Category: Uncategorized

There is a difference between goals and aspirations.

Don’t confuse love and admiration.

There is a difference between an author and a writer.

Don’t confuse a follower and a friend.

There is a difference between an artist and a celebrity.

Don’t confuse a loss with failure.

There is a difference between talking and saying.

Don’t confuse stillness with inactivity.

There is a difference between a winner and a champion.

Don’t confuse a warrior with a soldier.

We use our feet and legs so often we don’t even realize how much we use them until they hurt. We often experience what’s called shin splints, or sore feet. If the shins are hurting the first thing to consider is a rest period, for a day or two. Simply stay off your legs. If it’s because of running and dynamic moves in the gym such as jumping, running, or pounding you could also try ice. Simply take an ice cube and start at the bottom of the knee and massage downward, all the way to the ankle and then back up to the knee again. As a rule for massage you always want to be sure that the ending stroke is moving toward the heart. Another thing you can do is give yourself a massage with raw African shea butter—my personal favorite. Work it deep into the shins, calves etc. Be sure your magnesium intake is also sufficient.

Foods that are high in magnesium include—dark leafy greens, nuts, fish, beans, avocados, yogurt, bananas, and dark chocolate. You can also mix raw African she butter and topical magnesium together. It’s a powerful combination. The topical magnesium may itch and sting in the beginning until your skin gets used to it. As far as the feet are concerned, soak them in hot to warm water and put about a handful of Epsom salt in the water. You can even put a few drops of tea tree oil and magnesium oil in the warm water for soothing. Again massage the feet with raw African she butter, and or topical magnesium. I also like biofreeze. All of these work well if it’s nothing serious. Something serious would be a crack or a fracture in the hip, femor, calf, or even the feet. A pinched nerve can also be considered serious.

About the feet, if it’s plantar fasciitis or piriformis syndrome you may require multiple self care regimens per week. I would even suggest daily. The symptoms of both plantar fasciitis and piriformis syndrome have been known to come and go and vary in discomfort levels. Again, stay off your feet, and if the hot hydro therapy treatment doesn’t work try ice. It will be uncomfortable on the feet but it’s very effective. Take a water bottle, freeze it, and when it’s frozen take it out of the freezer and step on it, rolling it from your the heel of your feet to the ball of your feet. For more extreme cases you might need to soak your feet in ice water! The feet have muscles in them too, and some of the time it’s just about muscle overuse and muscle repair. You can also wrap the feet in wet warm or cold towels for 5 to 10 minutes. Experiment to find out what works best for you.

Another thing is stretching and foam rolling. You have to. Muscles get tight, they start to pull on each other for support, and that’s how you get pinched nerves and minor ailments which can lead to an actual injury. Get a massage regularly at least once a month. If you can’t afford to go all out with an hour or 90 minutes at least get a 30 minute maintenance massage.

ANOTHER biggie that’s always over looked is DIET! If you are loading up on the sugar, especially the white sugar, your body is going to be more susceptible pain. Why? Because you may be experiencing mild to moderate symptoms of diabetes such as nerve damage, tissue decay, and muscle atrophy. Too much sugar in the diet is serious business. Consider a 3-7 day sugar detox, and see if the pain lessens. If it does, you know that a simple change in your diet will give you some relief. Find a herb specialist that can point you in the right direction. An acupressurist, massage therapist, and a chiropractor are great people to have on your self care team. If you need help in the gym you might even consider hiring a certified personal trainer to show you the ropes. The most important thing however is continuous self care and proper diet, but the above mention can help.

Here’s a spiritual/mental technique that you can also try when you are experiencing pain: Get quiet and preferably alone. Take several deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. Identify the region of your discomfort. Continue to breath deeply in and out while you focus on that region. With every exhale imagine that the pain is leaving your body. Continue to do this until you feel calm and relaxed. Once you feel completely relax, blow in your own hands 3 times, and then place your hands on the area of pain. Gently tell yourself that you release the pain, and that you accept health and vitality. Visualize yourself healthy and active, happy and at peace. Make this technique a practice along with your other self-care routines. I hope this helps.

Peace & Blessings.

Nadirah

This 30 Day Wellness Challenge is a true blessing. It’s caused me to pull my energy in and sit with myself. Because this 30 Day Wellness Challenge is not “goal-oriented” I have the opportunity to explore the depths of my feelings. Selecting foods that are healthy for my body, while also paying attention to the intuitive nutrient needs of my body gives way for energy to flow freely with in me. A free flow of emotions, thoughts, and even sporadic action brings me one step closer to my sacred place.

The authenticity is the beauty of the 30 day wellness regimen/challenge. I have only to allow myself to be carried by grace, keeping in mind however, the intention to be disciplined. Nothing is completely right, and nothing is completely wrong. After action is taken there will be an inner feeling to proceed or yield. The sequence of events that follow the action are a perfect indication of what you should do…or not do. The sequence of events will clarify the direction. Now, in this sacred place of surrendering freely to our inner flow, we have to be cautious of the things that come knocking at our door, literally and figuratively. We should even pay attention to those things that WE invite into our experience ounce we have connected with this knowing.

Some things show up to support our highest and purest intention and vision for our lives. Unfortunately, the ugly truth is, some things show up to derail us, and pull us straight off the path. It’s no worry though. Everything that shows up outside of us, comes from within us. They emerge from the deepest, darkest, most suppressed and oppressed places with in us. It serves us to know and own this, so we don’t have to be afraid. Instead we can look at whatever shows up…square in the face, and tell it, thank you or no thank you and then proceed in the direction of our truest, highest place.

Personally, I’m making it a practice, to allow everything in me, to gracefully, rise to the surface. What moves peacefully with in me I will keep. What causes unproductive, destructive commotion with in me, I will discard and continue on my way. I am on my way to my “true north”, and I will not allow the disharmony within my own-self bind me to mediocrity. The lock and the key is with me. I choose to be free.  

It’s an American tradition to receive gifts on our birthdays. Most times they’re material, and wrapped in colorful paper; and given to us by family and friends either in private or at a party. (-: There are those times though when you just wake up on your Birthday (anniversary on earth day) and you just feel gifted. You feel rich. You feel optimistic, and you feel ready to gift (give) the world! That’s how I feel today; and I feel blessed even more because this IS a natural feeling for me…all praises be to God. I always thank my Heavenly Creator for the spiritual gift that He has given me, which is to be able to see God-the-Good in just about everything, and find blessings in adversity. Sometimes it takes some doing, but I’ve committed to doing it just the same. (-:
Something special happened to me this morning—I completed the reading of the Quran. I did it before dawn; and the beauty of that is that I’ll be able to integrate that knowledge into the knowledge that The Heavenly creator has already blessed me with. After reading I had time to pray, and I performed my prayer in the traditional way of the Sunni Muslim. The way my parents taught me when I was young.
The gift of reading, praying, then contemplating brought forth yet another gift—a revelation or a realization if you will.(-:
I had been reading the Quran, and was having difficulty understanding why Allah (God) makes mention continuously about giving God a loan. The Quran speaks of giving God loans in various context. I kept asking myself how can I give God a loan. Me, give to the almighty??? If anyone has read the Holy Quran they know just how repetitive it is. I kept reading despite my confusion. Then finally this morning when I was down to my last pages in the Quran, Allah (God) blessed me on my birthday to understand just what He meant!!! It was there in surah (chapter) 74 Al-Muzzammil (The Wrapped One) Ayat (verse) 20 that it was finally revealed to me. Here it reads”…and be constant in prayer, and spend in charity, and give to God a goodly loan. For whatever good deed you send on before you for your souls, you will find it with God.” Before I go forth I just want to place emphasis on the fact that it says, “YOUR souls.” No matter what you give or how you give, inevitably you’re doing it for you. So there it is. Our actions, deeds, gifts, words, resources, time, energy, our LIFE…our very birth…MY BIRTH! are all for God. We loan it…whatever it is, to him for an appointed time, just so he can give it back to us, often times with interest, pressed down and running over…you know(-; And, it’s not surprising that God returns what we have loaned Him with interest when we come to Him! For our renewal, for our energy, for our WHATEVER! If you can wrap your head around the idea of you rolling up all that you are and all that you have into God and coming out again, I’m sure you’ll see yourself as new…renewed, and full to the brim with more to gift…I mean give.(-: All praises are to my Heavenly Creator for deeming me worthy to gift! I look forward to gifting all year long and to Infinity!!!(-:

Yesterday morning someone asked me to do something that I didn’t want to do. So when she asked me, I asked her, had she asked anyone else to do it. She had, but for whatever reason they couldn’t do it, or didn’t want to do it, or had done it before and thought it was fair that others volunteer. It was fair, and I was one of the ones who had not volunteered yet. I was being selfish until I realized just how volatile the situation would become had I not done what was asked of me. So huffing and puffing, kicking and uttering profanities under my breath I got dressed to get ready for the task.
When I went into the bathroom to wash my face. A quick glimpse in the bathroom mirror at my distorted face, told me just how big a deal I was making out of nothing. So then I smiled at myself, and remembered what my mother had told me a while back. “Whatever you do, do it in love. If it’s not hurting anybody and you can find the least bit of good in it, just do it. Think of yourself as being obedient to Allah (God) not the person.”
So I readjusted my attitude, and took my mother’s advice to heart. As it turns out the task that people normally complain about was actually pretty easy. It also turns out that I didn’t have to do much of anything. Literally, I was told that I could return to sleep. When I woke up to complete the second part of the task…miraculously or not(-;, it had already been done. I smiled again. Then I enjoyed French toast, cream cheese AND syrup! conversing with people who I might not ordinarily converse with in my regular day to day.
All day, the sweetness of that morning lingered. That was my attitude…be sweet. If I saw someone doing something and they needed help I simply extended a hand, and all day hands were extended to me.
It was a really good feeling. In addition to that, something else occurred to me last night, and it is, when we are willing, as opposed to being willful, we invite a greater presence—God’s Grace. I’m okay with that.(-: