No matter your age, race, religion, nationality, gender, sexuality, skin colour, language – when it comes to the indiscriminate killing of children, even the coldest of hearts weep. It seems like the entire world is shocked and enraged about the killings in Peshawar. It’s appalling! Disgraceful! Makes me sick to the stomach even trying to imagine what the parents of these children are going through. The trauma that the little souls who have survived is unimaginable. But what of it? My Twitter and Facebook feeds were filled with condemnation of these barbaric and inhumane acts. Social media is a great platform to generate awareness, share your feelings/opinions and unite (albeit, virtually) against such atrocities. But again, what of it? I’ve struggled all day. I was so enraged that simply venting my frustration and vocalizing my rage just wasn’t going to cut it.
Tag Archives: Mindful Living
Keeping Calm in an Unsafe World
32 Things I’ve Learned – Part 4 of 4
Life has snuck up on me again preventing me from paying attention to the quality of my mind. It is a constant struggle to wean ourselves off of the habits that we’ve cultivated. In any case, I’m here now reminiscing the next eight lessons I’ve learned during the two-month long hiatus.
- I’ve learned that women have superpowers: Four kids, a business partner, no dishwasher, a part-time business and no help – these are only some of the characteristics that describe a good friend of mine. How she manages it all without losing her sanity and with a smile is beyond me. She says she just takes life as it comes; fighting it doesn’t help but standing tall amid adversities does. That’s a superpower, isn’t it? Read the rest of this entry
32 Things I’ve Learned – Part 2 of 4

Gandhi’s Top 10 Fundamentals For Changing The World
Source: Casper Odendaal, Author of Random Acts of Kindness
Continuing from the previous list of 32 things I’ve learned while being aware of my state of mind, here is the second instalment:
- I’ve learned that people are more than willing to lend a helping hand if you ask for it. Our ego prevents us from building trusting relationships with one another. But in reality, it is our mind’s ignorance that makes us believe that asking for help or advice belittles our capability. Read the rest of this entry
32 Things I’ve Learned – Part 1 of 4
It was 32 days ago that I wrote my last blog post. And not a single day went by that I didn’t think about updating my blog. Let’s just say I struggled terribly in practicing my last “Mindful Monday” resolution: Be Kind To Yourself. In my pursuit of mindful living, compassion and maintaining a kind heart, I realized I wasn’t paying attention to myself and my emotions.
So I took the past 32 days to let life get in the way and develop “inner strength” that Kate’s post on Mindful Living: Inner Strength motivated me to develop.
Be Kind to Yourself
“We all have our shortcomings and no one is perfect”. Heard that one before? Sure, you have. Most of us deal with it by beating ourselves up for not being able to fix these “shortcomings”. If a friend was being harsh on his/herself, we would instantly ask them to snap out of it. We would remind them how special they are and how lucky you are to have them in your life. But we struggle with showing the same kindness to ourselves.
Develop Patience to Overcome Anger
My mindful Monday resolution for last week was “to use every opportunity to get angry as an opportunity to develop patience”.
Let’s just say that “patience” is a virtue that I’ve struggled all my life to develop in any significance. As a result negative emotions such as frustration, irritation, and anger comes easily to me – it doesn’t take much to drive me crazy. And it’s astonishing how every time I regret the consequences of my anger and yet I never learn to take control of it. This past week, I’ve made a conscious effort to take control of the negative emotions and turn them around to a “silver lining” – that of developing patience toward the circumstances that irk me.
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Mindful Living: Inner Strength
If you’ve embarked on a journey of “mindfulness” like me and are looking for some inspiration to practice being in the present, you have to read this post on Inner Strength by Kate, the author of the Walnuts n Pears blog ~ one of my favourite blogs on living well and meaningfully.
She does a beautiful job of highlighting what it really means to be mindful and “in the present” and how important it is to check in with yourself to see how you’re doing.
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