a daylight dream

  the more I become emotionally stable, the more I realise that my only measure of healing is to feel the tension consuming my insides melt with softness and ease. there is more of this sensation now, but I still cannot fathom how to get there. the only way I can truly find it is through surrender and the fading of all my doings. the secret to healing is quite inscrutable, for it is a secret. everyone can letter out infinite ways to heal, but everyone has his/her unique path. mine is of softness. it is my innate power which I had glimpsed over and over again. I had a conversation with a friend last evening and I found myself asking, ‘ how does the healed Soraya look like? ‘. I was baffled to hear her saying, ‘ the healed Soraya will be powerful and soft. ‘ it is true. I find myself most powerful when I melt into the softness of being carried by God’s light, my doing and toil fading, unrecognised as they float along the currents of surrender and letting go. I can feel more of it now...

  احبب ما شئت فإنك مفارقه.. there is so much hesitation in this heart of mine. tiny little parabolas that alternate from fear to doubt. there is so much to comprehend and ponder upon before filling the heart with a worldly commitment. there is an ongoing comparison— is it for God, or is it for the temporary self? sometimes I get too tired when I can’t make a decision. I isolate in despair, waiting for the heart to speak. sometimes my judgement is clouded from all the coping mechanisms I’ve endured and I fear, I don’t always see the truth. recently, I reflected upon how I can’t seem to rely on temporariness to be alive. I do not trust people’s love, even if they claim that it’s infinite. there’s always loss lurking in the corner— I keep my space, always. I don’t get too close to loving eternally when I know that I can’t. perhaps I’ve made this mistake. I claimed infinite, unconditional love was my path. but as long as I’m here, it is not my choice. I cannot rely on myself toiling fo...

  I looked up at clouds so celestially beautiful for the first time in months that way. that dreamy, starry-eyed way of longing for meaning and purpose and a glimpse of the foreordained. questions lap back and forth the stormy waves of my mind and I let them go in desperation. but still, they’re hauntingly blue. they look for their homes in those beautiful, otherworldly skies. then I saw the beaming light of those healing June clouds. they floated above each other in a sacred dance at sundown. I gazed lovingly, looking for myself in those heavenly mirrors. and what I saw was gratitude. how grateful I suddenly was. a serene kind of grace and forgiveness for all what is not, still. and what I needed all this time came in sight. dear God, I’m grateful for not having what I need. it occurred to me that the readiness of my soul is essential— one of the greatest misfortunes in life is to have an ocean of gifts and still hang on to the shores. to have God’s signs but not see them with one...

  I wonder.. where is my mountain? where is my suffering? where is my path? somewhere in the greenness of this fields, I head outside searching for myself betwixt the birches coating themselves in emeralds. time is fleeting, running, and I have less of it now with my dawns fading into a much-needed sleep. one of my greatest fears before I came here was perhaps losing myself the more I went further away from my sufferings. now that there’s less to suffer from, my muse hangs midair. my dreams touch the ground. the reality that held me to Love dissipates slowly into things more tangible, more consuming. realities that live outside of my head and my heart. and this is me. perhaps I don’t need to heal. perhaps I always need something to suffer from so that meaning is found in eternal skies, so that even heaven is not enough. and I cannot live in a state where I find myself praying for something temporary.  I have really tasted bliss those past few weeks. an immense wave of relaxati...

what is it with those tears that come with each time God is remembered, and some ethereal tie to the infinite is reignited. what is it with this tired heart that has forgotten how to dream and has grown old with all the tribulations it has been through. it’s been a tough transition. I haven’t had time to be   without the constant chatter of my mind and all of the useless negativity it throws on me. I feel so alone sometimes. so alone in my healing. so alone in wanting to reach out for the dreams that made me who I am. so alone in not feeling good enough or worthy enough to shine.  but I at least feel good about something— I feel good about having left it all behind and took all those serious decisions, despite the whirlpool of happenings peeling my skin sore. I feel good about the endless rivers of kindness in my heart. I feel good about be willing to give every single thing I have for everyone else.  it was my choice, in the end. there is so much I need to deal with. the...

  how many days has it been since I reconnected to that soul within me, and when a glimpse of its nature touches my heart, I find myself in tears, helpless at the gateways of vastness this lifetime has left me with. it’s been a cascade of inevitable changes. swirling, swooning cursive changes all along the spine of my little story. I’m in the airplane this moment, my husband on my lap, a sky so blue to my right. in the centre resides me, all what I’ve lost and who I’m learning to be. I’ve forgotten who I am. I’m quite unsure, searching for myself in the translations of this mirroring reality. am I reflection of it all? a reflection of the immense receivership, the boundless love, the endless tries, the laughter rippling more often, and the tears by the end of each prayer, wrapped in his all-encompassing arms. I’m quite unsure of my dreams, now. I don’t know who I’m supposed to be. and so, I think I’ll be plunging into so many new things and investing my presence in this world in ci...

  I am learning that healing is not about what your working through in diligence and persistence, but the nonchalance in letting things be. healing at its roots is the most complex non-linear sprouting of beingness I’ve ever seen. it overwhelms a devoted heart by the many ways it can manifest, but at its heart, it is truly the simplest display. just as the stars beam in graceful softness, so does our humanness. it never was but the ease in it all. I’m learning that healing strains itself when we hold on to its difficulty. but we recognise it when we do things that may seem childish, but stem with so much inner, all-encompassing love. it may look like choosing that friend to see, that cup of coffee to sip slowly, that extra hour of sleep. it may be that ‘no’ to an extra bite, or a ‘yes’ to a fancy restaurant with a luxurious view. it may be that feeling that you’re beautiful and deserving. it may be that gift you’re buying for someone you love. it may be the sleep I’m losing waiting...

perhaps the only thing that I wish I could truly work on is healing the shame locked between my bones. the shame that binds me. the shame of not feeling good enough most of the time. the shame of not wanting to be in pictures, not knowing how to smile wide enough or laugh till it lights up my world. I get so self-conscious sometimes. I start fretting around the tiniest details about little things like that little wisp of hair not falling perfectly on my eye. some things like how my clothes wrap around my body, and how his gentle arms feel around my soul. there are little things that show me how much there is left to go in terms of self-love, and healing that toxic shame that penetrates me on the inside, stops me from eating what I like and doing what I feel I need to feel enough. sometimes I feel it so strongly that I manage to stop breathing and find myself weeping all alone feeling so ashamed, pleading desperately to disappear for a while and not be here until I see it clearly. I don...

  I sit there receiving, a sprightly, exuberant mulberry leaf drinking in the jovial sunlight of february. it’s my first time to learn to receive, and there is no ultimatum when it comes to surrender. it just is. the moment you know it, it is gone. the forgetfulness of it is leaning into being  it . all my life, I chased and ghosted power. the tidal waves of craving it, projecting it into everything, and when finding myself gazing at it eye-to-eye, I’d run away. I wanted to be anything but powerful. anything but strong. I wanted to be calm, gentle, kind. I wanted people to love me, because all I’ve ever learned is how to make people hate you. but there were the shadows in hindsight manipulating me to be powerful all along. I’d get myself in the trenches of wanting to be invisible, and learning through it the essence of being strong. the authenticity in knowing what is true and clinging to following it even if it requires hurt and pain. and now the tables have turned. I’m power...

  oh, my dearest heart. how fascinating you are, falling in love again and again. with every turn of this labyrinthine life, the paradigm shifts and you find yourself returning to a version of you you never were but always you knew held deep inside. isn’t it terribly perilous to keep falling again for life when it has so menacingly betrayed your trust? I find myself unable to keep up with that cynical temptation to be at the side lines. there are wings that were made to land only for the temporary, finding themselves in their skies again. I seem to be willing to have my heart broken again and again, just to have it healed in a renaissance. alongside the glimmering lights of ancient towns and riversides that welcome shivery winter walks, warmed by hands swaying in an embrace. my trust is inexhaustible. a trust that even if I’m failing and not seeing things through, the heartbreak is meant just for me. at least, the disappointment will be real. there’s an empowering authority in bein...