Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears. ~Khalil Gibran

 and so this shall pass!

She knows by his face when he needs a word of encouragement. He knows that silence suits her best in the morning. They often finish sentences with a “you know what I mean” nod. Through the years they have rubbed off each other’s rough spots, grown together and now, seeing them together, they look comfortable.

The Qur’an says: “And among His signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves that you may dwell in tranquility with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts); Verily in that are signs for those who reflect” (30:21).

When a woman and a man marry, this picture of companionship, love, and tranquility is their goal. Achieving it, though, is not simple or easy, and many of us do not. In the United States, 60% of marriages end in divorce. Even those that last beyond the honeymoon stages, before the challenges of everyday living set in, may become boring, unfulfilling, and driven by factors other than the true desire to remain in one another’s company. Muslim couples are not immune to the deadly influences that break up or stagnate marital relationships. Breakdowns in communication, difficulty discussing emotionally charged issues such as finances or child-rearing practices and the challenge of effectively resolving divisive issues are all factors that can sour a potentially gratifying marriage. (Read on …)

So whenever faced with a crisis view it as a test of faith, and don’t wish to be overly blessed because blessings tend to be curses in disguise. ~ Rihab

You have got to be out of your mind to think that I will allow such degrading comments here. You guys know who you are. It is quite sad that there are a lot of sick minds out there who are full of ignorance and hatred. Stop posting non-sense for comments because - really - you’re only wasting your time! And oh, in case you insist on continuing to waste your time, go right ahead…your comments are marked as ’spam’!

Looking through this site was a bitter reminder of the on- going aggression and daily barbaric conditions of the brutal israeli occupation the Palestinians have been living for so many years. Having said that, I’d like to quote Mazin Qumsiyeh: “We Palestinians are just like the flowers that I see now from my window. No matter how in the cold and harsh winter they are broken, no matter how in the hot summer they are burned and dried, no matter where in the autumn wind they are scattered, a day comes when they bloom again, fresh, young and so beautiful.”

These statistics have been updated last on March 1, 2006.

American news reports repeatedly describe israeli military attacks against the Palestinian population as “retaliation.” However, when one looks into the chronology of death in this conflict, the reality turns out to be quite different. (Read on …)

I particularly liked the ‘Sugar Children.’ “There’s a poet named Ferreira Gullar from Brazil.  He has a poem that sort of explains where the sugar comes from. His bar? No.  It comes from the store?  No.  Until he ends up … ‘It’s with the bitter life, of bitter people, I sweeten my coffee on this marvelous morning in Ipanema.’  And I was drinking coffee by the time that it  hit me really strong.  And I said, ‘Yeah.  I’m drinking the childhood of these children.  The beauty … you know, the sweetness of them.  It’s right here in my coffee.’”
It’s said that Vik Muniz was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1961; that his mother was a switchboard operator; that his father was a bartender; that he’s read parts of Ovid’s Metamorphoses every morning since he was six.

Vik says his grandmother taught him to read at a young age, but according to a system that identified complete words, not syllables or letters. That meant he consequently had trouble writing when he entered school, and during those first two frustrating years of schooling turned to a more universal language: drawing.

If drawing was one half of the equation, compulsive curiosity was the other. One day the Encyclopedia Britannica arrived at his house via wheelbarrow — Vik’s father had won it in a pool game. Instantly, the book was Vik’s link to the mysteries and details of the outside world. “It was like the Internet,” he recalls. “But, you know, for primitive people.” (Read on …)

The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating- in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life.

I haven’t been outraged in sometime now … Anyway,

I’ve been away from the  PC this past weekend and the time that I was sitting at the PC I was too busy doing other important things, which left me with no time to post anything here. I logged in late last night in attempt to post something, to find 3 messages in the moderation que. The way the comments are set up is that first time comments are held up for moderation for spam purposes. The three messages waiting in the que are of no relevance to the topics what-so-ever, and not only that, but they are from fake email addresses. I seriously envy those who have too much free time on their hands!

For the most part, feelings are nothing if they don’t make sense …

The past several days, I’ve been having this constant urge to keep eating … non-stop! and I’ve been doing just that - eating non-stop! Craving things I typically don’t crave and wont miss… such as chocolate, ice cream, chinese food, butter…to make the list short: anything that’s edible.

Today, I thought to myself, since it’s a new month might as well have a “This Month I will” mental list … So… this month I will use the treadmill that has been folded since ages ago, the bike, the trampoline, gazelle, stepper… and will be hitting the spot with Denise Austin 3 days a week! or better yet 4!

And this time, I am very determined!