Savvy Raj

Live Life Lovingly!


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Happy New Year!


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On Self Expression

Express to sense 

Express to let go 

Express to heal 

Express to feel 

Express to move

Express to balance 

Express to live 

For expression is to share 

The gifts of being alive to life.

Express in this now!

Because you can.

Savvy 


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Strike a pose

Stir swirl and swivel your passionate self. 

Just dance your heart out!

Savvy

#dancelove #heartspeaks #dancingsouls 


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Life is as you make it!

Life meets life

Life loves life

Life trusts life

Life births life

Life greets life

Life touches life

Life appreciates life

Life helps life

Life flows with life

Life inspires life

Life connects life!

Life hurts life

Life fears life

Life owns life

Life negates life

Life fights life

Life fools life

Life cheats life

Life hates life

Life fails life

Life takes life.

Life grieves life.

Life cherishes life

Life values life

Life nurtures life

Life goes on … such is the circle of life!

Savvy

 

  Wheel of life.Artwork by Savvy 


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On Giving & Receiving : 2

In the giving, we find our self
In the receiving, we understand our self.

In learning to give and receive well we learn about our own nature.  How we feel in accepting a gift or compliment or reward or title… For many, it is a task that is confusing, to say the least, especially how to accept a gift in a graceful dignified way.
Even more so, however, is how we learn to reciprocate what we receive and how to do so.
It truly is about reflecting gratitude. A gift well received is a gift in the truest sense or else it can be perceived in many other ways. How do you receive the gift you are given and how you care to express it back can make all the difference. Although subjective to the giver and the occasion the way you acknowledge it is very important to the giver.

I remember this incident from my childhood…
Many years ago as a young kid at school,  I used to carefully collect and save my pocket money so as to be able to buy small gifts for my family and friends on their birthdays. I would forgo my little sweet treats at lunch break and put it all in a little purse.

Once it was one of my dear relatives birthdays and I managed to joyfully search and buy a beautiful bracelet, a trinket actually from the saved money and happily gifted it to her. But to my dismay …in a few days she went and exchanged my gift for something else and I felt a little disappointed for a while when she told me casually about it only much later.  But then gradually I let it go and accepted it as every person is entitled to their own taste of things. And I also felt,  what may appeal to one may not suit the other. To each his or her own!

All is a matter of a shift in perspectives.

As soon as you adjust the way you see things the so-called issues that irk disappear on their own… but the question is are we ready to see beyond the niggling bits.

Lessons in life and living indeed!
A few more reflections on Giving and Receiving


Give with all of your heart 

 whenever and wherever you can 

Because you truly can.

Receive by expressing the value 

In  heartfelt appreciation

 of what you have got 

Because it truly matters.

 For then in the giving and receiving 

 Is established a full circle 

of a contented connection.

And that will pave the path of grace

For more to follow along.


Give generously without any expectation 

Receive generously in true appreciation.

Both are the core of human nature in action.

And all is well in the circle of interconnection.


When you give heartfully forget about it.

When you receive gratefully, remember it 

Savvy 

Tell me have you ever had a similar experience
What do you think about it?  How would you feel if your gift was exchanged… or have you exchanged a gift for another?

Would love to hear from you, do share your thoughts…

Savvy

 

 

 


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What do you see? 

When I shared this  beautiful picture of the Jacaranda Trees on  the social media yesterday this post got a lot of responses… and continues to pour in still. Perhaps it touches the chord of connectedness somewhere amidst the roots.

Am highlighting a few learnings along the way for me through this post.

 My friend  John Rylance mentioned about how much the beautiful work  ‘ Endymion’ the poem with the opening line ….

‘A thing of beauty is a joy for ever’   by John Keats applies to this picture .  In his words ..

So much of this poem reflects your Jacaranda tree picture, it could so easily be an illustration to accompany the work.@John Rylance

Sharing a  few curated verses  from the poem Endymion-

A thing-beauty-joy-ever…
Paths there were many, 

Winding through palmy fern, and rushes fenny,

 And ivy banks; all leading pleasantly To a wide lawn,

 whence one could only see Stems thronging all around between 

the swell Of turf and slanting branches: who could tell

 The freshness of the space of heaven above, 

Edg’d round with dark tree tops? through which a dove

 Would often beat its wings, and often too 

A little cloud would move across the blue. 

 

Endymion is a poem by John Keats first published in 1818. It begins with the line “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever”. Endymion is written in rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter. Wikipedia Originally published: 1818



I also came across the video clip about these trees there.. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW61D92WV1I

In response my friends Claire Cardwell and Gert Scholtz mentioned about Pretoria and Johanesburg in South Africa having huge number of these trees still.. inspite of the opposition to these  so called alien invasions …


  @Savvy Raj there was a very vocal minority a few years back that wanted to chop down all the Jacaranda trees as they are not indigenous to South Africa. Fortunately the majority over-ruled them! You can’t however now buy a Jacaranda sapling at the nursery to plant in your garden. I do love them, I think the best places to see them in Joburg are in Linden, Northcliff Hill and in an office block in Rosebank – looking down all you can see is purple. Thanks for the post!  Claire Cardwell 


  @Savvy Raj Jacaranda’s are truly beautiful. They bloom this time of year and our street plus many surrounding areas are covered with bright blue-purple flowers. Pretoria is known as the Jacaranda city, but Johannesburg where I live, actually has more of these trees lining the streets. Very nice post Savvy – thanks for the video too.



 A thing of beauty is a joy forever indeed! 

Thank you all for your amazing contributions.  

https://youtu.be/bKlDqgKtpRY

And then as  I happened to share this photograph  with my family and here is what my mother comes up with…

“The twisted branches signify the conflicts in our wavering minds and the clarity of the sky  of the blue in the background with the bewitching pink flowers assures us of the positive solutions at the end .” Anjana 

Indeed so much learnings in the sharings …

What did you see in the picture ?


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 Musings On Peace 

 Today I am glad to share my reflections on Peace  coupled with my mothers musings on Peace and expectations…

Already a lot has been said and written about this. So that many experts in different fields have shown so many ways to attain peace.

Peace- the ultimate human need even after reaching peaks of success in their fields.  It eludes even the so called achieved souls.

Men have various desires and find various ways to fulfill them. Need for wealth, health, love,  knowledge, family , status, fame, power, comforts… the list goes on.   To achieve them they go through various states  of hardships and  emotional turbulence . Perseverance, hardwork, focus and luck help them to achieve their goals.  But after attaining all these are they peaceful ?  

 Unfortunately the more one gains, the greater is the loss of inner peace. Loads of pressure weighs  us down . 

 The need for more never get satiated. Contentment is always on the other side of the river. Because our expectation  keeps on  increasing. From childhood  one has to live to the expectations of people surrounding them and in the process start expecting the same from all around them.

Whichever field  or whatever state, there is always expectations. Family, friend, society, teachers, work place,  children, lifestyle, appearance , behaviour fit to their age and status… Again it is endless. Peace still eludes . 

Like  the most difficult puzzles have very simple solutions, life problems also can be simplified. Just stop expecting from others or living to other’s expectations. 

One word mantra to peace 

Live , let live. Stop expecting.


Be yourself , let others be themselves. Never shy away or ignore social  responsibilities or inner values. Do without expectations.If every one adhers to this,’Peace’ will befriend the surrounding.

  

Do one’s duty, Be grateful , 

Be understanding. 

Be selfless – all without expectaions. 

With whomever  or wherever one be,  adopt and adjust without expectation , happiness and peace will follow.

Anjana

Living in this now is a sustaining yet exacting task and as every moment presents itself uniquely there is no game plan other than living in it, being at peace,sensing peace and spreading peace in every now as life plays on …So own up to your share of peace.

Savvy 


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On Love

As love conquers you it blesses you in the knowing.

Make not a mockery of love

Serenade love and allow it to speak truth.

Love surfaces from the depth of emotions

To mend you and this world to a better place.

Savvy


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On Learning

Every learning is a discovery

In the revelation

Of how little we know…

Every learning paves the way

For a little more understanding.

As life keeps on happening.

Life keeps on flowing; 

Learning keeps on regenerating.

Learning is never limited…

It is endless and ever regenerating in itself.

Savvy


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Manifesting Creativity


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Choose well…


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Beyond Passion 

Emergence.

Beyond passion is a light,
Of  love and dedication.
Make that light lead the way,
Move beyond the pursuit of passion.

As passion can be blinding,
Create rifts and indifference.
Arise from love and light,
Allow yourself to be lead in love.

 In each tomorrow care to lovingly envision      Let yourself commune with light, give a way

As unlike the shades of passion
Glory of  light will never lead you astray !

Savvy Raj

Your purpose is ordained and your passion is entwined with the light of your being . Moving beyond passion  reveals the impassioned strength of the soulfulness.

In my painting above titled ‘Emergence’  I use red to depict the colour of passion at play and the blue streaks as a balance factor interspersed with the greys depicting ( the rifts and strifes) the shades and tones  of colours in our life , taking us through the crossroads in our journey of discovering the self. The purpose of being I choose to  depict the white  background as‘Light,’ which  is after all the’ Eternal truth of the Being’.

Felt I must leave this painting a little raw as all the answers we seek , ‘is  was and will be ‘with us if we choose to see beyond the tinted glasses and acknowledge the glorious light that we actually are.

As inspite of the disarray and chaos  that it portrays, if we choose to see beyond the games of passion …

All is truly Light ‘

Be Light

Feel Light

Live light,

Love Light

Light up Life in Loving Light !

  Savvy Raj


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 Gratitude to Grace 

For all artists, thoughts are the treaure troves of creative enterprise, to choose those from which to create from,  are also thoughts that help pick tools for the infinite paths of expression.

The ability to express or create art is a gift. A Gift of Grace.

To respect the gift of creativity …. is to express gratitude and use it in empowering ways.

To be able to express and convey is to be able to let go without doubts of disbelief.

To be ready and willing to share helps boosts the sense of self confidence and self worth.

Take time to appreciate  the grace of your gift ,  as you make a difference in your own unique way!  

Savvy