Iman Refaat's Blog, page 13

#FabulousVeilsNovel#Open_Discussion

What are the most important character traits for a happy life?

 

 

6 Frames for Better Thinking – Part 2

A triangle, a circle, a square, a heart, a diamond and a rectangle were the six frames Edward De Bono chose in his book ‘Thinking about information’. Become a better thinker by thinking about information from the lens of these shapes:

1- The Triangle frame:

Triangles have points. The arrow points in a particular direction. That direction is the purpose.

What is the purpose of your search? Why do you need this information? Why is it valuable?

Where should you look for this information? Is it the right place?

2- The Circle frame:

The circle represents the centre of a target. Accuracy depends on how well you hit that target. Focus directly on the accuracy of info. If you plan to take an action, give high importance to accuracy.

3- The Square frame:

All sides/points of view of an issue must be treated equally. Also to approach issues from all sides. Pay attention to the degree of bias or neutrality in the information. Notice the bias while using the information. Choose not to use a source that is consistently one-sided. Choose to look at the information in a different way.

Start using these three frames during your day to day life. Use them as a tool to become a better thinker.

Self-Leadership#Son and Mom

“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time and what is important.” – Stephen R. Covey

#FabulousVeilsNovel#Culture Starts from Home

Men and women were created equal. Our culture that women are less must change. Change should start from home, by teaching our children that boys and girls are equally important.

The 30 Million People Who Were Reached Out Because of a Diaper

Hitting the bottom might be the luckiest thing we ever experience. A powerful lesson I learned from Lisa Nichols, one of the world’s most-requested motivational speakers, as well as media personality and corporate CEO whose global platform has reached and served nearly 30 million people.

Lisa had a very humble beginning and she decided to pursue her calling the night she couldn’t afford buying a diaper for her toddler. She made a promise to her son that this would never happen again and that she will create a brand new version of their life. And she did it!

Transformational Coaching

Lisa Nichols, the lady who reached and served over 30 million people, prefers to be called a Transformational Coach, not a motivational one. She challenges her clients to do a revolutionary change, not accepting from them to settle for the easiest level of change; the behavioural one.

The Levels of Change 

Coaches invite people to feel uncomfortable, to discover the unknown countries of their own potentials. Accordingly, Coaching is about change. There are four levels of change:

1- Incremental (continuous) change:

Which focuses on expanding the same behaviour to new levels of flexibility.

2- Discontinuous change:

In which people adopt new behaviours and expand their frames of thinking.

3- Evolutionary change:

In this level people reexamine their identities, values and beliefs.

4- Revolutionary change:

This is the higher level of change; a change in the direction and the vision.

The First Step for Creating Change

“I felt rock bottom, and I realised, ‘I have to do something,’” Nichols said. “I have to be my own rescue. No one’s going to rescue me.” Another life lesson from Lisa. No Coach will be able to help us unless we decide to help ourselves first. We must be willing to change. We must accept our circumstances, believe we can create a new brand future and only then a coach can help us transform.

“I asked her how many Coaches did she have, she said three. What do you think I did as soon as I went home? I hired a third,” Lisa Nichols sharing her conversation with Oprah Winfrey during the break of the Oprah Show. Being a Coach herself didn’t stop her from hiring three Coaches to keep her promise to her son, transforming her own life and reach millions.

 

#FabulousVeilsNovel#Book Review

“I honestly feel like no review I could ever write would do this book justice. It’s a beautifully written novel that deserves to be read and re-read. It’s enlightening and hopeful even through all the gritty, heart-wrenching, almost physically painful emotional rawness of it.

I felt inspired by the wonderfully brave characters, and I learnt A LOT from their life experiences.

And I felt that basically the message in this novel is: ‘It doesn’t matter what happens to us, we will rise above it if we have the awareness about who we are and what we are capable of.’

Iman used simple words to narrate a simple, straightforward messages to women and she did it brilliantly. It is a beautiful novel of hardship and hope. Hope triumphs. As it should.

Iman, you’re our KHALID El Hosseini female version.”

 

4 Lessons From ‘Beauty and The Beast’ 2017

Twenty six years had passed between the release of the animated ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in 1991 and the latest one released in 2017.  Watching the latter after becoming a mother, a novelist, a blogger and a Life-leadership Coach was quite an experience. It wasn’t a movie that I watched with my daughter to have some quality one-to-one time. I felt like taking many steps backward and watching the movie from a wider view, an analytical one. My mind started to compare the two versions. I mind mapped Belle’s character and observed closely what she did with the Beast.

What changed between the two versions..

Though there were several changes, four caught my attention:

1- Happiness

How can a person be happy without being free? Despite the magical world Belle was experiencing, her freedom came first. When the Beast tried to express his love, she made it clear that she can’t receive it as long as she wasn’t free. Though being in a castle, having all those books, feeling the Beast’s affection, being served and receiving limitless attention from all the castle’s inhabitants, she stayed true to herself knowing that her freedom was what mattered the most. It was fundamental to her happiness.

2- Help

In order to help the Beast after he was attacked by the wolves she asked him to help her. He had to help himself first to receive help. How fantastic! Exactly like I was taught in Coaching. People must be willing to help themselves or else no real change will take place.

3- Choice

People say bad things when they are angry, you can choose not to listen. Another time ‘How fantastic!’ They do. I do. Most of us do say bad things under anger that in many times we don’t really mean or that we would regret later. Our beloved ones can choose not to listen. We can choose not to listen when people are angry. It’s a choice. We have the freedom of choice.

4- Flexibility 

In eating the soup. She didn’t expect or try to change the Beast completely. She was firm with her freedom and flexible in other matters. She made a compromise not eating in a savage way and finding a way that suited them both.

 

Belle’s character..

Books. For many years I thought that this is why I admired Belle. For her love for books which we both share in common. This time I gave it a deeper thought and came out with twenty traits I admired in her, which I will be sharing in another article.

How Belle Tamed the Beast..

Reflecting on my novel, Fabulous Veils, this what Gameela, which means Belle in Arabic, failed to do. Belle and Gameela were normal girls. They weren’t princesses. They both fell in love. While Belle, by staying genuine and real, tamed the Beast and turned him into a prince, Gameela, with her submission, turned the engineer into a Beast…and at a very costly price; losing herself.

‘Beauty and the Beast’ remains my favourite Disney movie, whether animated or not. However, I did like the new version more with the deep messages embedded between the lines.

 

#FabulousVeilsNovel#Open_Discussion

Were you ever a Belle in a Beast’s life?

 

#FabulousVeilsNovel#Open_Discussion

Were you ever a Belle in a Beast’s life?

 

6 Frames for Better Thinking – Part 1

How much attention do we pay to the usual? An alarming question Edward de Bono posed at the beginning of his book ‘Six Frames for Thinking about Information’.  De Bono explained how most people, though being surrounded with countless information and data all the time, they fail to notice but the unusual.

As parents, how often do pay attention to our children when they’re well behaving? And how often do we become attentive when they misbehave, nag or cry? How often do we walk over the streets paying limited attention to the sounds around us, only becoming alert when we hear a scream, a crash or an explosion?

If you wish to become a better thinker start paying more attention to your surroundings. Second, learn how to deal with the data your brain received using the Six Thinking Frames. These frames offer you the following:

A strategy to prepare the mind to notice different things.
6 different directions to look at information.
A method for extracting more value from information.

In the following videos I will be sharing De Bono’s frames and explaining how to look at information and how to react to it.