The Art of Sabr: A Practice That Goes Beyond Patience
There’s a word we use in Urdu and Punjabi; a word that I heard over and over again while growing up. “Sabr,” my mother would impatiently say standing over the stove, as I tugged at her sleeve because my tummy was rumbling. “Sabr”, my grandmother would smile knowingly...
6 Life-Changing Lessons That My Spiritual Master Left Me
What does it mean to have a Spiritual Master? What does it mean to be a humble disciple? These are two questions that had never even crossed my mind until I met my husband, the man that was the means for me to meet the one man that would absolutely transform my...
6 Ways to Tame the Voices in Our Heads
“You can do this. This is the year. This is your time.” “Oh, but you say that every year. You don’t have it in you. You can never complete anything. You think you can do this? No way. Not a chance in hell.” “Oh come on, don’t listen to her. You know that’s not the...
The 7 Universal Laws of the Universe and How to Use Them to Create a Better Life
Life isn’t just happening. The way life is happening for us is because of us.That can be a hard pill to swallow for those who believe they always draw the short straw; that the world is against them and that life is just so damn hard.But it doesn’t have to be that...
Whispers on the Wind.
Gods whispers reached me on the wind. “Do you trust me?” I heard His voice loud and clear; it rang through my racing heart, coursed it’s way through my veins, I felt it run up and down the steps of my spine and somehow, I knew that it was ringing out from...
To the Person Feeling Lost this Ramadan
It was the summer of 2010, and Ramadan had just arrived. After the shenanigans of my brother’s wedding and everything that comes with that just a couple of weeks prior to the holy month, we now had a new sister-in-law in the house and that first suhoor...
Gut Punches & Keeping Faith
I read the words in the business email I’d received earlier that morning, and although I knew it was coming, it still felt like someone had taken a giant, iron fist and punched me right in the gut. This has happened before and I’ve definitely been there...
A Whatsapp Convo with… A Muslim Woman in an Inter-Religious Marriage
As a child and even well into my adolescence, I was taught to believe that a Muslim woman marrying outside of her religion was the worst thing she could do. Deep inside, even from a young age, I questioned such ideologies however, and never...
Thoughts on Ramadan from Humans Around the World
My own Feelings About Ramadan Through the Ages With each year that passes, for me, Ramadan seems to bring a new set of thoughts and feelings. (For those that don’t know much about Ramadan, check out my post ‘Why I Fast’.) I remember being so excited...
“Be who you truly are” | Art & Words
It sounds so simple doesn't it? "Be who you truly are". But being who you truly are - although the answer to life's most persistently asked questions - is quite possibly one of the most difficult things to do. It means unlearning and unconditioning yourself from every...
Anita Moorjani’s Dying to be Me – My Thoughts
It was around March or April time last year (2017) when I was home alone with the baby who was sleeping soundly in her baby rocking chair, when while flicking through YouTube a suggested TED Talk popped up titled ‘Dying to be me!’. Immediately it caught my attention...
Return to Love.
So I'm standing here staring at this waterfall. The water gushes down, a cloud-like continuous foam. It is roaring; it's thirst has been quenched from the recent rain fall and it wants the world to know. It's sounds mixed with the wind rustling...
A Whatsapp Convo with… Someone who has had an Out-of-Body Experience
I’ve read and come across information online about out of body experiences or OBEs (even from a really young age when I used to avidly buy SpineChiller magazine every week!) but never have I known or spoken to someone that has actually had one. I don’t believe in...
29 Things I’ve Learnt in 29 Years
It’s almost half past midnight and I’ve just entered my 29th birthday and begun my 30th year of life in human form. Oh my GOD – I’m in the final year of my twenties… how did that even happen?!? Anyway, I’ve been thinking deeply – particularly over the last few nights...
A 4th and a 1st Birthday
I feel like I literally blinked and in that time, suddenly my birthday month turned into the birthday month of my babies; both of who turned out to be unexpected and surprising little bundles of not just joy, but hard work, perseverance and a test of my patience...
Speaking to the Sky.
Everything is so busy. I stopped for a moment. Breathed in the mystical air of day meeting night, and looked up to the sky – ever changing in those moments, a myriad of watercolour; strokes being brushed, swaying this way and that, before my very eyes.
Don’t Forget to Breathe.
I sat looking out over the horizon, gently swinging my legs back and forth, the weight of the world nestled deeply atop my shoulders.
Be Careful What You Pray For…
They say be careful what you wish for. I say, be careful what you pray for. I am learning every single day the enormity of the love that God has for me. But when I tell you it is through struggle and fear and gut wrenching inner turmoil that His love presents itself,...
Somewhere on a Park Bench.
Here I am, sitting on a park bench in the country that is my new home. The rustling of the trees, the hypnotic crashing sounds of the waterfall just behind me along with the sweetest birdsong, sends shivers down my spine: I feel peace. True peace. I think of my...
He Found Me Lost.
To find your way, you must first lose your way. And when I tell you I was lost, I was so, so lost. You see, they brought me up telling me I was this religion and this is how we do things. They told me not to do this and not to do that, and to be ever fearful....
Transform
"There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious." ~ C.G. Jung This...
Hidden Ego
This past week or so, has been extremely reflective. I am learning more and more everyday about the subtleties of the ego and how they arise without us even being aware. Sometimes the ego presents itself as as a need to be right; sometimes as the need to give an...
Journey Home.
Some days nothing is more difficult than the battle being fought within yourself. Where your thoughts and ideas are at war with your beliefs and ideologies. Where all of a sudden you find yourself questioning everything you have ever known to reach a place where there...
Dark Spring.
It was like the whole world had gone dark. Not just the kind of darkness you get when the moon rises and the world falls asleep, but the kind of darkness which sneaks into every single nook and cranny and wound and open crevice of your bruised and battered...
The Wound is Where the Light Enters You
I prayed to be destroyed; to be ruined; for everything I have ever known to be shattered into a million unrecognisable pieces - in order for me to know You. So how can I complain, when all I have prayed for is slowly but surely coming true?...
Superheroes, Water Bugs and Dragonflies
Today, a gorgeous 3-year-old superhero with a golden mane of angelic curls, a soul even more beautiful and a spirit so strong it could take on the world, was laid to rest. I attended his church memorial service and it was the first time I had ever been to such an...
One Human Race
Last night, I watched a documentary about the Ku Klux Klan. I think we all know that they are blatantly and quite proudly racist as hell, but seriously, looking deeper in, some of their ideologies are actually absurd. As they marched the streets shouting "white...
uncomfortable familiarity.
When you feel like you do not really belong anywhere here, remember ultimately you do not belong to this world. You have come from and are returning to so much more. Keep faith.
echoes in the night.
In the silence of the night I hear the naked echoes of my soul as it leaves my body to speak to You It is the most natural thing I have ever known Me returning to You I am always returning to You Because without You I cannot be found And without You I cannot be saved...
Why I Fast
Last week, my fourteen-year-old nephew loudly proclaimed, “I can’t wait for Ramadan! Samosas, pakoras… all that nice food!”. I smiled, and looked at him. “Ramadan isn’t all about that nice food though darling,” I said. “Do you know why we actually fast?” He looked at...
Proximity
It is in those times: the times when your soul is in anguish, screaming out for a saviour, crying out for someone, anyone, to run to you and bring back those long lost broken pieces of your heart... And it is in those times: the times when your soul is free and...
Sunday Thoughts
It's just, sometimes you can't help but wonder where things went wrong - trust me, I know. The lovers that left... the friends that showed their true colours... the family that turned their backs. All of those people that promised you forever, but disappeared in the...
Rebirth Struggles.
Every single day, He tests me. He brings out things from the deepest depths of me, which I didn't even know existed: good and bad. Sometimes it's such a struggle - the struggle with yourself. But there's one thing I must always keep in mind: blessed are the ones who...
I choose Love.
I chose to walk this way because I want to walk this way: a path laid with thorns and roses, where to experience the beauty I must get pricked, before I eventually reach the Light. You see, I choose to want a life where I feel every single sorrow in order to...
21st Century Noah’s Ark
Today I watched the movie Noah. It’s a very rare occurrence that I ever get to watch a movie in peace anymore; what, with a 1 year old that doesn’t sleep very well and hasn’t slept very well since he was born. But these are the joys of motherhood: sacrificing your own...
An Alien Conversation
Today I had an extremely deep conversation... about aliens. So there we were, my husband and I, sitting across from each at the kitchen table, bright streaks of Mauritian sunshine streaming in through the window, enjoying breakfast together in those few stolen moments...
Broken Glass
Today I broke a glass. It wasn’t just any old glass though. For those of you who know me, you’ll know that I have a little henna and henna product business called Beyond Henna. I’d been working hard on a customer order for a lady all the way in Qatar; she’d asked for...
Death by Masseuse
Today I went for a massage. I lay there face down on the massage table, cheek pressed a little too firmly against the towel cushioning my head, or cushioning my face as it really was, and my mind began to wander. I know the whole point of getting a massage is to...
Road to Light
The road to light is not easy, and no-one ever claimed that it was. You take your first step after awakening and you know what it is that you want, so you begin walking. And you walk and walk a few hundred miles and you realise that nothing has changed - it is then...
A Place Called Pout
Away from it all, in a place where time never was, Peaceful. No torment or violence afflicted from the outside world and therefore, no torment afflicted within; A place where I didn't even know my soul yearned to be. Back to the Earth, back to humanity, back to...
