Tag: thoughts

daily prompt

Re and Tire

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How do you want to retire?


I’ve just checked the dictionary to know more about the various meanings of  ‘Re’ when it is a prefix attached to  the word with no hyphen—just like retire.

So, one of the options is that Re can mean back and away or after.

And, of course, tire is about exhaustion and your need for recharging, right?

However, with the combination of both syllables, ‘retire’ can mean it’s time to step away and start afresh, anew after years of hard work, stress, workaholism, wins and losses, and possibly a permanent medical prescription.

Therefore, the word ‘retire’ itself is actually not as pessimistic as some people think—or worse, fear. If only you ponder its other positive possibilities, your retirement could turn out to be the best phase of your life.

I still remember how my father’s health and mood deteriorated after retirement. In fact, he was not even open to announcing the news outside our family’s circle. He didn’t tell me as I was the youngest not to upset me with his “sad” news. I did know, though— how could a teenager back then not figure it out? Three years after his retirement, my father passed away.

Retirement—the end of life— felt like a motto in the nineties, and, of course, before that. The sadness and isolation my father experienced were so common that almost everyone in their sixties withdrew into themselves.

Now, after sharing my thoughts and memories, it has just crossed my mind how full‐time mothers are blessed not to worry much about retirement. When children grow, mothers usually become more relieved—yet their position and influence remain strong. Don’t you agree?

But, of course, with my positive interpretation of retirement, I’m ready with a handful of chores for my husband’s retirement when it comes ( still years to go).

With hope and peace,

Nahla





personal thoughts

A Lady

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“You can tell a lady, because nobody knows she’s there.”

How would you interpret this quote?

Negative or postive?

Please don’t fight over it. An arabic adage says: if you offer a person a hundred brains to pick one, they pick their own.

According to the context in which this quote was mentioned, a lady doesn’t show off, doesn’t flirt, and, of course, doesn’t forget she’s a woman. And, this was believed to be a positive and respectful image of a lady.

Over the time, things changed, and the positive became negative, and the negative became positive.

And then, things changed again, introducing new criteria: no positive, no negative— all possible, all the same.

Now, can you just move your eyes, perhaps your glasse, to the first line and re-read the quote—carefully this time.

Did you notice anything beyond positive or negative?

What if ‘lady’ is not used as a title or compliment, but as a presence?  Did you notice that the ‘Nobody knows’ might also mean ‘they know,’ but with their third eye?  And finally, could ‘She’s there’ be anyone and everywhere—yet unlike anyone and not available everywhere.

This can only be a special perspective, right?

With hope and peace,

Nahla

personal thoughts

They Can’t Mingle

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There are things that don’t fit, match, or combine. Although anything seems possible these days, this perspective remains well-known and carefully considered.

Yesterday, for example, I decided to make, not apple crumble, but strawberry crumble. It just so happened that I had more strawberries and wanted to use them before they expired. I used the usual familiar ingredients but added something extra—something overflowing from its jar— cocoa powder. I added a generous amount to strawberries and baked the crumble. The result was unique—but not in the yummy way. The sweet crumble turned out bitter and sour. Hopefully, today, it will taste more edible.

Perhaps you like the cocoa–strawberry combination. Actually, I enjoy each ingredient separately, but together I found the mix awful. If only the jar had a bit more space, I wouldn’t have undertaken this experiment. But at least there’s a postive outcome—I’m writing this post.

So, as my crumble experiment proved, some things can’t just be added, mixed, or combined. You can’t, for example, blend truth with lies or belief and atheism. If you do, the outcome will be so vague, so meaningless.

Don’t you see the difference between these qualities—or rather the gap that separates them? But, though they can’t mingle, they can still define each other.

Truth is the quality of being true, while lies are things that are not true. See? They can’t be mixed— just like oil and water. Yet, clever as we are, we create something in between and call it ‘a white lie.’ Ironically, instead of using grey—the blend of two colours—we use white, a solid colour that indicates its separate entity, even though it’s attached to ‘lie.’

Therefore, while we may cross the line between certain qualities, we can never erase it.

With hope and peace,

Nahla












Just writing

It’s Not Important

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Today, I came across a beautiful sentence with a beautiful meaning. It says: It’s not important for people to give you a special place in their hearts, because nowadays, hearts seem too small to embrace everyone. However, it’s enough to receive their respect.

Do you know why I find it beautiful?  Because it’s true.

The fast-changing rhythm of life often fills our hearts with disappointment, hurt,  indifference, selfishness, fear, and other negative emotions. Of course, love, kindness, compassion, and other noble feelings still exist, but they are squeezed and squashed with other negative ones. Therefore, it becomes a great challenge for a newcomer to even try to find a place in such a mess.

On the other hand, respect means making a good impression – one that draws others to remember you and seek your company, advice, or simply your presence. In other words, you win their hearts by treading this different, safer road.

That’s why it’s enough to win others’ respect; after all, that’s another way to win their hearts.

With hope and peace,

Nahla



Just writing

Your Post Title

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Do you think of your post title before or after writing a post?

For me it depends on whether my ideas and thoughts are flowing or stuck inside my head. If they are flowing, I will hurry to write them down and then think about the title. If they are stuck, I’ll take my time thinking about the title until I  know what to write about. Once I fix the title, my thoughts will start flowing into my new piece.

You know that sometimes, I forget all about the title and press “Publish”. But, since I usually check whether my post is published, I quickly notice that most important element of my post – its title –is missing, and I add it. I hope you haven’t noticed that, have you?

But don’t you think that the title of your post or book not only highlights and introduces the idea of your piece, but it is also part of your voice as both a writer and a person? I really find it interesting to think this way because your voice reflects how you feel when you’re talking, and writing is a unique, creative method of talking.  And since, you’re human, you experience different feelings that, willingly or not, will be reflected in your piece. (But, of course, that’s different with the news articles, as their titles, in most cases, have no genuine voice and are issued under authorised policy.)

People say you can’t judge a book only by its cover, right? But may I make a tiny addition and say that you can judge a book by its title because its the first thing you as a reader hear and feel about its writer.

With hope and peace,

Nahla

personal thoughts

They Asked Her Why …

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They asked her why she said ‘no’ to his marriage proposal.
‘Because he’s so poor—money is all he has,’ she said, smiling.

I read this very short story once, and isn’t it a beautiful brief one that offers priceless advice to young girls and women around the world.

Say that’s vague idealism, that’s madness, or that’s out-of‐place -and- time wisome. Still, it’s such genuine advice — an ultimate truth! Money alone doesn’t make real happiness.

Just read it carefully. It simply means not to marry only for money. Yes, those who seek only money in life may have it multiplied, trilionied, and live the life of their dreams – or even a life that surpasses all possible dreams. Yes, they can buy the whole world, govern it, and control it. Yes, they can look young, enjoy perfect health, and create robots. But all of it can vanish in the blink of an eye, as can the life around it. Money without sanity, without communication, without understanding, without wisdom — and above all, without love can’t create a strong bond or a healthy marriage. 

One old Egyptian movies dramatised this idea beautifully. The hero was an illiterate – completely illiterate – but a very smart garbage dealer (I’m not sure if this is the right word for his profession but he owned something like a waste dump centre) He made a fortune at a young age, and his wealth grew year after year. One day, a beautiful young lady crossed his path, and without wasting any time, he began his investigation. He found out that she was in love with a poor but highly educated teacher, and he also knew about her dream of becoming a doctor. He knocked straightaway on her parents’ door, asking for her hand. Dazzled by both his money and his promise to fund her medical qualification, she agreed to marry him.

Halfway through the movie, the poor girl became a famous doctor, Her husband made more and more money but remained the same illiterate garbage dealer. Their married life turned into a distant life, just like that of two distant relatives who hadn’t met, rarely talked to each other, and never shared any warm feelings.

One day, the husband decided to change things by all means when he discovered he was dying. He was the one who made his wife a famous doctor, and believed he had the very right to be a part of her life untill the end. He began visiting her clinic, joining her meetings, and waiting for her every night. Yet,things went from bad to worse. He couldn’t understand anything about medicine or even understand his wife. She hated him, hated his money, and hated her life, until she finally asked for a divorce. But it was too late. The last scene was for the wife, screaming and crying, full of guilt because she hadn’t tried even once to help her husband as he had helped her. And, she hated herself for marrying only for money.

Now, do you still think that’s all just vague idealism?

With hope and peace,

Nahla

personal thoughts

Is That Possible?

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As usual I was scrolling through Instagram last night when I came across a post that, in my view,  was quite strange. The vlogger’s video briefly showed his ‘Loving All’ motto. Do you get it? Let me explain more.

Throughout the video, the vlogger was holding different posters, which he changed one after the other. Each poster has one main sentence, beginning with ‘ I love’ and  the rest of the sentence referred to different things — different, but not necessarily opposites. Honestly, I don’t doubt his good intentions or his attempt to spread kindness and love. The problem is that my mind couldn’t understand his ‘loving all’ logic. Let me give you an example that, by the was way, wasn’t in any of his posters, but similar to the idea of his examples.

Suppose one day, you pass by a person holding a sign which read : “I love pork. I love halal food.” I don’t know how would you react. Perhaps, you wouldn’t even notice him or his sign, and keep on walking. I would definitely walk on too, but, to be honest, I wouldn’t forget about the sign.

If the person were a Muslim, I would wonder why on earth he was saying that, considering the whole world knows that Muslims don’t eat pork. If he was not, I would first wonder whether he understands that this combination is impossible? Then I would wonder why he didn’t just use ‘eat’ or ‘can’ instead of ‘love’. Love is such a strong word, full of feelings, whereas ‘like’ is simpler, more casual,  right? To love something means to accept all of it, and if you accept all of it, it’s impossible to accept what can’t be a part of it? This is why the two sentences together seem awkward. Does this make any sense? I hope it does.

I love it when I go to London, which doesn’t happen often because of the distance. I like to watch people of different sizes, colours, and cultures crossing the same road together. They probably don’t know each other, don’t have to love each other, but there some sort of understanding and respect filling the air around them.

Can a person love everyone and everything? Is it possible to repeat ‘Amen’ to everything, even without listening ? But then, what would you become? And, where would you stand?


With hope and peace,



Nahla

personal thoughts

A Well – Furnished Mind

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Having a well- furnished mind is usually interpreted within academic qualifications. But is that the only method to furnish and nourish our minds? Take your time to think about it. I did take mine while reflecting on my own experience

You have to go to school to learn, then to universities to earn a degree, and if you can afford it, pursue the higher level of postgraduate studies. At each stage, our minds are expected to grow and develop — and they do, unless incidents like cheating and plagiarism are involeved. That’s why education has become the most powerful weapon both nations and individuals strive to possess. And, this is how I have been raised, following this strategy. Still this strategy is not the only method to effectively furnish your brain.

How did you feel when you finished your academic studies and stepped into the real world? Did you feel as if you had entered a new phase of practical education taught through real life experiments in real life labs? Did you feel this confrontation shaking you to the core because, in most cases, you were not ready to learn more or to abondon what you had already spent years learning. That’s exactly how I felt after my graduation.

I have learned and am still learning more from life — with its people, its places, its changes, and its ups and downs. I’ve learned from reading,  imagination, writing, and blogging. All of  these things and more have nourished and furnished my mind. You know what?  I really feel blessed to be a full — time mother, because it has given me more time to become the person I truely like to be.

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

Without Why?

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The rose is without why
She blooms because she blooms
She does not care for herself
Asks not if she is seen

Isn’t this a beautiful poem?

And, yes, why ask why when the answer shines clear like daylight in summer?

And, why ask why when others might not see you, yet you know you do exist?

And why ask why nobody cares when you believe there’s a God who always cares?

Do we need to give reasons, seek appreciation, or crave validation to exist in this world?

But we do exist, and all we need is to be ourselves. In other words, all we need is authenticity to find our peace of mind, our beauty, and our own journey in life.

Now, do you know why the rose lives without why? Or, perhaps, you have a different interpretation of the poem?

With hope and peace,

Nahla