Happiness may not bring gratitude
But it is gratitude that brings true contentment & happiness.
Count your blessings that life has put you in a position to give and receive from.
Beyond the darkness of the night Envisage the hope of light.
The joy of seeing the flower that blossoms in future
Give thanks for thats already yours
Gratitude heals and shields you from negativity.
Gratitude is medicine for your body, spirit and soul.
Show Gratitude in every way , everyday!
Thank you to all my readers for being here, every day and supporting my daily shares.
We can seem totally confident and be raring to go one day and feel completely strained and stressed out on another day.
We are only human and its perfectly ok to feel so.
We don’t have to prove anything to anyone.
It’s our life and we have just this life and this moment with us, if we are not living with joy in our heart then perhaps we have some questions we need to answer for ourselves.
Ask yourself these questions honestly…
Do you dare to be as you are?
Do you express yourself without doubts and fears?
Do you mince words, avoid stepping forward, play too safe
That you hardly dare to live your life?
Do you wear what you like?
Feel comfortable with what you wear
Or choose to conform to fashion trends or what’s expected of you?
Do you eat with all your heart?
Do you binge or fast in guilt or insecurity?
Or do you care to nourish and nurture yourself with food?
Do you check your weight?
To be sure you are in a healthy range.
Or do you find yourself too often on the scales, almost every day?
Do you dare to speak your mind,
To voice what’s in your heart.
Or shut up in fear of ridicule, of what others will say?
Do you measure your words to talk
In fear of being judged or criticized.
Or…to be the best version of you.
Are you happy in your skin
Do you care about your appearance
To the extent that it ruins your day
Or to feel good for yourself.
Remember you are most beautiful when you wholeheartedly accept the way you are.
Do you wake up because you have to?
Or do you have the joy of waking up…
To a new dawn in the hope of possibilities.
Make this moment special the best you can as you are.
Remember every moment in every day is a challenge
It sometimes gets easier or even tougher in the ups and downs.
“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.
All that is visible
May be just an illusion
Or tricks and perhaps a facade
In the name of reality.
There is a maze running through
Of potential possibilities
Of fears and failures
Of success in endeavors.
Perceptions can create deceptions
Perhaps scripted and meant to distort.
And create a illusory reality
That can confound the smartest minds.
Humans are a work of art
Of mesmerizing magnitude
Each with a heart and mind of their own
Uniquely endowed beings…
Between the white and black
Are so many shades of grey
What appears right or wrong
May have so many layers to it.
Know such is the manner of life and living
Care to take note of emerging perspectives
And understand the shifts of behavior
Before you decide or draw a conclusion.
Giving your attention without fear or favour and caring to understand what another is saying, before responding says a lot about the person who is listening…
Here is a true incident…
Viktor Frankl, one of the great psychiatrists of the twentieth century, survived the death camps of Nazi Germany. His little book, Man’s Search for Meaning , is one of those life-changing books that everyone should read.
Frankl once told the story of a woman who called him in the middle of the night to calmly inform him she was about to commit suicide. Frankl kept her on the phone and talked her through her depression, giving her reason after reason to carry on living. Finally she promised she would not take her life, and she kept her word.
When they later met, Frankl asked which reason had persuaded her to live?
“None of them”, she told him.
What then influenced her to go on living, he pressed?
Her answer was simple, it was Frankl’s WILLINGNESS TO LISTEN to HER in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT.
A world in which there was SOMEONE ready to listen to another’s pain seemed to her a world in which it was worthwhile to live.
Often, it is not the brilliant argument that makes the difference. Sometimes the small act of LISTENING is the GREATEST GIFT we can GIVE.
How can we choose to listen well?
What are the barriers to effective listening? How can we improve our listening abilities.
A few issues in listening well….or what is called Ineffective listening.
Distraction caused by the difference between speaking and thinking speeds in humans. So if the speaker speaks too slowly or too fast, the listeners may lose the plot.
At times the appearance or personality quirks or the environment changes can create distractions.
Distraction also causes the listener to show a lack of interest through body language like in posture of loss of eye contact.
Overcoming distractions requires keeness to improve and interest in personal development as much as a sense of commitment to the task at hand.
Here are a 5 tips for improving listening skills.
1. Restating . Pay full attention so as to be able to restate or paraphrase in your own words every once in a while, what it is that you have heard so as to make the speaker feel listened to.
2 Prompting . Use short and positive prompts by interjecting them in the pauses … to show interest like .. And then ? So ?or I know…
3.Validating .Express your empathy . Show that you understand what another is saying or going through. Acknowledge the issues faced by another or the feelings as they are speaking. It shows you are sincere in your concern.
4.Pausing . Allow for some gaps in the conversation.. it helps buy time to think for both the speaker and the listener . As it helps process the information. Silences are great tools to let go the unnecessary gibberish and loose-ended talks which may be counter- productive.
5.Shifting . Redirecting a speaker when needed by shifting the topic gradually changes the tone of the discussion which can at times get too aggressive or violent for comfort.
There are so many ways that develops the GIFT OF LISTENING .
Have also found that in practise, the art of listening well involves all of our senses.
After all the art of a great conversation lies in the ability to listen keenly and respond well than simply react.
Savvy
Personally speaking I have often been a good listener… yet I must confess that there are a few close friends to whom I have spoken who are such great listeners that they put me at ease.
It is truly wonderful to be listened to as much as to listen. There is so much healing in the listening as much as in the sharing. I take this opportunity to thank those friends and readers who cared to give me a listening ear and time.🙏
Your body is a temple, but only if you treat it as one.” ~Astrid Alauda
The thoughts we think…
The nature of our thoughts, our choices of food intake and nutrition for sustenance, our associations and our activities and our rest patterns are all interconnected in the conversion of energy to conscious awareness.
The mind and body connection is prevalent and the signs of repeating patterns of stress show significantly on our bodies in time
Alteration is a process of transformation that can be gradual, tiring and taxing to lead and follow. For example to rid the body of a chronic condition the behavioural patterns that created it in the first place are rooted in the system and hence to nudge a root one needs to work the underlying layers of emotions that associate and accumulate and elevate the conditions of its existence and growth.
The cleansing process is then definitely natural and non-invasive. A supportive and strength giving initiative would be ideal as alternatives to follow.
Alternative natural cures are best environments to work towards in treatment and eradication of root cause than just attacking the symptoms.
The part can never be well unless the whole is well.” ~Plato
The wisdom is in our observation of our own pattern of being as we are, as we behave and feel.
The thought reflections getting imprinted on the body and our ability to intervene are both significant. So to significantly alter the nature of our existence we need to be present in the now.
A few thoughts…
Thoughts come and go but the choice of what to steer it towards rests with us.
Our positive orientated thoughts are our bridge to transform ourselves for the better.
They are available to link ourselves and connect with our deepest truth.
Every interlink in positivity is a step towards personal transformation as much as the power of spreading expansive goodwill and wellness into nature.
To dance is to acknowledge the living you at this moment
In every move, the heart and mind is looped in joyousness
In every flight is the beauty of lightness.
WordPress certainly has its unique ways
Of appreciation and encouragement
To support the writers on this platform
There are stats that show up on screen.
So I am told one morning by WordPress
That I am on a three-day posting streak
At first, I was amused and a tad bit confused
For hadn’t I been posting literally every day… for so long…
But guess WordPress took its own sweet time
To catch up to my blog amongst the millions
So I too decided to play along…
Every day since then I have been publishing
A poem written afresh, simply inspired
A continuation from my previous post
In creatives emerging in thoughts.
Perhaps from a readers comment
Or better still in its contemplation.
Today as I complete a 10-day streak
I want to share these published posts
Here together in an attempt to string
These beads of thoughts together
Poetry can be the jewellery of language.
Pearls of fresh thoughts bonded into words.
Creativity strung together in a form.
Like a necklace that is adorned in appreciation.
Creativity is there within
Us all for the taking
And all it needs is a step in
In reflection and action…
It was a joy to play along
Connecting the dots,
Stringing the words,
As they came along.
Kudos to WordPress
Stats for the supportive inputs And my amazing blogger friends
For inspirations along my way.
Savvy
Here are the links of the last 10 day Post streak that I will simply call Creative Enrichments
A few observations …
These ten days I had a purpose steeped in creative enrichment. The idea was to be receptive and responsive to whatever that these posts brought forth.
And I sensed how these Inspirations came my way on its own.
A special thanks to a few WordPress writers who are involved without their own knowledge… that I want to thank here.
for being there with words of encouragement and sharing apt and brilliant quotes in goodwill every step of the way. They are truly thoughtful insights. Do keep them coming.
In the inclusive and expansive attitude towards love for the self and fellow beings we emit a vulnerability that is actually the power within us all to heal and mend and shape us for the better.
With every hurt that scars the soul perhaps we may end up in restraints of our own doing. We fear to think beyond the boundaries, like the frog in the well … trying to seclude and exclude and end up confining ourselves within the walls we sadly create.
We are so afraid to express ourselves that,with our measured movements, of what might happen, or what others may think, we live in cocoons choosing to exist in doubt and insecurities. Perhaps, we may be stepping in our own way, instead of unfurling with all our innate potential the magnitude of our being.
Our life’s journey cannot not be about fear and doubt… for they will not allow us to take a step. And life is about movement, about understanding in discovery, why should life be suppressed in any way?
Think well
Walk with intent respect the space within and around you.
Speak with clarity and with conviction.
Express the self in faith and confidence.
Choose to see life unfolding positively
Allow space for spontaneity in trust, acknowledge it as the expression of your unique self.
Sense your potential and envision the future in hope. To be all that you truly are.
Presentation is about a sense of aesthetics that makes the difference between a job done and job well done.
Often the drive to succeed in an increasingly complex world leaves little time for the aesthetic endeavour, as it is often about rushing through to deliver than about commitment, care and connection to the work we do beyond the delivery.
Creativityis enhanced with a passion for artistry in any field of work.
In life, there are many ways to live…
To live fully and deeply, a richer life that is inspiring and empowering to follow.
Or to live drifting along to whatever comes your way.
To each their own!
But if one wishes to leave a footprint, make a mark that is felt, then the idea is to be present to every moment that presents itself.
Value life and consider living every moment artfully.
That will change our present and future to degrees we may not even have imagined.
All is in the consistency of presentation
Consider the self for a moment…
Look closely at how we are sitting at this moment.
What is our posture like… can we work on bettering it. And try to be more aligned?
How is the breathing? Rushed? Or have we held our breath in any way …
Breathe in and exhale deeply and lovingly.
Consider the clothes one wears
Our clothes tend to reflect our own state of mind .
Dressing well is a form of good manners.
Tom Ford
Caring to dress neatly and looking and feeling comfortable at all times shows in the way we carry our self.
It is also wise to check our sense of grooming and hygiene. It matters.
After all we are presenting ourself…. every day to the world.
It is would be good to make sure we feel like getting introduced to ourselves,
and be presentable as we would want someone else to be with us.
In paying attention to where we are in this moment to our surroundings and
seeing if we could make any positive difference always matters.
If we can get ourselves to make even tiny changes step by step, we evolve in time.
Do you even know how blessed you are? Your being there is enough!
Feeling so grateful for all I have! I believe all is well…
Just with these few words above
You have forayed rightaway
Into the vibration of resonance
A shift towards positive mindsets
Into the dimensions of healing awareness
Through the sound of these spoken words.
So take stock of your potential within
You have so much going for you
Remember to believe
In the power of your own words
There is much you can do for this world
to transform for the better.
And it can start with you… Good thoughts good words Can be a start… Think well, Choose well Speak well!
Count your blessings that life has put you in a position to give and receive from.
Savvy Raj 