Inspirational speech

Oprah Winfrey's commencement speech in Harvard University.

Favorite line: "There is no such thing as failure....failure is just life trying to move you in another direction." 

Hectic week

It has been a hectic week in every sense of the word... I caught a flu (again, its like I have a flu forever!) in addition to the "obnoxious" abdominal pain that is killing me up to this very moment :(

On Sunday, I was really tired I finished my work and asked my boss to take a leave and he said yes go and take a rest, but just as the proverb says "When it rains, it pours," I had a car accident with a stupid man, who  hit my car and started to shout at me (It is really strange how people can be insolent to this extent!). I was really angry, especially when he said "You are a woman. I do not argue with woman, who do not know how to drive a car," I was like: "Seriously! you are the one who hit my car! how dare you!" 7amdullela the accident was not major just few scratches, but I went home at 4...

At the office, we had many tasks to do and the funny thing to say about my colleagues that they are "pampered," they do not want to make the least effort. Whenever you told any one of them to translate few more articles than he does in regular day he starts whining as if he is the only one working in this world... Some of them are even counting the number of items he is doing and compare it to others! I do not have any comment, enough is said.. However, this is the first time I feel that I am really working in a busy office and it was good indeed..

On another aspect, I am planning to go to gastroenterology doctor because I cannot bear this pain anymore Tuesday was the worse day ever :/

Today I went to the insurance company in Baydir, the industrial area, people were staring at me because I was the only girl driving between the garages early in the morning.. I was afraid to go alone, but thing went in a good way 7mdullela.. I will give them the car on Sunday to fix it enshallah.

I have like million plans and I wish I will do my best, but I am afraid that this circle will repeat itself over the next week.. I feel that I am over thinking so I will go to bed now... Nighty :)

فلسطين

عندما ﺃﺣﺮﻗﻮﺍ ﺍﻟﻤﺴﺠﺪ ﺍﻷﻗﺼﻰ ﺳﻨﺔ 1969 ﻗﺎﻟﺖ ﺭﺋﻴﺴﺔ ﺍﻟﻮﺯﺭﺍﺀ ﺍﻻﺳﺮﺍﺋﻴﻠﻴﺔ "ﺟﻮﻟﺪﺍﻣﺎﺋﻴﺮ" ﻟﻢ ﺍﻧﻢ ﻟﻴﻠﺘﻬﺎ ﻭﺃﻧﺎ ﺃﺗﺨﻴﻞ  ﺍﻟﻌﺮﺏ سيدخلون فلسطين أفواجاً من كل صوب ، ﻟﻜﻨﻨﻲ ﻋﻨﺪﻣﺎ ﻃﻠﻊ ﺍﻟﺼﺒﺎﺡ ﻭﻟﻢ  ﻳﺤﺪﺙ ﺷﻲﺀ ﺃﺩﺭﻛﺖ ﺍﻥ ﺑﺎﺳﺘﻄﺎﻋﺘﻨﺎ ﻓﻌﻞ ﻣﺎ ﻧﺸﺎﺀ ﻓﻬﺬﻩ ﺃﻣﺔ ﻧﺎﺋﻤﺔ...

 القدس عروس عروبتكم للشاعر مظفر النواب

من باع فلسطين وأثرى بالله 

سوى قائمة الشحاذين على عتبات الحكام 

ومائدة الدول الكبرى ؟ 

فإذا أجن الليل 

تطق الأكواب بان القدس عروس عروبتنا 

أهلا أهلا أهلا 

من باع فلسطين سوى الثوار الكتبة ؟ 

أقسمت بأعناق أباريق الخمر وما في الكأس من السم 

وهذا الثوري المتخم بالصدف البحري ببيروت 

تكرش حتى عاد بلا رقبة 

أقسمت بتاريخ الجوع ويوم السغبة 

لن يبقى عربي واحد إن بقيت حالتنا هذي الحالة 

بين حكومات الكسبة 

القدس عروس عروبتكم 

فلماذا أدخلتم كل زناة الليل إلى حجرتها ؟؟ 

ووقفتم تستمعون وراء الباب لصرخات بكارتها 

وسحبتم كل خناجركم 

وتنافختم شرفا 

وصرختم فيها أن تسكت صونا للعرض 

فما أشرفكم 

On the Israeli attacks against Al-Aqsa Mosque

No words can describe how I am disappointed and ashamed of the Arab inaction toward Al-Aqsa Mosque, Jerusalem, and the Palestinian people there. How long will the Arab countries remain silent over what is happening? Is condemning and denouncing the Israeli attacks is enough? When will we wake up and see what is going on around us? The settlers are storming the Al-Aqsa Mosque before the eyes and ears of the whole world and we are standing idly by... These attacks show the occupation's clear escalation against Al-Aqsa Mosque in an attempt to juidize Jerusalem city and build the so-called Temple Mount in Al-Haram al-Sharif. Israel is exploiting the continuing Palestinian division and the fiery situation in the region to implement its schemes to distort the history of Palestine and establish the Jewish state over it.

قال عمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه وأرضاه: نحن أمة أعزنا الله بالإسلام. فإن ابتغينا العزة بغيره أذلنا الله.

انتهاك حرمة المسجد الاقصى هو الذل بعينه، أقولها وأجري على الله

  

New decision

I am so proud of myself because today I decided not to remain silent over the annoyance caused by people around me. I decided to speak up for myself to look the person in the eye and till him that you have done this and that and this is not acceptable for me and I will no longer allow you to repeat such an act. I really needed this long time ago there have been many people in my life who bothered me and exploit me to reach a certain goal and I have never had the courage to stop them or tell them at least that this is not acceptable for me and I do not want to do it... I feel happy because from this very moment and on I will not have to bear people, who are exploiting me or people whose behavior is not acceptable for me..


I will confront people and tell them I won't be shy because this is my right. I will say "NO" when I do not want to do anything. I am not a control freak who wants to know every detail or control others life; all I want is to speak up my mind without feeling guilty or shy...

“Peace of mind is not the absence of conflict from life, but the ability to cope with it.” ~Unknown

من أحب الأدعية إلى قلبي

هذا الدعاء له قيمة كبيرة عندي ، فأنا أشعر بالراحة عندما أردده أشعر بقربي من الله وبقوة إيماني بأن الله سينصرني كما نصر رسوله الكريم عليه الصلاة والسلام الذي قال هذا الدعاء عندما قرر أن يخرج بدعوته خارج مكة، ليذهب إلى الطائف ليدعوهم إلى الإسلام و يطلب نصرتهم ومساندتهم. لقد واجه رسولنا عليه أفضل صلوات الله وسلامه أشد أنواع الإيذاء فقد قذفه كبار رجال القوم بالحجارة وألقى الاطفال التراب عليه فما كان منه إلا أن يتوجه إلى خالقه بهذا الدعاء... نعم هذا هو دعاء محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم على الذين طاردوه وسبُّوه، وأدمَوْا قدميه بالحجارة

لَم يطلب من الله أن ينتقم منهم، وأن يسيل دماءهم، وألا يُبقِي على أرض الطائف من الكافرين ديَّارًا.. بل لَم نسمع كلمة ذمٍّ واحدة على الذين طاردوه وسبُّوه وأدموا قدميه بالحجارة. كان كلُّ هَمِّه صلى الله عليه وسلم في تلك اللَّحظة هو ألا يكون قد غضب الله عليه.

يا حبيبي يا رسول الله

اللهم إليك أشكو ضعف قوتي ، وقلةَ حيلتي ،

وهواني على الناس يا أرحم الراحمين . 

أنت رب المستضعفين . وأنت ربي .. إلى من تكلني ؟

إلى بعيد يتجهمني .. أم إلى عدوٍ ملكته أمري ؟؟

إن لم يكن بك عليّ غضبٌ فلا أبالي ..

غير أن عافيتك هي أوسعُ لي...

أعوذ بنور وجهك الذي أشرقتْ له الظلمات ، 

وصلحَ عليه أمر الدنيا والآخرة أن يحلّ عليّ غضبك ، 

أو أن ينزلّ بي سخطك .. لك العتبى حتى ترضى ..

ولا حول ولا قوة إلا بك 

هذا الدعاء يحقق لي السلام الداخلي، ويذكرني بأن كل شيء زائل وأن إرضاء الله عز وجل هو الغاية الكبرى من هذه الحياة 

Inner peace

Inner peace (or peace of mind) refers to a state of being mentally and spiritually at peace, with enough knowledge and understanding to keep oneself strong in the face of discord or stress. Being "at peace" is considered by many to be healthy and the opposite of being stressed or anxious.

Today I read this outstanding article by Marilyn Briant and I loved to share it here: 

Creating an Inner Peace That Endures

Like many people, I lived my life for a lot of years failing to understand inner peace is a choice. I am not sure what I thought. Perhaps I didn't believe anyone could feel a lasting peace inside. I did know that my own feelings of peace were always transitory.

There were many ups and downs in my life, too many claims on my time and too many difficult situations to be dealt with. I think I actually believed inner peace could only be achieved by monks and saints, or anyone living a reclusive life who didn't have to deal with everyday struggles.

 I was stuck in a world of confusion, wondering how peace could be mine when there was always something, some drama going on in my own life or the lives of those I loved.

In fact, it seemed to me that the whole world was filled with stuff, negative stuff mostly, which I read about in the newspaper, saw on the television, or heard from someone I knew.

It was the kind of stuff that pulls at your emotions—the breaking news story of a missing woman being found murdered, the tragedy of a child being killed by a hit and run driver, the numbers of homeless people tripling, and a devastating Tsunami killing thousands and paralyzing a country.

Then there were the stories closer to home—my friend’s husband being diagnosed with cancer and dying three months later, my father suffering from dementia, my best friend’s marriage falling apart—all tearing at my heart and leaving me hurt and grieving.

In my own personal life too, my emotions dipped and peaked along with how much control I felt I had over my own happiness. I literally felt like a puppet on a string, and asked myself over and over again, “How can I feel a constant inner peace in my heart and life, when my emotions see-saw up and down according to what is happening in and around me?”

Looking back I know I believed that my emotions were important. After all wasn’t being emotional an essential part of being alive? Emotions made me feel real and allowed me to extend empathy to everyone else.

But in the deepest part of myself, I did not feel good most of the time. I longed to not be so emotional. I wanted to be released from all the conflict in my life—to not react to other people’s words and anger—to feel serenity in my heart.

It was an almost desperate need to alter or to stop the negative cycle of events which seemed to dominate my relationships and my life.

I believe it was that intention which kept on surfacing in my mind and in my heart that fueled my spiritual search and led me to discover a more peaceful way to live, despite the conflict in my life.

I know that as the months and years went on I became more determined to change the way I was living.

It was a few years ago now—I cannot pinpoint exactly when it happened—when I finally felt a peace inside that did not come and go along with my emotions or the drama in my life. I know it was the culmination of making a lot of changes, including:

Believing I am loved

Understanding that negative childhood imprinting leads to feeling unloved and having low self-esteem, I looked for and found the truth about myself. It was not what I had been led to believe was true!

Believing we are loved comes with knowing who we are, not judging ourselves or others for mistakes we make, and from daily meditation in which we feel the unconditional love of something greater than ourselves.

Monitoring and changing my thoughts

I once believed I had no control over what I was thinking, because I never considered the idea that thoughts can be changed! Then I started focusing on my thoughts and realized much of what I was thinking did not reflect the way I truly felt.

Just paying by attention to them, we see that many thoughts are primarily fear-based and judgmental.

And, because they come and go unchallenged, most of us struggle through life unconsciously accepting that we are our thoughts. We simply do not look at or challenge them as they appear and disappear. By accepting them we give them permission to shape our beliefs about ourselves and our lives.

Once you start recognizing them, you can go about changing your thoughts. Through observing how your thoughts differ from the way you really feel, you can choose to place a different thought in your mind, which more accurately reflects the way you feel.

Coming from loving kindness and living from my higher self

By noticing and appreciating other people’s kindness, we become aware how much it really matters in daily living. In dealing with difficult telephone calls, perhaps an angry person on the other end of the line, we can choose to be kind.

When a friend asks us to help with something, we can decide on the kindest thing to say or do.

If someone asks for a donation for the umpteenth time, we can deal with the request kindly. Obviously, there are times we cannot give whatever is being asked of us; when we do not have the means or desire to agree to a certain request. In these circumstances, saying no with kindness is the best choice.

Sometimes kindly refusing to provide assistance is important in helping promote personal growth in others and allows them to learn some important life lessons.

If someone is gossiping about someone we know, we can be silently kind, refusing to be drawn into the conversation. By choosing kindness, we allow positive energy to flow from us to others and prevent negative energy from reaching us or infusing situations. In this way we create and maintain a connection to our higher selves. And, realize just how good it feels to be kind.

Bringing the practice of acceptance into my daily life

Perhaps the key to feeling real peace is being able to accept what is. Acceptance simply means recognizing your ego’s voice and rejecting it. Knowing that the only person we can change is ourselves enables us to do this.

As soon as we start to think there is something not right, not the way it should be, or we become judgmental about a situation or a person—their words or behavior—we know we have moved away from accepting what is, by wanting to control what is outside of us.

There is a lot of negative energy and craziness in this world, but we can all learn to live with inner peace.

If your intention is strong and comes from the deepest part of you, it will happen. Outwardly nothing changes; peace comes from making changes inside you.

It begins and continues through becoming more aware of you really are, knowing you are loved, making changes in the way you think, practicing loving kindness, and accepting what is.

As serenity and unconditional love fill your heart, you will accept that you cannot go back, and will not relinquish what you have now found—that peace that you seem to have been searching for your whole life.

Finally, you will come to this—deep inner peace inside you that endures, regardless of what challenges life brings.

The art of Caricature

Caricature is an exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics. There are many people who misunderstand this art and underestimate how important it is. For me, caricature is that type of sophisticated art that has a significant importance and at the same time it makes you laugh. It is a way to express an idea without saying a single word or even without showing that clearly in the drawing. 

For sure many people know Usamah Hajjaj, I do not have any personal thing against him but I think that his caricature is repulsive and show how much he is shallow-minded. I do not like to judge people, but I have never seen a single caricature for him that wowed me or even make me smile. His caricature is corny and the average, he does not even have the drawing skills.

And here you can see some examples (and only some): 

On this paint, Hassan Kharabsheh commented saying: لازم يوخد جائزة على هالكاريكاتير بالذات

While Haneen Best said: والله هالكاريكتير قوي لانه جايب اجرام ووحشيه الكلب بصورة مخيفة

On this picture some people criticized the paint while Ibrahim SH Qazaq said اسامة انت فنان ... بس ما حدا بيحب الصح هالايام

Haneen Jilani said:  والله انك صادق يا اسامه عمرنا مابنصير على التخلف الي عنا

What make these pictures even worse the captions written on them. I believe that most of Usamah's fans like him because of his family name. If Imad Hajjaj is talented in this field that does not make Usamah talented too. I do not even understand how people see him a creative person. 

5arbeesh ;)

 Here we go, I did not write anything about how my visit to Dubai let me think in a different way…

I decided to have a different life style, I asked myself what are the things that I should care about, should I think about tiny things that bother me, or should I forget and live my day?

The first thing I wanted to do is to stay happy all the time and make people around me joyful for having me with them, especially my family… I dedicated more time to spend with them and thanks god things worked perfectly… But when it comes to driving in Jordan every solution seems to be a wrong one, people do not have the culture and do not show any respect to the driving rules…

Another thing that I decided to change my attitude towards was dealing with dumb people. However, this plan was doomed to failure because some people insist on presenting a whole new level of dumbness and retardation… I hate girls who pretend to know nothing in the world, even where they live or what they want to eat, to prove that they are pretty and pampered. While in fact they know everything, but want to use the “I do not know” attitude so people do not ask them to do anything.

I decided to change the name of my blog, I think that the new name will be more attractive and sounds delightful. I choose the name “Mardakoosh,” which is an herb used in Arabic cooking.

I will continue reading the “Agents of innocence,” this weekend enshallah, but I am thinking about how miserable I will feel when I go to the office on Saturday, I will be there alone. Why did you leave me alone Sara? :(((((