Eid al-Adha Mubarak

The festival of Muslims, Eid al-Adha, is marked by slaughtering an animal, following the footsteps of prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) peace-be-upon-him.

The words we commonly use for this slaughtering of animals are Qurbani and Sacrifice. Lets take a deeper look at these words and see if we can get some lessons from this ritual.

The word Qurbani is from the root Q-R-B in Arabic meaning 'to come near'. Hence 'qurb' means nearness, and word 'qurban' following the the same pattern as in Rahman, means 'to come very close'. Qurbani, therefore, is a way to come very close to someone.

The word Sacrifice is from the word sacré in French meaning 'sacred'. Hence to 'sacrify', following the same pattern as of verb solidify, means 'to make sacred'. Sacrifice, therefore, is a way to make something sacred.

Both words in non-literal sense mean to give up something to attain something of a higher value. The two words of two very different laguages point to the same direction: you have to be ready to give up things you are attached to (material, ideas) in order to attain closeness to someone dearer and to make your bond sacred. This idea is amplified (and ritualized) in Creator-creation relationship, but holds equally true in every person-person and person-ideal relationship.

iota

For those who think "Life is as complex as sqrt(-1)". You can simplify your life by replacing sqrt(-1) with 'i' (iota).

- Muhammad Awais Humayun (friend)

Gumption

Learned this excellent new word today: Gumption

Definitions of gumption on the Web: (copied from Google search)

• common sense: sound practical judgment
• backbone: fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it"
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
• Courage, also known as bravery, will, intrepidity, and fortitude, is the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. ...
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gumption
• Energy of mind and body, enthusiasm; Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness, guts; spunk; initiative
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gumption

Ex: It took me gumption(initiative) to start this blog, and therefore I am grateful for your gumption(determination) to read it! :)

Have some candles handy

I learned that no matter how miserable I feel, just a single thought is enough, like a candle, to brighten the world.
Question: why not always keep those candles handy?!

- yours truly.

Mindfulness @ Google

Jon Kabat-Zinn tells about Mindfulness Meditation to Google employees.

Getting Things Done - by David Allen

David Allen explains GTD:

Reinventing fans

A revolutionary design for fans: without blades!

Sinking Ship

If your ship is sinking, don't care about where its pointing.

                                                               - David Allen

Habib Jalib - Poetry of Defiance

Excellent political poetry of Habib Jalib (with English translation) sung by himself.