The Blog of Nishant Garg

Creative Labour and Defining Success

How do you define success for yourself? I’ve been very curious to know how people define success for themselves. I started the podcast in 2020 with the clear intention of building skills and relationships with people, and I’d say that I am super successful as I’ve been achieving what I wanted based on my intention.

In my quest to learn more about how people define success — I’ve asked several of my podcast guests about it and read other articles and quotes on the web. This post is a short compilation of podcast interviews and selected quotes that I’ve struck me deeply.

If this post resonates with you, please help me in spreading the word about it. That’d mean the world to me. Thanks!

Podcast interviews:

Quotes and Passages:

“Excerpt from Maria Popova, founder of Brain Pickings: “…I frequently get emails from young people starting out and asking, ‘How do I make a successful website or start my own thing?’ And, very often, it’s tied to some measure of success that’s audience-based or reach-based.’ How do you build up to seven million readers a month or two million Facebook fans?’ But the work is not about how to get that size of an audience or those numbers. That’s just the byproduct of what Lewis Hyde calls ‘creative labor,’ which is really our inner drive. The real work is how not to hang your self-worth, your sense of success and merits, the fullness of your heart, and the stability of your soul on those numbers—on that constant positive reinforcement and external validation. That’s the only real work, and the irony is that the more “successful” you get, by either your own standards or external standards, the harder it is to decouple all of those inner values from your work. I think we often confuse the doing for the being.”

Belonging and Courage to stand alone — Resources from Brené Brown

The theme of Belonging has shown up for me over and over in 2022. I’ve asked myself questions such as who am I? What am I? Where do I belong? Who are my true genuine friends? in exploring the landspaces of inner being and authenticity.

Who better to know more about belonging than Brené Brown. In this post, I mention some powerful quotes from her and 2 youtube videos that have made a huge impact on me and how I show up at work and personally. As always, I am sharing what I am called to do.

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston, where she holds the Huffington Foundation Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. Brené is also a visiting professor in management at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

“The thing is that we are wired to be a part of something bigger than us so deeply, that sometimes we will take fitting as a substitute, but actually fitting in is the greatest barrier to belonging because fitting in says, ‘Be like them to be accepted.’ Belonging says, ‘This is who I am. I hope we can make a connection,”

“Because true belonging only happens when we present our authentic, imperfect selves to the world, our sense of belonging can never be greater than our level of self-acceptance.”

“As it turns out, men and women who have the deepest sense of true belonging are people who also have the courage to stand alone when called to do that. They are willing to maintain their integrity and risk disconnection in order to stand up for what they believe in.”

The Art of Ending Things and The Lost Art of Closing Rituals

Endings are always hard. Trust me, I’ve had to end many things internally and externally in 2022. I found this fantastic article The Art of Ending: 3 Steps for Pruning Your Life and I’ve read it dozens of times. Below is an excerpt from this article which I personally read over and over.

“Our lives are very similar to this rose bush. They are often filled with so many good things; so many opportunities, commitments, endeavors, and relationships that we are overwhelmed. Our resources are stretched, and nothing, or no one, is getting our full attention. In most areas, we are surviving, not thriving. What would happen if we were to prune back some of the good for sake of the best?

“So, too, does this happen in our lives. We limp along with broken relationships, hang onto toxic habits, and linger in commitments that deplete us physically or emotionally. It feels as though all of our energy is being diverted to sustain parts of our life that are not meeting our hopes and expectations. Essentially, the season of possibility for these buds has passed. What would happen if we were to get out our shears, and extract the parts of our life that are no longer giving us the results they once did, or are never going to amount to anything no matter how much we try?

Loving, Growing, and Healing together in Relationships

Dear friends, I’ve been contemplating the below musings from different authors including mine to heal and grow in dating, romantic relationships, and all kinds of relationships. This blog post is brought to you by my new co-creation of a spiritual retreat from Oct 7th-Oct 9th 2022. You can check the details at Immersive Retreat – From Admiration to Inspiration. Let’s begin…

“There is no shortage of people who ended a new relationship with great potential because they were unconsciously attached to perfection. Running away when slight friction occurs is a sign of being emotionally unprepared. Great relationships are built, they don’t come ready-made.” –Yung Pueblo

“Dating/Relationships is a skill. It’s like any other skill in life which takes time, effort, and patience. Sometimes we see a successful person doing horribly in their personal relationships, and vice versa. When we see someone with an amazing relationship, it means they’ve developed this skill over time, and continually cultivate it.”

“I was reminded that what we resist persists. My intuitive guide, Sabrina Heartsong, prompted me to perhaps consider that this relationship was showing up in my life in such a way as to teach me how to stay in the flow and learn something that life was so gracefully presenting. She told me my relationship with this man had manifested itself exactly the way I energetically attracted it. The universe was showing me the areas in my life that still needed healing.” – Waleuska Lazo

A Letter to Fear

Dear Fear — “I hear you, I understand you and I know that you’re trying to protect me. I don’t need your protection now. My heart is open. My old wounds are healing. I just want you to be a good friend and not run my life. I hope you understand my sentiments. It’s been so long and we needed to have this conversation with you.

Today, I’m practicing saying thank you to my fears for serving me, meeting my needs, and keeping me safe. Now, I lovingly ask you to leave me and I let go of all my fears because I don’t need you anymore. Thank you for serving me this long effectively.”

“We are all faced with a choice when we wake up in the morning — will we choose to live our lives in fear or faith? Then we step out into the world where good and evil battle every day. It is the charge of each one of us to bring light and love into the world and we do this through every thought and interaction we have on a daily basis.” — Scarlett Lewis

“Buddha was asked what have you gained from meditation? He replied – nothing! However, let me tell you what I lost: anger, anxiety, depression, insecurity, fear of death”.

Making Sense of Life’s Changes

I’ve been contemplating these quotes on clear communication, healing emotional triggers, awakening, stepping into a universe of possibility, deep connections, and much more. Please enjoy.

“If something you want is slow to come to you, it can only be for one reason: You are spending more time focused upon its absence than you are about its presence.” – Abraham Hicks

You can not build a deep connection with someone who’s disconnected from themselves. –Yung Pueblo

When triggers happen they change our mood. They change our behavior and our state of mind. Many of us walk around in a continuously triggered state causing us to see the world through clogged filters. And when we can’t see clearly we find it hard to make decisions and do behavior from a place of clarity. We get into a situation, get triggered, then blame the other person for our triggers. In reality, my triggers were mine, and I needed to process and release them before ever having the ability to be there for her with compassion. – Paul Colaianni

When I awoke into my infinite self, I was amazed to understand that my life could be dramatically different just by realizing that I am Love, and I always have been. I don’t have to do anything to deserve it. Understanding this means that I am working with life force energy, whereas performing at being loving is working against it. Realizing that I am in love was the most important lesson I learned, allowing me to realize all fear, and that’s the key that saved my life. – Anita Moorijani

Probing Questions to Enter The Landscape of Heart

I love exploring open-ended questions for deep inquiry. The same questions give different answers in different contexts and at different stages of life. To get quality answers, you get to ask good-quality questions. I found the below questions from different sources. If you know me, I love to share whenever I learn something exciting. I’d love to hear from you dear reader what explorations you experience through this set of questions and please put them in the comments for everyone.

a) How would I show up(in every arena) if there’s no lack and everything is in abundance? I apply this question mostly in my dating and relationships. Lack exists at the mind/ego level. The heart only knows abundance.

b) With your hands on your heart, allow yourself to ask your heart right now — do you have any messages for me? [Source: meditation Heart Coherence Guided Meditation for Clarity & Insight which I shared in the blog Heart-Opening Meditations]

Heart-Opening Meditations

Living a Heart-Centered life has become very important to me in the last few years. There are many modalities to open your heart or heal it from past wounds. In this post, I share some safe meditations I’ve come across recently. I’ve been practicing heart-opening meditations every morning for the last few weeks and as a result, I feel a drastic change in my inner being. Based on my mood, I pick one every day. I’ll continue to explore more meditations and resources on heart-opening. This post serves as a buffet and I invite you to pick the ingredient that works for you at present.

a) ‘Raise the Vibe’ – Guided Meditation Self-Pranic Healing Meditation: I learned about Pranic healing from my friend Menaka Harjani. Further in this exploration, I found this meditation which offers pranic healing as a way to return to wholeness, oneness, and ease. We often think of healing simply as recovery from illness or trauma. From a higher perspective, however, healing happens when we see ourselves as whole and complete despite any condition or illness. The subtle practice of pranic healing utilizes life force energy, or prana (also known as chi or qi) to accelerate the body’s innate ability to heal itself. In this video, we use it as a powerful accompaniment to meditation.

b) Balance Your Heart Chakra Energy: Guided Meditation: In the words of John Lennon, “Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.”. This meditation focuses on the heart chakra. This chakra is the expression of our love and compassion. When the heart center is open and the energy is balanced here, you feel connected to and love for all the people in your life. We function best when the chakras are open and in balance. The ability to heal and balance the chakras takes time and with repeated practice has the potential for transformation.