Sonya Syed

For quite some time I deliberately refrained from talking about negative things with my friends. Neither I allowed them nor did I give myself the liberty to discuss problematic situations. I believe that the more you focus on something with all your energy the more it will become your reality. Focus on good things and be grateful and you would receive more of the same. However, yesterday it occurred to me that when we share something painful with our friends its purpose is not to spread negativity rather its aim is to share and get rid of all that is distressing. We do need to bring out what is bothering us or else it will keep bubbling, causing far more damage. Our real friends are not only our companions but they perform many roles in our life. If we are doing something harmful then they become our parents and stop us from acting stupid. When we have heartbreak our friend nurses our wounds with care. When we need to share our secrets and beautiful moments they become...

Finally! It rained in Karachi the moment we all have been waiting for, and what a beautiful view it was in the early hours of morning. Everything glistened; flowers blossomed to the fullest and it was a sheer delight to witness this magnificence.   For me rains always have a very special place and even more special affect. I could love rain for the rest of my life- shinning roads with the reflection of orange street lights. I wish I could capture this moment with the subtle beauty of it all. I tried taking pictures but they didn’t do justice to the brilliance of the moment. Paint, yes if I could put it in colors to explain my joy then that would mean a world to me. Recently I have myself in love with painting, the colors and light; so in the search I found some wonderful paintings. Although I do not possess in depth knowledge about art; to me anything that touches your heart is art. Keeping in view my feelings I am posting some exquisite depiction of rains. ...

Sitting in the company of my computer for hours is bit burdensome on my poor back and eyes. Today I finally decided to complete all the work that has been pending for some weeks and take up the most excruciating task of cleaning up PC hard-drive. This task of cleaning up I have deliberately delayed for months, no for years. So today I gathered all my stamina and said grace, a prayer of gratitude, before I began the clean up. To my surprise what I assumed as impossible not only became very easy for me but it gave me immense joy and the feeling of freedom. To my surprise I cleaned up more than 25,000 items collectively both from my PC hard-drive and USB. These files were sitting in the computer for some six years now and I just couldn’t gather the time or the courage to check every item and get rid of the unwanted ones. I wish that we humans could have such system of cleaning up of our minds and hearts. I wish we could go into depth of our minds where we can locate all th...

Eid brings along memories, memories of childhood and how everything was exciting and adventurous in those days. How beautiful it was to collect Eidi from elders and then spending most of it on buying cold-drinks and eating junk foods. Meeting up with all the cousins and neighborhood friends was the highlight of the day. Nothing mattered more than how my dress glittered; how my henna blossomed and how my matching shoes, bangles and jewellery looked.   Those were the days when exchanging Eid cards with friends were the most important thing in life. What happened to me, where have I lost that little girl? Where have all that excitement and joy vanished? Is this the price we pay for becoming adults, to miss out the wonders of joy which on appearance look little yet they have infinite value… We grow up and in our rushing around we forget the essence of life. What is this with becoming adults, do we start to play a role. A role, which we didn’t write for ourselves rather we...

I would keep this post brief but my prayers and affections now and for all the Eids to come shall always remain for an eternity with you all…. Sonya. (Day 343)

Many apologies for suddenly vanishing from the blog, it wasn’t intentional rather it was due to lack of time or if I should say due to my poor time management skills. When I had the time I lacked the energy and vice versa. So how its been with all of you? How is life going, is there something new or the same old same ol’? 14 th August, our independence day, passed and Ramazan almost leaving us for another year. In my childhood there used to be so many preparations for 14 th August that as a child I believed it was a religious event something like mini Eid. Similarly throughout the night there used to be continuous chanting from Mosques of Hamds ( Praise of God), Naats (Eulogiums/ Praise of Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H) and teachings of Quran. These beautiful sounds coming from a distance at mid-night enthralled all and impacted the heart and mind with peace and a comfort that its all fine. Nevertheless as we grew, along with us grew instability in this beautiful city. Now ...

This week has been pretty busy so there is a bit of tiredness which is of course lessening the work capacity. Today I took off from all the activities, planned to relax and kill time. Sometimes I think it is wise to do nothing because there is an exceptional beauty in nothingness. Ramadan are going perfectly, better than they were expected to be due to the heat and long hours of fasting. What we feared the most has become so easy for us to experience, even the sky-rocketing prices of food items are somehow becoming tolerable for a common man. Truly there is some Divine force for Whose Magnificence we all shall remain indebted for an eternity, He Who gives us the strength to move on or else life would become an unbearable burden. There is some strong inclination within to write about love . What is this strange phenomenon “Love” that all Religions, Prophets, Sages and scholars have so ardently preached and practiced?   To us love has been limited to the affections and care...

Today I followed the forgiveness mantra that I wrote about so ardently in my yesterday’s post “ Different Perceptions ”.   I thought there is no harm in practicing myself whatever I am indirectly preaching. So today was my first day and I had some interesting feelings. There are couple of people with whom I had a bit of rough experience. So in the morning I sat down took their names and prayed for their peace, welfare or whatever I could think of. Surprisingly more and more names and faces began to emerge in my mind with whom I have had some negative experiences at some point in my life. I was shocked to realize that I have been holding grudges with quite a few people when I falsely believed that I had forgotten and forgiven them. As I was praying for them, in few moments I felt as if a dark huge stone with black smoke moved. I immediately thought that something happened with them but then I realized that nothing happened with them. In fact what happened is that the h...

What a day its been heard some painful news from different quarters, I hope God bless them all with peace, safety and health. Maintaining one’s peace amidst of challenging situations becomes a challenge in itself. When you hear any of the spiritual teachers speak they would say that one’s peace is more of an internal matter independent of any person or situation. There can be tears in your eye but in the background it shall always be peace, and ultimately that inner peace takes over the apparent sadness. It takes time and lot of practice with patience to achieve this state of being though. Yesterday I heard my favorite spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson speak on OWN TV with Oprah about some deep spiritual matters. Two things that fascinated me the most. Marianne spoke about forgiveness and how it negatively affects us if we keep a grudge or anger against somebody. Even though that person had hurt us in some way or took advantage of us or deflected our love....

I seriously need to change all my profile pictures because seeing myself with the same smile in same attire for months is literally aching my eyes. I admire people on facebook who constantly update their status and profile pictures, it makes them so present. Whilst people like me who are highly cautious about themselves can never do anything that is remotely connected to socializing. My list of many do’s and don’ts have restricted me. There are quite a few people these days who are telling me to relax my rules a bit. I am always stuck up in what is practical and rational but sometimes it is wise to allow oneself to fly high without any logic, let things be. Why does everything has to be either this way or that way, why cant things just be. I don’t know if leading such a cautious life is feasible or not in the long-run but if I have to assess on the current results then it has both its advantages and disadvantages. Advantage is more on the professional front when caution ...

There are times when words flow without any restraint and then there are moments when thoughts are present but no appropriate words to express them. Something of the like is happening to me, there is so much to say that I’m rendered speechless. Multitasking is revered these days and it has been presumed to have many benefits but in my case its different. Rather than getting any results it had completely overwhelmed me. In August I have to complete two very important assignments because other activities are going to start which would have their own demands. Once committed, I don’t like to escape from my responsibilities so it all needs to be managed beforehand. My issue is that first I jump into situations and then I think whether I should have done this or not. When it should be the opposite, where one plans first and then dive into new adventures. No proper planning can make a person an unguided missile. How swiftly we have reached mid of Ramadan even with long hours ...

What do you see? Glass half full or half empty……. As soon as I saw the above image on my facebook page my instinctive response was half empty, and this is really scary. In all my honesty I admit that I saw the lack. Does it mean that subconsciously I am inclined to see the lack? Thanks Oprah for waking me up from the false belief that I am a person full of gratitude who only sees abundance; rather it’s the opposite with me. Really perspective is everything, because if you see glass half-full then your life would be easy to live. In the half empty scenario it shall always be the lack and wanting, a bottomless pot which shall remain empty irrespective of much you fill it.   I have even shocked myself because I want to be the person who sees the glass half-full. I need to work hard on myself and be more grateful for all the blessings I have. These are little cues or hints through which God shows us the right path and guides us to improve ourselves. Now f...