relationships

Your family and your personal wellbeing always trump work.
Your personal integrity is more important than a good salary.
Love can be found on the tops of mountains.
Never give up on the idea of finding your prince charming. He’s out there somewhere if you look hard enough.
The very very hard times WILL be followed by good times so just hang in there a little bit longer. It will get better.
Don’t worry too much about the details. Focus on the big picture.
Sometimes your psyche and your body are yelling, “Give us a break!” Listen to them. Every now and then we need to give ourselves time to heal and to rejuvenate.
Earth is such a beautiful planet. Make a point to see as much of it as you can manage.
Earth is such a beautiful planet. It’s your responsibility to take care of it.
Great friends are few and priceless. Hold onto them for dear life.
Children are God’s greatest blessing. Treat them with respect and sensitivity.
Be true to yourself. To do that you must know who you are. To do that, look within. Do not be confused by other people’s perceptions of who they think you are or who they want you to be.
Value relationships with loved ones by keeping them strong. This requires lots of hard work. It’s worth it.
To keep fit and healthy one must work hard and feel the pain.
Don’t let the fitness of others demotivate you. If you continue to exercise, you can be as fit as they are one day.
70-year-olds who are consistent in their workout routines can be more fit than many 30-year-olds. These people deserve respect.
Nothing bad will happen to you if you run in the rain or in sub-zero temperatures so just toughen up and get your jogging routine done.
Live life. You only have one chance to do it.
Don’t live your life through others. Decide what it is you would rather be doing and put together a plan to do it.
There is nothing wrong with being 44-years-old and still not knowing what you want to be when you grow up (or wanting to be lots of different things).
As you get older, your skin will droop and your hair will grow grey. Deal with it.
When your country and your countrymen seem to be drowning in a sea of negativity, do what you can to be a drop of positivity in that sea.
Democracy doesn’t come in 18 days. Hope and dignity do.
Faith is a very personal matter. Do not let others tell you how your faith should be.
Never dispose of common sense…especially when it comes to matters of faith.
Do not allow others to dictate to you how your life should be lived, what you should believe, or how you should behave. They are doing what they want to do. You do what you want to do.

How does one find the perfect spouse? Of course here in the Muslim world, most people aren’t looking for a casual boyfriend/girlfriend or a longer term partner. Most of us wake up when we reach somewhere around the age of 20 and just want to get married. To someone. And thus starts the prowl for the suitable spouse.

I won’t get into the pros and cons of this way of thinking. I won’t address the various cultural approaches, whether semi-dating, meeting people in the family circle, or arranged marriages. Forget all that. Most people I know in my circle of friends just want to figure out how they personally can find someone they’d like to spend the rest of their lives with.

I’ve been telling my friends – guys and gals – that they all need to learn the art of flirting. They truly suck at it. For the most part, the girls I know won’t flirt at all because they feel it’s inappropriate. And when girls I know do flirt it’s very cheeky and superficial. It gives off the wrong message completely. The guys I know think flirting means batting their eyelashes at girls (yes…BATTING THEIR EYELASHES), looking at them inappropriately (they don’t realize it’s inappropriate but it is), and acting all manly and controlling with them. It’s a complete turn-off.

So as I’ve promised for quite some time, behold my blog post on the art of flirting in the Muslim world. I’ll only know if this post applies to other parts of the world once I finish writing it. I’m not sure yet what jewels will come out of my typing fingers! (more…)