Note:

Received in a sms. Don’t know who the poet is.. if anyone does, please do leave the poet’s name in comments. :)

 

Zamana dost ho jaye to buhat muhtat ho jana,

K is ke rang badalnay mein zara se dair lagti hai

 

Koi jo khwab dekho to usay foran bhulla dena,

K neendein toot janay mein zara se dair lagti hai.

 

Kisi ko dukh kabhi dena to itna soch kar dena,

Kisi ke ah lagnay mein zara se dair lagti hai

 

Buhat hee mautabbar hain jin ko muhabbat raas aa jaye,

Kisi ko raah badalnay mein zara se dair lagti hai

Just when you….

Just when you start thinking your life is good.. it decides to take a harsh turn..

Just when you think everything has fallen into place… you realize everything is starting to fall apart..

Just when you think everything’s gonna be all right.. you realize you thought too quickly.

Just when you think you’ve finally found friends among strangers, one of them turns their back on you

Just when you think you can start trusting people again, someone betrays you

Just when you think you’ve had enough.. you are pushed a little more towards the edge

Just when you think you can’t get hurt any more.. someone hurts you deeply and badly..

Just when you think you have had enough bad experiences to make an incorrect choice again, you realize you are again walking on the wrong path..

 

But just when you think you should give up.. just when you think it’s not worth all that pain.. you realize you are wrong.. you realize that it’s just another challenge you’ll have to face, just another fall you should get up from.. just another reason for you to be happy, just another opportunity for you to prove yourself to the world… :)

Vote for my blog…

I have nominated my blog for Best Personal Blog at Pakistan's First Blog Awards .. yes, I have nominated myself, talk about being pretentious.. :P

Please vote for me at the following link

http://blogawards.pk/2010/01/16/personal-blog-intricate-zone/

Don’t forget to drop in nice comments too.. as they will be counted as well..

Thank you very much.. :)

The Awakening

Disclaimer:
Received this in an email. :)

The Awakening
(Author unknown)


A time comes in your life when you finally get…when, in the midst of all your fears and insanity, you stop dead in your tracks and somewhere the voice inside your head cries out…ENOUGH1 Enough fighting and crying and blaming and struggling to hold on. Then, like a child quieting down after a tantrum, you blink back your tears and begin to look at the world through new eyes.

This is your awakening.

You realize it’s time to stop hoping and waiting for something to change, or for happiness, safety and security to magically appear over the next horizon.

You realize that in the real world there aren’t always fairy tale endings, and that any guarantee of “happily ever after” must begin with you…and in the process a sense of serenity is born of acceptance.

You awaken to the fact that you are not perfect and that not everyone will always love, appreciate or approve of who or what you are…and that’s OK. They are entitled to their own views and opinions.

You learn the importance of loving and championing yourself…and in the process a sense of new found confidence is born of self-approval.

Your stop complaining and blaming other people for the things they did to you – or didn’t do for you – and you learn that the only thing you can really count on is the unexpected.

You learn that people don’t always say what they mean or mean what they say and that not everyone will always be there for you and everything isn’t always about you.

So, you learn to stand on your own and to take care of yourself…and in the process a sense of safety and security is born of self-reliance.

You stop judging and pointing fingers and you begin to accept people as they are and to overlook their shortcomings and human frailties…and in the process a sense of peace and contentment is born of forgiveness.

You learn to open up to new worlds and different points of view. You begin reassessing and redefining who you are and what you really stand for.

You learn the difference between wanting and needing and you begin to discard the doctrines and values you’ve outgrown, or should never have bought into to begin with.

You learn that there is power and glory in creating and contributing and you stop maneuvering through life merely as a “consumer” looking for you next fix.

You learn that principles such as honesty and integrity are not the outdated ideals of a bygone era, but the mortar that holds together the foundation upon which you must build a life.

.......

Then you learn about love. You learn to look at relationships as they really are and not as you would have them be. You learn that alone does not mean lonely.

You stop trying to control people, situations and outcomes. You learn to distinguish between guilt and responsibility and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say NO.

You also stop working so hard at putting your feelings aside, smoothing things over and ignoring your needs.

You learn that your body really is your temple. You begin to care for it and treat it with respect. You begin to eat a balanced diet, drinking more water, and take more time to exercise.

You learn that being tired fuels doubt, fear, and uncertainty and so you take more time to rest. And, just food fuels the body, laughter fuels our soul. So you take more time to laugh and to play.

You learn that, for the most part, you get in life what you deserve, and that much of life truly is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

You learn that anything worth achieving is worth working for and that wishing for something to happen is different than working toward making it happen.

More importantly, you learn that in order to achieve success you need direction, discipline and perseverance. You learn that no one can do it all alone, and that it’s OK to risk asking for help.

You learn the only thing you must truly fear is fear itself. You learn to step right into and through your fears because you know that whatever happens you can handle it and to give in to fear is to give away the right to live life on your own terms.

You learn to fight for your life and not to squander it living under a cloud of impending doom.

You learn that life isn’t always fair, you don’t always get what you think you deserve and that sometimes bad things happen to unsuspecting, good people…and you lean not to always take it personally.

You learn that nobody’s punishing you and everything isn’t always somebody’s fault. It’s just life happening. You learn to admit when you are wrong and to build bridges instead of walls.

You lean that negative feelings such as anger, envy and resentment must be understood and redirected or they will suffocate the life out of you and poison the universe that surrounds you.

You learn to be thankful and to take comfort in many of the simple things we take for granted, things that millions of people upon the earth can only dream about: a full refrigerator, clean running water, a soft warm bed, a long hot shower.

Then, you begin to take responsibility for yourself by yourself and you make yourself a promise to never betray yourself and to never, ever settle for less than you heart’s desire.

You make it a point to keep smiling, to keep trusting, and to stay open to every wonderful possibility.

You hang a wind chime outside your window so you can listen to the wind.

Finally, with courage in you heart, you take a stand, you take a deep breath, and you begin to design the life you want to live as best as you can.

Celebrating New Year?!!?

As I tried to weave my way through the web service I received an sms,… wishing me a happy new year;

“Hmm… this one’s a bit early” I thought

“What’s the date today again? Oh 31st December, 2009. Oh I didn’t realize. The new year starts tomorrow!”

The thoughts rushed through my mind filling me with as much enthusiasm as,… well, the web service I was working on.

For me, it was nothing to be excited about. If you think about it realistically, just for a second there, you would realize too, that there IS nothing to celebrate actually.

Would the world look any different tomorrow? na.. I don’t think so..

Would I be any happier or satisfied tomorrow? Naa.. fat chance, then why should I celebrate?

For me, everything’s going to be the same. I’ll follow the same routine in Jan 2010 as I followed in Dec 2009.

Then why on earth are the people outside my window celebrating with fireworks, I ask myself at 12 AM, 1 Jan 2010.

This is how we begin the new year… with fireworks.

What for?

Fireworks, or any kind of celebration for that matter, seem like an utter wastage of time, another bunch of money down the drain.

Should we, as a nation, be celebrating new year when we have so many things to mourn about?

Why do we keep forgetting we have nothing to celebrate today. Not this time, at least. Not this year round.

No milestones achieved.

No promises kept.

In fact, as far as I can see, there is only LOSS.

So many lives lost. And if that wasn’t enough to sooth our urge to destroy we went ahead with burning shops and bringing chaos to an otherwise saddened nation.

We literally ended the year with a BANG. Bravo!!

In this new year, though I don’t see the sanity behind calling it new except the fact that now the wall in my room will be adorned with a new calendar, we have another set of recently unemployed people to worry about, yet another family hoping for justice and mourning the loss of their loved ones, a collapsing economy with little hope, brand new addition to the category of not-school-going kids because they will not be joining school after vacations considering the sad fact that the means of income for their household, the shops their fathers owned is now no more than a mere ashtray.

Yes!!! NOW I see the reason behind the celebrations going on out there. It’s all clear now. Yes, they have much to celebrate. No one can stop them. No, not even rational thinking.

And then there are all those people who keep asking me about my new year resolutions. And I find myself at a loss of words when I remember that this time around I have decided not to go with the New Year thingy. After all, this is not OUR new year, is it?

Yeah, yeah we don’t actually go by the Islamic Calendar, though we never fail to take an off if the day is an important one according to the Islamic Calendar. This way we get to enjoy the benefits of BOTH the calendars. Lucky, smart people we are..

I have nothing against following solar Calendar. What I am against is adopting THEIR custom of celebrating new year.

And I am not against resolutions either. But why  do we have to wait for a new year to begin so that we can try to be what we want to be. Why do they have to be New Year resolutions? Why can’t we start with our resolutions or work towards achieving or goals in the middle of the year? And why do we have to have resolutions for an entire year? Why can’t we take one month at a time?

And if new year resolutions have an importance of their own, why didn’t we come up with anything at the start of Muharram. Simply because that’s not how it’s done. That’s not how the world does it. And we, obviously, have to do what everyone else does.

How many of us thought we should start this new year with offering prayers instead of fireworks and sms? How may of us left our beds for Fajar prayers after a night of unearned celebrations?

Nothing wrong with analyzing the year that just passed, trying to sort out what can be done to make the coming year better. But is that really what we’re looking for when we wish each other a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR? Really?!!?