I will stand by you…

     Have you ever scolded your kid, or your little brother maybe; because he was spending his time drawing on papers, wasting his time and messing up the room? You yelled “Stop this stupid thing you’re doing and go study!” didn’t you? I did that with my sister few days ago, and you know what; SHAME ON ME!

    Every one of us has a gift inside him; maybe he knows it, and maybe not. Naturally, we are always trying to find the hidden treasure inside ourselves, to give our life a meaning, and to find out what makes us special; that’s what my sister was doing, she was digging trying to find her treasure; but foolish me! I stopped her! Even though I could’ve just said “Sweetie, you can continue your drawing, after you finish your homework” or “Sweetie,  please don’t throw papers on the floor, you can draw whatever you like, but keep the place clean” … But I didn’t! Instead I discouraged her and hurt her feelings!

    It came to my notice while I was reading some articles about “How to change bad habits”; that whenever someone writes helpful tips, “Get support” must be included.

    Come to think of it, if it hadn’t been for my siblings and my friends Hla, Rachel, Hend and Omar I wouldn’t have finished my story, I wouldn’t have created this blog  and I wouldn’t have been writing my thoughts down in these posts!  If they hadn’t supported me, I wouldn’t have had the courage to share my writings with you.

    It’s true; “Support” is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give you; it helps develop yourself and accomplish your dreams; and without it no one can move forward. Personally, I think it’s one of the human’s basic needs; it’s necessary in every relationship; parenthood, friendship or love, without support the relationship is destructive!

  Today, I learned that relationships are not about hanging out, going shopping together and gossiping; it’s about support! And sometimes the only thing your friend wants to hear is “I support you, and I will stand by you”. So, when your friend tells you that she’s going on a diet; don’t take her out for junk food; but yell at her if you catch her cheating. When your friend tells you he’s quitting smoking, don’t give up on him so fast; encourage him and believe he can do it; maybe he will take it more seriously if you do! When your friend, kid or sister tries a new hobby, take an interest instead of shutting her down.  Be a good friend :)

The window!

One month ago we had a tragic accident in our family, we lost our precious grandmother; and it was a shock for all of us. :( For a moment there I felt like I lost all my family, because grandma was the one person that brings the whole family together; and I swear I never felt that lonely like I felt the day of her funeral.

But on the same week of her death my uncle`s wife gave birth to the newest member of our family, my little cousin. :) And suddenly all the family started to come together and surround the baby and his parents; that baby was the one who brought us the joy back and helped us recovering our grief :)  

I`ve always believed that God is too merciful to take something  we love without giving us something in return to bring happiness back to our hearts; but I have never seen this theory so clear like when grandma died. His gift to us was so obvious and great... Thank God  :)

If you ever lose a friend, a job or an opportunity, be sure that there is something somewhere for you in return. The quote “When God closes a door, somewhere He opens a window” is very true, and sometimes you`re going to have to let go of your grief and look for that window around you because that`s how life works.

So today`s message is: Never lose hope, God`s mercy is infinite :) and your window will have a beautiful view, definitely :) :)

Rabbit vs. Duck!

Can you please take a look at the picture on the right side of the page…?

What can you see?

A rabbit; or a duck

Take another look now, but concentrate more; until you can see the other side of the picture.
In my opinion, the guy who drew this picture is a genius; he didn’t just draw a picture to confuse people between the rabbit and the duck, it`s not about them at all; in fact this picture here represents life!

Yes! Life is like a paradoxical picture that everyone sees in a different way. But that doesn’t mean that some of us are right and the others are wrong, it just means that we complete each other somehow; we won’t be able to get the whole picture without listening and understanding how the other sees it.  But if we do; we can be an unbeatable team. People waste a lot of time attacking others without even considering taking time to understand them.

I meet people daily on the internet, in the college, and even in the subways! They`re always fighting with each other even about things that are not worth a fight!  They spend the whole day arguing that they waste their time and energy for nothing. And then they go back home and complain “What a bad day!”
Well, don’t blame the day! We`re the ones doing that to ourselves; we choose to fight, even though if we just relax and listen to the other side we may actually find a common ground.

Dear reader, today’s lesson is: Take a breath, listen and understand!

Something new!

The mother is standing in the kitchen cooking, she reaches to get a pan off the cook; but the pan is so hot that she gets her hand burnt! Few seconds later, the little kid, who has watched the whole scene, repeats what his mother has just did, getting his hands burnt too!

How often do we see something like this happening? This small scene happens every day! But I have a question; why does the kid touch the hot plate? Does he want to get burnt? Or is he so innocent that he expects a different result?”

The new motto for young people these days is “I must try everything and learn from my experiences!” this is what a young man use as an excuse for smoking, doing drugs or committing adultery! Well, I appreciate your enthusiasm guys but that`s not what the phrase meant!

I am not saying that I am against new experiences, absolutely not; I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to travel abroad and see the world, skydive, ride a motorcycle, take karate lessons, and many others adventures that I am willing to try; because they will be useful, adventurous and amazing!

 But smoking?

 Around 5.4 million deaths a year are caused by tobacco, it`s neither a new experience nor a useful one! So if you`re still willing to try it then you`re just acting like the little kid that burns his hands! In fact you don’t have the kid`s innocence, you`re just a fool to expect a different result!

You know what? It`s a great thing to learn from our own experiences, it helps us build our personality and changes the way we see life. But it`s even a better thing to learn from everyone around us; because you`ll be gaining way more experiences than you alone can handle! It`s okay to try something new even if it turns out to be a mistake; but to make a mistake intentionally, you should be hanging your head in shame!     

Dear reader! There`s a big world out there full of adventures! So take care which ones you choose, because it`s all about choices! And as you`re willing to learn from your own experiences don`t ignore learning from the others, because that`s what smart people do!