Mindful Moments- Somewhere between storm and reaching sky

Mindful Moments- Somewhere between storm and reaching sky

By Sadia Wali

“Each moment means a new possibility. Mindfulness is not resisting things to happen but allowing life to unfold its wings.”

― Amit Ray, Mindfulness Living in the Moment - Living in the Breath

Life has been strange for me. When I look back to the years, turbulence and dilemmas had shrunk my hopes. Fear and feelings of despair made my mind slipped into negativity.  I would keep blaming myself for continuous failure. My life has been a roller coaster ride due to unpredictable circumstances.

The biggest change in life was when I opted to pursue the field of writing. Writing was my passion since childhood. I began freelance writing for Dawn newspaper, Karachi since 2001.My first article published in 2001 was a big achievement for me. Since then I still began to contribute for Dawn newspaper, The News and various blogs. I have contributed several articles for feature page of Sunday Images.

 I endeavor to choose a place with intellects and educationalists that would help me to enhance my writing skills and potential.  ERDC was the first platform that opened up my mind and I began to think positively. I joined ERDC in 2013 as research fellow. My tasks were to write chapters and teachers guide for social studies text books (Grade 6 to 8). I was part of the organizing committee of ERDC Project, Professional Teacher’s Certificate Course, I conducted workshop of writing skills.

I have great memories associated with the ERDC where I worked for two years. Salman Asif Siddiqui and other colleagues helped me to develop my communication skills and research skills. One of my colleagues was so cooperative he made my blog and helped me to manage it. I miss that memorable time with my colleagues.

In the year 2015, I worked with Abbas Husain. He is a renowned teacher trainer. Iam still inspired by his wisdom and knowledge, working with him was a tremendous experience for me. I worked as rapporteur for his teacher training sessions. The catastrophes I went through really broken me, it was his  inspirational sessions that helped me to focus on my personality traits,  my weaknesses and my awesome dreams and goals which I never thought  important. Once he asked me a simple question: Do you feel happy?  He stayed calm and waited for my reply: I wondered what to say, I never pondered about my inner feelings. His next question was:  When the last time I sat near a beautiful lake and spell bounded by the inspiring beauty of nature. Which book or movie left an everlasting impact on my mind? To all these questions I really felt stunned and blank and to some extent puzzled what to say.

I realized that my intellectuality was nil and I missed the best moments of life to enhance my physical and intellectual growth. I being less resilience always lived a stressful life which kept me emotionally and sentimentally disturbed. Thus, I never thought that the most essential aspect of one’s personality is to ‘Be Happy’ which really counts a lot in building up the personality.  

My life, career and personality got a great boost in 2016 when I met the co- trainers of Abbas Husain. The organization named as REACH where I worked as Research Coordinator. I managed the promotional activities of Asian University for Women, Bangladesh followed by the recruitment procedure, networking and communication with school heads and principals of educational institutions in Karachi. I developed training manuals and power point presentations. I also translated the Training Manual of Adult Literacy from Urdu to English.

I worked with three trainers, they transformed my personality. One of the trainers suggested me to think about post graduate studies, she asked me to contact friends on LinkedIn about PhD. 

Here I would like to mention and especially thankful to my dear friend, a PhD scholar in China who kept me motivated to take initiatives to boost my career. He also encouraged me towards thinking of post graduate studies.  A new era opened for me. I began to think and plan for my PhD.

My new job venture at Innovative Solutions has turned a new leaf for me. I feel good and think good.  Working with young colleagues, I feel more positive and enthusiastic.  Enjoying and gossiping with young friends at office and in van has refreshed my heart. I feel great in learning new technologies and skills from my team lead, senior proofreaders and young fellows. Exposure to various inspirational and informative books has enhanced my knowledge; the best thing I learnt through these books is to develop the ability to change, adapt myself to different situations and respond and react respectively.  One of the books I would like to mention is ‘How to survive change that you didn’t ask for’ truly changed the perspective of my life. The Seven Truths about Change highly appealed me. I read that book several times, I felt as if this book was written for me. A few lines I would like to quote:

 “You may have come across lots of instances in your life where you might had felt that you are not resilient enough to face such a crisis but somehow, you have made it. You have swum against the strongest of currents of life and still survived. So how do you cultivate resilience?”

Over these years, I feel myself fortunate that I got opportunities to work with some great mentors and especially at my present working place, I have learned how to embrace change in life.

 Every day, I woke up with new aspirations and dreams. . I am on a mission to improve every aspect of my life.  My motive involves learning, reflecting and thinking. To get involved with people who respect my opinions and help me to achieve my goals.  I learnt two important lessons. Firstly to   celebrate every opportunity as we learn and grow by time.  Understanding develops from observation and experience. Secondly, I developed my faith in Allah. It is my experience who has firm faith in Allah finds miracles in his life.

 Finally, I believe it is better to forget the things that hurt us and live each day with the hope that there will come a balm for sorrow, a life full of strength and happiness. The smiling lips will always blossom like a rose; the patience of these silent lips will pave the way towards a great reward just like a life in heaven.  Let us keep the faith and trust in Allah for He is with us on every step of our life.

Happiness lies inside us, we need to discover how we can enjoy every moment of life. Keep enjoying every moment as the gift of life is life itself! 

The writer is an Assistant Editor at Innovative Solutions, Karachi. She can be contacted at sadiawali@hotmail.com