Approaching 1000 views

Afternoon Everyone!

Just checked the stats today for the blog and realised we are fast approaching 1000 views.. that's great!! I hope, despite the fact that it is rarely updated that you all enjoy reading posts.
I wish I could write more but the truth is at the moment my dissertation seems to be getting in the way. Do not fear.. I will make sure I post some interesting stuff in the coming weeks.

Feel free to drop me an email if you want to write something for the blog or simply want to share a funny story at fakhtar20@googlemail.com

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7 Laws of Fearless Living

Morning everyone! Hope you are all enjoying the weekend.. I came across this article on the Huffington Post a while back and I promised myself I would share it with cyber world.

Don't believe what the spiritual sharks and clever carnival hustlers tell you about fearless living -- they lie. But you already sense the truth of this, or you wouldn't still be looking for ways to escape those everyday fears that stalk your happiness like a lion does the unwary gazelle.

The deepest parts of you know that if freedom from fear was as easy as "creating a new reality" for yourself, then you would already be the fearless person you know in your heart that you're meant to be. It's just not that easy... which brings us to a great liberating truth, an insight you must prove to yourself before you can know its power to dismantle any fear.

When it comes to the fearless life, the divine gives nothing freely... save to those who freely give themselves to discovering the truth about their own fearless selves. The good news is that this supreme confidence and calm already lives within you, needing only your realization of its unshakable presence in order to empower you with the fearlessness you seek.

The following seven laws are like a golden invitation to your own coronation. To "open" each one and receive its royal instruction about how to live free of fear, you need do only one thing: Ask sincerely that you might understand its secret message, and then, when the answer comes, welcome those insights as long-lost friends -- for that is exactly what they are. They will do the rest for you.

1. When you know that what you're looking for is what you already are -- and not what you may become -- you stand on the threshold of fearless living.

No psychological fear exists without negative imagination.

When it comes to fear, the feel is real... but the "why" is a lie.

You cannot change one thing about times past or the fears that belong to old regrets, but you can be in a different relationship with what is happening to you right now -- and that changes everything!

Nothing in the universe can stop you from letting go and starting over.

Your experience of any moment -- good or bad, calm or conflicted -- is a direct reflection of your understanding about it. This means that the only thing that frightens you about any event is what you've yet to understand about yourself.

The universe itself is actually set up for you to succeed with realizing the fearless life, which means that you are made for whatever happens to you!

Now to these seven laws, let's add three additional facts that will help prove the possibility of a fearless life. Taken alone, each of the following statements supplies insight into the seemingly impenetrable darkness that surrounds any fear. Taken altogether, these bright new facts reveal a whole new understanding that penetrates fear's protective shell, dispelling both the feared and the fearful at once. The light that remains is freedom.

We can either spend our lives struggling to protect ourselves from our fears -- which is the general existence of the unconscious masses -- or we can learn how to use our lives to discover that, in reality, there is no self to fear, and that the shaky world perceived by this shadow-self is but its own unreal shadow. The good news is that it's possible to learn so much about the nature of fear that one day, it simply runs out of ways to make you believe in its shaking.

No fact is frightening unless it runs into conflict with what you want. When this happens, the fear is not in the event, but in you -- who have decided that in order to feel secure, life must jump through your hoop. The fear you feel is in your hoop, not in the fact that life may have jumped unexpectedly.

Last but by no means least of these fear-busting ideas is this final fact and implied action: It is in your power to discover that who you really are has nothing to fear, but that you make yourself fearful each time you look outside of yourself for some power to make you feel fearless.

 I hope you enjoyed the article as much as I did! It may require a few reads before you get to grips with it is actually talking about.

'Big Society'

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/07/david-cameron-big-society-cuts-distrust
Afternoon everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your bank holiday, I know I am. 

Came across this article on The Guardian and it made me think about this concept of Big Society. When this concept was unveiled by Cameron I remember actually trying to weigh up the pros and cons. The term big society was mainly centered around community and voluntary organizations and the hope that together they would create a better society for us all to be a part of. Obviously, this has failed. 

When I first came to the Winchester project a charity based in North London it was clear that they were struggling with support and funding and so were trying their best to find new ways of obtaining finance. What I am trying to come to terms with is how did/does Cameron expect big impact to be created when he left charities/projects such as this to essentially fend for themselves. In all seriousness I find it shocking because The Winchester project is not the only community building project that aims to help those in need and to aid people in achieving their dreams but yet they have been left high and dry by this government to essentially 'take care of the problem' without actually providing any of the means necessary to do so.

Vent over! 

 

Hijab and Sports

Afternoon!

Came across this interesting article about head coverings and sports and so I thought I would share it with you all.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/04/23/flag-football-team-wears-hijab_n_1445644.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

My question is why is it deemed acceptable for people to criticise those who choose to cover themselves? Headscarves do not hinder a woman in any way unless they choose to let it hinder them.. I say go for it workout, play sports and live life and personally who cares about the people giving you odd looks on the sidelines.

Enjoy the rest of your day, whatever you are doing!

X

April Showers

Good Evening Everyone!

So, it has been quite some time and the rain has kept me cooped up for a while so I thought it would be the perfect time to write a new blog post to fill cyber space in and add to my archive of memories. 

The whole concept of this blog at first was to be a place where I could store my thoughts on pretty much everything but I realised that my life per say was and is not that interesting and so I decided to change the blog to represent the T.M.E community in other words the project that I run Through My Eyes. The aim of the redevelopment of the blog was to enable other users the chance to upload and share their stories/thoughts on particular articles or matters in the world. It has been successful so far and we do have people writing for us the only problem is the constant reminders! Don't get me wrong people are busy.. I, myself have struggled to sit in front of the laptop and write. Not because I have nothing to say, anybody who knows me as an individual knows I have plenty to say about almost anything and everything. However, I felt to an extent that I wanted to provide readers with variety so that the blog post itself was not subjective in any way. 

Some of you may be wondering what is actually happening to Through My Eyes as a project. Well, the work at TME has not stopped in any shape or form but at present has been slow as a result of other commitments. That is not to say that myself and my fellow co-founder have called it quits over the project, it only means that we are still trying to find our feet and connect with the problems that people face in their daily lives. In order for us to flourish it requires time, finance and research. All of the above are still being worked on and the journey getting here has been pretty tough. Our hopes are to continue growing, welcoming people on to the team, partnering up with organizations and most importantly creating impact! Our most important aim that we hope to fulfill is seeing results! Nevertheless, with everything, patience is required but stay tuned because we are working on some pretty exciting stuff and want you to stay with us on this journey. 

Oh and yes I promise to blog more! (Currently working on my MA dissertation, and no this is not an excuse-but just thought I would put it out there)

Until then my fellow world-changers.. Stay positive and happy despite the hail stones falling down on us all 

X

Why Apologise? By Madeeha Ahmed

To my weekly readers I present another blog post courtesy of a great writer Madeeha Ahmed.. Enjoy and stay tuned for more blogs

Why apologise? 

What happens when people apologise for something that they did not do? Not directly anyway; I do not say that the apologists are not responsible, but why apologise for something that they did not do directly? Today I speak specifically of Mr Barack Obama, who so graciously apologised to his Afghan counterpart Mr Hamid Karzai over the recent civilian deaths by a disturbed American soldier.

I say 'disturbed' not because I am trying to be politically correct, but because I do believe that the accused was disturbed. Now, one may argue that this was a heinous and barbaric deed and no punishment is enough. However, the said person holding such a viewpoint will be overlooking major factor: the soldier was American. If you have read various political discourses and heard those phenomenal speeches with which the world's politicians fool us at every elections, then you should know that no American can be guilty of committing a barbaric crime. This is why, in my view, Mr Obama should not apologise, because his fellow countryman did not do anything that heinous.

IF and that is a big 'if'; If an Afghan, a Pakistani, an Indian, an Arab, an Egyptian, an Iraqi or an Irani national would have done this, THEN it would be rampant barbarism and my friends no amount of 'sorrys' would be enough. Even if a Russian would have done this deed, then it would be called- not barbarism- but the work of Russian mobs. When America kills, it kills to protect human rights, but when an Eastern kills, then it is a crime. When an American forces itself onto someone's territory, s/he is Bush or Obama, but when someone with a Muslim name does it, then it is Osama.

It is nothing to feel bad about, it is just geography. So all in all, Mr Obama really should not apologise. The soldier killed for a righteous reason: his countrymen were killed in response to 'mistaken' Qur'an burnings, but what he did was heroic; he was avenging his friends. It was not cowardly at all. It is not as if he crept into innocent peoples' houses and shot them while they were asleep and defenceless; or as if he killed innocent children. He killed Afghans and we know how barbaric those Eastern folks can be. Right?

So Mr Obama, please take back your heartfelt (superficial) and gracious (pathetic) apology; it wasn't your fault that some civilised soldier from the great ranks of US of A went a bit dotty and got carried away. It's not as if he killed Americans. He killed some Afghan civilians and we know how worthless their lives are in relation to the coveted Americans. So Mr President, don't lower yourself by apologising to some Eastern country; they are not worth it. Instead, go tuck your innocent children in bed, because no one will dare kill them; their lives are much too American and therefore important!

Maria Dimouli *HUMAN RIGHTS*

Hello Everyone! I have received a fantastic blog post by a dear friend of mine and wanted to share it with you all.. Enjoy

Human rights is not something that everyone understands but it is something that everyone needs. Knowing the words "human" and "right" is not enough! You have to know the value of these two words and then realise their meaning. People studying human rights, like me and my friends, have gone beyond this point and realised the necessity for a change. There are some common characteristics among these people like passion and fairness, will to help and altrouism, compassion and responsibility.

I feel that I am one of these people so, let me explain how I really feel about human rights. "To see the change you got to be the change" said Mahatma Ghandi so, I got to be part of the change I want to see in the world out there. And there are a lot of things that need to be changed. Studying human rights os the first step to gain knowledge on human rights issues and get worried about them. When worried, it's more likely to try for and get involved in change. First it's knowledge. then will and then you start searching for the ideal opportunity to actually get involved. So, I studied human rights to help the world and, as a graduate, I feel that the world does not help me help them!

Now that crisis is here people are worried more for material goods and less for concepts such as freedom, dignity and empowerment in life. They tend to focus on money and they strive to pay debts and buy food, and they forget the values and what really matters in life. I'm not saying it's right or wrong...but, for me, everything is relevant and interacting. In some countries, there are babies dying and children exploited; women raped or treated like objects and men working for a dollar per day. In other countries, there are spoiled children, women worried because they cannot afford to buy THE bag, and men who spend their life in an office to get the promotion and satisfy their ego.

Human rights made me re-consider and evaluate what I have. It's okay if you don't get a hundred toys/THE bag/the job/the promotion because what matters is that you are here and you have your life, your dignity, your family and friends, people around you who appreciate you and love you. You are free to think, to choose, to speak, to risk, to try, to fail, to be. So you have to be happy because, even if you have nothing, you still have a lot...and you know what?It is okay,too, if I don't get a job very soon or I don't travel around this year because I am living my life as I want and I have my family and friends supporting me!

Going back to the basics is something that our community needs to do!Forget about economic recession and think of a real crisis when a baby dies from famine or a woman is punished to death or a man is treated like a slave with no dignity. Think of homosexual who cannot express what he is and he is not free to choose the way of life he wants to live. Think of people living in the streets. Think of diseases which can be curred and situations that can get better. Think and worry, and then get involved!

I think, I worry and I am involved. I care about people who enjoy less rights than I do. I volunteer and help in charities to make their lives easier and better. I discuss my views with friends and I spread the two words, highlighting their true meaning.