Zaid Ismail's Blog, page 51
July 19, 2020
Last words don’t always matter
Last words are only needed when we still care about what others think. Hoping to set the record straight about incorrect assumptions that someone may make of us is most often due to us still caring about their opinion of us. Importantly though, their opinion will only matter if they still matter to us. And […]
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July 13, 2020
Every breath is hope
When we undermine ourselves, we empower our enemies, and like they say, the friend of my enemy is my enemy. So it stands to reason that that is how we become our own worst enemies. It’s our efforts to subdue our hope in tomorrow, that offers us protection against yet more disappointment or heartache. It’s […]
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July 9, 2020
More than a wish
Wishing it’s a sunny day when it’s raining is not going to make the sun come out. Leaving your umbrella behind is therefore an act of foolishness, not optimism. Optimism without evidence or action, or both, is a delusion we use to cope with an unpleasant reality. Wishing away reality only allows that unpleasantness to […]
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July 8, 2020
A bitter trade
We lose ourselves to the bitterness of this world when we allow the self-loathing of others to define our self-worth. In our desire to be understood, we willingly adopt labels that limit our expression of who we truly are. It is a betrayal of the contract of kindness that we have with our soul. The […]
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July 6, 2020
Be gentle…to you
When you treat the vulnerable or the gentle ones with contempt, you create the same monsters that made you. The moment that we realise what we assume to be our nature is in fact a product of our upbringing, we’ll be able to make conscious decisions about who we want to be. Sometimes, we place […]
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July 2, 2020
Dare to dream
When we pursue the impossible, we achieve the unbelievable. But, we’re often so distracted by how impossible our goal might appear, that we lose sight of everything that its pursuit offers us. Fortune cookie wisdom tells us that it’s the journey that matters, not the destination. Yet, we lose sight of the growth that the […]
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July 1, 2020
You are more than how you look
Taking pride in the colour of your skin or ethnicity distracts you from your humanity. Our humanness, our gentleness, our inclination towards kindness – these are all part of our natural state. It’s our need to be associated with significance or superiority that distracts us from this, and replaces it with the fear of being […]
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June 30, 2020
Gratitude before regret
It’s impossible to be grateful for a blessing that you don’t acknowledge. Like believing that we’re entitled to certain outcomes because of our effort or contribution. Or believing that we’re entitled to be treated a certain way because we believe we’re a good person. Whether those entitlements are true is not the issue. The issue […]
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June 29, 2020
Gratitude is not the first step
Gratitude is all that matters, because gratitude is not possible without everything that matters coming before it. Gratitude escapes us when we don’t respect the effort needed to achieve anything worth achieving. It escapes us when we assume that we’re entitled to an outcome, without considering our contribution that is needed towards that outcome. It […]
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June 28, 2020
The absent parent
Even an absent parent is still parenting. It’s then on the shoulders of the present one to compensate for that. Sometimes, the absence of someone has a greater impact on us than the presence of others. This is especially true for parenting. The absent parent leaves the child with feelings of abandonment, insignificance, and a […]
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