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Category Archives: Mindful Living

The Love Revolutionary

Solidarity work is directly linked and reflected in our most intimate relationships. This world can be a devastatingly awful place, even though it is a privilege to live in it…

The Sanctuary

This is S & A’s home, a sanctuary of rest and peace. Just sitting with S is a study in calm. Last night, we had apple strudel, cinnamon-sugar twists, and…

The Sucks

I tried golf for the first time and I absolutely sucked. They tried to help me with instructions, and I just couldn’t do it. Then the biggest practical joker out…

The Burning

This is one of my favourite buildings in my neighborhood and I could smell the fire blocks away. Morning walk, and I stopped to watch how the firefighters worked –…

The Time-Stamp

This is my favourite landscape (or is it aesthetic? I’m actually not sure). New Mexico can’t come soon enough, inshAllah. You’re getting my favourite photos from Sayulita, though I am…

The Desert Moons

I got in this morning. After traveling literally anywhere and not knowing where I might sleep next for the duration of my Sabbatical year, I was exhausted of flight. Three…

The Soul-Sick

This little friend greets me daily on my walks to/from home. I think he stays inside mostly to avoid the roosters that run these streets. “And I will tell you…

The Street Tacos

Today, after watching the day break over the ocean, I’ve spent it going from cart to cart to confirm the best beef tacos. I found the stand – 20 pesos…

The Clear Heart

You’re getting all of the selfies because I rarely post them and I’ve hardly taken any since the hellscape of G@za began. I am at peace here, which is my…

The Dawn

What’s your favourite time of day? It’s dawn for me; watching the sun rise, more than seeing it sleep. Everything is quiet, and potential at acme. The sky is so…

The Island Girl

Even when landlocked, I have always been an Island Girl. The ocean makes everything make sense. Salt-water is a natural state for me, and it is to such shores that…

The Star Wish

I haven’t seen skies like this since California. This city forces you to look up, so you naturally slow. It’s an exercise in mindfulness whether you want it or not….

The Revolutionaries

This is the first sunburn I’ve had since at least eight years. I love it, and I can’t wait to turn toasted almond in a couple of days. A lot…

The Groove

Khruangbin was recommended to me and I haven’t shut them off since.  What is music to you? How does it shape your life, or does your life shape the music…

The Libra Tiger

I think very few people know of the metaphysical side of Islam. It’s where Sufiis are rooted, and one of the most important parts of my deen, for me. I…

The Kiss

Season 2, episode 15. New Girl still holds as one of the best shows on television, with Nick Miller as my favourite character. Jake Johnson’s willingness to make a complete…

The Necessary Play

I play a lot. All of the time. Do you? It’s my gateway drug. I find it weird when people don’t play. My cousin’s husband got shot yesterday while he…

The Dance

When was the last time you slow-danced with someone? It has been nearly 17 years since a full-song slow-dance for me, when we were engaged. More recently, this past summer,…

The Table

Remember this piece, which I wrote at the beginning of my new job with a crew of primarily men? It still holds, but let me tell you that too much…

The Home

I’ve never wanted an actual physical house, but I’ve always known that if I were to live in anything, I’d want a small little cottage like the one above. (1)…

The Vivid Dreamer Oracle

(Reposted from 2012.) “Oracle” is what another calls me, while Blue calls me “Vivid Dreamer.” Let me start with the women in my mum’s family; we dream. I learnt very…

The Love of An Open Hand

I promised to write this piece last time, and it’s been coming to me in waves – what it means to love with an open hand. It means to love…

The Middle of the Night Wake-up Call

There is an entire world of metaphysical magic within the realm of Islam, and it is where the hearts of Sufiis rest. We believe that energy between people links and…

The Big Dick Energy

“Are you high maintenance?,” she asked over lunch through a relatively rowdy group. It’s a question that’s sat with me for the last three weeks. I answered as honestly as…

The Baby Cousin

Reemo Bobeemo. Nineteen years between us. On my way home from Uni, I’d go to my uncle’s to see her, walk in and singsong Hiii-iiii. It became her first word….

The Love Language

I’m on holidays as of Monday COB so hopeful I have more time to write over the coming two weeks, inshAllah. We went for a hike and a picnic, then…

The Deserving

He had a natural green thumb, and then worked hard to enrich his knowledge. He’s the one who was the first to learn that I thought Mr. Peanut made peanuts…

The Male Energy

She asked me if I’d ignored it. I responded honestly that that wasn’t it. But because I hadn’t considered the question before she posed it, I couldn’t quite put my…

The Leadership

The primary difference is that we respond to managers, but we follow leaders. A leader is someone we like, and trust, because whose following someone they’re not down with, or…

The New Year’s Du3aas

I got lucky enough to spend some of yesterday with two of my favourite girls ❤️ Heading into this new year, some du3aas for us all – Allahuma inni astakheeruka…

The Friendship Season

The past year has been full of beginnings for me, after a decade of challenge; this photo was taken on my birthday when I was surrounded by my family, and…

Guerrilla Giving: How not to be a self-involved asshole

I first wrote and published this piece in 2011, and it is my favourite one to recycle annually, so welcome this 2022 edition. The driver behind this piece is simply…

The Questions

Why did You allow famine? Why did You permit the rape and abuse of innocents? Why did You build rooms inside of which creation might plan and later execute genocide?…

The Being Better, But How?

She’s really a sight during Autumn, isn’t she? For some time, I’ve been trying to figure out how to be a better Muslim. What more can I do, in which…

The Friendships

My baby sister is in town, but I dislike all of the photos we took together, so instead you’re getting a photo she took of me, in my usual state…

The Loss

Two great losses in the span of six days. Neither expected. One with whom I grew up, and the other whom I had hoped to watch grow into an extraordinary…

The Caretakers

You can’t love a friend enough to do their work for them. You can’t love a friend enough to heal them on their behalf. And you most certainly can’t care…

The Power of D

That’s not a smile that had been showing itself for quite a while, such is the power of Vitamin D. Please consider this a cautionary tale for everyone, but especially…

The Robin

Until today. The robin landed unusually close as I stood outside, and she** didn’t fly away when I approached. Rather, she hopped along, signaling an inability to fly. Injured foot,…

The Architecture of Second Chances

I’m not discussing small missteps rooted in the best of intentions, or coming from a place of love and landing heavily. As shitty as these moments are, they exist because…