Nefertiti, Mubarak, & Simply Me

My husband refused to watch "The Mubarak" speech last night!! Sometimes we are just fed up with reality!!!


A lesson that I am trying to learn from all this on the personal level,,

I have started thinking of this "Lesson" while reading Nefertiti's historic novel..

As leaders, decision makers, change agents, individuals with visions,, life goals,, give it the label you like.. we spend valuable time thinking, setting goals, then changing and upgrading these goals, wanting to make the best of our stay on earth in this life,,

These goals become the compass of our life, the motivator, what drives us to pull ourselves out of bed in the morning.. We connect them with our values and believes,, life decisions and so on..

On this trip of self accomplishment our scale of priorities get tested and challenged,,

Now both Mubarak, simply me or even Nefertiti, we have all been in this cycle, each one of us believes that he's doing THE RIGHT THING,,

Mubarak drew his life plan more than 30 years ago. A couple of weeks ago his nation announced that they can't handle his life dreams any more. Although damage started showing long time ago,, unfairness in setting his priorities reflecting as signs of extreme betrayal and corruption,, The Egyptian Nation was patient and amazingly baring all that,, and I always ask, why?! And How!?

I have set my life goals 12 years ago.

I have been challenged A LOT of times in setting my priorities, trying to juggle my life roles and duties but holding on to my life mission and dreams,,

The Lesson am trying to learn:

How far would a person go to accomplish his life aims?

What is ethical and unethical when it comes to ones vision and life dreams?

Do we refer to our personal values? Or, to the international norms and rules when we make life decisions!?

Who wins when personal values debate these international norms!?

How obsessed could we become?? The degree that we stop realizing that what we are doing and how we are doing it Might or even WILL affect the people we love and care about, our priorities. Now in my simple case it would be my family, friends and beloved ones,, in Mubarak case I would add his Nation!

Why when we reach this level of obsession we stop being realistic and we become unaware of this delusional success!!

Now if someone close came to us and told us that WE ARE OVER DOING IT, will we listen to him!? Why didn’t Nefertiti listen to her sister or father when they told her that "Black death" will invade her nation??

Did anyone advise Mubarak about the level of corruption that his ruling power was causing?

Will I listen to the advice of my beloved ones when they tell me to manage my scale of priorities?

What happened in Egypt is already part of history!! And history was made to learn from..

Friday, 11.2.2011 The Day Mubarak left the Egyptian "THRONE"..

Miwa Matreyek's glorious visions | Video on TED.com

Miwa Matreyek's glorious visions Video on TED.com

Thoughts From my French Room

Being in Paris for a couple of days, I decided to take an hour and a half off. Bought the kids tickets for a movie and made sure they were enjoying their time..
I went to what I thought-off as the most interesting place in Pares, The Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, the world largest triumphal arch!
And not any spot around the arch, but where I needed to be at that moment..
On a marble stone bench, sitting next to people from various nationalities,, people speaking different languages,, French people, all talking at the same time, as if I was in a busy beehive... I was sitting on that bench with my iPad in my lap, writing my thoughts from Franc..
Under layers of two hundred years of history.. under the body remains of the unknown solder, the remains of World War 1 and 2...
Being topped by an eternal lit fire-flame that symbolizes the on going grief.. And surrounded by veterans celebrating the end of the World War..
Sensing all that made feel so... tiny..
I realized that sometimes this is how we "need to feel", that we are nothing compared to our surroundings.. This helps us to minimize the importance of our un-stability, and realize that there are more important events around us in this world than, "how We feel, or what We think".. I went from all that and started typing on the touch screen of my iPad..
These French people are really interesting,, Talking about character, identity, and stereotype!!
I have thought that "The romantic Franc" was just a myth, but discovered that it wasn't.. The French romance is a natural result of an interesting chemical combination. The combination of the soft crispy November weather, physical historical architecture, ignorant language "I love you with Pride", and the emotional liberal music and art.. You can sense romance vibes even if you are alone,,,
Being Different from other people, the French people self-esteem doesn't get slightly bothered if they don't understand you, it is "your" problem that you are using a language that they don't understand.. and when they talk to you in French, and you don't understand, they are surprised!!!
It surprised me that "eating cheese" doesn't show on the French people body frame,, I love cheese, but sadly, it disturbs me in all ways, so I guess I have to hold a French passport to be able to enjoy it..
Another thing, from my traveling experience I have learned that "If you PAY, you get SERVED". It is different in Franc. You pay and serve your self!! Seeing people walking in the streets I couldn't stop my self from asking!! From where do they get this energy?? I think it's an European thing!! And I also think, that we Arabs have spoiled our selves to the level that we have handicapped our natural abilities that make us independent creatures..
As a foreigner I had the anticipation that French people are not social, the truth is that they are social buzzing bumble bees when with their same species. They freely express their thoughts and feelings, and have the ability of continuios talking, all, and at the same time.
In addition to that, observing "Mohammad Faroqu", a French Pakistani, talking, I realized that the world was not fare to the French people when claimed that They are ignorant. It is the language and not the people. When Mohamad Faroqu used to speak with me in English with some simple Arabic words, he was so humble and friendly. But looking at his body language and voice tone while speaking French, although I could not understand what he was saying, he seemed ignorant!! So let's have mercy on the French, they are nice social accepting people after all, as long as they are not talking in their native language!!!
As reaching the end of that hour and a half I added a new blessing to my blessing list..
As moving to new phases in our life, And thinking that we have given our kids a lot,, small things come up.. New phases make us discover that there is still a lot more to give..
A blessing that I was surprised by was "parent's ability to offer happiness to their children through simple stuff"... We raise our kids for the future while guiding them through the rode of happiness and success. We feed their bodies to secure their health, educate and nurture their minds to prepare them for success, and guide their spirits to reach stability and serenity..
When, As parents, God has also blessed us with the ability of making their dreams come true,, taking them to places they have been wanting to visit,, playing and laughing with them,, Being around them so they can hold our hand as much as they want,, and allowing them the time to feel secured enough to share with us their secrets and dreams,, Taking them to our past to share a precious moment of the present,, reminding them that we were kids one day, and that's why we can bare their foolishness..
As for us, Having them around us to help us forget how serious life had become,, for us this is what we want in return..
During those fifteen days I wished if I can become a French woman just to be able to eat cheese and enjoy being "Loved with Pride". I also wished If happiness was a French piece of pastry, filled with cream and topped with sugar.. A pleasure that I can take a bite from whenever I wanted..
I turned off my iPad and went back to reality...

Change, The 21st century trend..

Its interesting how the world is going through this trend of "Change". As Paulo Coelho said in his famous book The Alchemist "And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it"

I was surprised when I saw this comment in front of a beautiful small Inn, an hour and a half drive out of Oxford, I had to save it with my digital eye.

Are you living a change???

Don't hesitate to share..

The Man I admire most in my life

صحيفة عكاظ - المناهج لا تستفز المواهب وسنفوز بـ «نوبل» خلال عقدين

@ The Center Point of Her Time-Line

Its 11:53 pm.. She told everyone that it's her quite time of the day, or night!!!
"I am invisible, no one can see me,, I am not here..!!"
Her husband just told her to stop raising their children as if living in Plato's idealistic city, a world that is not realistic.. "I am sensing God in raising our children.." she replied..
Although, as parents we keep on repeating that our children don't totally reflect us, deep inside us we think they do...
As standing at the center point of her life time-line, she realized that she is a parent and a "child" of someone too… That life is a long testing phase… She wondered!! In the" School of Life" … In the "Classroom of Parenting", how good was she as a mother and as a daughter?
Two questions keep on juggling inside her head.. !!!
What do our kids need from us?? What do we need from our parents??
What do we want from our kids?? What do our parents want from us??
Our parenting role matures as our kids grow up….
When they were very young they needed us to take care of their physical and emotional needs. They wanted us to sit next to them, read them a book and show them how to build a Lego castle. At that time, these were their life essentials.
As they become older, they still need the same things but with slight differences.
They still need us to prepare food for them, but they also want us to sit around and listen to their day events while they are eating.
Instead of reading to them, they want to discuss with us the books that they have read, and instead of building Lego castles, they want us to show them how to build real castles made of bricks of their accomplishments.
As our kids become grownups, they still need similar things but with additional differences..
Our grownup "kids" need to show-off their accomplishments in front of us. To prove to us that they have nurtured the seeds that We have placed inside them 30 years ago..
They still need our listening ear, but with an eye that holds lots of understanding and not judgment.
Our grownup kids need us to accept who they have decided to become, with all their flaws or simply.. Just being themselves.
Our grownup kids need us to respect their dreams, by straining our wisdom from criticizing the foolishness in them.
If our kids grow and our responsibility towards them does not mature, it will be as if feeding a ten year-old child from a bottle. … Sounds funny, but frustrating too
Personally, I think the most important thing in satisfying our kids' needs, is for us to be the right role-model in their life. Setting the happy, stable, successful example that lightens and secures their life road with possibilities.
When our kids were very young we wanted them to allow us the time to have a good night sleep, to enjoy a relaxing shower and a peaceful phone conversation. We wanted them to assure us that they will love us in the future as much as we have loved them at that time..
When they are older, we want their respect and trust. We want them to trust our opinion and believe that no one will be as loving and honest as we are to them. We want them to behaved in the society and show signs of success..
When they reach the age of independence, we want their assurance that they will be there for us. They will hold our hand to climb up the stairs, just as we used to hold their hand. They will have the time to go with us to a doctor appointment, resembling what we used to do with them when they were very young.
We want them to have a cup of tea with us while we read the newspaper and they tap on their iPad... To listen to us while babbling memories of them when they were just kids.. To share with them our accomplished dreams.. and the lessons that we have learned from life the hard way..
We want them to pamper our dreams, the dreams that we have lived all our life to achieve, while being afraid that one day these dreams will just become a mirage in an endless desert.
Walking along the path of her time-line, she understood that her present is just the result of her past ... Her present is an introduction to her future..
If we are able to look at our life as a picture in a frame without focusing on our face in that picture, our life will make more sense to us..

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story | Video on TED.com

Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story | Video on TED.com