Things I appreciate - Part III

It isn't difficult thinking of things we appreciate or should appreciate more. Yet, I struggled in prioritizing them and talking around them, and hence this post came LONG overdue.

I was going to write something else but then I paused, deleted a sentence or two and started re-writing again. This weekend (it's sunday evening as I write), many events happened on my personal space. I was immensely inspired twice yesterday, received great news in the morning and got an unexpected call from a friend I care for. And so I recognized the precious gift of life! The life I was given and the decision I was allowed to take (and chose to take) in it along the way!

If life was a person, it would look something like this. We choose how it looks like  - sorry Mc. Fly :)

(Photo credit: Love Is on The Radio music video by McFly)

Things I appreciate - Part II

One of the things I really appreciate in my life - and I've been appreciating since 2008 when I started this blog is blogs or blogging.

I'm pretty sure that most of you reading this will find this applicable to you, too. I love the whole blogging concept for it connects you and me with other like-minded and even different-minded people all over the world.

I love the feeling when a blog I follow has a new post. I enjoy going through the bookmarks folder I have for my favorite bloggers. It's a pure joy that I can't possibly describe in a few words. For me, the love of blogging, and what it means to me and my fellow bloggers, is why I’ve been in the game so long. It’s how I’ve met many of my current friends. The finest of them, I dare say.

I don't care about how old blogging has became and how less people are paying attention to it by the day. It's one of the things I will try to keep doing for years and years to come. I know one day I will look back and say "huh, I'm glad I kept writing" :)

On this note, I'm thrilled to announce that I now have my own domain for this blog: http://www.salimamasrouri.com/ YAY!

Things I Appreciate - Part I

Hi! I came up with this blog series idea in a class today where I showed my classmates the weird things I walk around campus with.

In this blog series (that I hope I would stick to), I will list some of the many little things I believe I should appreciate - or keep appreciating. Some of my life's simple pleasures that I often overlook. The everyday ounces of happiness that are right under my own nose.

*this part where My "Favorite Things" song from my all time favorite movie "The Sound of Music" started playing in my head*

The first thing I could think of is *drum rolls*: Lipton tea bags!

[My tea kit during a road trip last summer]

I simply love this tea and prefer it over any other kind of tea - sorry green tea enthusiasts!

The fact of the matter is, tea and I have had some wonderful experiences together and continue to do so. It's not like my life is so dependent on it (Gosh! It suddenly feels like I'm talking about a spouse!). For my defense (not that I have to), I could totally go days without having a sip of tea. But it's just a happy thing that soothes my soul (and my throat, ehm). Oh, Lipton, you're totally my cup of tea! ♡

Until the next post!

[Book Review] Levels of Energy ~ Frederick E. Dodson

It's been a while since I last posted a book review. So there you go!

I've been reading Levels of Energy by Fredtrick Dodson ever since I finished my Spring final exams. It's been on my reading map for 2014 but I changed my priorities and started with it this summer and left the other books aside. Did I mention that I gifted myself a Kindle Paperwhite? It's the happiest thing that has happened to me in months. I'm so happy and content with my choice. It's keeping me a good company in between classes, in my shuttle rides and during waiting times here and there.

So anyway, the book review! The author of this book talks about levels of energy and consciousness human possess as they go on their life journey. And how each level attracts certain events, emotions and people. He made it very easy to comprehend by linking one emotional state like anger, pride, etc. to each level.

He came up with his own energy scale in which he was immensely inspired by stuff like the ancient tamas-rajas-sattva-moksha model of Hinduism and other similar-in-concept energy and consciousness scales by Abraham-Hicks and Hawkins.

I personally found reading the first levels (up to 200) quite disturbing and emotionally challenging. But then I was massively relieved by reading the higher levels.

As a Muslim in belief, it was interesting to see how he thought mosques have a high energy "the good energy" according to his scale.

Do I recommend the book? Yes, if you are ready. It helps you get a better understanding of self and others. Other people (other reviewers) reported that they witnessed a change in their energy level right after reading the book. I haven't seen a change yet, but it gave me an insight in how to and I probably didn't do much work in that sense yet. I'm a work in progress though.

A friend I was talking to about the book (while reading it) thought the whole energy fields and us affecting and being effected by them is a complete non-sense. Well, to me arguing this is more like arguing that water is H2O if you know what I mean. :)

So that was about it in a nutshell (according to me). I hope you enjoyed the review and again go ahead and read it if you are ready!
Until the next review, bye!

♡

"Hug yourself for me," she said.
I love you my soul sister ♡

Photo credits: serendipitygirl wordpress

رسالة الى أمي ..

امي الحبيبة

مضت اكثر من ٤ شهور منذ سفري عن وجهك وحضورك الغالي على نفسي

احبك لأنك تعلميني كل يوم أن أُحب نفسي وان أكون نفسي بلا تكلف..

تعلميني كل يوم انه في كل يوم نصحى على اختيار ان نعيش بمعنى.. او فلا معنى للحياة

ان الهجر الجميل خير من صحبة أذى

ان العمل ما لم يصحبه حب فلا طائل منه

تعلميني ان دعواتك هي اثمن من أي كلمة تُقال ولا تُسمع

تعلميني ان لا التفت للمحبطات ما دامت رسالتي حية تنبض في نفسي

تعلميني بأفعالك قبل كلماتك 

قالت لي الليلة "نامي .. نامي يا حبيبتي قريرة العين انا راضية عنك"

رعاك الله يا أمي..

الأصالة Originality

يعبر الكثير من الباحثين في التنوير والفهم العميق للنفس وللحياة على ان مصدر الابداع هو الداخل..حيث يحدث الصفاء والانسجام بين الجسد والعقل والروح...الإبداع في لبه تفرد..حر من النفس العليا "السعي لجذب الاهتمام، بناء انطباع مزيف، وغيرها"

البعض يعجب بكاتب، ويرغم نفسه على ان يشبهه مبتعدا بذلك عن معنى الابداع والاصالة

الابداع معنى مختلف تماما عن النسخ المكررة..عن النسخ المزيفة

انظر الى الداخل، واكتشف عمق وجمال الاصالة .. ان تكون انت انت ..

Autism Awareness & Charity Event

Photo credits

She was a beautiful little girl. Full of life and very smart for her age. One morning she woke up a complete different kid. Her change from "normal" to "autistic" was traumatic for everyone involved. It felt like she was taken away from her loved ones, forever.. Many families traveling this road need to know that you feel for them and that their journey could be made easier. You want to know how? Check @Revgx_fitness and make sure you mark you calendars for Saturday April 19th 1 PM to 6 PM for The Autism Awareness & Charity event. Spread the word please (Reblog)!

راحتها أريد

اؤمن أن الطيب يحيى حياة طيبة

تعبه فيها راحة

وراحته فسحة يستحقها ليجدد العزم وينطلق

 تقول الاستاذة الفاضلة ريهام الرشيدي كلام طيب بهذا الخصوص

الدعاء .. والايمان بأن الله ما يريد إنه يعذبنا .. نية كهذي تجعلك دائما في الخطوط البيضاء خطوط السلام .. وفي كل حرب هناك خطوط بيضاء إنوي إنك تكون فيها .. يكن لك ما نويت والأجمل هذي النقطة ٤- الله سبحانه يقول { من عمل صالحاً من ذكر أو أنثى وهو مؤمن فلنحيينه حياة طيبة ولنجزينهم أجرهم بأحسن ما كانوا يعملون } هذا الوعد من الله سبحانه ما  يرضيك ؟ ما يغسل قلبك ؟ ما يهدي عينك ؟ أنا بلى

احدى الصديقات الطيبات "الي تعرف نفسها عدل" تطلب مني مرارا اني اريح نفسي

وفي كل مرة يحضرني فيها قول الربيع بن خثيم لما قال له احدهم: لو أرحت نفسك؟

ورد عليه: راحتها اريد

Masarra

I woke up this morning to an angry (and funny!) email from my little sister who’s now 14 years of age.

COME ONLINE!
 Masarra Mohammed
10:25 AM (7 hours ago)
 to me
IM WAITING FOR YOU PLEASE COME ONLINE I HAVE TO STUDY I WON’T GET A CHANCE LATER PLEASE PLEASE COME ONLINE!

I saw it when I woke up, it was around 1 p.m. in the afternoon. Me being me, I lost track of the time the night before reading, catching up with the family, etc. Little did I know, it was 4 in the morning. All I remember is that last thing I did was emailing her. Emails have been our only mean of communication since she was grounded and her iPod was taken away early January.

I miss her so much every single day. I love her more each day, it's SO weird. I don't think I would ever love anyone this much.

I remember the day she was born. I was about 12 years old, I was at the small neighborhood garden playing with my 2 younger sisters and a close friend of us when my brother appeared from the backyard gate yelling “It’s a girl! My mom gave birth to a baby girl! Hurry!”. We ran to the house as if we were going to see her right in front of our eyes the moment we get home (which, of course, wasn't the case). I could barely catch a breath, that's how excited I was. She was the most precious baby I've ever laid my eyes on. 

When she was months old, she started to sleep in my room. I would tell her bedtime stories based on the things she’d done throughout the day. She grew up to the stories I made up for her amusement. Some of them, again, were based on real events and others were fictitious stories that came out of my imagination.

“Today honey, I’m going to tell you the story of a random, oh very random girl who hid her dad’s car keys in her tiny little bed thinking it was funny. It was not.” And she would laugh her head off through the story and urge me to keep going, curious to know my take on the story, her story.

She grew up really smart. She impressed our relatives and our household's guests. I remember I had a cousin who was mid way though her pregnancy, she once told my mom, “If I’m ever having a baby girl, I wish she would turn out to be like Masarra.” My mom thanked her for being nice while I’m watching. I knew she wasn't being nice. ;)

She was so bold, too. It was hilarious and embarrassing. I recall her telling my cousin's fiancé that he has a long nose, and that he's got to do something about it. xD

For you my super duper Masarra, 

I will always love you to no end! I will always look at you thinking of you, the tiny baby I first saw with mom 14 years back.. 

Here's a video of her when she was in KG. It's my favorite of her! I keep playing it whenever I go through my FB profile..

Comments

Hey y'all! I'm just writing to let you guys that I really appreciate your comments.
So please please leave comments and let me know that you are reading and if you reading. I'm not a fan of one-way communications.

Please? :)

تعال فككها ١١

عودة لهذه السلسلة بعد غياب اكثر من سنة!

لمن لم يقرأ التدوينات السابقة في هذه السلسلة : هي باختصار أفكار سريعة تمر في خاطري أجمعها وأنشرها دفعة واحدة

تعال فككها 1 و 2 و 3 و 4 و 5 و6 و 7 و8 و 9 و10

بسم الله نبدأ

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تعرف ان مستوى الوعي عندك زايد لما يصير رأي الناس فيك اخر اهتمامك!

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"الناس اختلفوا في الله تعالى، كيف تريدهم ان يتفقوا عليك؟" ~ طارق السويدان

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الصحفي أمامه خيارين: اما ان ينقل الخبر بتعليق محايد خلوق او يعلق بتعليق وتفسير خرندعي ماله علاقة بالموضوع بس يحس انه لقطة، وهذه هي صحافة "الكليشيهات" كلها.

ملاحظة: ترا "كليشيهات" متعوب عليها. شكرا :)

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أنا نسخة مني افتش في المدى لعلي اهتدي...للنسخة الأصلية ~ جاسم الصحيح

لا أعلم اذا كان جاسم الصحيح مستوعب المعاني الخفية وراء ما كتب، أم هي مجرد ضربة حظ؟ في كل حال هذا الشاعر داهية، وصدق من سماه "متنبي" العصر..

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انت..نعم انت...احترم فيك قيمتك! "قيمة المرء فيما يحسن"

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من اعظم التحديات التي أواجهها حاليا هي التعامل مع المثليين في محيط الدراسة بشكل طبيعي. في الحقيقة، أواجه تحدي في التعامل مع انتكاس الفطرة بشكل عام. مثال: في يوم من الايام وبعد قضاء يوم طوييل جدا في المكتبة قررت زميلة لي ان تذهب الى قاعة سينما صغيرة في مبنى اتحاد الطلبة في الجامعة تٌعرض فيه افلام قديمة نسبيا مجانا لطلبة الجامعة. طلبت مني ان أشاركها ورحبت بالفكرة من باب التغيير. فكرة الفلم كانت عن احداث النهاية "نهاية الدنيا" والفلم كوميدي "لا تسألوني كيف؟". يسقط رأس صديق البطل امامه وغيرها من المشاهد المقرفة التي تنسف الفطرة السليمة نسفا، ويضحك الجمهور! خرجت خلال ثلث ساعة أو ربما أقل بينما القاعة تضج بالضحك الهيستيري....انا.مش.فاهمة!!! فهموني؟

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قال احدهم "النصيب يُعمي ليُصيب..والحب كذلك، وكلاهما أعمى" هل العمى مصير لا حياد عنه؟!
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I can't change the world, so I'm changing myself
من أذكى ما قرأت :)
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هذا ما كتبته أم عمانية لابنها بعد تعلمها في أحر مراكز محو الأمية في السلطنة "نقلا عن تويتر"
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في امان الله :)

I honor your path..

"I honor your path, it's yours alone to walk"
Everyone lives a different life, everyone is entitled to their choices and those choices should be respected. Walk a mile in my shoes and your feet will hurt. This is how it works..

A small change in the blog!

Just wanted to let y'all know I added new tabs on beneath the header: Arabic and English. My Arabic blog posts will be updated there automatically and so are my English blog posts.

Many friends/readers have been asking me to separate them for easy access. So there you go! And thanks for the suggestion/feedback.

I apologies for not updating this space quite often (I never did that before anyways). I'm thinking of starting a specialized blog during Sprint break specially that I'm not going anywhere (mostly!). I heard a great mentor of mine say, "if you want to excel at something teach it or write about it." That's my plan right there.

Much love,
~ Salima

Throwback: Trip of A Lifetime

I found this old article on my Outlook saved documents. It brings so much happy memory flooding back! It was published on Y Magazine - Y Campus page. Long live SQU! Lol ;p

(Click for larger view, I guess!)

Update: I just realized that the first ever blog posts in here were written during the trip the above article is talking about :)

عروس البحيرة

من منكم يتذكر هذه التمثيلية؟ كانت تعرض في القناة السورية. لم أكن أفهمها، فلذلك كانت متابعتها بعد سنوات طويلة بعقلية مختلفة تماما أمر ممتع :)

في الدقيقة ١٩:٤٨
حوار لطيف وعميق بين الطفلة والساحرة تقنع فيه الساحرة الطفلة الصغيرة بقوة الشعر مقابل السحر

- ساحرة؟ كيف؟ انت تملكين السحر؟

- وانت تملكين الاقوى..

- اقوى من السحر؟

- طبعا تملكين الشعر
- ها؟!
- أشرح لكِ اخبريني ما السحر؟

- همم.. السحر...بيت من حلوى..نأكل منه أو نعلب
- الشعر احلى...أطيب
- أطيب من حلوى؟ أزعل منكِ!
- أنا لا أمزح...
- إذن، ما الشعر؟

- الشعر حبلٌ من نجوم..وأغانٍ للفرح.. الشعر يا حلوة قوس قزح..وغيومُ ومطر..وطيور وزهورُ..و دروب للقمر!

On philosophy..

(Socrates posing for the sculptor before posing was cool)

I'm not really sure if what I'm about to say (or type!) is by any chance new to you all; but I guess what philosophy is really all about sharing the very essence of things or situations without dwelling in the details of the event that initially formed the thought. I think what Socrates & co. really did was merely getting in touch with their inner-selves quite often. They gave the world their finest of thought and realizations. I love to believe that they didn't need to bore people with the details of how they came up with that philosophical thought. People loved the sound of what they said and so they came up with a fancy title to honor the people behind the thought and called them "philosophers".

So anyways, here's my philosophical thought of the day:

When you are a seeker, you eventually realize that all your searching leads you to the same place. That the answers you need are, quite frankly, within. On another note, I believe that our souls are on a journey, and that our bodies are just vessels.

Now philosophy isn't that difficult, huh? :)
I can almost hear someone suggesting I read this.

اهلا بالقادم

فكرة جديدة أخرى

تعلمت الامتنان وجذب كل ما هو جميل إلى حياتي

قررت أن املأ هذه المدونة بكلمات وصور وقصص وملاحظات وخواطر جميلة

سأقرأ الكثير من الكتب الجميلة

سأجمع الكثير من الذكريات والصور

سأتعلم أكثر 

سأهتم بنفسي جدا جدا وأحبها فأنا جديرة بالحب والاهتمام 

ولا جدوى من البحث عن هذه الأشياء في العالم الخارجي

سأحبهم أكثر وأقدرهم أكثر بلا شروط

سأتأمل أكثر...سأصلي أكثر
سأحافظ على اتزاني وسلامي الداخلي

الصندوق الفارغ بجانب سريري سيمتلأ بأشياء جميلة وسعيدة جدا

في الأيام القادمة سأشرق من جديد :)

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من المخطط أن ابقى هنا الى شهر اغسطس القادم 

ولكن قد تطول المد

It's fate working its magic..

 "Look at us. Running around, always rushed, always late. I guess that's why they call it the human race. What we crave most in this world is connection. For some people it happens at first site. It's when you know, you know. It's fate working its magic. And that's great for them. They get to live in a pop song; ride the express train. But that's not the way it really works. For the rest of us it's a bit less romantic. It's complicated and it's messy. It's about horrible timing and fumbled opportunities. And not being able to say what you need to say when you need to say it. At least, that's the way it was for me."

I loved these lines from the movie "Switched"!