“The soul speaks to you in moments of silence. You hear its voice when you no longer know anything. Often, the soul begins to speak very clearly only when you surrender and throw in the towel. When you give up and despair, you open yourself to the new. It is then that you release all […]
“No matter what happens in your life, no matter how unsettling things may seem, do not fall into despair. Even if all doors remain closed, God will open a new path just for you. Be grateful! It is easy to be grateful when everything is fine. A Sufi is grateful not only for what he […]
“Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to be unable […]
I. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost… I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out. II. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see […]
“East, west, south, or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you will travel the whole wide world and beyond.” — Elif Shafak, “The Forty Rules of Love”
“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead, let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?” — Elif Shafak, “The Forty Rules of Love”
“Fret not where the road will take you. Instead, concentrate on the first step. That is the hardest part and that is what you are responsible for. Once you take that step, let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.” — Elif […]
“It is easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible as He is. It is far more difficult to love fellow human beings with all their imperfections and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we […]
“While everyone in this world is striving to get somewhere and become someone, only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness. Live this life as light and empty as the number zero. We are no different from a pot. It is not the decorations outside but the […]
A friend of mine told me a parable about bamboo that she had translated from a book by Olivier Clerc. Deeply moved by this story, I decided to pass it on, adding my own commentary. The parable is brief: “They say that in China, there grows a very special variety of bamboo. If we plant […]
“If you feel like a victim who has no power to change the situation, it proves that there is something within you that you are not yet ready to look at. Therefore, you will remain a victim for as long as it takes to suffer enough, until you finally decide to see the beam in […]
“You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one […]
