This is another scenario where I read or watch something related to a recent notion that has been on my mind. I was reading and pondering recently about giving someone or something my whole attention rather than engaging in undue multitasking. I’m used to completing many activities at once, especially at work and in other settings, and I consider it to be productive. But there are moments when we need to slow down. I’ve been thinking a lot about paying entire attention to discussions and interactions since my child entered my life. We live in a world of distractions and two-minute attention spans. So Jordyn Dunseath’s intriguing video was an ace to the point. Keep an eye on it. (It just takes three minutes.)
She narrates”Be a bird. See from the bird’s eye view. See the big picture. Look, the earth is big and it’s beautiful. The details of life do matter, and yes, and it can get hard , but take a step back sometimes to find what you are grateful for. Drop the unnecessary responsibilites you put on yourself. Sometimes, when life feels so chaotic, the easiest change you can make is your perspective. Be reminded of the birds. Do not worry about your life, what you would eat, what you would drink, your body, what you’ll wear. Look at the birds in the air. They do not sew or reap or store away in barns, yet Almighty feeds them. Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? ”
Arriving on time, This was what I wanted to hear. As in the prophet’s stories, “If you trusted on Almighty as He should be relied on, He would make provision for you as He does for the birds.’ They leave hungry in the morning and return full in the evening.” I seek for the times when I can hold this mindset with me and see everything from a wider perspective. The sense of relaxation and clarity it provides is simply astonishing. Friends, may God bless you! I appreciate you taking the time to read the post.
There isn’t one of us who hasn’t accepted defeat in some capacity. It might be conceived on several levels. What matters is how we perceive and channel adversity. Defeat is just education, the first step toward something greater. Losing is not the worst failure; failing to try is the actual failure. He who is willing to die for a cause is seldom vanquished. He who is used to loss but perseveres will eventually triumph. He who gets used to success and grows apathetic & unethusiastic will eventually fail. Defeat is a school where truth always gets stronger.
I hope for those associated with me on any level to live their lives to the fullest, and finest of their abilities. The best pathway in my policy to faciliate it is to never meddle, interfere, dictate, provide unwanted counsel, or help when my skills are not required. If I can assist others, I’ll let them help themselves; and if I can raise or inspire them, I’ll do it by example, gentle inference, and subtle suggestions rather than edict, intrusion into personal spaces and dictation. That is my modest and humble personal philosophy and approach to embarcing life. I want to endeavor to make others feel themselves better & deeper within than they did before they became acquainted with me, both personally and professionally. Much of what you read here would have a lot to do with rediscovering yourself.
“Softer Embrace” – Original fine art from The Border Of a Mind Visual Studios
I often discuss with Netta on coping with uncertainity. We are meticulous planners by nature and often it requires robust emotional strength to cope up with the smallest uncertainity in life. In most contexts, uncertainty is often related with vulnerability. After all, we all want to feel in charge of our lives, whether it’s our employment, education, friendships, or relationships. The sensation of being “out of control” is unsettling, and we are all guilty of avoiding this vulnerable zone whenever possible. However, by doing so, we are eventually restricting our potential to improve in these areas of our life that need commitment. It is often in these moments of dread and uncertainty that we learn how strong we can be and how much inner strength we really possess. After all, personal progress flourishes where distress flows. That’s what I’ve learned with experiences throughtout my life. Often strong rooted faith and trust in the divine will of Almighty can be a good solace, often in times when we are going through tough times. You may not notice it today or tomorrow, but in a few years you will be completely mystified and astonished by how everything lined together to bring you somewhere beautiful – or where you’ve always wanted to be. You will be relieved that things did not turn out the way you had hoped. Never lose hope. Everything is manageable as long as you have hope. In reality, this inside fire of patience, trust, perseverance, faith and hope is alluded to as the real inner strength.
“Hopeful Fortitude” | Original Fine Art from The Border of a Mind studios.
From an early age, society shapes us to fit in. To blend in, avoid doing anything out of the norm. That, by definition, involves neglecting chances and opportunities to try new things. However, advancement, fulfillment, and delight are byproducts of exploration. Ironically, the society that seeks to force us to conform needs us to walk as ourselves the most. To give in the only way we know how. Finding our voice and following our path, then shining a light for others along the way.
Beautiful wall art at Ilona Cafe, Muweilah, Sharjah
Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvellously made and for some great end. Although he is not form everlasting, yet he lives for ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his spirit is lofty and divine.
Wisdom is no more relegated to the places we desginate them from. You know, sometimes, wise words would overpour from unexpected placed, like a toddler’s scroll book. Moments to cherish whirl away like scattering baloons in the blink of an eye before it metamorphoses into a memory. As Antione de Saint-Exupery put it, ” It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. “ You might already would have deciphered that I’m trying to brew some philosophy through the title of this post while Ehanu is looking at a chapter in his mickey story book with the same title. We are all kids disguised as adults at the end of the day. Aren’t you : ) If you’re reading this, you are.
Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.
From a stroll through Buyukada Islands in Turkey in 2016
“Comfort is a drug. Once you get used to it, it becomes addicting. Give a weak person consistent stimulation, good food, cheap entertainment and they’ll throw their ambitions right out the window. The comfort zone is where dreams go and die.”
For everyone, there are these invisible bubbles around them. Within this bubble, there’s a safe haven of familiarity, safety, easiness and security. There’s a broad, wide world of experiences outside this bubble. Growth advances significantly during adversity, when we’re outside the bubble or when situations force us to delve out this bubble. Writer Shaa Zainol says in one of her writings that moving beyond of your comfort zone does not mean that you must grow outside of your familiar surroundings, but rather that you must try something new in order to add different gems to your life. It all begins with your own heart, which should resemble conviction, enthusiasm, and consistent determinations. Peacefully tackling uncertainty outside the comfort bubble is a key to different beauties of life. Like how we perceive universe as so vast, so are the faculties of mind and to expand the boundaries. Even in small things, if we change our thoughts to be more embracing, more agile, that changes the way we see and handle things. God bless ! : )
When I say that we’ve a lot of blessings that we don’t notice, it might appear poetic & looks like another philosophy post blooming. I would like you to think with me on breathing. Have you thought deeply and consciously about what a great blessing it is. I had been hospitalized with situations where it was difficult for me to catch my breath. I had put a note on that day in my diary to write about it many months later when I’d be fine and this is the day & boy I’ve thought a lot about it in depths through which I want to take you now : )
I’m not an expert to expound professional biology here, but the intention here is to unravel the magic happening inside you on a layman terms.
Try holding your breath for about 40 seconds. The beauty of breathing is that if you or me are put in a situation that we can’t breathe for more than about 40 seconds, we would give up everything we have just to breathe again. After a minute or so of not being able to breathe, we would be losing consciousness. Brain death would follow in about 3 minutes after that.
You’d have taken approximately about 7 breaths by the time you have reached reading till this line of my post with you not needing to do anything to facilitate it. Have you thought about the marvelous system within you enabling you to breathe. The air entering your lungs has been cleaned and a humidity regulation happens within your windpipe. Blood circulation from the lungs enables it to be conveyed to cells and are used for their nourishment and vital functions. Carbon Dioxide is received as a waste material and when we expel the breath, it is pushed out. We know the science, but have we thought about it and how fortunate we are to take a breath through this state of the art system inside. Breathing is a key to many important things happening within our body such as cell division, beating of our hearts, movement of muscles, thought etc. This process that we often relegate as a simple one represent the source of life of about 100 trillion cells in our body.
The gateway to the entire system is the nose. We often think of nose as the organ for detecting odour or smell. But they serve important functions such as making the air we breathe suitable for lungs. The nose has a perfect aerodynamic design and is a marvellous air conditioning system within itself. Nose has special filters inside in the form of hairs. Even its curvature has its design intent. The nasal mucus warms and moistens the air we intake. After the first level of filtration, the second filter it passes through is the mucus. Dust, bacteria and pollen are trapped. There are mobile propellants carrying mucus and they get swallowed in reflex and gets destroyed by stomach acids. Alternatively, they could be expelled by coughs. A pretty decent vigorous cough has a speed of 960 Km per hour. Have you thought about this safety precaution within you ? Hairlike structures called cilia line the mucous membrane and move the particles trapped in the mucus out of the nose. The tiny hair like structures called cilia on deeper examination is an engineering marvel. It forms a cylindrical rotor with nine different protein chains. It’s internal components resemble an engine. The next component is the windpipe.
Respiratory System – Artistic Illustration
The walls of the windpipe are supported by C-shaped rings of cartilage.If the windpipe had been made from flesh alone, the ensuing softness could result in regular blockages. That could make it not possible for us to breathe. If it had been made from some thing as hard as bone, then our actions could be to a huge volume restricted. Yet the cartilaginous shape which makes up the windpipe is ideally fitted to all varieties of movement, and it continually stays open because of its flexibility. There is a small flap of elastic cartilage referred to as the epiglottisproper at the doorway to the windpipe. This flap routinely closes the doorway to the windpipe at some stage in swallowing. During all of the hundreds of food you’ve got got eaten, from babyhood right as much as the present, you have swallowed tens of hundreds of times. And each single time this little flap has closed the doorway for your windpipe at precisely the proper moment. Although we are ignorant of its presence and may exert no control over it, this little flap has saved your life via way of means of closing the doorway for your windpipe at simply the right moment.
Body tissues produce carbon dioxide due to their daily functions. This carbon dioxide is carried away from the tissues through the blood. This blood, loaded with carbon dioxide, is dirty blood. In order for the blood to be wiped clean it needs to make touch with the air. The oxygen in the air and the carbon dioxide withinside the blood will as a result be exchanged. There are round five litres of blood inside the human body. In order to be aired, this five litres of blood needs to unfold over a place of around 100 square metres. That is equal to the area of a tennis court. Everyone reading this blog post now has a place the scale of a tennis court squeezed into his lungs. Think about it!
The lungs consist of bronchia divided into hundreds of various tubes. At the end of every any such bronchia are the alveoli, or air sacs, the size of a pinhead. There are about three hundred million of those air sacs in a healthy lung. Their general floor region is equal to that of a tennis court. The air passing via the bronchia fills the alveoli. The alveoli are blanketed with a dense community of capillaries, the smallest of the blood vessels. The alveoli and capillaries are separated from every different with a skinny membrane. This membrane allows an alternate of gasses among the blood and the air. The carbon dioxide inside the dirty blood and the oxygen in the air are exchanged here. And the dirty blood is cleansed in the alveoli. The device which permits your blood to be cleansed with each breath you’re taking is constructed on an air sac no large than a pinhead. Alveoli has a thin water layer inside and this creates surface tension. This could cause the alveoli to collapse on exhalation, but it does not happen when we breathe due to surfactants produced by Type II cells. These surfactants reduce the surface tension of water inside the alveoli.
Now, the oxygen which enters the alveoli interacts with cells that’s in charge of transportation, the “red blood cells”. Haemoglobin, a special protein is present inside the red blood cells. There are about 250 million haemoglobin molecules in every single red blood cell. They contain iron items and they bind to oxygen like a magnet. When it reaches the relevant places, some internal mechanisms within the body reduce this binding power of haemoglobin and thereby aiding release of oxygen. The by product carbon dioxide is also transported similarly. There’s a very delicate and balanced plan in place here.
The role of brain in this process is also worth pondering. The muscles around the ribcage are sent commands from the nerves in the medulla to fill the lungs with air. This signal is cut for 3 seconds which aids to the muscles to relax enabling exhalation of air. This is not in our control and we don’t think consciously about it.
The brain – artistic illustration only.
To summarize it, we have the marvellous air conditioning process in the nose, the safety measures in the respiratory tracts, the functioning of cilia and mucus, the special design of the windpipe, the flap openings, the tennis court area squeezed in our lungs, the alveoli of size no more than a pinhead, interacting cells, haemoglobin, the special nervous system directing a sophisticated transportation network. And the magic happens without you expending any effort or thinking about it.
It took me a hospitalization to ponder deeply about it and feeling grateful for this. Don’t we need to be filled with gratitude & awe to Almighty when we take a single breath. Think about it. For something as effortless as breathing, there’s an entire world working inside us aiding it and it’s too sophisticated to be an accident or co-incidence. It’s tailor designed on purpose for you. They’re working in the background to be known & discovered by you. To be aware of it is key to many enlightening delights. It’s another moment where we discover extraordinary systems within what seems ordinary. God bless!
You’d have taken roughly around 36 breaths by the time you’ve finished reading this article : )
Some of the other chapters from the Ponder Series that you can read on :
When we think about the world around us and also when we look within, it might seem usual and ordinary. But ponder series, as you might have already guessed, is all about thinking deeply and delving into the details by going beyond the ordinary perceptions. It’s a very humble endeavor towards unlocking extraordinary in the ordinary by opening our eyes of wisdom and insight. Hope you enjoy reading them. God bless friends : )
I recollect reading somewhere that if we need to bring about changes in our lives, the first step would be to change our thoughts about our life.
“Unfolding Thoughts” – Original fine art from The Border of a Mind Studios.
If you would like to change your life, you must first change the way you think about your life. Thoughts are not just thoughts. They are bridges and doors and entryways and foundations. They magnetize and repel. They can build a house and tear it down. They can energize momentum, or keep you idling within your own little world forever. Thoughts are investments, and they are decisions. The mind will generate an endless series of options-some inspiring, and others terrifying and so you must choose. You must choose what you will return to, what you will believe in, what you will place weight on. Because thoughts create feeling, and feeling creates desire, and desire creates action, and action creates reward, and reward creates more desire, and before you know it, a thought became the torch that led you down the path that is your life. If you would like to change your life, you must first change the way you think about your life. There never was another way.
I recently read about “human libraries” that is common in Denmark. The concept is interesting. There are libraries there where you can “borrow” a person instead of a book and listen to their life stories and experiences for 30 minutes. I came to know that this is available in several countries. Wealth of experience is a priceless resource.
Portrait – Libraries of People
..“Human knowledge consists not only of libraries of parchment and ink – it is also comprised of the volumes of knowledge that are written on the human heart, chiselled on the human soul, and engraved on the human psyche. ”
