21 Things I'm grateful for

My favorite thing about birthdays is the small recognition that comes with lots of love from family, friends and even people you don’t know so well ! The free smiles coming your way when you mention “it’s my birthday” ! The sweet prayers and wishes you receive, and the feeling of being loved.

Sometimes you lose yourself in the maze of life. You start taking things for granted, and stop appreciate the small things.

I like to stop every once in awhile and appreciate things around me, and not focusing on the negative things but the small positive things, that have the power to change my day.

So I decided to start a new tradition, every birthday I will write small things I’m grateful for. The number of years I’m turning into. Today I’m turning 21, that means 21 thing, and so on. 

21 Things I’m grateful for:

1- I’m grateful for the miracle. The Internet. ( That’s not small ) ! 

2- I’m grateful for people who offer me chocolate out of nowhere ! I love you. 

3- I’m grateful for people who smile back, making the day a little bit brighter.

4- I’m grateful for people who say thank you for the smallest things. 

5- I’m grateful for balloons, for making the world a happy place.

6- I’m grateful for ICE CREAM.

7- I’m grateful for online shopping ! 

8- I’m grateful for coffee mugs with funny and cool notes on them. 

My coffee mug note says (Do not upset me ! I’m running out of places to hide the bodies!!!).

9- I’m grateful for Chai Karak.

10- I’m grateful for home cooked meals. 

11- I’m grateful for strawberry milkshake, for being the best thing on earth.

12- I’m grateful for hair rubber bands that last with you for a long time.

13- I’m grateful for the days when I have absolutely nothing to do. (these days are fading away as you grow older)

14- I’m grateful for cinema’s tickets. I don’t need to buy bookmarks anymore, you do the job just as well.

15- I’m grateful for highlighters. I’m a better student thanks to you.

16- I’m grateful for funny videos on youtube. Actually I’m grateful for youtube in general.

17- I’m grateful for the books I have, and for the many more to come.

18- I’m grateful for my family and friends who never complain of me complaining.

19- I’m grateful for people who call me by my nickname.  

20- I’m grateful for the replies, likes, retweets and the reblogs.

21- I’m grateful for the “Happy Birthdays” I receive every year. Thank you for making me feel loved.

I’m grateful for Allah for giving me everything I have. Alhamdullah forever and always.

Life can be so hard, and you can feel down and defeated by life ! 

When your day is going terribly wrong. And nothing is going your way.

Look around you, take a deep breath, and be grateful for that.

Written By: Omama.

Final note:

January 8th, is the birthday of the closest twin to my heart. This is a small recognition with a huge amount of love. Happy 20th birthday Hope & Faith <3 

30-12-2012

The Power of Lists..

I remember the first list I ever made, I was in 6th grade about 12 or 13 years of age,  just came across a study I read in a book that says there is a chance of 70% if you write your goals that it will eventually become a reality, more than just going around saying you’ll do this and that. The study says that the human brain works like this, taking the written note save it somewhere and program the whole body to work toward this written goal and object.

So at age 12 I took that study seriously and I wrote a list of my goals for that period of time and it went like this:

1- Laptop.

2- Camera.

3- Phone.

4- Practice my english till I can read a book.

Normal for a teenage girl, right ? 

For the next weeks and months this list was all I was thinking of, I told my mom and she said  you’re gonna have to ask your father yourself or save your money and buy all you want, and she said about my english if you work hard enough you’ll get there.

Few months after making that list, I got my first black Toshiba laptop but I had to share it with my younger sister and I was so okay with that ! 

By Eid that year my dad gave me his old camera and I was over the moon going to my list and crossing 2 out of 4 !  And guess what ? I got my first phone that year. And I was practicing my english through school and by watching movies, I wasn’t as nearly good as I wanted to be.

By the end of 7th grade I crossed almost everything of that list, then I realized the magic of lists !!!  And I thought this is great ! write what I want and I’ll get it ! so I did.

The next year I wrote exactly the same list with little bit more details, so it became like this:

1- White Macbook.

2- D60 Nikon camera.

3- IPhone 3.

4- Understand, write and read english.

I didn’t want a shared laptop ! or used old camera ! or used phone!  and I wasn’t happy with my english, I wanted to be better !

I wanted to feel the pride of buying my own things and working hard for them. And I told myself the first list doesn’t count, you got everything for free.

So I started working hard for my second list and I wasn’t going to stop. It took longer than one or two years ! it took three years of saving money and working for my dad in the weekends ! 

Every night I would take out the list and do the math of how much money I needed, I became obsessed with the list. It became the reason I wake up and do what I do everyday. My mind and body were programed to work toward these goals.

I remember once, I was coming back from school, my aunt was with me in the car and we stopped at a supermarket for her to grocery shop, at the entry she gave me 10 SR to buy a snack or soda. But I walked out of the store empty handed so she asked why didn’t I get myself anything ? and I told her its for my macbook, D60 Nikon and IPhone 3! she laughed and was impressed. How can 10 sr make that much difference? she was encouraging of me to keep on working. My aunt still tell the story as an example of dedication till this day.

I made that list in 2005 by 2008- 2009 I bought my first macbook and still use it till this day, the pride I felt when I paid for it with my own money, was priceless.

There was a poster  in my room of actor Ashton Kutcher holding a D60 nikon, my mom tried so hard to take it down and she almost did so many times but I would put it up every time. The day I came home with my D60 I took it down myself.

Didn’t get an IPhone because changing your mind about your goals is okay ! I got a Blackberry.

And about my english this goal was in every list I ever made for 6 years and as you can tell, I think I’m there with my goal, right ?

I’m proud to say that this year I read about 33 book, 17 of them were written in english. 

I grew up and my lists grew up with me. I started to write more goals on every level, life, education, self improving, health and exercise, family, friends, financial and the afterlife goals. And I promise you less of material goals, much less.

Every December I go back to last year’s resolution list and evaluate it, there’s a consistency of percentage 60% accomplished 30% failed 10% no longer a goal due to change of mind or situation. I take the 30% and put them back in the new list and they never come off till they are accomplished.

2013 is 8 days away, I encourage you to write down a list of goals, program your mind to work toward it. And don’t give up when you fail or did’t get what you want, that’s just childish.  Pick yourself up, set another list of goals and go for it.

Remember, your mind and your whole body loves and craves the feeling of accomplishment. Give it a little bit more of this feeling every year.

Written by: Omama.