How Changing One Thing In Our Routine, Can Lighten Us Up.

Posted on June 12, 2018 by Razan Masri

Yesterday I posted on my instagram asking people what they do first thing in the morning.

The answers I got were mostly the usual things of opening our eyes, looking at our phones, heading for a shower. One different answer was, doing 3 yoga poses in bed which I thought must be a really good thing to try and do (if you are interested in yoga).

I sometimes feel it is always good to give our routine a change, an upbeat, something a little more ordinary to add on something new to our day, to our minds, and our attitude to life.

Some ideas I can throw in here are; watering your plants, doing a little prayer, kissing your loved awake or still asleep, meditating, or writing your morning pages.

Writing Morning Pages was my answer on my instagram in response to my question. It has been introduced to me a few years ago first, through a leadership camping training in Switzerland and second, in my writing group club in Amman. The former was used as a method to reflect and write at any time of the day on an empty page without thinking, just writing, letting all our feelings go into writing. And the later was taken from the book ‘The Artist Way’ and is done first thing in the morning, every day, religiously. It is a method to clear our minds and set our attitude positively to our day by using positive affirmations, positive thoughts, and goals.

Nothing is necessary for writing our Morning Pages, nothing is right or wrong, and no one needs to read them. They can be private or can be torn apart if it makes you feel more comfortable, but the idea is to write everything down every morning, first thing in the morning. Let it all out on empty pages. It is a great new start of the day.

They helped me make new self-realization, reflection, understand feelings, hidden thoughts, aspirations, dreams, neglect, it is just a very great way to understand oneself better, put what is unimportant aside on the pages, and put what we wish to attain from self-motivation on paper to remind us of our basic goals and dreams. Be gentle to my self, today, be gentle to everyone I encounter, smile, be graceful, walk with grace, speak with grace, listen with grace, give, with no expectations, no judgments, live, freely, loudly, happily, share, your dreams, and your love, be generous to yourself and to others… and this is how it goes.

I hope this blog post helps us live more positive. If you do have your own tip to share for a morning ritual, please comment and share.

My Creative Space

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Razan Masri

I am taking a Creative Workshop by Elizabeth Gilbert, and the below is a piece of writing in response to the following questions:

What was the last thing you really wondered about? When was the last time you experienced creative flow? What was the last passage of book, piece of music, or work or art that really inspired you? What drew you in? What are you doing when you feel most beautiful? What are your super powers? What would you do for a living if you were not afraid of anything?

I wonder about so many things; how we live, how we perceive things, where life takes us, what makes us believe in one way or another. How can things be reformed, reintroduced. I wonder about the way we perceive things, the way we go on, how we find knots and then we make them bigger by attaching them to more knots, by not realising that we are creating a huge big complicated knot. How some people can see those people who see those knots and wonder how it is that they choose to just use the knots to make them bigger, instead of simply unknot them?

I wonder about the reasons why some of us perceive things negatively when we know others perceive them positively, wouldn’t we all want to live in a one happy bubble?

I receive creative flow while researching and finding beautiful things, work, art, stories of people that make me spark, and all I want to do is dig in more, learn more, ask more, I want to dive in more, I just want to leave everything and run towards deepening, and understanding, then sharing and communicating, I love to find the passion in things that look beautiful. I find flow in connecting, in finding answers to questions, when finding dots and connecting them together, when finding stories, quotes, sayings, definitions of ideas, solutions, realities, that have been created because of those connected dots. I find flow, in finding, in feeling, and in bringing them to light.

I feel most beautiful, when I speak, not thinking about what am saying, but I am certain it makes complete sense, when I know it is motivating, when I know my words are un-knotting the knots that were created and knotted together, complicating every single open passage in front of us. I feel most beautiful, when I can see through the eyes of the listeners a light, a light of clarity, a light of door ways, passage, air, flow, light, life again.

Photos below are selection of my instagram favorites by: Kamo Hmaid, Sarakanov, Sunday Suppers, One Young Boy, What for Breakfast, Alix Cherry, Local Milk, A Minute Away From Snowing, A Guy Named Patrick, Lace Events, Nicole Franzen, Local Milk, Table on Ten, Table on Ten, The Trotter Girl, Cara_Melized, Local Milk, Revistannow, Teyxavier, Sezgi Olgac, Reza Photography

My Art, My Piece of Life – Tuesday Doodle

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Razan Masri

We don’t plan things to be the way they always end up to be. Life is just like an art piece. You never know until you try, and the image you have had in mind could happen to turn out identical or completely different. When its art it’s never restricted, its unpredictable, you need to stay open to receive and you need to be able to mend and blend, redo and replace, you can change the colors of the image, it can take you half a day to put things together or a lifetime. It does not matter. What matters at the end is the result. Some will turn out to satisfy you for mere a second and some will last an impression forever. How will you know? You never will, until you get there, you try, you give yourself the chance to explore, to express, to perceive, to be, to happen. Life is a piece of art, your piece of art, and everyday is a new white canvas that can be separated from the canvas of yesterday or can be a continuation, some canvases will be left somewhere unremembered and some will be framed forever.

Whatever it is. It is yours. Your art piece. Your work of art. Your only work of art. Are you enjoying it while you’re puting it together or are you agonizing your way through. Are you happy with the pieces at the end of your day or are your tears drying up? Look at each piece with love and fill it with laughter, with joy. Be the sailor of your own boat, put a ribbon on your hair and shirt, paint a heart everywhere you go, glitter your eyes with what you love to see, be a friend to those in need of a listening ear, color your diary with your thoughts and feelings, be grateful and count your blessings, sing to your world, and dance on your tip toes, don’t let anything stop you, from trying a new piece of art everyday.

Creative Writing on a Tuesday Morning Inspired by My Collection of Instagram’s favorite Pieces collected from 2015, Dar_Nur, Tilly2Milly, Kidvikk, HummingBirdHigh, Kitato, _Mamannyc_, Tilly2Milly, MawiOfficial, Wenlise_Fold, Candelanovembre, Kitat.

Why is Rumi the best poet in the US? And why am I a big fan of his?

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Razan Masri

I stumbled upon an article few weeks ago, only to finally read it today. And one part of the article; I never want to forget, so I decided to write about it, save it and share it.

From the BBC Culture Article: Why is Rumi the best poet in the US ?

“His combination of mystical richness and bold adaptation of poetic forms is the key to his popularity today.” Rumi uses 4 main innovations in his direct address to readers, that defined my understandings and connection to his ancient writings…

He uses the second person in his writing – Which to many of us, we feel personalized, as if he is talking to me, with me, directing me, so it is much easier to relate or imagine and therefore feel belonging.
His urge to teach – He writes in the form of giving, sending, with ultimate love and compassion, take this knowledge from me, take it for free, I just want to teach you, help you, and take care of you.
He uses everyday imagery – Which until today, after around 800 years we can still relate to. Whether he is referring to the ocean, skies, love, escape, nature, earth… we can relate to his images.
His celebration and optimists attainment to union – Who isn’t attracted to optimists? Who isn’t searching for union? He writes with assertiveness, which therefore comforts us “the readers” to one day, reach our own findings.

And what I enjoyed the most about all this, is relating myself to it. I have the tendency to write in the form of a second person. I believe in giving, learning and teaching, I use my inspiration from my everyday life and as an optimist myself, I am in search of Unity. And through my Rumi Readings, I find my answers and motivation.

So here is to Rumi… You have taught me so much about my own spiritual beliefs, the richness of my very own culture, you have inspired me, inspired many others before me, and you will keep inspiring many more like me. I truly hope I can help spread some of your wisdom through my writings.