Let's make it Right...

We make our lives more complicated than they actually are.  More of us are concerned with proving ourselves than to worry about the rest of the world.  We are so determined to be right in everything that we step over and hurt all the people in our way, regardless of how much they mean to us.  Today I heard three lines, which made me realize how much simpler our life would be; if we were to follow these three basic rules:

“The Person Is More Important Than the Point”

                How many of us can think of a time when we were so indulged in making a point that we ignored how much we actually hurt a loved one.  All of us do this countless times in a day; whether we admit it or not.  As Isaac Newton once said “Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy."

“Being Kind Is More Important Than Being Right”

                Ever told a person they are right just to make them happy?  Not many of us do that.  You might actually make it right by simply being kind and leave an everlasting mark of kindness in that person’s heart towards you.  As the Hadith reassures us “He who is deprived of kindness and gentleness is, in fact, deprived of all good." (Muslim)

“Say What You Mean & Mean What You Say”

Usage of words is not a difficult thing, but meaning those words is.  Before advising unto others, consider if it really stands true to your own self.  As the Arabic proverb goes “A slip of the foot is safer than that of the tongue.”

Flowers Can Leave you Wondering too...

My love for flowers is as everlasting as the love of humanity, fading away little by little….Kidding! Let’s try that again, shall we?

My love for flowers is beyond the horizons of the skies and deeper than the layers within the earth.  I kid you not, there is very little exaggeration involved in the previous statement.  I believe even the people around me have started to get bored of this obsession and roll their eyes every time I get excited about a plant or a flower.  Will I ever change because the people around me have started to think that I have totally gone insane?

The answer is, absolutely not!  I dare not let anyone come in between my plants and myself; and if they shall try to barge into our secret lives, they will be burned to ashes and scattered around the planes of this earth (ok ok I got carried away a bit *blush*). 

I suppose I made the point clear enough; above picture is from the plants I had planted earlier this year.  I was amazed at the beauty of the flower; I for one had not seen a flower blooming on top of another flower.  The sight did cause me to say SubhanAllah and admire the beauty.  

Space Launch to Mars

Kids are the most innocent and honest of human beings you can find on this planet.  They are honest about their opinions of people and never try to hide away their feelings.   Working with the kids is a rewarding experience; it is fun yet educational at the same time. 

Recently a space craft named ‘Curiosity’ was launched by the US to Mars, to collect different minerals and particles from the surface of the planet, to compile more data about the life on the planet.  I was given the task to teach younger kids about the textures on the surface of Mars, along with the different features formed by the meteors.  It was beyond fun to see kids’ reactions; their faces would light up with excitement once they had learned something their parents knew very little about. 

It gets challenging sometimes to get the kids involved into educational activities; but once you have their attention, be ready to answer all the silly questions their minds come up with.  All in all, the experience is surely going to fill you up with excitement and it would feel amazingly rewarding. 

You know what the most exciting part of it all was?

Handing out these stickers (Picture) at the end of the activity and telling the kids how they have been great scientists.  The smiles that fill their faces are far better than any gratitude you can ever receive.  

Chicken Barley Soup (Inspired by Sister Amena from Pearl Daisy)

As I opened my YouTube app to see the new releases of videos, my face lit up with joy as the cooking video by sister Amena popped up in the list of new videos added. Honestly, it is simply awesome to watch her videos; regardless of the topic they portray.  I could just sit the whole day and watch her videos nonstop and no, this is no exaggeration!

Anywho (one of the words I picked up from her videos), the cooking video was about making barley soup.  The amazing thing is just a month back I was researching on the foods Prophet PBUH used to love and came across barley as one of his favorite foods.  Ever since then, I somehow wanted to incorporate barley into the foods I consume.  Sister Amena's video came just in time.

Although I have added my own touch to the recipe and Alhumdulillah did manage to complete the Sunnah.  All thanks to sister Amena for the amazing recipe and also my family for the immense support of bearing through my cooking experiments.

I have discovered my love for Barley and inshAllah will be able to incorporate it into my daily meals.