Tag: feelings

personal thoughts

Passions vs Affections

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Does it ever happen to you that, while reading, you pause at certain words and wonder not about their meaning but about their differences? In other words, you know which word to use,  but you still wonder why another can’t fit in this context or that situation.

Am I getting a bit philosophical?
Of course not… I’m just getting a bit speculative.

Let’s consider, for example, the words: passions and affections— the cousins from the sensitive emotions family. These two cousins are close in blood, though distant in behaviour. Isn’t their difference obvious, even in the very sound of their names?

Try and voice the two words.

Do you notice the difference?

Do you feel the strength of passions and the delicacy of affections?

By the way, both are healthy and important feelings for the well-being of humanity. However, each follows its own path.

Do you know why?

Affections are mostly hidden—quiet and deep— within the heart. Kindness, tenderness, and warmth are just a few examples of how affections work. They are private, gently whispering to awaken what’s good and pure inside us.

Passions, on the other hand, are strong, fiery, and bold. Excitement, temper, and recklessness are some examples of how passions work. They scream, shout, and might even fight to arouse and fuel the fiery emotions within us. Lust, in its many forms, is fed by the reinless passions— isn’t it?

Perhaps this is why affections live long and strong, while passions, in most cases, are extinguishable and short-lived.

And at the end of a long day, when eyes are tired and heavy with sleep, it’s the whisper of a genuine prayer, a kind gesture, or a gentle touch that weaves our happy dreams.

With hope and peace,

Nahla

memories

Feelings And Eyesight

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Changes in your eyesight do not really imply medical problems. Sometimes, they can be affected by how you feel and think.

A few years ago, my daughter didn’t feel happy in her class because her best friend left the school ‐ just like that, without even a short notice. There were other friends, but she couldn’t feel the same happiness as if  something was missing everyday at school. Then, one day, as we were walking back home after school, she told me she couldn’t see the board well. I let a few days pass while observing her reading and writing at home. All seemed fine. Yet, she insisted that she couldn’t see well at school.

I arranged an appointment at the optician’s, and to my surprise, he prescribed glasses for my daughter. Honestly, I didn’t trust his diagnosis. He seemed miserable himself, and imapteint too. I could feel my daughter’s nervousness during the eye test. But, sometimes, you can’t just disagree with the doctor with a reference based on your intuition.

My daughter chose the frame and colour of her glasses, feeling so excited about her new accessory. The following day, she took them to school, and put them on once or twice. The day after, she left them at home. By the third day she had forgotten all about them.

“I see better without them, Mama,” she said and hid them in her desk drawer. On the following year, at her annual eye test check, the optician was such a cheerful person with a genuine smile. My daughter felt relaxed during the examination, and her eyesight was perfect.

“Have you been wearing your glasses regularly,” the optician asked.
‘No,” my daughter quietly replied, feeling a bit guilty.
“Well, it doesn’t happen often, but you don’t need glasses anymore,” the optician gave the news as if announcing the marvellous success of a hardworking student.

“Really,’ my daughter gasped, her face beamed with a beautiful smile.

I smiled too, wondering whether it’s true that mothers have a sixth sense -that intuition commonly known as gut feelings.

Whether you’re a child or a grown-up, your eyesight can be affected by what’s hidden deep within your heart and mind. Some might lose their eyesight because of grief, yet the same ones might also regain it through the power of joy. There are no hopless cases, but hope for every case. It’s the cause of the problem that might need treatment, more than the problem itself.

Don’t they say that a healthy diet and a walk outdoor in the open, wide beauty of nature can improve eyesight? I couldn’t agree more, becuase they actually can change your mood, brighten your day, and calm your spirit. This is a simple recipe that might help you take off your glasses every now and then.

With hope and peace,

Nahla

personal thoughts

He Flew Away!

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That’s Blue,  my little bird. I think you already know about him. I wrote about him a few times.

Today, he flew away. 

First, I couldn’t ‘t believe it when I saw him ran outside after me into the garden. He’d done it once before, but this time, he didn’t stand on my shoulders, didn’t jump on the laundry airer, didn’t fly back inside, and didn’t even look back. He flew away, up and high in the blue, warm sky.

But, I believe it, and I even felt it. Deep in my heart, I knew he would. Today was the perfect day. Yes, it’s a perfect springy day. The birds outside are singing and calling one another, high and loud. He couldn’t stop getting excited, couldn’t stop spreading his small wings and letting the gentle wind take him away. 

I feel happy for him, but also heartbroken, very hearbroken. He’s been my friend for almost three years. Over the last two weeks, after his mate died, he followed me everywhere. He made me laugh, he made me angry, and today made me cry.

I believe birds have feelings, because they have a soul. Otherwise they wouldn’t get attached to others, wouldn’t fear, wouldn’t love life.

I only pray I made him happy!

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

daily prompt

Not a toy story person!

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Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

Take care of your stuff, son. Nahla will bin anything she thinks is of no need or use.” My mother warned  my husband, laughing, when we married years ago.

I don’t get as attached to things or places as I do to people, and sometimes animals. Perhaps that explains why whenever we move to a new place, I adapt quickly, and feel more excited than nervous.

On the other hand, getting attached to people is such a hard, painful experience because that’s life; always changing, always full of surprises.

One day, during the last year of my high school, my best friend’s mother knocked on our door around seven o’clock in the evening. I was surprised to see her as I had barely seen her when I visited my friend. But then, I understood that she was looking for her daughter (my friend) who left the house early in the morning after having a big row with her older brother. Shocked and trembling, I told her I hadn’t seen her at all that day. The mother left, her face full of anger and disappointment. I wept buckets that evening that my sister felt sorry for me and suggested we walk to my friend’s house to see if she had gone home. She did return, and I hugged her so long when she opened the door.

A week or so later, when I entred my class at school, I found another girl taking my friend’s seat next to me. Before I could ask about my friend, the girl gestured to one of the back benches and told me my friend wanted to swap places from now on. As I turned back to see where my friend was, I saw her laughing with one of boldest, most talkive girl in our year group. It hurt so much, more than the day I thought she would never return home. That day, I wept hard, but she was no longer my friend.

From that day on, especially after years of living abroad and meeting different people, I have enough of experience that my attachment to others has become less and less emotional. I have been training and teaching myself to be cool and practical, and expect less than more from others. And, things turn out to be much easier this way; simply like exchanging hellos and Goodbyes.

No strong attachment, no more expectations.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

That nightmare!

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How have you adapted to the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic?

The pandemic! That was such a hard time. Those long days were like a nightmare that you didn’t wish to live, but couldn’t escape either.

Do you remember the lock down, the vaccines, the masks, and the sanitizers? Didn’t you attempt to strengthen your immune system through food and exercise? Didn’t you keep up to date with the latest news of the pandemic? Wasn’t that what the majority were mainly concerned and worried about?

But then, we made it and lived it with its good and bad days because after every hardship comes ease, and, in most cases, there will be a light, an opening, at the end of the long dark tunnel. That’s how I believe.

I wept. I worried. I tried everything. I looked after my family, and they looked after me. And, with every passing day, I learned to pray more and to hand my worries and fears to my Creator. That’s how I adopted throughout those long days. That’s how my family and I   regained our high spirits, our fun indoors and outdoors, and our close ties together.

daily prompt

Pray

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What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?

Sometimes we can’t help having some negative feelings every now and then. Worry, fear, and hate, I think are the most common negative feelings in our life.

We worry about our children. We fear the onset of illness. We hate others who hurt or betray us. But what’s worse than these three is when we feel abandoned. Lonely. And, that’s when prayer come to the rescue.

When we pray we hand all our negative feelings and thoughts over to God. The heaviness and darkness that filled us will not merely be lessened but fully removed. Believe me; praying is healing.

With all the best wishes,

Nahla