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How To Be Happy With Your Mundane Life

“Accept that you will have to work hard in life and it will be boring. That pill is easier to swallow once you realize it is something that is a requirement, not optional. Accept the mediocrity and grind of life and stop resisting. Life is easier when you consent to being ground.

But also realize that there is pride in that. There is pride in going to the gym everyday, or cleaning your room, or working and studying. These things aren’t unimportant and time wasters stopping you from living your dream life. You are actually doing your best, learning how to sacrifice and being an adult. If you take a vacation after this, THEN it’ll be worth it. Contrast is everything.

Find ways to get used to boringness. Force yourself to slow down. If you are bored sit in the silence, don’t whip out your phone. Take and savor every moment now instead of wishing you had your goal.

Let go of ideals and stop wishing for perfection in everything. Don’t look for the ideal boy or girl, or get upset when you realize you’re short or have chin hairs…and are maybe not as good looking as you think you are. You’re NORMAL. Love every part of you and realize it makes you human. Improve what you can and accept the rest. This goes for job, spouse, etc.

Stop focusing so much on yourself & your happiness. Volunteer and give your time to others instead of wishing you could be doing something “fun”.

Cherish the everyday. Observe birds singing, wind blowing. Take a walk in nature. Laugh with friends and family. Imagine what it would be like to not have your eyesight (stoicism). Be grateful for what you do have. Expect nothing. Take care of yourself and rid yourself of neuroses.”

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“The Western “love” concept, you take it apart, it really is lust. But love transcends just the physical. Love is disposition, behaviour, attitude, thoughts, likes, dislikes – these things make a beautiful woman, a beautiful wife. This is the beauty that never fades. You find in your Western civilisation that when a man’s wife’s physical beauty fails, she loses her attraction”

— Malcolm X

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" ما غابوا إلا من أجل أن يكون العراق حاضراً..! "

دكتور في جامعة بابل بالعراق عن طلابه الذي غابوا عن

المحاضرة وذهبوا للمشاركة في الثورة.

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The beauty of the Arabic language

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^مكتبة النساء.

ʿAbdullah ibn ʿAbdulAziz رحمه الله wouldn't sit amongst the people. He was seldom seen without a book in his hand & when he was asked about this he said,

"I have never seen a greater admonisher than the grave, anything more enjoyable than a book, or anything safer than solitude.."

جامع بيان العلم و فضله لابن عبد البر ٢٤٢٥|

Translated by Abdulwakil as-Siyari | See page

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BourjHammoud -Beirut (once refugee camp for Armenians) برج حمود في لبنان وهو مخيم سابق لاللاجئين الارمن.

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for all the “security” measures the (military) Egyptian government is financing, terrorist attacks are consistently allowed to take place in rural areas/ areas far from the capital to poor people from marginalized communities. Please keep the victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

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Signed!

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By Artist Ramzi Almadhoun From Gaza

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Butterflies of Aisha Bibi - Almagul Menlibayeva

Daughters of Turan is an exhibition of recent video and photographic work by Almagul Menlibayeva that introduces the viewer to the history and culture of the artist’s native Kazakhstan. Menlibayeva has cited video and performance artist Nezaket Ekici from Turkey as her one of the artists who have influenced her. Like Ekici Menlibayeva shows old rituals in contemporary interpretations. Instead of subverting tradition, Menlibayeva aims to demonstrate that the traditional and the modern (such as popular culture) can mutually enrich each other.

…

While the majority of Kazakh artists work in relative isolation and far removed from the contemporary art scene, Menlibayeva says that her “nomadic” lifestyle – she lives and works in Almaty and Berlin – offers “a productive distance to her original culture and a language for its poetic interpretation.” The crisis of cultural identity enforced by economic disparities, nationalism, and patriarchy presents the thematic backdrop for Menlibayeva’s work. Her videos and the (related) stills she mounts in light boxes on the walls are designed to show the world her remote culture while at the same time staying clear of exoticist stereotypes.

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“The flag I was carrying is the same one I always hold in all the other protests I’ve attended. My friends make fun of me, saying it is easier to throw rocks without holding a flag in the other hand, but I got used to it.

If I get killed, I want to be wrapped in the same flag. We are demanding our right of return, and protesting for our dignity and the dignity of our future generation.”

— A'ed Abu Amro (x)

Taken by Mustafa Hassouna

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Jeanette Winterson

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Details. (12/25/2016)

I absolutely love Mexican architecture.

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A love letter in a form of puzzle. 18C, author unknown.

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A Palestinian woman, a mother of eight, was preparing for her daughter’s wedding in two weeks, but she has been murdered yesterday by Israeli Zionist settlers who attacked her & her husband and stoned their car with rocks, near an Israeli checkpoint South of Nablus, Occupied Palestine. Note: when settlers go on a rampage like this, Israeli soldiers are always nearby to provide them with protection.

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The House that My Father Build (2010) ذلك البيت الذي بناه أبي

Iraqi Artist SADIK KWAISH ALFRAJI صادق كويش الفراجي

This extremely moving short (6:00 minute) animation film is part of the larger project featured here earlier that included a massive 6 x 4 meter painting and installation. Here, Sadik Kwaish Alfraji recalls one of the most devastating and emotional events in his life; the passing of his father. Having not been to Baghdad in 20 years, Sadik’s first return to the country and his hometown coincided with the death of his father; an experience that not only made him fully realize the role the diaspora plays in the shaping of his personality and memories, but also one that generated an existential conflict between life and death within his awareness. On this sentimental project, Sadik writes:

Once upon a time:

In the family house, and in my father’s room in particular, which was his guest room and daily sitting area, my feet shook as I entered the room after long years of expatriation. His clothes, which were hanging there in a corner, were the first things I laid eyes on. That was a very intense and emotional moment to me.

This is then what is left of my father?? 

His kufiyeh “head cover”, agal “headband”, praying beads, and traditional clothing. They were all deeply rooted in his identity and sentiment. They, with his big old collection of coffee pots made part of his dignity, respect and sense of belonging.

They were hanging there, high, tidy and clean, as always, ready to be worn, exactly as he used to hang them himself. They were leveled upright on the wall surrounded by lost ghosts and floating shadows, restless and anxious, pacing the room, swaying on the beat of his strong, deep voice which filled the room, together with the smell of fresh roasted coffee and the tunes of old sad Mawaweels.

This is then what is left of my father! A few Objects, Hundreds of memories, A grieving love which still fills my mother’s eyes, And many unfinished tales.

Continue reading the artist’s emotional statement here.