The true gift and power of Vulnerability

Have you ever been around someone who is completely vulnerable, in total allowance with no judgements or points of views and being who they truly are? Well, I did get an opportunity of being in a class with one such awesome person for 3 days in India last week and oh my god, did that change my world?! It showed me a completely different way of being which I had never imagined was possible. It is so interesting that someone can change your entire life just by the vulnerability that they embrace and that vulnerability actually shows in every molecule of their being AND their body! It was such a blessing and joy to be around, work with and learn from someone so amazing and I have no words to express how grateful I am for the contribution he has been to my life. I sure did get lucky!

In this reality vulnerability is seen as a weakness but on the contrary it is the biggest source of strength, which I have slowly begun to understand. It is all about being in complete allowance of you and everything and everyone around you with absolutely no barriers or judgements, like an open wound. You are not hiding anything about you and completely fine with every aspect of who you are. Most of us are forced into vulnerability by circumstances and we assume it is being something it isn't, like being a doormat. It is just the willingness to be open to receiving anything and everything, including you with no judgement. 

So what if we could choose vulnerability consciously? We could then be that space every moment and create everything in our lives from this space of no judgement. When you are truly being vulnerable and in allowance, you become the catalyst to changing the world, which I noticed and experienced in those 3 days of classes. I saw how someone can actually receive the insanities and stupidity that people function from and transform it completely through their space of vulnerability and kindness!! We think that being angry, frustrated and using power can create change but I was shown the complete opposite. There is more strength and change possible through vulnerability, kindness and allowance. This is the true gift of vulnerability!

So at that moment I made a demand that I am going to be and have all of that in my life and there has been immense peace and calmness around me, just by making that choice. Because being vulnerable starts with YOU. You cannot NOT love you or reject you and still be vulnerable. You love and receive ALL of you with no barriers no matter how much you love to judge yourself. It is only when you are in total allowance of you can you be in allowance of everything and everyone around you! The more I started to embrace this space, people are seeing more of ME, my power, my potency, my abilities and talents. I even got an opportunity of shooting for a Television show where I was just being me and spoke about what's true for me, there was no rehearsals, no practise, just 1 shot and before I would have judged myself for not having been perfect but this time I chose to be vulnerable and in allowance. The crew actually noticed that and rather than having judgements they saw me as confident, potent and talented. And I have had my clients and friends tell me that my potency and who I be, inspires them to choose greater for themselves and create the change they desire. When you are vulnerable you begin to attract people to you who are inspired by your openness, allowance and no judgement.

It is easy for people to connect with you when you are vulnerable because you have no barriers. Connection cannot happen with barriers pulled up. Have you ever tried talking to or connecting with someone who have huge (invisible) barriers up and it felt like hitting against a brick wall? Was it fun for you? Did it contribute to your life? Was it a gift? I can easily answer that for you. NO! So would you rather be that or be the gift of vulnerability that can change the planet?  Just a CHOICE :-)

I love this quote from Brene Brown ...

Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.

If you haven't watched this Ted Talk by Brene Brown on 'The Power of Vulnerability', I highly recommend it! It is mind blowing.

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To know more about me and what I do, my sessions and workshops, visit
www.reviveholistic.com

www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com

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Your elusive creative genius..

I watched this Ted Talk recently by Elizabeth Gilbert, the famous author of Eat, Pray, Love and it continues to amaze me. One of my favourite talks of all time! If you haven't watched this you are really missing something!

She has a completely different take on creativity. What if creation is totally different than what you think it is? What if every single thing in your life - whether its your  business, projects, job, poem, music, book, song etc is an entity and has a life form of its own and you could invite it to play with?

Cambodia Travel Diary: Siem Reap

Cambodia is one place that had been on our minds to explore for over a year now.  Why? Because it has one of the world's wonders and it is a UNESCO world heritage site! My husband and I finally planned a trip there to celebrate our anniversary few weeks back. One of the advantages of living in Singapore is that it makes all of South East Asia easily accessible. It was just about 2~2.5hrs flight and visa on arrival for Indians (you will know what a relief that is, only if you are an Indian!)

What is one of the top 5 things you do when you plan a travel? You check the weather and the best time to visit the place. And we being very cute, forgot to do that and ended up there in the HOTTEST (note the bold letters) season of the year. It was around 38~39 degree Celsius but felt like 45deg. Not a smart choice, considering that majority of the places you have to visit are temples made of stone which heat up like crazy! So please don't go there in May/June unless you want to get a tan, sunburn or badly roasted.

Siem Reap is a small town and thrives mainly on tourism. So be prepared to be hounded by the local sellers, tuk-tuk drivers and tour guides wherever you go. We stayed at the Royal Angkor Resort which was a French colonial building, on the national highway slightly off from the town centre but the tuk-tuks make it accessible to get anywhere around easily for just under $5, if you know how to bargain with them. It had a lovely ambience and very friendly staff and I highly recommend it!

We had just about 4 days to explore and we started off with the Bayon and Angkor Thom temples as you get the best sunset view from near there. We got a 3 day Angkor Pass which would allow us to visit the entire set of temples for 3 days as many times as we wanted and cost about $40.  It was an adventure exploring this during peak afternoon with scorching heat and we were so dehydrated that I thought I would faint anytime  (which is why you have to be smart and not go there during summer time!) But it was worth all of that hardship as the temples are beautiful and the guide we hired gave us a lot of the history which made it more interesting. Hinduism and Buddhism are very predominant there and as I am familiar with both, it kept me very engaged while I gulped down 2 isotonic drinks, 3 bottles of water and some tender coconut water. 

We went on later to explore the famous Ta Prohm temple also known as the Tomb Raider temple as a small part of the movie was shot there with Angelina Jolie. So it is a major tourist attraction and it was completely packed with people, especially the Japanese tourist groups (we see them in action everywhere :))

Another full day was spent exploring the main Angkor Wat temple, both at the time of sunrise and sunset. They look very different as the temple gets fully lit up for a few minutes at the time of sunset and the sun rises behind the temple during sunrise if you are at the west gate, so you can capture some amazing photos. It is very important from which entrance you go in if you are looking to do photography based on the sun's position. So make a note of that! As it was summer, there was hardly any water in the mirror pool in front of the temple, so we couldn't get great pictures of it with the reflection in the pool, which are the signature photos taken at this location. But nevertheless, managed to capture a few decent ones!

During Sunrise

During Sunset

Honestly I was a bit disappointed with the Angkor Wat temple maybe because I had huge expectations. So it didnt take my breath away or made me feel like I should come back here again. I was happy to just tick this off my list of places to see. 

Apart from the countless temples to visit, you also have the old market to explore in the heart of the city. There is a night market if you are someone who loves to shop till you drop, like yours truly! There is nothing unique to buy except for some wooden handicrafts and regular clothes and decorative stuff. Cambodia uses USD as their main currency even though they have their local cambodian currency. So all transactions are in USD which means no hassle of exchanging currency. People work really hard there, manage to speak english and are very polite as their economy thrives on tourism. So you will feel at ease while you are travelling there.

There is also a pub street nearby which as the name suggests has loads of pubs and restaurants to tingle your tastebuds. Make sure you don't miss tasting Khmer cuisine, which is the local cuisine of Cambodia. It is mainly non-vegetarian but if you are a fussy vegetarian like me, you can go to this restaurant called Chamkaar near pub street which serves only vegetarian Khmer cuisine. To my surprise, I loved a couple of their dishes! And if you get bored there are many Indian, Italian and Thai restaurants as well to explore.

Apart from the above, you can visit the cultural village on the national highway and a floating village to do some boating and other short trips all of which we skipped simply because of the weather. Instead we chose to indulge and pamper ourselves in the spa with some amazing body massages, head massages and foot reflexology. You have to use your awareness and choose a good place for this to have a nice experience.

Overall it was a good vacation. Will I go back there? May be during winter just to see if the experience would be different. 

Do you love being a control freak?

(Image courtesy: Google)

Most of us love being control freaks. Yes, me included!. I have been there done that all my life in my relationships, with my business, body, money, career etc. and continue doing it even now (maybe less often as I step into more and more awareness). Whether it works or not and creates what I desire is a different question, I still do it!

In the last few months I have been looking at creating a life and future that I truly desire and also specifically creating and actualizing something in particular. And the more I have tried controlling it, the more frustrating and difficult it has become. And this made me look deeper into what  goes on when you are trying to control.

First of all, what is control? Anywhere you are trying to get a specific outcome based on what you have concluded is right or wrong, good or bad, you have decided how it has to show up, when it has to show up and you have projections, expectations and judgements associated with it, you are being a control freak!

I was wondering what is the value of wanting to control? What do we all love about being control freaks? The answers maybe different for each one of you. For me, it was about ..

• cutting off my awareness of the present and future, so that I could be stuck with the conclusions and limitations that I have built up around the situation
• not wanting to let go and trust that the universe has my back
• Focus on what is going wrong so that when the outcome is not as per what I desire I can judge the hell out of myself, feel bad, feel pathetic and do all the trauma and drama (We all love judging ourselves, don’t we? The one person you judge the most is YOU!)
• Mimicking somebody else so that I can create the same result as what they created, giving up ME and my essence in the process (Not a smart choice, I know! But most of our choices are insane, yet we keep choosing it)
• Wanting to be perfect in what is created. Well, perfectionism is a huge lie that we buy into as real and true. It comes with a lot of judgements too.

So after coming up with the above list, I diligently worked towards destroying and un-creating each of it and letting go until there was no charge on it. Slowly I became aware that when we get into controlling a situation, we are actually stopping the process of true creation. It is actually like living in a conflictual universe where you desire to create something and you are trying to control it which eventually stops the creation process. That's why I call it an insane choice, because it doesn't make any sense why we choose it!


Another huge realization is that when you are being a control freak, you have eliminated all of the choices and created a choice-less universe for yourself and everyone involved. You cannot see any other choice other than what you have decided the outcome should be. Would you have a fixed menu with one choice or a buffet of multiple choices to play with? I definitely prefer the latter!

Now I am more willing to be aware of things, in the present and future, rather than be in control. Awareness always opens up more choices and more possibilities!

Just like in the picture on the top, you know the balloon can fly high, but you are holding onto the rope so tightly and then wondering why it is not flying, maybe there is something wrong with the balloon, it is faulty etc.  But forgetting that you are the one controlling it. Letting it go is what is required, for it to work. If only you are willing to be aware, you can clearly see the rope and what you are doing with it :) That's exactly what I am trying to say...

So think of a situation in your life currently, where you feel stuck or you wish you had more choice. What has being in control of it created for you? Would you like to let it go today and choose a different possibility? Would that create something far greater for you than you have imagined?!

If you are reading this, I would love to hear if you have anything to share regarding this, in the comments section.

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To know more about me and what I do, my sessions and workshops, visit
www.reviveholistic.com

www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com

Connect with me
Facebook - www.facebook.com/pratima.nagaraj
Twitter - www.twitter.com/pratima_nagaraj

Joy and tranquillity of Sunset

#InspiringPhotos

#PhotosThatSpeakToMyEssence

These are some of the photos of sunset and the sky at twilight that I have clicked over last few years. There is something about watching the sunset that gives me immense joy, pleasure, peace and calmness. I love watching the beautiful sky and I can do it for hours, marvelling at nature and admiring The Creator for creating something so gorgeous! 

Sunsets contribute to me in several ways! Every time I witness a sunset, I expand, as big as the infinite sky, as big as the universe, and realize I am an infinite being with no boundaries and I am one with everything and everyone. It truly speaks to the core of my being, my essence , which is expansion, happiness, pleasure and peace. And 'creation' in my life occurs  from this space of expanded consciousness, whether it is creating my business, my financial reality, my relationships or anything else. If anything makes me feel contracted or less than this space, I know it is not true for me and I don't choose it. Choosing has become easy every since I have been able to tap into this space as I simply follow the energy of whatever creates this expansion in my life.

Who would have thought that sunset and nature could be such a huge contribution to our lives?! It can, only if we are open and willing to receiving from each and every molecule of this universe.

Reminds me of what Gandhi said,

"When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, 

my soul expands in the worship of the creator"

~Mahatma Gandhi

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To know more about me and what I do, my sessions and workshops, visit
www.reviveholistic.com

www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com

Connect with me
Facebook - www.facebook.com/pratima.nagaraj
Twitter - www.twitter.com/pratima_nagaraj

What if writing is nurturing YOU?

There was a phase in my life where I used to write a lot and I used to love it 'coz it gave me the space to express myself. But gradually with other things taking priority like business, home, relationships, travel etc. writing took a backseat completely. And after a while when I wanted to start over again, the words would just not flow and as most of us do, I concluded it as having the "writer's block". It's funny that I didn't even ask a question at that point which would have given me the awareness of what was going on underneath. Questions open up possibilities and we tend to avoid that the most 'coz it is so easy to go into conclusions, as an automatic response system. So I used the excuse of writer's block and stopped doing what I loved and what truly gave me joy. And slowly that turned into a resistance towards writing. Anytime I opened my blog I would sense huge barriers and resistance coming up instantaneously and I would not even venture into typing a single word. And this continued off and on for the last few years until recently when I started asking some questions around this (which means, finally I was willing to look under the carpet!).

Some of the questions I asked were…

What does writing mean to me?

What contribution is writing to my life?

What is the value of avoiding writing which I truly enjoy?

What do I love about resisting something that expands my life?

 

These questions started clearings the heaviness and crap that I had created, shifting the energy around it which is when opportunities, workshops and people showed up in my life who matched the energy of what I wanted to create. With the tools that I have been using, I have slowly begun to realize that writing to me is extremely nurturing. It is what gives me the space to be ME, who I truly am, without any pretence or image. So by telling myself the lie that I have resistance to writing, I had actually been resisting being ME. My demand for me in life has been to step into my true power and potency, be willing to be seen and heard and to really know what Being ME feels like and here I was avoiding something that actually contributed to being ME!! It is insane how we create conflictual paradigms in our lives where we resist something that we love the most and what gives us pleasure and happiness and then keep asking for that pleasure and happiness and wonder why we are not finding it! If you are reading this, am sure you can relate to it too. We have all been there and done that :)

 

 

The other aspect that came out loud and clear to me is the judgements that we buy into from others about our writing, as to how the words were not perfect or it was not structured well, presented properly, grammatically incorrect and blah blah. So most of the judgements I had was not even mine. They were what I bought into from others as real and true and allowed it to run my life. That's another way you give up being YOU! I realized it was not working for me anymore, so just made a choice to let that go and choose something different, which is the willingness to not be perfect in what I write :)

 

 

When I let go of these limitations and fixed points of views I had created, I now see 'writing' in a totally different way. It feels different too. It feels like meditation and an expansion of consciousness. There is so much space, peace, calmness and joy that I experience and gratitude for every word that flows. The more I write these days I can see more of me blossoming out. How does it truly get better than this?!

 

So what if writing is not about being perfect and grammatically correct but about getting your voice out into the world? What if you could write just for the joy of it and to express the energy that you are sensing? What if what you write could be a huge contribution to at least one person who reads it and changes that person's life? Last but not the least, what if you could write just for YOU, just for FUN and just because it nurtures YOU and your body?!

 

The more you nurture yourself, the more joy you create in your life!

Are you willing to take time off and invest in YOU today?

 

 

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To know more about me and what I do, my sessions and workshops, visit
www.reviveholistic.com

www.pratimanagaraj.accessconsciousness.com

Connect with me
Facebook - www.facebook.com/pratima.nagaraj
Twitter - www.twitter.com/pratima_nagaraj

* Some of the tools and questions mentioned in this post are from Access Consciousness