Loss of Hearing My Inner Voice

It has been a very very long time since I had a day to myself. On Friday, I went down to Wadi Mujib for an overnight. Here is how I spent my perfect 24 hours!

While driving I was listening & singing some of my favorite oldies & enjoying the scenery along the road. Immediately after checking in around 4 pm I laid down on the hammock facing dead sea. I started eating Man'aoush half zaa'tar & half cheese :-) yummy yummy. How humanity could survive without zaa'tar :-)

I rocked myself (on the hammock) from one side to another till 9 pm. I was not reading, nor listening to music... I was just observing silence, sea, mountains, sunset, darkness, stars....filling my soul with peace.

I went inside my room assuming that I am gonna sleep on the spot, instead I read till 10:30. Next morning, the minute I opened my eyes & for 2 hours tugged under a blanket, laying on the hammock I felt & enjoyed the early sun light & cool breath. After breakfast, I took some pictures of the area & went down to the sea level with my book. I kept on tossing under the sun like a Shwerma on a grill & reading till 4:30 pm. I finished the novel :-) then I went back to my room packed & laid again on my hummock singing my gratitude prayer.

I uprooted myself to leave... left craving for more. Despite this unfulfilled feeling & the short period, I managed to see a tremendous change of how I was feeling before & after. A soul make over!

I can't believe of all what I know about myself, I managed to clutter my inner self with daze, chaos and noise. To extent I have hard time hearing my inner voice. I lost my serenity & connection with myself. I lost my best friend. What terrified me most, is that when I considered going alone a feeling of of aloneness & loneliness overwhelmed me. Which I never had before...I do maintain & restore my balance when I am alone.

For months I had this nagging need of spending time in nature by myself or with just one friend. My daily working out is not enough any more to maintain my serenity. Exercising in a gym is not a meditating routine… not like walking outdoors. Staying in my house for a couple of hours now & then is not enough... I could not any longer digest & reflect on all these events, emotions, & people around me.

I transformed my life from a life revolving around a few precious people to a life full of people & social events. I no longer could manage a balance between time for myself & time for others.

I know my reasons for postponing spending time alone but it is not an excuses to permit myself to reach such a stage. These noises & chaotic emotions that fills my soul have to end. I want my best friend & true self back.

It is just one corrective action that I need to take: Plenty of out door activities alone

My recipe for a perfect day consists of:

• Being in nature, near water is an added value
• Enjoying silence
• Hearing my inner voice
• Reading a good book
• Eating yummy food
• Listing my blessings

May our souls be blessed with serenity, peace & connection with our true selves.
more photos

Warning! Challenges All Way Long

These words caught my attention. I have changed them a bit to reflect my opinion of why people don't take a stand for injustice in order to make this world a better place for all of us to live in.

Warning! Challenges All Way Long

People...Don’t know

Know but don’t care

Care but don’t know what to do

Know what to do but don’t know how to do it

Know how to do it but don’t have the support

Have support but terrified to do it.

Anthem of Bread & Flowers

Here is an attempt to translate to English the lyrics of "Anthem of Bread & Flowers" a song by Marcel Khalifeh

You have enough of bread,

But

Not enough for all the people

And the earth is full of spikes of wheat

Uprise

And fight

You have enough of love

But

Not enough for all people

And the earth is flowers and letters

Uprise

And fight

You have what is sufficient from land and house

But

Not enough for all the people

And the earth is full of sand

Stand Up and struggle

Uprise

Don't keep prisons,

Uprise

Don't keep chains

Stay

Between the torches a torch

Sumud Resembled in The Palestine Youth Orchestra

Watching The Palestinian Youth Orchestra playing for two hours in Alhussien Theater yesterday was overwhelming. I was not watching only young Palestinian musicians playing music, I was watching 60 family overcoming occupation, suffering, land confiscation, separation wall and hundreds of checkpoints and diaspora. They are an example of the Palestinian Steadfastness in Arabic Sumud; a word that I personally love. A word that could describe the Palestinian culture of not giving up, and hanging on to all possible means to stay alive in Palestine and in Diaspora for 61 years.

The Orchestra resembles the Palestinian culture and reflects it very well; a mix of Palestinians coming from Palestine and Diaspora. A mix between Men and Women; a mix of Christians and Muslims.

I am not into discussing their performance or evaluate it as I am a mere listener. I did enjoy the three types of music they played; classical “Beethoven”, Arabic “Marcel Khalifeh” & last “Palestinian” accompanied by Reem Talhami singing.
They are a source of pride for every Arabic person.

Request for action
I checked the orchestra website it is outdated http://ncm.birzeit.edu/pyo/about.htm, it would be great if there is a company that could approach the institution to sponsor the development of their website and branding.

Occupation 101: Voice of the Silenced Majority

I wanted to watch Occupation 101 for some time, finally tonight I managed.
Really I will recommend this movie to everyone one whether they are ignorant of this subject or not.



The movie tackles straight forward the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is occupation. It is one of the few movies that tells the story of the Palestinian side & starts right from the beginning of the the first wave of Jewish immigration from Europe in the 1880's, the 1948 war, the 1967 war, the first Intifada of 1987, the Oslo Peace Process, settlement expansion, the second Intifada (2000), and the Apartheid Wall. The film also details life under Israeli military rule, and the direct role of the United States in the conflict.

The credibility of the movie stems from some of the most credible Middle East scholars, historians, peace activists, and journalists, and humanitarian, including Noam Chomsky, Cindy & Craig Corrie, Jeff Halper, Amira Hass, Rashid Khalidi, Ilan Pappe, and others.

It is worth watching.
http://www.occupation101.com/about.html