It was approaching the Christmas Holiday in the year 2012, when I handed in a letter to my principal, written by my mum, stating that I was going to be … Continue reading Why I chose to be Home schooled
It has been too long, my compadres
I’m baaack!!!
It has been 2 years since I posted on this blog and I am so, so happy to be back. I went away not because I had writer’s block, or because I lacked the will to write. I simply forgot my password for my blog and my email. I spent 2 hours trying to recover my account using different email addresses, but always encountered the horrid sight of “Verification email bem*******@gmail.com”. I admitted defeat to this unknown email address and for two years almost forgot about this blog, it was only after one of my lovely aunties, Aunty Djamila and my Dad reminded me of my older blog posts that I decided to once more try and recover my “Dear Hood-Hood” account. This time, Successful! My gratitude extends to my brother Yusuf for helping to recover my account. If anyone would like advice on how to recover your wordpress account, or any account, just remember to write down your password somewhere, it’ll save you from a lot of worrying and stress in the future.
Good and Bad
From a young age I grew up watching films mostly centred on the story of the Good guys and the Bad guys. As a family we watched numerous kung Fu films, martial art films in general, Disney films like Aladdin and Mulan. The most memorable films on the category of the portrayal of good and evil, has to be the Lord of The Rings trilogy.
I do not remember my mum or dad ever giving me strict ideals on the matter of good and bad. I just remembered observing my parents and my brother’s behaviours, and slowly building up a set of do’s and don’ts, which translated into good and bad. Slapping my brother (bad), helping my mum carry the shopping (good), rolling my eyes at my mum or dad (danger zone). At that time fear and not wanting to disappoint my parents played an important role in shaping my behaviour. As an adolescent, being much more exposed to different people’s ideals, religions and moral codes, my own definition of good and bad has become not as simple and clear cut. Coming from a religious background, I used my understanding of respecting and honouring people, being honest (as much as I could) and being helpful as my criteria of being a good person and follower of faith. So I didn’t enter my young adult life without morals. I’d say most of the stories my mum and dad told me when I was little about faithful people and stories that are full of wisdom have still continued to live deeply rooted in my mind. Perhaps that is why in matters of faith, I prefer stories, to the learning of the many rulings.
Both good and bad are very general terms, so here are a few synonyms of the two words so as to give a clearer description of them. Good in accordance to kindness and virtue is to be considerate, gracious, benevolent, charitable, philanthropic (feeling concern for other’s well being), exemplary (serving as an example to follow), moral, upright, honest, trustworthy and righteous. Bad in accordance to evil is to be wicked, sinful, corrupt, a criminal, immoral, vile, mischievous and disobedient.
Looking in the thesaurus I learnt that good and bad do not merely apply to good and bad human traits. All things possess good and bad traits, a good chair a bad day.
Therefore it is understandable that everyone wants a clear set of good and bad because at the core of all of us is our soul, which like a child, needs direction, guidance and nurturing. Through knowing limitations we gain principles and discipline. I unfortunately cannot provide anyone a complete understanding of the two forces, since I am still only a student of life.
I can however, draw connections between the films I have watched, how they once impacted me, and how they now have impacted me. Watching films like Kung Fu Panda and Lord of The Rings first made me want to learn martial arts and have cool armour and to always seem unfazed in the face of danger. It was not long until I realised I had no mental or physical stamina to do acrobatics or meditate. But that didn’t stop me from wishing to be strong and cool at the same time.
During the Christmas break, my brother my brothers, dad and I watched 6 films of the Star Wars franchise (more will be mentioned on Star Wars in the next blog). Yesterday my eldest brother treated me and my other brother to a trip to IMAX to watch Star Wars The Force Awakens (7th film) in 3D. Not long ago I knew very little about the Star Wars films and now, I am confident to have a long in depth conversation about them all. At first my appreciation of Star Wars was based on the Sci-Fi aspect of the films, the mystical looking planets, the wide variety of fantasy characters, the soundtrack and the famous names (Natalie Portman, Ewan Mcgregor and Harrison Ford) all made easy to watch and enjoyable films. Now that I have watched all the Star Wars films that have been released, I have had time to reflect on the themes and lessons presented in the films. The most important lesson that I have taken away from the films is the training of a Jedi. A Jedi is a person who is trained to use the force in a manner to protect people and the universal orders (balance). The force is “an energy field created by all living things”.
I did find myself wanting to fly spaceships, have battles with lightsabers (like a sword) and dress in robes with hoods. But more importantly I learnt that physical fighting is a very minute part of a Jedi’s life. The real training takes place in the mind and heart. The Jedi is trained to feel and trust in his or her inner being. Without the Jedi believing strongly in the good
force, they would not be able to fight evil with such strength.
To conclude, as my spiritual guide would say, good is what is easiest to do. I hope to one day come to more conclusions, but for now I am content and grateful for what I know and do not know.
Secondary School – Homeschooled – Horticulture course in College…
Firstly, I would like to say thank you to Aunty Djamila for suggesting I write this post about home schooling. You allowed me to summarise the past three years in … Continue reading Secondary School – Homeschooled – Horticulture course in College…
The Art of Massage
I have always found my back garden to be my little sanctuary. When I was little, I would often spend hours making magical healing potions (inspired by Pokémon), with an old vase buried half way in the ground using leaves, berries, sticks and small rocks to use to heal imaginary animals. I loved watching the birds fly from tree to tree singing their own little songs and the squirrels trying to get food from the bird feeders. Even though I was alone I never felt it, I had the cats, birds, trees, flowers and insects all communicating in their own languages to keep me entertained.
So it came as no surprise to me that I felt drawn to natural healing 6 years later. I am currently focusing on Herbalism and Aromatherapy. As the title of this post suggests I will be discussing massage which is the main part of healing associated with aromatherapy.
Aromatherapy is a type of therapy which uses essential oils (oils derived from plants with healing properties) inhaled or massaged into the body. To me massage is like a universal language to express care between two people. Sometimes when conversation cannot reach the deeper parts of the soul the warm touch of a therapist can act as the best unspoken conversation. 
In a time where stress, fear and uncertainty override people’s positivity and hope, massage plays a key role in the rebalancing of emotions; to be a little more specific, mind, body and spirit. Health issues have been over simplified with the promotion of eating organic foods and doing exercise. However, the more pressing issue towards the betterment of health is overlooked; the soul nurtured can satiate one’s mind and body but the body will always be hungry if the soul isn’t.
There is both an artistic and scientific aspect towards massage. The art of massage requires the knowledge of the different techniques of massage such as effleurage, petrissage, tapotement and friction. The therapist must be attuned to the needs of the patient to decide which techniques most suited to address the state of mind, body and spirit of the person. In terms of scientific aspect, proper massage helps regulate the circulatory system. Effleurage, for example, which is a firm but gentle stroke directed towards the heart, when correctly applied, reduces the burden of the heart pumping blood around the body. Secondly, it helps with the efficiency of the autonomic system which is part of the peripheral nervous system. The autonomic system deals with the regulation of blood around the body and organs such as the stomach and intestines. Within our autonomic nervous systems we have a sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Our parasympathetic system provides us with a pleasant emotional state producing joy, happiness and calmness while the sympathetic system does the opposite by causing anger, frustration and sadness. The end goal of massage is to encourage the parasympathetic system to release states of calm and happiness within a person hence suppress the negative state of mind.
A special thanks to Aunty Clare for suggesting this topic.
Oh Lady on The Bench
Oh Lady on the bench,
soon I’ll be like you,
I’ll be wrinkly,
I’ll have facial hair too painful to pluck,
I’ll need a stick to support my body as I walk.
No makeup will disguise my age,
nor would any exercise stop the severe pain in my aching bones.
I will have a loud 15 year old girl next to me,
ignoring me whilst among friends,
and merely acknowledging me when I give her a £5 note,
her eyes light up only to dim again,
once she realises it is only £5,
she wanted 10.
I won’t however have enough energy to get angry,
and instead retire to being content on my own,
reading,
watching overacted dramas,
watching my little grandchildren learn about sharing and compassion.
I’ll have the pleasure of seeing the lives of young in a new light.
I won’t see them as vain,
irresponsible or stupid.
Rather I would see a light within them that those hot-headed adults don’t have,
a courage that is only tainted by the dull souls.
A special thank you to Lizzie for letting me use her painting!
http://www.paintingsbylizzie.com/index.php
The Fault In Our stars
The Fault In Our Stars is a lovely book all around.The book is based on Hazel Grace a 16 (and a half) year old girl who has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and meets a 17 year old boy named Augustus who suffers from osteosarcoma also known as bone cancer. As soon as I found out that the book was based on a love story I already presumed I wouldn’t enjoy reading it. However I decided to give it a read anyway.
The book does revolve around the relationship between Hazel and Augustus but it doesn’t make their love seem too unrealistic. I liked both Hazel and Augustus’s characters. Hazel is described to be quite a pessimistic person, smart but depressed (understandable in her situation). Augustus on the other hand is more optimistic, not a hero but a gentleman and loves using metaphors. Though their differences are clear their big commonality is that they both understand the importance of the day.
I enjoyed the fictional story tied into the book called an imperial affliction, that is Hazel’s favourite book, which Mr Green cleverly made up. The book is full of quotes that many young ones in love will probably quote a lot. The overly romantic gestures were minimal, making the actual feeling of sinking into love between Hazel and Augustus much more powerful. It is simply a story of a cancer patient without the cancer story.
Information overload
Sometimes I go on google to search for a recipe or bits of information I need to research. About 2 hours later I find myself reading why Jim Caviezel loves children, or how I can be a rapper without having a tough up bringing (important issues of course).
Although a lot of information I search for on the internet leads me to good sources and gives me more insight on the matter, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed with the amount of information I am trying to process. As if trying to retain knowledge from one book isn’t enough now I am dealing with many different authors and all their different opinions. I am grateful for the internet in many respects, for example, I am able to listen to lectures by professors from some of the best universities for free and I can see countries and their most popular hotspots all on my screen.
The biggest drawback with the internet is its ability to distract people from the actual magnificence and majesty of the world around us. By sitting with my phone or laptop I often forget I am free, I do not have to sit here and be subservient to a machine. Many people don’t talk about the importance of life, or even try to go digging for a meaning to it and whenever a brave one goes down that path, the people around that one often mock or blame him/her for being too deep. Sad, just sad.
Long drive
I see life as a long car drive. A journey of pit stops. Each stop bringing you closer to your destination. Along the way you may break down and need to call for help, but reaching out for help is not the end point or a depressing moment. Needing help, being helpless makes you humble and may even give a chance for another person to make amends through helping you, whilst allowing his/her good character to prevail. The pit stops are gas stations. Everybody needs to stop and recharge at least a couple of times.We remember to fill ourselves with positivity again and each stop reminds us of our destination; how far or how close it is. The journey, though for most parts tend to be taken for granted. But had there not been a journey there would be no destination.
Hello Readers!
Hello my name is Hudder, my nickname was Hood-Hood when I was younger. This is my first blog post!
Dear Hood-Hood 