tree
The birds perch themselves on the branches
Ready to fly on moments notice
They are light and free

Deep in the ground the roots of a tree
Growing in the thick of things
Amidst the densely packed earth
Digging deeper in stability.

On higher ground the mountain rests Gradually building upon itself.
Or chipping away itself to erosion
Witnessing it all as the world whizzes through…

As the birds fly away
In search of food or when predators strike
And the trees bears fruits
As roots grow strong.

Life and living have a reason to be.
Witness the wisdom playing through
Every whiff of the wind, every bit of stillness
Every sway every bend every move
Every thing that is was and will be
For all is a dance of infinite wonder.

Who are you like

The bird

The roots of a tree

Or a mountain

What do you resonate with?

Savvy


8 Comments

Being thankful

Do we remember to thank every day.
Yes most days perhaps not always. Sometimes life can be tough too!
Are we grateful to life?
Yes deeply grateful
But we often take it for granted too!

A reminder is sent along
In the most unexpected turns of events
Sometimes to value what we still have
To remind us to let go the frivolities
To spare a thought for the blessings
And offer a prayer for them.

And thus pause for a moment
In gratitude for the good and the bad
And all things in between
In knowing all is well
As all is meant to be.
Savvy


11 Comments

Once upon a time

Once upon a time

Long long ago

In a far away land

Was a sweet little child

Who used to have a fairy tale book

Read to her by her dear mother

Every night as she was tucked into bed

She would hear a story from her mom

But there were clauses to this plan.

It was a given thing between the two

The story had to have a happy ending

The story includes people and animals

Or even a garden of fruits and flowers

Enchanting stories of courage and dare

Of compassion and care

Of humanity at large

In goodwill and love

Or even seemingly silly stories

Of life and living in general

Of fun and frolic.

But there was a pact between the two

Which her mother followed to the tee.

Simply there was one area

The story must not go to or be

Of things above in the sky.

Although her mother was too drawn

To explore the mystery of space…

But the little girl felt a little too lost

To fathom space and beyond

May be it was just her nature

Or perhaps there was more to it

Of why she was uncomfortable with unknown space!

Leaving a few musings in contemplation…

Are fears rational or just an illusion in the making?

What are irrational fears?

Are they there for a reason?

Do fears manifests from past lives?

Do fears eventually help us someway?

How does one overcome these fears?

Can we grow out of our little fears?

Do you have any experience of fears as a kid?

Have you chosen to outgrow them?

Have you managed to face your fears?

For life awaits on the other side of fear!

Savvy


17 Comments

Crosswinds

A painting by Savvy Raj

For every you, there is another you caught in the crosswinds

In fact, there could be many more reflections of you…life will throw you the hints

Fanning the flames only arouses the spirit

To arise and evolve more than we give merit

To deeper levels of conscious awareness

Breathe in the wisdom of knowing in all fairness

Of the freeflow of movements as it unfolds

The crosswinds breathe fire of life into souls

To breathe in the the energy of consciousness sublime

Trust the trysts of destiny in the eternality of time

To have a reason all their own

Cause it is preordained like seeds of life already sown.

Savvy Raj


8 Comments

Behind the scenes

Behind the Beautiful

Are often inexplicable truths

Behind the dare

Are often unbearable circumstances

Behind the victory

Are often countless defeats

Behind the smiles

Are often gutwrenching griefs

Behind the wisdom of silence

Are often heartbreaking stories.

Behind the scenes of glory

Are often those unspeakable truths

Of lives lived and living

In hope beyond the despair

Of wins beyond the losses.

Of success beyond the failures

Like each facet is necessary

For the diamond to truly sparkle!

Each phase is full of purpose

For everything matters to the whole.

Savvy


20 Comments

States of being

What is happening to our state of being

Our air is impure

Our waters are polluted

Our seasons are erratic

Our forests are fast disappearing

Our land is reclaimed

Our food is contaminated

Almost every kind of food and medicine

Is adulterated.

Our fruits are ripened with chemicals.

Our rice is turning plastic

Our vegetables are genetically modified

Nothing feels real anymore

What is happening to the real?

Is anything authentic at all?

We are living in a virtual world

What is pure and what is contaminated?

We are living in a world of unethical practices.

How do we stay aware?

To spot the differences

To find the real among these fakes.
We are sadly in a world without ethical practices in businesses. We need to find ways to sustain our world . It begins with each of us. As each step to change for better and find solutions starts with understanding the issues up close.

Savvy

Came across this very insightful and relevant video clip

Do check it out.


12 Comments

Wisdom has no age

Have been growing vegetables in my terrace garden
Every potted plant has a story to tell
A lesson to share in the growing…

Take this tomato plant for instance
So much growth but not many fruits
Perhaps they were densely planted
And hence contained in their pot

A few tomatoes have showed up
Others have yet to see the light of the day
Amongst these few, the tiniest tomato
Is very visible to the eye, having ripened the earliest.

The rest are as yet awaiting
Patiently for their evolution
Like they say
Wisdom hath no age!

Perhaps this tiny one at best
Received the rays of sunshine
Nourished in the nurture.
Matured well before it’s time.

Savvy

Photography by Savvy Raj


12 Comments

God is…

In the pulse of life
In the heartbeat of love
In the bareness of our soul
In the strength of our being

In the silence of prayer
In the vividity of the now
Betwixt and between
Everything and nothingness

Above and Around
Spaces here and beyond
Enveloping Time and timelessness
In the sound of soundlessness

In the question and the answer
In the truth of life and living
In the hope of the being
In you and in me!
God is!

Savvy