Embrace Life!

Don't Ever Let Anyone or Anything Throw You 
Off Your Game!
No One Has the Power
To Affect
Our Mood & Self-Esteem
Without Our Permission!

Sunrise over Mumbai!

We Unknowingly
But Willingly
Communicate To Others
That It is Okay for Them To Dump On Us! 

This beautiful little bird was the only one in the palace grounds of Fatehpur Sikhri!

And Then are Surprised 

When People Cross That Boundary With Us!
But How Can We expect Them To Even Know 

Where the Boundaries Are 

If We've Never Established Them To Begin With.

Pigeons sitting on the veranda at dawn in Mumbai.

Let's Start by Figuring Out

Who We Are

&

What We Stand For.

I think this is a deer. This was on the grounds of Humayun's Tomb in Delhi.

What We Believe In

&

What We Value.

Flying Back From Punta Cana...picture taken from the airplane! The whitish outline in the middle of the picture is the long winding beach with white sand.

What We Are Willing To Accept
&
What We Are Willing To Let Go Of,
&
What Is Absolutely Non-Negotiable.

But

Figuring This Out

Takes Time & Experience. 

This gorgeous bird stood still on it's long  legs as it waited for unsuspecting fishes to become her next meal. This was on the waters surrounding the Water Palace in Jaipur

 Living Life 

With It's Challenges & Moments Of JOY

Provide Us Opportunities

To Learn More About 

            What We Are Really Made Of!

The Water Palace in Jaipur.

So I Say, "Embrace LIFE!"

Say ShukranLillah 

(All thanks is due to Allah)

For The Good, The Bad & The Ugly!

Another picture of this gorgeous Bird at Fatehpur Sikhri!

And Have Complete Faith

 In HIS Greater Plan For Us!

And she catches a little fish for a late afternoon snack.

We Usually Never Find Out

 What Calamities Have Been Avoided 

By Seemingly Not Getting What We Really Want!

The Deep Blue Skies! Did you notice the tip of the right airplane wing?

                                                      SURRENDER!

Paradise!

Stop Fighting It! 

                 Just Surrender With Faith!

And Trust In HIM!!

EMBRACE LIFE!!!

Love & Light,
From One Sufi To Another
anita

The Sights, Tastes and Textures of Punta Cana and Club Med!

A few more images from around the Club Med Resort.  I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

These beautiful flowers are all over the resort. They grow on these bushes and smell great at night.

I noticed these because of the little orange thingies hanging off the flower connected to these thin, green stem like things except they are thinner than grass.

The bush.

When they dry up they look like this toward the bottom right of this picture.

Once I noticed them, I saw them all over the resort. 

Funny that it took me until Day 6 to even notice them in the first place. 

I had walked by them atleast fifty times over the course of the week.

A view of the beach from across the lawn.

One of the many groups of buildings. We were in the orange one in the bottom right.

The ones with the clothes hanging is our room.
The boys and many of the other kids tend to use the balcony to enter their rooms instead of walking all around the building toward the back.
They would walk through the bushes and climb up to the balcony and jump over. We'd usually leave that door unlocked so that the kids could come and go as they needed to. We kept losing the key cards so this worked just fine.

One of the many walkways!

Notice the stem that grows out of the bush which then allows the flowers to bloom. How cool!

Beauty is everywhere.

Beauty is in the everyday, everywhere all around us. We just need to open our eyes and appreciate it.

An interesting hole in the sand.

Upon closer inspection, I suspected it was burrowed by an insect.

A dead dragonfly? It was missing the other wing.

Not exactly the best picture to transition to after the dead dragonfly ...this lobster almost looks like the other...but it was actually quite delicious!

OMG! These scallops were so yummy! with the pasta topped with a spinach and cheese sauce!!!

Smoked salmon and cavier with grilled onions, on a puff pastry topped with a creamy gravy.

Chicken crusted with almonds and cranberries and potatoes.

Just a combination of the many foods already described.

This was some kind of steak topped with grilled onions and a boiled egg and rice.

This guy had made these really cute monkey dolls out of empty coconuts. Here he was making a hat / bowl with the leaves of a palm tree. And that is the flag of Dominican Republic.

A closer look at the coconut monkeys.

The long and empty passageway that ran by our hotel room.

The close up of the mop hair and the purple bristles were from the broom and mop resting against the wall.

Our living quarters.

This beautiful tree was right in front of our room door. It carpeted the green grass with a thin layer of these beautiful white flowers. Every morning we'd see the landscaping staff sweep up the flowers to keep it clean and tidy. 

Thats it for now! Its sad that although this trip was just a few weeks ago, it already feels like it was many, many years ago.

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another
Anita