Tag: blogging

Weekend Prompt

Can Your Heart Be Your Screen?

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This post was inspired by Weekend Writing Prompt #485: This weekend challenge is to write a poem or a piece of prose in exactly 21 words using the word “Screen”.

My heart is my inner screen

Not the black and white screen,

but the colourful screen.

It’s big,

it’s wide,

it’s always on.

A little scratch would pass.

A big scratch would ring an alarm,

A smash would turn it off,

until recovery,

until the moment my heart nudges me:

“hay, I’ve got a new screen, 

and true, pretty colours again.”

With heart and screen thoughts,

Nahla

P.s. As always, I went over the limit, but I couldn’t disturb the flow of my thoughts.

Just writing

Nobility

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Some people glow by effort,

while others glow simply by their presence.

Some strive to glow,

while others glow naturally.

Some want to glow,

while others are born glowing. 

You could say it’s simply a divine gift.

This post was inspired by this quote: 

“Common souls pay with what they do, nobler souls with that which they are.”

Sometimes we need to pause for a moment as we read to contemplate, breathe, and discover the beauty hidden behind bare words.

With noble thoughts,

Nahla

Daily thoughts

Teach to Mastery

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“Teach to mastery rather than to exposure.”

Can this quote apply for today’s education?

Many people don’t seem to know what mastery is or why it’s important.

Most learners, young and old, now follow the takeaway rhythm. 

“Am I going to read all this?”Some students, and even adults gasp in shock as if they were asked to read or write one of Shakespeare’s play.

To be honest, I used to behave just like that during my university years. But… perhaps at that age, one didn’t expect to study more. So with moans, mumbles, and sarcastic jokes, many in my generation surrendered and followed the old, hard way of studying; the libraries, our brains, our hands, and, before all, the knowledge of our teachers.

Now it seems that many students and teachers have to cope with this fast, takeaway rhythm of education. The quote above still exists, though. It’s already fulfilled, but in a more advanced, technological way. 

Now back to the quote, it’s not just for teachers, but for everyone, including parents, who are planning or trying to practise teaching.

Mastery, by the way, is about understanding, confidence, and application, without panicking about perfection or excellence.

But exposure focuses on grabbing a quick bite: learning as if you’re picking up a fast food meal. You take a bite and bin the rest. Or better put, learning by telling without showing, memorising without thinking, answering  without understanding.

But how proud would be that teacher be who teaches to mastery by the end of the academic year?

I can imagine them smiling, happy with their achievement, even if some of their students choose to stay behind, stuck with their fast food meal.

With teaching thoughts,

Nahla

daily prompt

Would You Live in Your Parents’ Garment?

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What’s something you do completely differently from how you were raised?

In Arabic, there’s a saying or perhaps an old adage says: I’m not going to live in my father’s garment. 

Actually, this saying became the title of a famous TV drama in the nineties.

Anyway, parents, in most cases, want their children to live a far better than life than they did. That’s why they often work hard, save money, and build big dreams for the future of their children.

And, sometimes, parents believe that their children will always follow their footsteps. 

But the thing is, life is unexpected.

And this garment whatever it may be; a profession, a business, or even certain traites, won’t always fit the size of their children.

So…even though you and your siblings may have been raised in the same way, your lives don’t have to be the same. 

It’s not only about choices, whether to follow this path or that, but it’s also about how life changes, and how it changes you along the way.

With parents’-garment thoughts,

Nahla

Daily thoughts

Hello September 

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S for school, studies, and those warm and chilly sunny days,

E for early mornings, early alarms, the early race to have the first access to the toilet.

P for parents with their checklists: school uniform, school bags, and lunch box packed just right.

T for timetable, for lessons, exams, and that copy you pin to the refrigerator.

E for every day, with its new drama full of moans, excuses, and the latest friendship-challenge test.

M for mothers, rushing through those few free hours they try to enjoy, while the clock hands keep running towards home time. 

B for birthday, have you ever thought how lucky you are if your birthday falls in September?

E for every night, when the lights turn off, the roads get quiet, and everyone tucks themselves into their own little nests.

R for remember, school days make precious memories, just do your best to create good ones.

With new September thoughts,

Nahla

daily prompt

Manchester Oxford Road

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What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street?

On familiar roads, streets, and cities, memories are often the first things to rise and flow one after another as you walk along and through them.

Have you ever experienced that quiet feeling of nostalgia?

I have.

As you walk along a familiar street, a memory of an old friend, a joke, or even a phone call might pop up into your head without any warning.

Those moments are actually the best gifts you may find along the road, and they may be the most precious too.

Whenever I visit Manchester and walk along Oxford road, where Manchester University is, the memories of our first days in the UK rush back into my mind as if it was yesterday.

Things have changed, though; with new shops, new buildings, and of course new faces, but I don’t mind. My first memories of this city always come back fresh and strong. 

There, in the university accommodation which still has its unique name, Horniman House, we lived for quite a few years.

On this road, I walked with new friends from different countries. 

On this road, I heard the Manchester accent that was so different from the English I learned throughout my entire education.

On this road, I knew how it felt like to be soaked by the British heavy showers.

On this road, I got my first sunburn under the British glaring, bossy sun.

And there are more and more memories, I find along this road whenever I go there, but that’s enough for now.

With memories-along- the-road thoughts,

Nahla

daily prompt

My First Cooking Book

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What’s a book you never finished but still think about?

Years ago, during the final steps of my wedding preparations, my mother insisted that I should have one of those well- known cooking books in my new home. She had already bought me one before I had even thought about it. 

Before getting married, I used to help in the kitchen, but I had never been in charge of making full meals or anything complicated.

So my mother (may God bless her soul) believed that a cooking book would be a good help.

Honestly, I never used it, and I have no idea where I left it.

I might have had a look at it, though, but that was all.

Since then, whenever a booking book, with its colourful, mouth watering pictures and recipes, fell into my hands, I would give it a quick scan and put it back where I found it.

This doesn’t mean I don’t like cooking, because I do.

The thing is, perfection, consistency, exact measurements, are not on every woman’s cooking agenda.

By the way, would you really pause one day to think about a book that you never finished?

If the book was really of any interest to you, then you would have finished it. 

Otherwise, you’d ruffle through its pages and quietly set it aside without anyone noticing.

With a-book-never-finished thoughts,

Nahla 

P.S. the falafel in the photo are not home-made.

Daily thoughts

Thinking Too Much

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Sometimes thinking too much is not only frustrating but also a kind of torture.

So, for example, when you think too much about writing something, you end up writing nothing at all.

Have you ever felt this way?

I usually don’t think too much before writing. When an idea or a quote or a book or whatever strikes me as inspiration, I grab my iPad and write. 

Of course that’s when there are no distractions around.

And I have too many distractions these days.

Now, back to my Thinking Too Much post, the idea simply popped into my head this afternoon as I was reading.

I’ve been reading more of Lisa Wingate’s books. Her writing style is one of the things that won’t bore readers, even when the story itself isn’t that surprising.

For me, a story becomes more interesting when its narrative is captivating.

Anyway, the main character in the book is one of those people who thinks too much, giving both herself and me as a reader a headache.

But this kind of inner turmoil happens in life too. Right.

Some people weave a drama inside their heads that has nothing to do with reality. Or they weave things that do have something to do with reality, but don’t need all this drama.

In both scenarios, the drama doesn’t end until you spill it out. When you finally reveal what’s bothering, what’s annoying, or what’s frightening; all that have been buzzing in your head suddenly quiet down. It feels as if the door was wide open all along, and you were only looking through its magic eye.

The heroine in the story is exactly this type, and she stays that way until truth and reality meet her face to face.

But reading this inner turmoil is not like feeling it. I mean if you ever write your inner overthinking drama down and read it later, you might be surprised by your reaction because you would definitely laugh at yourself.

You would say: why think too much, why not explain things, why not ask about things, can’t you see the open door there, all the time? All you need is to step in, straightaway.

Things may turn out simpler and clearer than what you’ve been weaving into your head. And if they don’t, then at least you can step away but never back behind the door again.

And finally, this post is done and hopefully I’ll finish the book by the end of today.

And perhaps no more overthinking ever again.

With thinking-too-much thoughts,

Nahla

Just writing

A Blank Page

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I’ve just started writing this post with no clear idea or topic in mind.

I’m just wondering how it will go, and where it might take me.

Have you ever experienced this before?

I mean the moment when you grab a pen and a blank sheet of paper, stare at them, and wait?

You wait for any inspiration to flutter around you, or for a current of some thoughts to flow into your mind.

By the way, isn’t the idea of using pen and paper so classic?

I mean the image itself seems like a piece of history. 

Of course pens and papers haven’t disappeared yet, and I really hope they won’t end up as museum antiques any soon.

But using notes on your device is also a good way to write.

Tapping on your screen or your keyboard doesn’t carry your unique handwriting, but at least it still carries your thoughts and feelings.

So, now, a blank page can be filled after all.

With blank-page-thoughts,

Nahla

P.S. the cute cat photo was taken at the Cats Café in Malaysia.

daily prompt

Can it be a book?

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What’s the last movie that made you cry?

I didn’t watch movies much but I used to, though.

The recent movie I watched was Toy Story 5  which of course doesn’t make anyone cry. 

Me and my daughter watched it just for a change, something different to do during the summer holiday.

But that’s all.

I love reading more.

So, instead of a movie, my recent reading book is really what can make a reader weep. 

It’s such a book that stirs tendre emotions; fear, horror, sadness, compassion, mercy, love, hate, injustice, and even moments of happiness.

But… honestly, I didn’t technically cry. 

It just made me feel like crying.

This is the book; Before We Were Yours

With no-movies thoughts,

Nahla