- Ibn Qayyim Al Jawziyyah
Do not be so arrogant as to believe that you have deduced all the answers from your own reason and no longer need to learn from others.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thoughts
Satan rejoiced when Adam (peace be upon him) came out of Paradise, but he did not know that when a diver sinks into the sea, he collects pearls and then rises again.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
To summarize...
Dear everyone,
All politicians are liars. They all play dirty games. They're all disgusting on one level or another. They are not saints or angels and they never will be. None of them. Stop placing your hope in the wrong place. Your role as a citizen is to wisely chose the one who will do the least amount of damage. As soon as you believe this fact, you will live a better life by learning to work from the bottom up and you will stop trying to make politics better - that is a losing battle and always will be. Change the things around you that you can change and stop expecting a savior to come along and fix your problems. Stop that stream of thought and I promise you will be a happier person.
Love, BB.
All politicians are liars. They all play dirty games. They're all disgusting on one level or another. They are not saints or angels and they never will be. None of them. Stop placing your hope in the wrong place. Your role as a citizen is to wisely chose the one who will do the least amount of damage. As soon as you believe this fact, you will live a better life by learning to work from the bottom up and you will stop trying to make politics better - that is a losing battle and always will be. Change the things around you that you can change and stop expecting a savior to come along and fix your problems. Stop that stream of thought and I promise you will be a happier person.
Love, BB.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
What's Happening?
I am once again in Cairo.
I was here January - May of this year during the Jan 25 Revolution. It's been twelve months and what has happened? I wonder if much has actually changed at all. I was with a friend today and the following conversation took place. Keep in mind that this friend is a well educated woman who has been born and bred in Egypt and is now a full time professional, is young, pro-revolution, quite liberal on the political spectrum, and also runs a household.
We had been discussing the productivity of certain countries in the world, and that conversation naturally led to the "state Egypt is in now", which led to a general venting about how all politicians on this planet are liars and full of shit and that each citizen's role was to wisely chose the one who will do the least amount of damage possible. And the interesting part was when she said:
We don't deserve a good government.
Why?
Because we are not good people. We are lazy, we don't want to work or do anything, but we want money and lots of it. All we do is sit at street cafes and talk talk talk, mostly about things we have no idea about, and then keep on mismanaging our own lives. Garbage mentalities can not be changed through a good government. The Egyptian people have been used to only following orders. We have had military men rule us for the last eight decades. The only thing we know how to do is to follow orders. Nothing will ever change until we start doing something about it and change ourselves first and go out and work and be productive people.
Interesting point of view, no? Ya I thought so too. There is definitely truth in there. However, my question is: what about the people given more opportunities than others? Where are those people and what are they doing to change themselves and to better the lives around them? Aren't they also a part of that culture that sits around Nawady (sporting clubs - the rich equivalent of street cafes) and talk talk talk, also about things they mostly don't know much about? Im not trying to point a blaming finger. All Im asking is, if youve pinpointed the solution, what are you personally doing about it?
Everyone, inside and outside Egypt, who cares anything for Egypt, justice, freedom, and peace, needs to do something. Anything. If this revolution is to change anything at all, it should change the way people view their roles in this world and define the extents to which they are willing to go to see the fruits of their actions.
I was here January - May of this year during the Jan 25 Revolution. It's been twelve months and what has happened? I wonder if much has actually changed at all. I was with a friend today and the following conversation took place. Keep in mind that this friend is a well educated woman who has been born and bred in Egypt and is now a full time professional, is young, pro-revolution, quite liberal on the political spectrum, and also runs a household.
We had been discussing the productivity of certain countries in the world, and that conversation naturally led to the "state Egypt is in now", which led to a general venting about how all politicians on this planet are liars and full of shit and that each citizen's role was to wisely chose the one who will do the least amount of damage possible. And the interesting part was when she said:
We don't deserve a good government.
Why?
Because we are not good people. We are lazy, we don't want to work or do anything, but we want money and lots of it. All we do is sit at street cafes and talk talk talk, mostly about things we have no idea about, and then keep on mismanaging our own lives. Garbage mentalities can not be changed through a good government. The Egyptian people have been used to only following orders. We have had military men rule us for the last eight decades. The only thing we know how to do is to follow orders. Nothing will ever change until we start doing something about it and change ourselves first and go out and work and be productive people.
Interesting point of view, no? Ya I thought so too. There is definitely truth in there. However, my question is: what about the people given more opportunities than others? Where are those people and what are they doing to change themselves and to better the lives around them? Aren't they also a part of that culture that sits around Nawady (sporting clubs - the rich equivalent of street cafes) and talk talk talk, also about things they mostly don't know much about? Im not trying to point a blaming finger. All Im asking is, if youve pinpointed the solution, what are you personally doing about it?
Everyone, inside and outside Egypt, who cares anything for Egypt, justice, freedom, and peace, needs to do something. Anything. If this revolution is to change anything at all, it should change the way people view their roles in this world and define the extents to which they are willing to go to see the fruits of their actions.
Fire
It's that moment you experience the hard way that too much of a good thing can only be bad. Set fire to that rain. And then drop it.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Hadith
"A good friend and a bad friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might singe your clothes, and at the very least you will breath in the fumes of the furnace."
[Bukhari and Muslim]
Sunday in Leicester
For a town that's really not that big, it's got lots of character. Just under 3 hours by bus north of London.
Reunions with old friends.
Christmas gospel carolers.
Shopping.
Sunsetting.
American diner milkshakes and burgers.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Sunday in Soho
Ghost town and locals.
Malaysian food and weekly shop.
Eerie silence and sunshine.
Creaking house.
Just the way I love Soho.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Life
Throw flowers not bombs, make love not war, be happy not sad. Life is simple.
(the image is by the great Banksy)
Monday, November 7, 2011
Poem
I like it.
Praying
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
- Mary Oliver
Seen on: http://glutenfreegirl.com/
Friday, November 4, 2011
Today
I realized that I think about the ocean almost every single day. Why can't the ocean be everywhere? The more time I spend living in big cities, the more I miss it...
(last day in Langkawi - Malaysia 2011)
(last day in Langkawi - Malaysia 2011)
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Rumi - Don't Scold the Lover
Moses heard a shepherd on the road praying:
“Lord, where are you? I want to help you, to fix your shoes and comb your hair. I want to wash your clothes and pick the lice off.
“I want to bring you milk to kiss your little hands and feet when it’s time for you to go to bed.
“I want to sweep your room and keep it neat. God, my sheep and goats are yours. ”
“Who are you talking to?” Moses could stand it no longer.
“Only something that grows needs milk. Only some one with feet needs shoes. Not G’d!”
The shepherd repented and tore his clothes and sighed and wandered out into the desert.
A sudden revelation came then to Moses.
“You have separated me from one of my own.
“Did you come as a Prophet to unite, or to sever?
“I have given each being a separate and unique way of seeing and knowing and saying that knowledge.
“What seems wrong to you is right for him.
“What is poison to one is honey to someone else.
“Purity and impurity, sloth and diligence in worship, these mean nothing to me.
“I am apart from all that. Ways of worshiping are not to be ranked as better or worse than one another.
“It’s not me that’s glorified in acts of worship. It’s the worshipers!
“I don’t hear the words they say. I look inside at the humility.
“Forget phraseology. I want burning, burning. Be friends with your burning.
“Burn up your thinking and your forms of expression!
“Lovers who burn are another.
“Don’t scold the Lover. The “wrong” way he talks is better than a hundred “right” ways of others.
“When you look in a mirror, you see yourself, not the state of the mirror.
“The flute player puts breath into a flute, and who makes the music?
“Not the flute. The flute player!
from Rumi’s “Moses and the Sheperd”, translated by Coleman Barks
(from: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2011/10/28/he-followed-the-bewildered-footprints-editar/)
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Today
something incredible happened. I realized that I could totally live without people I thought I couldn't live without.
Let go of this world.
Let go of this world.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Quotes
Because a child doesn't understand a chain of reasoning,
should adults give up being rational?
If reasonable people don't feel the presence of love
within the universe, that doesn't mean it's not there.
- Rumi
Yet afterwards I doubted whether driftwood has the right to say "I win" when the tide throws it on to the beach it seeks.
- Che (from The Motorcycle Diaries)
Leave your country in search of loftiness and travel. For in travel there are five benefits: relief of adversity, earning of livelihood, knowledge, etiquette, and noble companionship.
- Imam Al Shafi
Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.
- H.D. Thoreau
Do not speak unless you can improve the silence.
- Proverb
(Did I improve your silence?)
should adults give up being rational?
If reasonable people don't feel the presence of love
within the universe, that doesn't mean it's not there.
- Rumi
Yet afterwards I doubted whether driftwood has the right to say "I win" when the tide throws it on to the beach it seeks.
- Che (from The Motorcycle Diaries)
Leave your country in search of loftiness and travel. For in travel there are five benefits: relief of adversity, earning of livelihood, knowledge, etiquette, and noble companionship.
- Imam Al Shafi
Not until we are lost do we begin to find ourselves.
- H.D. Thoreau
Do not speak unless you can improve the silence.
- Proverb
(Did I improve your silence?)
Thoughts
more words than i
had ever heard
and i
feel so alive
cuz you and i both loved
what you and i spoke of
and others just
read of
and if you could see me now
love love
you and i
not so little anymore
this song reminds me of too much. there was once some one i knew, someone who i've known for quite some time now, but used to know much better at one point than right now. we used to talk about our dreams and our futures, me of travel, him of success. thoughts that captured our minds, thoughts that gripped our days and filled our dreams. this was some time ago tho.
but see, he never believed i would do it. he said, youre never gonna leave here, youre always gonna stay here, with us, with me. i would laugh. he would laugh. id keep dreaming, he would keep trying to figure out ways to get rich and successful. to him, money made the world go around. it probably still does, who knows. to me, love made the world go around. it still does. travel, exploration, dreams, experiences, all make my world go around.
i wonder today if the time i spent traveling last year sort of proved to him. did it? who knows. we're in different worlds now, his full of great things, successes and financial districts. he's on his way to accomplishing his dreams. i've done a little bit, but not much, probably not as much as him. but i did it. im happy, content. i wonder if he is too. i didnt do it for him, or anyone else, i did it for me, for my dreams.
but this isnt about a boy. this is about dreams and love and realizing these dreams and loves and continuing to dream and love and realize those new dreams and loves and so on and so forth. once, recently, i reminded him of our talks long ago, and how ive finally started doing what i always said i would do. except we dont talk much now. and i realize that life is too short to be wondering what he still thinks of me, of my dreams.
it also occurs to me that this post probably doesnt make any sense. but im putting it out here, out into the void that is this world. just cuz it needs to be said.
(You and I Both - Jason Mraz)
had ever heard
and i
feel so alive
cuz you and i both loved
what you and i spoke of
and others just
read of
and if you could see me now
love love
you and i
not so little anymore
this song reminds me of too much. there was once some one i knew, someone who i've known for quite some time now, but used to know much better at one point than right now. we used to talk about our dreams and our futures, me of travel, him of success. thoughts that captured our minds, thoughts that gripped our days and filled our dreams. this was some time ago tho.
but see, he never believed i would do it. he said, youre never gonna leave here, youre always gonna stay here, with us, with me. i would laugh. he would laugh. id keep dreaming, he would keep trying to figure out ways to get rich and successful. to him, money made the world go around. it probably still does, who knows. to me, love made the world go around. it still does. travel, exploration, dreams, experiences, all make my world go around.
i wonder today if the time i spent traveling last year sort of proved to him. did it? who knows. we're in different worlds now, his full of great things, successes and financial districts. he's on his way to accomplishing his dreams. i've done a little bit, but not much, probably not as much as him. but i did it. im happy, content. i wonder if he is too. i didnt do it for him, or anyone else, i did it for me, for my dreams.
but this isnt about a boy. this is about dreams and love and realizing these dreams and loves and continuing to dream and love and realize those new dreams and loves and so on and so forth. once, recently, i reminded him of our talks long ago, and how ive finally started doing what i always said i would do. except we dont talk much now. and i realize that life is too short to be wondering what he still thinks of me, of my dreams.
it also occurs to me that this post probably doesnt make any sense. but im putting it out here, out into the void that is this world. just cuz it needs to be said.
(You and I Both - Jason Mraz)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Today I Learned...
That facebook is banned in Vietnam! I guess it's time for a facebook detox then :(
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Arab Developmet Initiative
Alright. So once in a while you'll come across a group of people who you don't even really know, but feel like kindred spirits. My good friend Amina Samy pointed me in the direction of the Arab Development Initiative website, and I found my peeps.
Based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this group of students have come together to bring others around the table of discussion on one of the most pressing issues of our time: development in the Arab world. With the uprising and awakening of the Arab nations comes a great responsibility on the shoulders of the international community to aide the dreams of the just revolutionaries of the Middle East.
In summary, taken from their website:
"On October 7 and 8, 2011, the ADI is proudly hosting the first ever Envision Arabia Summit at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. This summit of students, thinkers, and leaders, aspires to harness the creativity, skill, and passion of youth to work towards a vision for the future of the Arab world."
Not only was I in Egypt for the entire revolution, but this cause hits close to home, quite literally. May it be a prosperous event and the beginning of a great opportunity for everyone around the world to make a difference.
Based out of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this group of students have come together to bring others around the table of discussion on one of the most pressing issues of our time: development in the Arab world. With the uprising and awakening of the Arab nations comes a great responsibility on the shoulders of the international community to aide the dreams of the just revolutionaries of the Middle East.
In summary, taken from their website:
"On October 7 and 8, 2011, the ADI is proudly hosting the first ever Envision Arabia Summit at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. This summit of students, thinkers, and leaders, aspires to harness the creativity, skill, and passion of youth to work towards a vision for the future of the Arab world."
Not only was I in Egypt for the entire revolution, but this cause hits close to home, quite literally. May it be a prosperous event and the beginning of a great opportunity for everyone around the world to make a difference.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Oh Malaysia :)
Truly Asia, as the tourism commercial says. Definitely a ginormous mash-up of everything and anything Asian: Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and a sprinkle of expats of course.
Loved every moment of it, here are some shots :)
Petronas Towers at night, Kuala Lumpur.
The Shah Alam mosque, one of the largest in the region, just about an hour out of Kuala Lumpur.
Penang, the historical island of culture and food. Incense offerings at an ancestral temple.
Langkawi, my ideal definition of an island - good food, chilled out people, awesome beach.
I already miss Malaysia and I just left it this morning. It has definitely been the highlight of my trip so far. Just got to Thailand today, gonna do some island hopping on the south west coast and then head over to Bangkok!
note: i posted this entry on the 6th of june, but it says may 30th. dont ask.
Loved every moment of it, here are some shots :)
Petronas Towers at night, Kuala Lumpur.
The Shah Alam mosque, one of the largest in the region, just about an hour out of Kuala Lumpur.
Penang, the historical island of culture and food. Incense offerings at an ancestral temple.
Langkawi, my ideal definition of an island - good food, chilled out people, awesome beach.
I already miss Malaysia and I just left it this morning. It has definitely been the highlight of my trip so far. Just got to Thailand today, gonna do some island hopping on the south west coast and then head over to Bangkok!
note: i posted this entry on the 6th of june, but it says may 30th. dont ask.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Daily Reflection
It's true, no matter where you are in the world:
Those who talk about others in front of you, will talk about you in front of others.
Hold your tongue.
Those who talk about others in front of you, will talk about you in front of others.
Hold your tongue.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Pictures! Bali
I finally have pictures for you :)
Here are my 2 favorite moments in Bali.
1. So I learned to surf. The waves at Kuta beach totally kicked my butt, but it was one of my best times on this trip so far. Needless to say, I acquired many injuries, and was sore for a few days afterwards.
Tips for learning to surf:
- When the instructor says UP, you need to get right up on your feet in half a second, from lying down flat on your surfboard. While you're on a wave of course. Serious upper body strength.
- Do not eat right before surfing. Trust me, you'll feel sick to your stomach for the rest of the day.
- Make sure you understand how the waves work, because otherwise, you're gonna have your board smash right onto your head (speaking from experience).
- Just keep at it! And have fun :)
2. Watching the sunrise from the top of Mt Batur, the 2nd highest volcano in Bali. Started climbing at 3:30am, got to the peak at 5:30am (almost 2000 meters), just in time to see this beautiful scene. You can even still see a star or two :) It was magical to say the least.
I just got to Malaysia yesterday, and taking it all in!
Here are my 2 favorite moments in Bali.
1. So I learned to surf. The waves at Kuta beach totally kicked my butt, but it was one of my best times on this trip so far. Needless to say, I acquired many injuries, and was sore for a few days afterwards.
Tips for learning to surf:
- When the instructor says UP, you need to get right up on your feet in half a second, from lying down flat on your surfboard. While you're on a wave of course. Serious upper body strength.
- Do not eat right before surfing. Trust me, you'll feel sick to your stomach for the rest of the day.
- Make sure you understand how the waves work, because otherwise, you're gonna have your board smash right onto your head (speaking from experience).
- Just keep at it! And have fun :)
2. Watching the sunrise from the top of Mt Batur, the 2nd highest volcano in Bali. Started climbing at 3:30am, got to the peak at 5:30am (almost 2000 meters), just in time to see this beautiful scene. You can even still see a star or two :) It was magical to say the least.
I just got to Malaysia yesterday, and taking it all in!
Monday, May 23, 2011
Oh Technology
Yes, technical difficulties for sure. Internet everywhere, but uploading from a DSLR camera has been a nightmare.
Will try again in Malaysia :)
In the meantime, I've checked off these things from my ever-growing list of things to do around the world:
- Learn to surf
- Climb a volcano (Mt. Batur)
- Spend my birthday on the beach in Bali
Let's just say, Bali was amazing.
Will try again in Malaysia :)
In the meantime, I've checked off these things from my ever-growing list of things to do around the world:
- Learn to surf
- Climb a volcano (Mt. Batur)
- Spend my birthday on the beach in Bali
Let's just say, Bali was amazing.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Today I Learned...
That I've become pro at 3 things:
1. Packing
2. Saying goodbye
3. Taking cold showers (hot water isn't as available as you'd think in most countries; its better for the environment)
That I would like to move to Bali.
1. Packing
2. Saying goodbye
3. Taking cold showers (hot water isn't as available as you'd think in most countries; its better for the environment)
That I would like to move to Bali.
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