Zaid Ismail's Blog, page 2

Home, is a feeling

I was never convinced that home is a place. It’s a feeling. I say this because I’ve had many places to call my own, but none of them felt like home. I’ve had many places that felt homely, most often when visiting the homes of others, but none that felt like my home. Home, in […]

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Are you owning it?

This is a painful truth for many. One of the most prominent trends in people’s lives when things go wrong, is that they surround themselves with those who make them feel better about where they’re at, rather than those who push them to step up and own their life. You won’t ever grow beyond your […]

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The path to peace is gratitude

The path to peace, internal peace, is to see yourself clearly through the muck and the mire of the world around you. Peace is found in being true to who you are in the midst of a maddening crowd. It’s found in knowing that we can only ever choose how we respond to life, and […]

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Feeling triggered?

⚠️ Trigger warning ⚠️ archive post. Blaming chemicals for your emotional state is like blaming the overflowing rivers for the rain. Smile, and you generate feel good hormones even if you don’t have a good reason to smile. That’s science, not conjecture. If you don’t believe me, Google the science of a smile. And while […]

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Stop looking in that mirror

We rarely look in the mirror to see ourselves. Most often, we look to see what we think others see when they look at us. This focus on how we appear distracts us from who we want to be. Reflection on the events of our lives that have shaped our expectations and aspirations don’t happen […]

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Your intentions are never enough

There is often an unintended entitlement that sets in for those who are trying to make up for the impact of their behaviour on others. The entitlement comes through in how we expect our efforts to be received. If we apologise, we expect it to be accepted. If we comfort, we expect them to feel […]

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What if balance is what bores us to search for life?

When we focus on the gift, we lose sight of the giver. Similarly, when we focus on the kindness that we need, or the privilege that we claim, we lose sight of the human expected to provide it. Harshness and brutality are meted out daily in ways that appear non-violent and even passive. But it […]

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Good intentions are not enough

Believing in the universe waiting to serve you is no different than believing that the world revolves around your every need. Good intentions do not automatically result in beneficial outcomes. In fact, it too often results in harm. There’s a reason for the popularity of that old proverb that says that the road to hell […]

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Do you remember your dream?

What will you be when you give up? Sadly, too many live their lives this way resulting in them imposing their expectations on their children to fulfil the dreams that they abandoned. Every generation complains about the generation before them and loses sight of such behaviour giving the next generation reason to complain about them. […]

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Authentic gratitude

This is for the ‘attitude of gratitude’ crowd. It’s for the ones who believe that gratitude is an act. A gesture. A token word of appreciation. A polite mannerism. A show of acknowledgement. A gift prompted by an event. It’s not. Authentic gratitude is what you do and how you show up for those whom […]

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