Babble

Women are leading when it comes to innovative solutions to the ecological crisis, based on a relationship with nature grounded in care and stewardship.

What is happening in the world these days can feel overwhelming. The badgering news of terrorism, wars, and President Trump’s latest actions – just to name a few – are triggering all kinds of emotional reactions among different people.

There is indeed a kind of self-righteousness we each possess as we look and judge the world from outside ourselves. We are each the center of our own universe in which we see and analyze those around us in relation to our own experiences with them. We see some of the people we…

Of the same mother

At this juncture of your life, you have two choices to make: to live life out of fear or live life out of love.

Rumi once said that “silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.” As a lover of God, I always seek God in the wonders of the world, in serving other people, and in the exploration of all kinds of spiritual practices. I felt like these were attempts to catch a…

When I consider the process of decision making, I immediately go to my mind. I reflect on the thousands of articles, books, and lectures that document the best and most effective tactics. I think of business management, analysis, and strategies. And while I do think one should…

Sitting by a river in Montana, observing the sun set on a beautiful fall evening, I started crying. The open plains, the silence that comes with sunset, the breeze, and what was left of birds humming all triggered my longing for a sense of home—my home back in Iraq—but I felt…

A man in the audience of a recent speech I gave asked me for advice to help him deal with his anger at all the injustice he sees in his community and in the world. I was so touched by this man’s courage to talk about his anger publicly, an emotion that is seen so negatively in…

I’ve always thought of myself as a woman who was not good looking. Sometimes I thought I was ugly, and other times I thought I was fat. Perhaps there were momentarily feelings of beauty, but mostly those emotions were punctuated with clear awareness that I was not beautiful…

We each possess fears that hold us back, hide us from the world, and alienate us from the essence of our true selves. And more often than not, we act out due to blinding fear rather than benevolent emotions that allow us the courage to show our true desires, whatever they may…

Forgiveness is a concept that is much easier said than done. Often I think it is used loosely, as if forgiveness is as easy as love or generosity or kindness. Like these other actions of emotion, forgiveness is about giving—but, unlike these other actions of emotion, this form…

Years before the news of ISIS in Iraq, I took my colleagues out to a restaurant for lunch to celebrate their hard work at Women for Women International Baghdad, Iraq office. I sat next to Umm Ahmed, the office cleaner, but almost didn’t recognize her at first. Instead of wearing…

Everyone has a nightmare they fear may really happen one day. Mine was to be alone at home in a vulnerable situation, be it sick or injured. Well, this nightmare of mine became a reality a few months ago when a jar shattered in my hands. I found myself with two hands gushing…

Most people are uncomfortable with showing vulnerability to others. As humans, we are used to presenting the strongest and most positive images of ourselves rather than the vulnerable parts we all possess. We are more likely to talk about the things that are going well in our…

I was totally disconnected from nature until I was 30 years old. Up until that time, I would barely notice a bird, a tree, and found documentaries on animals or nature very boring. Though I turned vegetarian few years prior to that after feeling the soul of a sheep recently…

How could heartbreaks have benefits you may wonder? It is almost an oxymoron concept. In many ways it is; for heartbreaks are deeply painful, confusing, angering, full of tears and the desire to just be swallowed in pain. All true! But with every pain, there is a gain somewhere…

It is much easier to talk about being in truth with oneself and one’s values than to act on it. To be in truth entails shattering old perceptions of yourself, your life, and some of the values you grew up with. Most of us live in response to norms set by society without…

The world we live in is a product of our imagination, so we might as well reclaim our imagination.

In the midst of what feels like a time of fear, prejudice, anger, and blame, one can easily lose the self into pain and despair. We are living in a divided world – a division that no longer feels along the lines of “us” and “them”, this party and that party, or this nation and…

Welcome to my web site. After 19 years of working on women’s rights, I enter the 101 anniversary of International Women’s Day with the clarity that it is time for women to narrate a new story of who we are. And I plan to start with me.

I remember myself as a youngster playfully repeating “Et tu, Brute?” to my friends after reading Julius Caesar . Regardless of Shakespeare’s brilliant description of betrayal, I still had no idea of the deep pain betrayal causes when I first read about it. When I experienced the…

Rabaa Adawiya Mosque has become a symbol for Muslim Brotherhood protests in Egypt after military took over in June 28 preceding the June 30 revolution, which led to the deposing of former president Mohammed Morsi. After more than a month of persistent protest, this historical…

Everything around us is inundated with news about celebrities: their lifestyles, what they wear, what they did, their homes and boats, their love affairs, and everything in between. You can’t actually escape such information even if you are not interested in the subject. What I…