Miss Ice's Igloo

Gratitude...

I was talking with a friend about the ups and downs we face in this life. The challenges, good or bad, that stare at us right in the eyes when we’re working hard to achieve that dream. Some we overcome and some we don’t leaving us wondering what did we do wrong? Or was it that we didn’t try hard enough? Is it meant to be or not? A lot of questions that at some point shakes our beliefs system making doubt in ourselves the master in this parade.

It all comes to one thing I see clear now after our talk. Maybe we fail to recognize this at a younger age, that all what we’re going through is a part of a master plan God has planned for us. I guess our level of consciousness back then didn’t help in understanding how this universe works. But by the time we reach this high level of awareness everything makes sense. 

The situations we go through don’t really have an impact on us.. It’s how we see them in the eyes of our minds and what feelings and thoughts do they generate. I’m a big believer that thoughts are the start point to every feeling we experience and to change the feelings we need to change our thoughts and to change the thoughts that’s another story I won’t discuss now. The reality is what it is. It’s how we see this reality that counts. Most importantly, are we happy with the reality we’re living in? Having gratitude to whatever happens to us is what makes us live in a peace of mind. Knowing that things wouldn’t be in any another way and that there’s a higher good that we may fail to see in the mean time is what makes life easier. Not to mention that some of the hardships we go through help in building our characters and they prepare us for the next phase in our lives which is a huge relief in my opinion. 

I remember one of my instructors once said that every problem we come across bears a gift with it. Instead of focusing on the problem.. focus on the gift. When I started thinking that way.. It made me look at problems with an optimistic attitude.. eager to know what lesson or gift I’m going to learn this time. And take my word for it.. I always found that gift! :-)  

Another thing I have learned is keeping a diary of every single good/productive/initiative thing I did during the day. Too bad I have stopped doing that years ago. But at the time of keeping this diary it helped me going and kept me motivated.

Be grateful to whatever life throws at you.. Do your best to follow your purpose in this life and if you fail, keep moving you’ll eventually find your true purpose in the process..  

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Change Your Life..

A month ago I got a phone call from a friend asking me to recommend a painter to help them in some volunteer work. I offered to help during weekend mornings if it was possible. Luckily, I was able to join them.

The volunteer work was initiated by a group of young girls calling themselves “Change Your Life - Riyadh” who are involved in various volunteer work to help those in need. Their aim is to utilize youthful energy to help the local community and to spread a sense of positivity, willingness and accountability. Most importantly, in this service they advocated Islam’s true message of cooperation and helping one another.

“Change Your Life” was a group started by a young man in Jeddah. Following his lead, an enthusiastic young girl started another group in Riyadh. I’m going to talk today about their latest project - redecorating the Pediatric Oncology ward for cancer patients at Riyadh Medical Center also known as Al Shumaisi.

With the approval of the administration of the department, we decided to redecorate the kids’ waiting room, the ward’s corridors and the patients’ rooms. The plan was to collect the required materials and find a painter to draw on the walls, then; with the help of the young volunteers we would paint the drawings.  Another group was in charge of making wall hangings and other decorative ornaments for the walls.

Our budget was 3,000 SR; all from donations. We had two Thursdays to work on this project before Ramadan and we needed all the help that we could get.

On the first day we had 18 eager girls volunteering to help out. Their ages ranged from 15 - 30. Before we started we requested that the waiting room be painted white to serve as a campus for our drawings.

It was very refreshing to see young energy spent in helping others, even in the simple act of painting and decorating a hospital ward. We had patients coming out of their rooms to watch us. Their moms were so thrilled to see a positive change to their long stay at the hospital. 

The first thing we had noticed were the dull and bland blue walls, those had to go. In their place, we had bright and happy figures. One of our young scientists came up with the idea of painting a solar system on one of the walls - to make a point that science too can be fun.

On the second week, we had 11 girls. Sadly, that’s how things are in volunteer work.

This time we had a young patient (Sarah) helping us. She was encouraged after she spent a while watching us shyly. It was great to see her smile and be involved in the painting process. Her mom, as well, was excited to join the group and was a great help in painting. I must say she was an impressive artist!

Patients, their families, nurses and other staff at the ward were very supportive and enjoying helping our team. It was like a bee hive; everyone on the move, coming up with creative ideas and working on different sections of the ward.

I liked many things about this project. Selflessly committing yourself to finishing something was the most important lesson we’ve all learned. Not to mention, helping others and giving without expecting something in return. We also got the chance to meet people from different walks of life who shared our passion in spreading joy and beauty in the world – one room at a time.

So to wrap things up here are our figures:

Budget: 3000 SR (donated) distributed as follows:

500 for ready made wall hangings and stickers.
300 for materials to make wall hangings i.e. papers, glue, a variety of art supplies.
170 for Toys
1648 for acrylic paints, brushes, sponges, plates and cups and foam ornaments.

Total cost was 2570 with 430 leftover and was donated to the Pediatric Oncology ward.

Time spent:

First week: from 10:30 am to 4:30 pm.
Second week: from 10:30 to 5:00 pm.

This was just the beginning!

There are plans to cover all the wards in the Riyadh Medical Center in the future. Currently the group is working on gifts for Eid. Hope to see you there!

I’ll leave you now with some random pictures. For further information and learn more about the group’s activities you can check their page on Facebook.

Last thing I would like to thank Moon Era for her help in editing this post. ;-)

The waiting room (before).

The waiting room (before).

This is what you see when you enter the waiting room (after).

We painted on the cupboard in the waiting room as well (after).

Another side of the waiting room, the Saudi wall (after).

A solar system was painted on the third wall. Waiting room (after).

Sarah painting on the corridor wall. :-)

Sarah printing her hand on the cupboard. :-)

The main entrance of the ward.

A side of the corridor.. The leaves were painted by Sarah’s mom. :-)

The Last Lecture..

It was a couple of summers ago when I watched The Last Lecture on YouTube for the first time. I have to say it was one of the inspiring talks I ever watched.. As I always do when I’m into something I’ll talk about it endlessly so here I am to talk about it.

This year when I knew that the book was out, I was excited to purchase it. Got me a copy and decided to read it whenever I found myself on the low mood and need a boost to keep me going.

I finished reading the book a couple of days ago.. It was a great journey to go through every morning on my way to work and the last thing I end my day with when heading home.

I was impressed with Randy’s positive outlook towards life after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In the course of a few years back I had encountered a lot of patients diagnosed with cancer. Some wowed me with their strong faith that everything is going to be alright and they are happy with what they already have in their lives. And some were living in dispair and I can’t blame them.. There are three patients I remember vividly in my mind who ended up with three different outcomes.

One (an old lady) had passed away after shutting everything and everyone out of her life.. May she rest in peace. The second (18 years old) left the hospital on her terms and refused to get treated, don’t have any idea where is she now. The third (a lady who’s above 80 years old) is living her life to this moment without any regrets after undergoing treatment. I know there are certain factors that will impact the prognosis of cancer. What I’m talking about is the state of mind and general outlook towards living after being diagnosed with a fatal disease.

The other day I was thinking of how I was always wondering what I’ll be doing in five years from now.. Ten years.. Twenty years.. Will I be fulfilling my dreams and aspirations.. And it hit me! Why should I wonder as long as I’m working on fulfilling them.. And I’m talking about the things that I have a direct influence on.. Not the things I don’t control and they are actually part of the journey. ;-)

Here are some quotes from the book that I loved:

“I sometimes think I got more from pursuing that dream, and not accomplishing it, than I did from many of the ones I did accomplish.”

“When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”

“The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

“People will show you their good side. Almost everybody has a good side. Just keep waiting. It will come out.”

“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. And experience is often the most valuable thing you have to offer.”

“Loyalty is a two-way street.”

Your life... or others' life?!

Through time I learned that the wisest people are those who learn from others’ mistakes. Does that mean I should not make my own mistakes?

I mean that in a good way of course. We learn through experience and from our wiser older parents, friends, family members and colleagues. But the fact that some of those force their opinions or their own experience on you which spoils your own unique experience is my main concern. One might have a bad situation which has its own dynamics and that person’s unique perception and way of thinking that is completely different from one another.

I’m not talking about the common sense type of advice, I’m talking about stereotyping and generalizing one’s experience to be the guide I should follow while living my OWN life.

Having a broken marriage or worst friendship ever doesn’t mean that one will go through it too. It might be a misfortune if you look at from one side but on the other side you sure had to go through it to learn something that was meant for you and you only to learn from.

Had a talk with a friend this morning which brought this subject to mind. I admire her positive outlook towards life even though she went through some misfortunes in an early age which made her this wise young lady who I’d always find comfort and rational approach towards life and what it presents to me in my daily life.

Bottom line is, I should live my life to the fullest and follow my own instinct.. asking for advice from a wise trustworthy person is a must. But if that person tries to project their own experience on your life without any sound reason then it’s better to make your own history and accept it with its ups and downs. ;-)

What did I learn in 2008?

Finally, I was able to sit and plan my goals for 2009. This time I decided to use the guidance of the Your Best Year Yet book. I got the book as a gift from a friend and I was planning to read it at some point, so here I am.

Part of the planning process is reflecting on the achievements and failures of the past year. After acknowledging these two important aspects of our lives, comes the part where we ask ourselves what did we learn from all of this.

It was quite an interesting journey for me as the past year felt like a whole decade with all the ups and downs I went through.. So here’s my answer to the above question, I felt the need of sharing it and writing it twice will make sure I have learned my lesson! ;-)

• Have great faith in Allah. Whatever happens in my life happens for a reason, what I should be positive about is it happened for my OWN good!
• People are not what make things happen for you, they are merely a reason, so don’t count on them so much.
• ALWAYS have plan B! Yup! I’ve learned that alright!
• Live life to the fullest! Nothings worth worrying or stressing about.
• Family and friends are the most important part of my life, always have happy memories with them.
• Be spontaneous, it adds flavor to life.
• Work never ends! What matters the most is how I feel when I wake up in the morning.
• When things don’t work out the way you want, it’s okay… You have every right to feel upset.. just for a little while, then move on to something that cheers you up. ;-)
• Always add something to your knowledge and constantly have an open mind to learn new things.
• Helping others is the greatest gift ever.
• Thoughtful gestures are ALWAYS sweet.
• BE THERE WHEN NEEDED!

It's a matter of a choice...

This week was an eye opener for me.. it hit me! I mean how come I lose track of what’s going on.. sometimes when we’re so worked up about things happening in our everyday life we kinda forget what really matters..

I’ve been so busy to the point I accept things I don’t like or approve of, but when I reflect about what happend during the day.. I ask myself why didn’t I do something about it?! Being a victim is much easier than confronting the problem especially when you have so many things to do..

After solving the little problem I had on Saturday which I had been putting off for a month now.. I was telling myself how easy it was.. how come I forgot that whatever happens to me is just a result of a choice I made and I have to accept whatever situation I put myself in. Whining about the things that happen to us in our lives isn’t the solution.. YOU ARE STILL whining about them.. We need to focus and think about how do we want to face the various challenges we come across.

Had a talk with Mai the other day about making choices in life and how sometimes life forces certain challenges we hate upon us.. we don’t want to live them.. we don’t want to go through them..they are hard! Well, hey that’s life who said it’s going to be easy?! The only thing we can do is accepting whatever comes in our way and choose our attitude towards it. Gather your strength and do your best to make things work for you!

My friend Bees is a great example, (Bees! YOU ARE EXTRAORDINARY GIRL! Love ya!) she has been through a rough patch over the past couple of weeks.. Yesterday got a phone call from her (after playing our little Tom & Jerry game :-p) telling me about all the major changes she has made to better her situation. I’m proud of you babe! ;-)

It’s amazing to have a good friend who will listen to you whining about how bad things are then looks at you saying ‘Okay, what do you need to do now to solve this mess?’ If you already have one.. hold on to them tight and never lose them! If you don’t.. Then keep looking, we usually attract those who are like us into our lives. ;-)

Love you girls! You know who you are! My life wouldn’t be the same without you! ;-)