Lata Mangeshkar - Aaja Piya

This song has special meaning to my son Zayn and I. 

When Zayn was just a baby, I would hold him close, rock him back and forth and sing this song to him.

 Although he is now 9 years old, he still gets all mushy whenever I sing this song to him.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Lessons From My Pets: Take Time To Rest And Recharge!

Animals follow nature's rhythm. They wake up with the rising sun, eat, work hard aka play and then sleep when the sun sets. 

During the course of the day, they rest as needed. 

They don't have this need to be "productive" but instead are satisfied with whatever it is that they've done. 

In fact, they don't even think about how "productive" they've been. 

Animals truly live in the moment and listen to and follow nature's cycle.

Jackie always takes time to relax and enjoy the outdoors when she's not busy chasing Annie or strolling the neighborhood. 

She sometimes leaves home for days at a time but always returns as though she is coming home after a hunt

Annie napping in my lap during our drive to school in the morning.
In case you were wondering, Aly took this picture.

This is Chloe, the senior member of our family.
She has mastered the art of relaxing.

I just find it so fascinating that animals don't feel guilty about taking time to rest when they need to.

Unlike them, we humans, not only feel guilty about taking time to slow down and recharge our batteries, but we also tend to be critical of those that do take time to slow down and rest. 

We view them as being lazy and lacking motivation.

All three napping after a hard day of playing, :)

Instead, we take pride in over-working and functioning on minimal sleep. 

How many times have you heard someone proudly declare, "I only slept for 2 hours (or some obscene amount)," 

The response is usually one of admiration and respect instead of disgust and pity.

It seems that the advancement of technology that was intended to make our lives easier has in actuality served as a burden for man where he/she feels "obligated" to work longer and harder. 

I pray that we learn to honor our bodies by resting and slowing down as needed.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Allah Hoo

This is an amazing qawalli. This is one of my top 3 favorite qawalis of all time. The other two being "Ali Mowla" and "Mast Qalandar". 

I have a few more artists that are always a joy to listen to, be it ghazal, naat or bhajans.

 Munni Begum, Abida Parveen, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota, A. R. Rahman are just a few of my favorite desi artists.

Hope you enjoy this one!

Love and light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Piles of Dirty Laundry & Sink Full of Dirty Dishes!

Being a mom of two, growing boys, brings with it countless responsibilities.  

My day starts with making breakfast, preparing lunches, carpooling, laundry, dishes, figuring out dinner, homework, and bedtime. 

Sprinkle in the occasional parent-teacher conferences, football games, band recitals, birthday parties and Bar Mitzvaz. 
Top it with regularly, taking them to Jamatkhana (house of worship) and making sure they attend weekly, REC (Religious Education Center) classes along with baking cakes and cookies for them, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is a full-time job.

But of all the responsibilities, the chores I abhorred were the piles of soiled laundry and the sinks full of dirty dishes.

 It used to be that I would frown and complain (quietly, to myself, ofcourse) about all the work I have to do as a mother; the never-ending loads of laundry (washing, folding, ironing) and countless loads of dishes.

But last week as I was recovering from the flu, (which by the way, is no excuse for a break for a mom), the breakfast still needed to be made, the carpool still had to be driven, and the dirty laundry and dishes still had to be done and then it suddenly hit me!

Maya, Sophie and Aileen at Aileen's Birthday Party last week.

I realized that having the piles of dirty laundry and dirty dishes are actually huge blessings! 

Let me explain...the piles of dirty laundry means I have a family of loved ones that I am blessed to be around. 

The piles of laundry mean we are blessed to be able to afford the piles of clothes in our closet, unlike those around the world who literally have 2-3 outfits on their side of the shelf, in the family cupboard.

Dirty laundry means that I am blessed to be able to raise my boys and witness them grow into young men. 

Having dirty laundry means we are living a full and active life which enables the accumulating of dirty laundry.

Jake, not sure who, Sophie, another friend in the back and my Aly.

Having dirty dishes means we are blessed to have a roof over our heads and a kitchen sink. 
Dirty dishes mean we are able to afford meals at home.

It also means we are blessed to live with family!

So no more complaining when I am greeted with the never-ending loads of dirty laundry and sinks full of dirty dishes. 

Kids being silly!

I realize, that in just a few years, the boys will be attending university and our home will be empty.
There will be no more making daily breakfast, carpooling, preparing lunches, parent-teacher conferences, football games, band recitals, REC classes and no more piles of dirty laundry and sinks full of dirty dishes.
So instead of complaining, I am working on enjoying these moments and staying in a place of gratitude as I say a genuine and heartfelt, "THANK YOU" to HIM for blessing me with piles of dirty laundry and sinks full of dirty dishes.

I pray that you are blessed with piles of dirty laundry and sinks full of dirty dishes

Sending you love and light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

"Bago mein bahar hai" - a classic!

Another favorite that I just had to share! 

I would love to know if you're actually enjoying these!

Feel free to comment on this post or send me an email.

anitaladhani@mac.com

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Raising Children!

I just love this boy of mine. I have two sons and they are different and unique in their own way. 

Zayn really makes me smile all the time with the witty and silly things he comes up with. 

He is one curious kid. He always has a question. 

In fact, he has limitless questions and boy, can he argue. 

We tease him that he'll make a great attorney! 

These pictues were taken at the AKF Partnership Walk a few weeks ago in Orlando. 

We got there early while the volunteers were still setting up the booths. 

Zayn was offered to advertise for the "Cool-fi Lounge" which sold these delicious deserts (lassi, mango lassi, sherbet, fresh coconut water, tea, coffee etc). 

The deal offered to him was that in return for a paying customer, my Zayn would get a free popsicle! 

He almost pushed me to the cafe to buy something so that he could earn his free popsicle. 

He is just such a funny kid. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HIM!!!!

He painted these glasses (lens missing).
Actually, the glasses are the 3D glasses they give out at the movies. 

Children are such blessings! 

I just feel so fortunate and grateful to have my two boys in my life.

I feel the burden and responsibility of raising them right.

I have always believed that raising my children was the most important thing I have to do with my life. None of my other accomplishments in life will matter if I mess up raising my kids.

I am very blessed that I have the opportunity to raise my children.

I recently heard this quote by Jackie Kennedy Onassis which sums up my belief.

"If you bungle raising your children, I don't think whatever else you do matters very much."

Just a reminder...

Wishing you Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Another beautiful Florida sunset!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Jai Jai Shiv Shankar!

This takes me back to when I was a little girl in Calcutta and Bombay. 

I share a love for music thanks to my dad who would always take the time to explain the meaning of the lyrics of bhajans etc. 

He still listens to desi music on Pandora. 

I heard this today and totally felt joy and smiles all over.

I hope you enjoy and reminisce!

Love and Light

From one sufi to another,

anita

"What Adults Can Learn From Kids" - Adora Svitak - TED Talks

Adora Svitak is a published author and an incredibly, talented young woman.

Absolutely worth watching her speak!

Enjoy!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

I'm just a squirrel trying to get a nut! :)

Meet my friends Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel! They are busy working hard gathering acorns early this morning. Just look how well Mr. Squirrel balances himself off the tree trunk.

Here he is just chilling up on the tree branch enjoying an acorn.

Here is Mrs. Squirrel sitting and chilling with her nut!

Can you spot them both on the tree?

So he comes down to find a new acorn and runs back up the tree...

And in like 3 seconds, the acorn is stripped and he is enjoying the core!

And just as soon as they started, they stopped. Perhaps, I scared them away. 

They just ran away to the other side of the house. 

Oh well! It was awesome to have witnessed this. 

Again, the whole thing happened in under 3 minutes.

I'm just so grateful to have been there.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another.

anita

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan - A Musical Genius!

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, nephew of the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is one of my absolute favorite artists. His voice is just incredible! I literally lose myself in his voice! This song, "Jag soona soona lage" is from the movie "Om Shanti Om". I believe Richa Sharma is the female voice on the track. She is just magnificent on this one!
Enjoy!

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another,
anita

Gorgeous Morning!

As Aly and I rushed out of our garage to sit in the car, I felt the cool breeze hit me. I shot a quick look up at the sky and was just amazed at how gorgeous the sky looked. There was a lower layer of clouds moving rather quickly because of the breeze. There was another layer of clouds further up that seem to cause striations in the sky. Even though we were barely on time, I couldn't resist grabbing my camera from my purse and snapping a few quick pics while all the time saying "Wow! Thank you God!" 

About 10 minutes later, after dropping Aly off at the carpool spot, I got back on the highway to come back home and once again, the sun was playing peek a boo from behind the clouds. 

After exiting, I pulled into the gas station and parked where I had a clear view of the majestic sky!

 What an incredible close-up! It reminded me of morning dew/fog up on the mountains but of course it's sea level in Florida and not a mountain nearby!

Wishing you an amazing 11/11/11!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another

anita

Black Swan - literally!

Today is 11/11/11.
According to a dear friend of mine, today is a very important day in the larger scheme of the universe. Energetically, it is vital that we all spend as much time as possible, be it a few minutes or a few hours or the entire day, reflecting, meditating and/or praying!

I believe that we shouldn't just wait for a special date like 11/11/11 to be reflectful and mindful, we should do that everyday of our lives. 

A few moments spent in the course of our day, simply expressing a genuine, heartfelt "thank you" is a good start. 

Just look at the gorgeous black feathers and that scarlet red beak! God was certainly feeling artistic when he painted them!

What goes around comes around. 

Therefore, what we put out there energetically will come back to us. 

Let's start today being mindful of the energy we're putting out into our world.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Sufi Inspired Song!

I believe the voice on here is the genius Sain Zahoor. The images are beautiful. Awesome remix! Hope you enjoy!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Jagjit Singh ji's "Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe ho".

This is one of my absolute favorite ghazals of all times. Sadly, Jagjit Singh passed away earlier this year. A great loss to the world of music indeed.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

"When people show you who they are, believe them the first time." - Maya Angelou

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago at the Aga Khan Foundation's annual Partnership Walk in Orlando, Florida. This was the beautiful ribbon dance!

I read this a few years ago in O magazine and it's really stuck with me. It's a quote by Maya Angelou, "When people show you who they are, believe them the first time."  But it's one thing to remember something and another to actually apply it to one's life.

Women (and men) tend to always give people the benefit of the doubt. It starts as early as when we are little girls. We are groomed not to rock the cradle; to maintain the peace; to look for the silver lining.

 We are naive because we are convinced that people can be changed and that our love will change them. We also want to give people the benefit of doubt. But doing so repeatedly is simply foolish. 

This quote, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me," comes to mind. 

Women tend to be foolish in that we repeatedly ignore the signs, red flags and sometime, overt behaviors which serve to warn us of a person's true nature and personality. 

But we blatantly ignore all the warning signs and hold on to this fairy tale idea of someone changing for us. 

But like they say, "A leopard never looes it's spots." Similarly, it is quite rare for people to change their habits and/or their personality.

As a woman, the idealistic part of me still wants to believe that people can change. But I am wise enough to recognize that genuine change manifests only when a true shift happens and not because of anything I say or do. I cannot talk, plead, convince, threaten, bribe or manipulate anyone to change. If they do change because of me, it is usually only temporary. 

 

 How many times have we forgiven or simply forgotten when someone has wronged us, only to have them repeat it again?

 According to Narcotic Anonymous, the definition of insanity is "Doing the same thing and expecting a different result". 

Why is it that we repeat the same patterns, allow people to act the same way or treat us the same way as before and yet, expect a different ending? It just doesn't work. 

So what do we do in situations where people show us their true, but not so pretty colors?

We should believe that this is who they are.

Stop making excuses for them, especially if they aren't making any for themselves.

We can also minimize our interactions with them or if possible, avoid them altogether. 

If this is someone that we feel we are "stuck" with, perhaps because we are related to them or because we work with them, then I would suggest a serious and honest evaluation of the current relationship/situation and the cost/benefit of staying in the relationship or work environment. Certainly, if you're related to a person by blood, you cannot "un-relate" that person, but you most definitely can minimize contact with them, if not choose to avoid them altogether. And if you work with them or for them, perhaps changing roles within the company or finding a different job/career might be in order. I realize that this might seem impossible in these tough economic times. But please trust that even in this environment where fear and scarcity dictate people's decisions, you will be taken care of by HIM. 

Your peace of mind and your sense of self are certainly worth it.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Blue Skies....Green Grass...Perfection!

I just love looking up at the sky to see what shade of blue it is.
Living in paradise aka Florida, the skies are blue almost everyday throughout the year!
Occasionally, we'll have grey, over cast skies when the storms are passing through.
But it's back to blue in just a day or two.
 Check out the shades of blue...

I am just amazed at the gorgeous colors in nature. 

Did God send his angels with a watercolor set and a paintbrush to paint the colors in?!

God doesn't make mistakes!

Everything He creates is Perfect!

If everything He creates is perfect and since He created us, then logic dictates that we are all perfect!

So perhaps we should stop finding faults in ourselves and others....simply put...

STOP JUDGING!!!

and instead...

CELEBRATE and APPRECIATE OUR INDIVIDUAL UNIQUENESS!!!

May you see the perfection in your existence!

May you live each moment in a state of gratitude!

May you appreciate all the so called imperfections as gifts of perfection from HIM!

One of my favorite quotes that has helped me appreciate my worth is by Marianne Williamson.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. 

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. 

It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? 

Actually, who are you not to be? 

You are a child of God. 

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do. 

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. 

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. 

As we are liberated from our own fear, our  presence automatically liberates others."

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Sema Ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes

This is one of the most simple, well-explained, brief and yet absolutely beautiful videos on the Sufi whirling dervishes' Sama ceremony.

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Why are you here?

This fell out of a book I bought at a thrift store. The message is simple yet powerful! 
It affirms my belief that there are no accidents and I am here, we are all here, by divine design. 
I come from God and am a part of Him and therefore am perfect just the way I am.

We all have a life purpose unique to us.
I believe our life's work is to realize what our individual purpose is and to start living it. 
May you realize and always remember that you are a child of God.
May you always experience HIS love for you.
May you have the opportunity to realize your individual life purpose.
May you be afforded the blessings of living out your life purpose.
Wishing you peace, love, contentment and joy always!

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another,
anita

Beautiful song...powerful message!

Really listen to the words!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

It's nice to be reminded that...

Saw this simple yet gorgeous sign for sale at my local "Cracker Barrel" restaurant/shop earlier this year before I even knew I wanted to blog or would someday be blogging. I took this picture with my phone camera and forgot that I even had this saved until I finally synced my phone last week. Just had to share...:)

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another,
anita

God speaks to us all the time...are we listening?

 So last month I had to go into my local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) office to renew my registration. I stood in the various lines to submit my forms, pay the fees and finally collect the sticker.  As I moved up to the cashier's window, I saw these simple handwritten post-it notes and print-outs of messages that just made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I recognize this feeling as God talking to me. 

 Just because we don't hear God speaking to us with a loud, booming voice (the way he did with Moses, Jesus and Muhammad) doesn't mean he's not communicating. God speaks to us all the time. It's in the whispers of our heart...

Through the lyrics of the song playing on the radio...

or the words of the Ginan or hymn being sung...

 

 HE might speak to us through someone whose words just resonate with our soul.

Or between the pages of the book or in a blog or a billboard sign as we're driving...

Or the Farman being read in Jamatkhana or the Bible verse or passage from the Torah being read in Church or Temple.

Or through the character of our favorite movie or television show...

And sometimes, God even speaks to us through simple, unassuming taped up signs at the cashier's at our local DMV.

We all are soooo loved by HIM!!!

Love and Light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

Lessons from my pets: Can we all just get along?!

Cats and dogs historically do NOT get along! But these two are the best of friends! They eat together, sometimes out of the same bowl at the same time. :) If one is napping and the other wants to play, they'll literally mess with the other to wake them up so that they can play. They chase each other and play wrestle and when all is said and done, they even nap on the same bed. Now if these two can get get along, why can't we! :)

 Annie and Jackie

love and light,

From one sufi to another,

anita

From our biggest failures, come our biggest blessings!

We've all experienced failure and loss. That is part of life.  There are as many different ways that one can fail as there are people. Failing a class or failing at a marriage which ends in divorce are both painful experiences for the person experiencing the failure. Getting fired, getting laid off, or losing your business and God forbid, your family home are also examples of loss that many of us have experienced in these tough economic times.

Yet I keep hearing this one idea repeatedly and although it's such a simple and obvious idea, I wonder why I seem to forget it so easily.
The idea is that, "From our biggest failures, come our biggest blessings."

When a marriage or a relationship fails, it affects not only the married couple and their children (if they have any), but it also affects their extended family and the community at large. Divorce is the death of a marriage and thus it is normal for the parties involved to mourn the loss of the relationship and the dreams, hopes and the life that once was. It is normal to go through the different stages of grief which are denial, anger, depression, plea bargaining and acceptance, not necessarily in that order.

But after that process is done, the individuals involved are free to move on with their lives. They are free to truly live and be happy. Life is tough for a while, but eventually the fog lifts and life is good again. Human beings are like uncut diamonds which shine the brightest when chipped. The more chips on the diamond, the brighter the shine, the higher the value. Thus our darkest hours serve as the best environment for our souls to grow and shine. But the key is to get through the different stages of grief and to not allow ourselves to get "stuck" in any one place. WE MUST KEEP GOING!!!!

Getting fired or losing your business feels humiliating no matter what the circumstances. But getting fired or losing your business could be the blessing in disguise which might open up the exact avenues for you to be successful in life. Maybe now you can go back to school and finish that degree you weren't able to before or switch careers altogether.

Loss, grief, pain, hurt, sadness are all feelings we've had to experience in life by default of being alive. But so are JOY, LOVE, LAUGHTER, PEACE and CONTENTMENT! Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah has said in his Farmans and I paraphrase, "If 1/20 of your dreams are realized, then you truly are a lucky individual."
I believe that you reading this is proof that you have access to technology and live in a society where freedom of speech is a given and you have choices. One of the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) pre-suppositions is that, "Choice is better than no choice!" We are blessed that we have choices to make. It might not be the ones we wish we had, but at least we have a choice.  Unfortunately, 90% of the world living in ultra-poverty don't have that option. So let's keep an open and grateful heart.

May you find peace, love, happiness, joy and contentment in your lives.
May you surrender to the experiences and allow yourselves to learn, grow and shine from your darkest hours.
May you always know, believe and feel that HE has you in the palm of his hands. You are sooooo loved!!!!

Love and Light,
From one sufi to another,
anita

These gorgeous birds are in our backyard every morning. I've always said that we live in paradise aka Florida! Shukranlillah Walhamdullilah!