real, raw motherhood
My yoga teachers have been offering me wonderful food for thought lately. Here is a paraphrase of a powerful nugget I heard in class yesterday: “Let go of expectations, of how you think things should be and embrace what is. Trust that you are perfect as you are right now.”We’ve all been told: “Nobody’s perfect”.…
I went to Yoga Sculpt this morning. Before the class started, the teacher shared about her life-long struggle with acceptance: feeling acceptance from others and of course, more importantly, from herself. At the end of class, she invited us to look for opportunities to feel radical acceptance. I liked the ring of that. Most people…
Who else loves the holiday season?I’m a big fan. Thanksgiving is an American holiday that I discovered only after getting married and I never got to celebrate Christmas as a kid, since I grew up in a Muslim household. Even before we became parents, my husband and I made a big deal of the holidays.We…
It’s that time again of wanting to write and drawing a blank. Not knowing what I want to say and wondering if there’s value in saying anything at all anyway. I process my emotions through writing and inspiration comes more easily when I am sad or stressed. Thankfully, right now, I am neither. Happy times…
I usually make a point to not discuss religion or politics. I pride myself in having friends from all walks of life. I have friends who are on welfare and friends who are CEO of multi million dollar companies. I have friends who are agnostics and friends who are devoutly religious. I have Muslim friends,…
Today marks exactly two months since the last essay I wrote. Much has changed since then. My past remains unaltered but I am building a new relationship with it. The present is once again enjoyable. The future doesn’t look so scary. In the past eight weeks, I have surfaced from “the depths of despair”. I…
Warning! This essay might be upsetting, especially if you know me in real life. I wrote it because writing is how I process my emotions. I am sharing this here and hope it may help others who have suffered similarly. My mother liked to point to the big scar running down from her belly button…
I was recently interviewed by Rachel Nielsen for her awesome 3in30 podcast. The episode aired on 05/13/19. You can listen to episode 081 here. The essay below is what I wrote in preparation for the interview and sent to Rachel. Rachel, I’ve been using traveling and jetlag as reasons why I hadn’t yet written my takeaways on the…
Ask and you shall receive. This, I believe with all my heart. Call it God’s answers to prayers. Call it the Universe conspiring. Call it the power of affirmations. Call it the magic of visualization. Call it coincidence. Call it miracle. Call it whatever you want so long as you can embrace it and let…
In honor of my 43rd birthday coming up at the end of the month, here is a list of 43 things that I’ve done, learned, bought or changed to make my life better. (In no particular order) 1: I quit eating meat. (21 years ago). 2: I quit smoking. I come from a country where…