My Gratitude List

I am grateful for my transitional period; for the time to relax; travel; explore; reflect and connect with people I care of.
I am grateful for my health; I have never been healthier.
I am grateful for my ability to think clearly, to grow, and to help myself.
I am grateful for my curiosity and hunger to know more.
I am grateful for my knowledge & intelligence.
I am grateful for my ability to take decisions and be in charger of my life.
I am grateful for my ability to dream & make these dreams come true.
I am grateful for my goofiness.
I am grateful for my caring Baba.
I am grateful for having someone to share my life with.
I am grateful for my relation with my nephews and niece; they are filling me with warmth & joy.
I am grateful for my sister/ best friend; for trusting me of what she values most in her life.
I am grateful for my mom for being nice.
I am grateful for the health of my family & friends.
I am grateful for Leens presence in my life.
I am grateful for my house & my financial comfort.
I am grateful for going to the gym every day.
I am grateful for the books, articles and blogs I am reading.
I am grateful for the documentaries I am watching.
I am grateful the the series that helped me to understand myself better.
I am grateful for what I have achieved so far in my life.
I am grateful to blog my kharabeesh again..
I am grateful for who I am; out of mind & total mess :-)

The Quest For My Passion

“There are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only a few that will catch your heart . . . Pursue those.” Anonymous


I am in a stage where:
1- I have accomplished much in my life on different levels i.e. education, career, & more.
2- But now I am in a point where the dreams and goals I pursued in my life have either been accomplished or don’t seem appealing anymore.
3- I have a wonderful life and yet something is missing. Simply I am dissatisfied & restless. What shall I do with the rest of my life? How can I make the most of my years to come! (Is this what they call mid life career crisis? :-))
4- I want to use my experience, knowledge, and talent to make a difference in some way and to enjoy it!

This is my puzzle! What catches my heart?

All I know in this moment is that this passion; has to make my life satisfying and fulfilling, matters to me, is intellectual & cultural, and can make at least a slight difference in the world.

"If" by Kipling, 1895

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

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

Value of what we have

I am wondering why some people don't appreciate what they have in life until they lose it. How they can't be grateful and thankful... How they can not live it and enjoy it.