This is the first post on my new blog.
I am going to say the prayer I use everyday, may every step I take be towards my higher self. May everything I write come from Love. May true love guide all my actions. May my love of nature help and stand by me.
Love,
Sara
Okay, so last time I talked about my journey on living a more conscious life. Based on reusing stuff and having a fuller life not with things, but with experiences. So, even this journey is becoming such a beautiful teaching experience for me. I need to add when we have things that we actually use and love. The relationship with them become more intimate. I love to use what I have now and see value in just the thing I have. Sometimes I go to stores and just walk between aisles to see all the things I am happy without buying. Maybe if it was the Sara from couple of months back I would still try to buy things for “maybe” times.
I have been decluttering my closet. It took two weeks or more because, I needed to figure out what to do with stuff. Also, I don’t like to push things with doing it fast instead I prefer to take my time.
In this photo you can see kind of the end result. I say kind of because I have some things in the washer/dryer also it doesn’t show six dresses that I kept and couple of summer shirts and shorts.
The stuff you see in front of the closet are the stuff I let go off. I donated some to a homeless shelter, and some of it went to the goodwill. I guess for me it was time to thank them and say goodbye. Also, I emptied my drawer which contains whatever I wear at home. The part I like about it is that I use whatever I have in the closet until next time I am using washer. This tells me everything in my closet is being used which is really great.
Anyways this was my journey for cleaning up my closet. Next time I probably will write about my makeup drawer.
As always,
Love,
Sara
Last night was Northern Hemisphere winter solstice which is celebrated in Iran and so many other countries. We used to call it Chelleh/Yalda night growing up. It is considered to be the longest night of the winter.
We would gather as a family, with my aunts and would laugh and tell stories till we finish the night. It was filled with lots of events, reading Hafiz, telling stories and cutting a watermelon, which is a whole story on its own. My hometown is famous for its sugar beets, we would bake them and have them. It was filled with orange and red fruits of autumn such as pomegranate and persimmon. We had dried nuts and sweets like cotton candy and Halva. Oh my, we had home made walnut and carrot halva’s.
After we immigrated to states, almost every year I had guests for this night. I would make foods which represent my culture (Azeri descendant) and we would laugh and dance. Before moving to states we would always go to my parents home and gather with my aunts.
This year because of Covid-19 we didn’t gather and I was missing my family so much. I was missing staying up all night laughing and talking about memories. Yesterday, I told stories of both my grandpa’s to our son. Both of my grandfathers have left their bodies, they were such amazing beings of light.
One big part of Chelleh/Yalda night tradition is opening up Hafiz poem book and read. I opened it and this is what came:
The radiance of your goodness manifested in eternity
Love appeared and set fire to the mountain, earth and sea
Your face radiated, and still saw angels were loveless
Setting this fire on man, was then your zealous decree
Mind wanted to turn this fire to its own guiding light
You set the world in chaos with your ardent, radiant glee
False seeker sought to witness the secrets of the world
Hidden hand came and kept away his undeserving plea
To others fate brought a lot, filled with pleasure and joy
My sad heart’s lot was to be saddened on its knee
My sublime soul was longing for a glimpse of your face
My hand running through the locks of your hair lovingly
Hafiz wrote his love poems only on the day that he
Let the pen write from the heart that is joyous and free.
Hafiz
Happy Yalda everyone, I hope you and your loved ones are staying healthy. May you all be filled with the beautiful light each and everyone of you is representing.
As always,
Love,
Sara
In my previous post I talked about less waste and having made the decision to consume consciously.
Last week I spend planning my going “less waste”, I call it less waste and not zero waste because I know now I am still not ready to go zero waste. But, I am planning to do my best.
So, the first question I asked myself was WHY?! Why do I want to go less/zero waste?
If you are planning to start this journey too, ask yourself this question. You might have different reasons: to look cool, have fun Instagram posts, this is what I believe, I am doing this because of nature, and so many other reasons.
So, here is my WHY? I have so much respect to Mother nature, and I think I owe it to myself to my family to learn how to respect mother earth in return. She keeps giving to us and I can’t keep on going ruining all the resources. This why is so deeply embedded in who I am that even though after COVID19 I kind of had to use plastics but it came back to me again.
I, like so many other people have been a user of this or that. I have contributed to putting more trash in landfills unconsciously and to be honest sometime consciously. Not, giving it even a second thought or sometimes giving it a second though but still using a plastic or a product that doesn’t biodegrade or recycle.
After you get to answer these questions, first stop shopping. You already have more than enough. Do your study, there are really great series or documentaries available online, make sure to go back to these movies they keep you motivated. Second, start planning.
One of the steps in going less/zero waste is to find out what you already have in your home. And, you will through time go through your stuff and see if you haven’t used them for sometime. Maybe it needs a new home. So, find out where you can donate your stuff or have a garage sale. You will also have lots of packaging and stuff you need to dispose. Call your recycling center and see where you should drop them off or if they have pickup services. Take your time in this step, because you will end of with so many stuff you have no idea what to do with them. After that, next step will be decluttering.
As I go through decluttering, I will keep you posted too.
As always,
Love,
Sara
It is been some years I have been trying to be environmentally friendly. I changed our paper napkins to cloth, installed bidet in our toilet. I say no to paper cups. And, so many other small changes…
Then Covid-19 occurred . The stores didn’t let me use my own bags for shopping. And, I couldn’t buy things in bulk like before.
I loved going to coffee shops before Covid-19. I always either took my own cup or asked them for a mug. Then, after the pandemic I got coffee in non reusable cups. So, we started making our own trash pile.
It was couple of weeks back, that I asked myself what are my values. Every time, I look at our trash bin, I ask myself is this part of my legacy. Is this what I want to leave behind for my kids generation.
So, I started going deeper into it. Studying and educating myself on going more towards zero waste.
I am gonna share my tips, values in this blog. Maybe it can be of help for someone else too. Or, maybe you can give me some insights as well.
This is part of my healing and spiritual journey.
As always,
Love,
Sara
Today we lost a family member due to covid, when I heard the news I got sad. And, then I starting judging and misjudging the situation. I got angry and upset about the whole thing. The whole time I was watching my self react, and I was ugly.
Then (after an hour) I paused, and told myself what are you doing? no matter what someone has lost a loved one. Where is your so called compassion?
When we are in spiritual journey, we get tested. To tell us see you still have this ego talking. I am so grateful the test came and I failed so miserably. Because, now my ego tells me I know better.
Then this post from an amazing soul came in my feed that I decided to share.
If you have lost a loved one I am so sorry for your loss. It happens so fast that you don’t get to say bye. Even if you do it’s from a distant.
Love each other unconditionally, even from distant show your compassion and love,
As always,
Love,
Sara
Gardening has always been a great passion for me. Its almost hardly a job but a way of paying respect to mother earth. Its a way of living that can bring communities together.
I remember growing up we used to share our fruits and vegetables with neighbors. My parents still do. They send a big box of grapes or peach to friends and neighbors.
Urban gardening at your home can be very beneficial. You have access to organic produce right in your home and it certainly tastes better. When you buy a produce at a store they need to pick it before its ripe but you can pick it on demand in your backyard. Or even get fresh fruits in farmers markets.
It’s a very efficient way of using land. Living in California lots of backyards have large areas for turf grass. Which seriously is not compatible with California’s weather.
And most importantly it is a way of healing. When you work with land you make friends with it. With every touch to the soil you make friends with the ecology around you.
We have come to such a distant between the elements that we have lost our way home. With working with nature and the elements we again make friends with it. 🙏
It doesnt need much, even if you dont have backyard grab a pot and plant some vegetables. 🙂
Make friends with the land.
Love,
Sara
These past few months with the hitting of COVID 19 we see how much businesses are struggling, and I kept telling myself we need to support small businesses. local restaurants. And yet, whenever I wanted something, amazon looked like the easy place to go to order.
It took me some orders to make me realize there is nothing that necessary to make me want to order from amazon. Two, if I truly need something I can go and buy it from a local place. True, the prices might be a little higher but believe me in the long run you save a lot of money.
Here at states we are such good consumers, and that’s what we have been taught. Buy Buy Buy!
The benefits of shopping in person is:
1- In the long run we save money have your shopping list.
2- At least we see one person and have a small chat.
3- We save a lot of packaging and have less impact on nature.
4- Most importantly we support local businesses
I am not saying I would never purchase at amazon or online. No, there are times that online is the best option, but with awareness and acknowledgment we can have less damage on the environment and be support our local businesses.
As always,
Love,
Sara
I want to start this post with a question, “what is your medicine?”
I am not asking about your physician prescribed medicine. I am talking about the one that works and you know it does. Although we still like to pay our medical doctors.
Whenever I feel unorganized inside, my medicine is nature, to be in the presence of mother nature. To be in awe of its beauty, its love and grace. Whenever I feel super tired, I lean on a tree and absorb some of its healing prana’s. I make sure to thank the tree, because the tree doesn’t have to do this but they just do.
If you get a headache go outside and walk and imagine roots going down to mother earth, this will ground us. And make our mind more clear.
Btw, I am preaching now, I so many times forget to do these myself. Although when I do it works. 😀
Find your medicine, it can be taking care of someone, talking to a friend, sitting still, or being in nature.
May you be filled with the love of mother earth, make sure you know we need to respect mother earth. She has been giving all our life, the air, the food, the water and all the unlimited grace she has been providing her kids.
Thank you Mama,
as always,
Love,
Sara
I am feeling such a deep grace in me today, the kind of grace that wants to make you cry. So, heartwarming and filled with divine love. The grace that feels like a spring rain.
Today we came together as a village, when you come together as a village there won’t be me or you. There will be union. There will be us, There will be “I”.
As the village comes together, we hold hands (these days virtually), and we heal. This is not my way, this was my grandmothers way.
We live in a world where we talk about my bubble, We talk about I. I. I. and the community is losing its color. But, now more than anytime we need to be together. We need to remember its not social distancing it’s physical distancing. We need to open our hearts, believe me there is enough space for the whole word inside your heart. As you open your heart to the realty of the world, you will be accomplished with acceptance, and you will receive the love you put out to the world ten times more.
Have your village, and hopefully someday our villages can be as big as the whole world. May divine love surround you, as you surround your divine love with the world. May you be filled with divine grace,
As always,
Love,
Sara
A friend is going through some challenging time, and one of the things which came to mind for her was setting up a prayer with some friends to pray for her health.
Then I was thinking the whole day how to set up the pray. As I was talking to a friend she asked me how did your grandmother pray?!
Have you noticed when a question is asked where you needed to hear the question, to make you pause. Stop, breath!
My grandmother’s prayer used to come from a deeper faith. That everything is being taken care of. That, her prayer is the purest thing and the God will hear it and maybe that’s why she got her answers, she just knew that her prayers are being heard. She didn’t need to set up zoom meeting to pray, her every walk was prayer.
And then my prayers, I am doing the prayer. I am thinking I am praying. I need to set up, write what I am gonna say during my prayer. And just beg please hear me.
So, Next time we are praying. Lets pray for that amazing higher consciousness that everything is being taken care of. From a deep faith. From that deep pause, deep breath, may your prayer be in its path by a deep inner joy and inner peace. You know what, everything is just the way it suppose to be, everything is being take care of.
As always love,
Sara
Soul Journey 