Lets Restart Ourselves in 2020!

Salaams to Everyone!

When we begin this new year, it still has the taste of the end of last year in it. So, let me begin with the ending of last year….

The ending and the beginning:

Life has been so good, and was the happiest for me in a long time, when my son-in-law Bilal chose to come with his family to Pakistan after four years, December 2019. Just his presence felt great. In the above photograph we are standing in front of the National Art Gallery. He had also visited his home where he had lived many years with his parents.

As he mentioned ‘revisiting the old places after four years was not a pleasant experience, sometimes.’ Yes, I agree. You have your memories of places where you’ve lived. With time, everything changes, just as we also change. Naturally, it comes as a shock when you see a place after a long time, a place which was full of your childhood memories.

Life goes on… Let us be at peace with it. Let us make peace with the ‘changes’ that happen within our lives, and in our past.

Changes due to people leaving our lives.

While some changes happen willfully. Others happen without our consent. There are persons in our lives who will move on, without us. We have to let them go. We have to make ourselves be at peace with their leaving. Accept that it was meant to be.

How to cope with it?

By saying a silent prayer for the person who left, and for yourself. May Allah bless both you and the departed souls. (Here, I’m doing a two-in-one thing.) I’m talking about those who left our world for a better one with Allah; also about those who chose to walk out of our lives. May Allah be with them, and with us. As the Quranic verse says:

But if they do separate (and must part), Allah will provide abundance for all from His all-reaching bounty: for Allah is He that careth for all and is Wise. (Surah An Nisa 4 verse:130.)

So, let us be part of the change that is happening in our lives, just making sure it is mindfully done. We need to accept the inevitable, and be kind to ourselves, as it is a painful process.

Know that a space is created now to be filled with some other pleasant ones.

Mansoor Rahi’s birthday message:

Every year, on first of January, a big birthday party is thrown by Mansoor Rahi, the legendary artist of Pakistan. It is a lunch hosted by him, and we all – Generation Rahi – get together to offer him a gift and cake. Everything is beautifully and collectively managed by Aania. This year too was no exception. We all went dressed up and so happy to be there. The food with nihari and chicken palao was delicious. The cake was really out of this world.

I loved the speech made by the birthday boy, in which he mentioned how when people meet him, they ask how are you? He said, I say, I’m well, because I keep myself well. The Urdu word Khana for eating should be, kha na, meaning one shouldn’t have so much food! It is important to eat properly and carefully. Here, people often over eat due to which they face a lot of health hazards. It is true. I’ve observed how Mansoor Rahi won’t eat in any of our gatherings. He keeps to his strict diet of vegetables, fish and fruit. That too in small portions. He leads a disciplined life of timely walks, sleep and work time. Traveling to the hills almost every weekend, and going abroad every summer.

So, this is an important lesson we have learnt from him.

Last year he mentioned how he has seen many great artists die suddenly due to their drinking and smoking habits. He said I don’t want to take their names but I’ve personally seen this. Even some have gone into the habit of taking drugs. Why ruin your life, with your own hands?

He said, ‘only a sensitive person can become an artist. Then, it is his responsibility to take care of his art, and his own health, and be mindful of his responsibility towards taking care of himself and his talent.’

I guess, this is the fact to be kept in mind for all creative artists, and human beings.

Kiran wrote this about Mansoor Rahi:

I loved what Kiran Naghman wrote in her Facebook page about Mansoor Rahi:

‘I have never met a person like Sir Mansoor Rahi before. He is humble, sensitive, intelligent, caring, innocent, extremely talented.
He is so intelligent that with a one stroke of your brush or the colour you use he knows what’s going on in your mind. That’s sensitivity and experience and his caring nature.
I have never seen a MAN loving his soul mate like him. His eyes becomes glittery in her presence.
Never seen such a generous person like him
It’s an utter pleasure to know him and be his student. A complete honor. ❤️’

Here is the video made by Aania:

Gifts for everyone by Mansoor Rahi:

Message by Elizebeth Gilbert:

I loved the message by Elizabeth Gilbert the writer of Eat Pray and Love, where she asks everyone to do just what they want and don’t be pressurized into believing that they have to make resolutions for this year and this decade. Just to take a chill pill.

My New Year Intentions:

So, the question is did we make any new year resolutions? Well, I’ve decided to discard some bad habits of mine, as I’ve mentioned here. This time, I’ll just say here are some of my intentions this year:

My habit of multi-tasking has to be curtailed – do one thing at a time.
I want to travel even more this year.
I’d love to do Haj too.
Write and paint to my hearts’ fill. Complete my Message from the East, book and publish it. Hold my twelfth painting exhibition with my book launch on November 9^th, 2020.

Insha Allah – if Allah wills.

What about you? ? Treasure yourself – you are most important for me ……. (who else would read my posts?)