Friday, December 30, 2005

Houris :The women of paradise




I am just pointing you to this website to understand about Huris

The women of paradise

And passing on this message by the author Dara Shayda the Eyeless Lion.
n Your Name I read that which I read

Hur: Women of Paradise
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/hur.htm

The Qur'anic phrases with regards to women and their attributes are
almost fully misunderstood in Arabic and mistranslated in English.
Much of what we read today in English translations of Qur'an/Hadith
or what Arabs find within themselves reading about women are by
products of sexual deviance of the Orientalists who mistranslated
much of the middle eastern books to fit their dreamy imagery of
Thousand and One Nights, that Qur'an/Hadith and much of the
Arab/Middle East world has nothing to do with.

In this humble attempt a linguistic curtain is lifted to present the
original feel of the language of the Arab when it comes to female
terms specially Quranic verses dealing with the females of Paradise.

You may read from the Grand Sheikhs: Tustari, Ibn Khatib and
Grammarian Tha'labi. You may also find a long forgotten Hadith with
regards to the superiority of the women of this world to that of the
Hur!

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Liza tak nak beli kasut!




Liza dan ibu berada di hospital Selayang untuk melawat kawan Liza yang berada di wad sedang sakit! Liza telah lama beritahu ibu yang dia perlukan sepasang lagi kasut sebab kasut yang hanya sepasangnya itu terlalu kerap digunakan dan Liza sayang kasut mahal yang telah dipilihkan untuknya oleh kakaknya semasa bulan puasa yang lepas. Ibu Liza telah berjanji akan bawa Liza beli kasut selepas balik dari hospital ! Liza dan ibu telah datang ke Hospital dengan ayah Liza, tetapi perlu balik sendiri menaikki teksi dan oleh kerana yang demikian ibu Liza , Salmah telah membuat keptusan untuk membeli kasut untuk Liza di Bintang Mall bersebelahan Hospital Selayang . Jalan ke Bintang Mall adalah melalui jejambat dari Hospital Selayang.

Sebaik saja sampai di permukaan arkad jualan Bintang Mall, Liza telah berkata," Mama! Liza tak mau beil kasut sekarang ! Lain kali sajalah!" Salmah tidak faham kenapa Liza tiba-tiba saja tukar fikiran sedangkan sebelum ini Liza amat gembira berjalan dengan Salmah menuju ke Bintang Mall. Salmah cuba pujuk Liza, menunjuk pada kasut-kasut yang sesuai untuk Liza tetapi nyata, kalau kasut yang paling cantik dan sesuai ditunjuk kepada Liza, Liza tidak mahu mencuba kasut itu, pandang pun Liza tak mahu!
Semasa makan tengah hari, Salmah ajak Liza makan di kedai Sugar Bun tetapi Liza tidak ada selera nak makan, dan masih kelihatan murung. Salmah memujuk Liza anak remajanya dengan menyuapkan makanan kemulut anak bongsunya yang manja dan Liza pun memakan apa yang disuapkan. Sambil makan Salmah cuba memahami kenapa Liza telah bagaikan kilat menukar dari riang menjadi murung! Kenapa nak? Liza tak boleh layan perasaan sebegini. Bila Liza buat takder mood, Mama pun jadi tak ceria, Mama pun rasa bad mood!" Liza jangan terlalu layan bad mood macam ni." Ujar Salmah. Salmah terfikir satu sebab yang mungkin menyebabkan mood Liza berubah." Liza, tempat ni takder kelas kan?" Cepat Liza menjawab" Ye lah Mama, macam Plaza Hang Tuah! Kodi!"" OK Laa Liza, nanti Mama bawa shopping di KLCC, baru lah ada kelas! Mama lupa anak mama tak macam Mama yang suka shopping kat kedai kampung!" Tapi Liza tau tak, kasut kat kedai tadi ok juga, serupa macam dekat KLCC, cuma murah sikit sebab sewa kedainya murah! Tapi sebab Liza tak suka kedai sini, kalau kasut paling sesuai pun Liza dah tutupkan mata dan hati Liza untuk menerimanya!"

Apa yang telah mengubah persaan Liza dari ceria menjadi murung, dari mahukan sepasang kasut kepada tak mahu?Liza mempunyai sebuah tangapan dan impian tentang kasut yang dikehendakinya. Kasut yang dikehendaki berada di kedai yang ada kelas, dan oleh kerana tempatnya ada kelas maka kasutnya pun ada kelas! Ini menunjukkan Liza seorang yang ada kelas! Tanggapan Liza telah menutupkan mata Liza dari menilai mutu dan kesesuaian kasut yang ada di kedai yang kurang menepati tanggapan Liza sebagai kedai yang sesuai baginya!


Semasa saya masih kecil , saya telah meminta ayah belikan sebuah kerusi dan meja untuk saya yang comel dan sesuai untuk saya, kerusi dan meja rotan yang saya inginkan serupa dengan kerusi meja jiran saya! Saya telah bermimpikan memilikki kerusi dan meja ini berhari-hari lamanya setelah ayah berjanji akan mendapatkannya untuk saya. Pada hari jadi saya, ayah membawa saya kebilik mainan dan ditengah bilik mainan ada sebuah meja bulat, dari kayu dengan empat kerusi comel untuk saya dan kawan-kawan saya! Alangkah sedihnya ayah bila saya menjerit-jerit marah sebab saya tidak mahu meja sebegini dan mahukan meja rotan dan kerusi rotan sama seperti meja jiran. Hilang rasa riang saya, hancur hati ayah dan ibu, hari yang bahagia menjadi hari yang sedih bagi kami sekeluarga , semata mata, apa yang dibelikan bukan seperti yang saya inginkan , walaupun sebenarnya ia lebih baik dari apa yang saya inginkan!

Apa yang mengubah perasaan dan suasana keluarga saya dan apa kesamaan dengan situasi Liza dan Salmah?.Ianya adalah harapan dan ekspektasi Liza terhadap kedai kasut dan harapan dan ekspektasi saya terhadap meja yang di ingini! Harapan dan ekspektasi kita terhadap sesuatu adalah yang akan menyebabkan perasaan kita boleh berubah dengan sekelip mata dan juga harapan dan ekspektasi kita akan menyebakan kita tidak dapat meniliai sesuatu dengan nilai yang sebenar! Liza tidak dapat menilaikian mutu dan kesuaianan kasut yang berada di kedai yang tidak dia sukai, dan saya tidak dapat menilai mutu dan kecantikkan meja dan kerusi yang ayah belikan sebab ia tidak sama seperti apa yang saya sudah bayangkan!

Begitulah seterusnya dengan setiap yang berlaku pada kita, mahligai indah yang kita impikan tidak secantik rumah yang kita mampu, namun rumah inilah yang boleh bahagiakan kita jika kita dapan menghargainya! Pasangan kita tidak sekacak yang di idamkan sehingga hati budi nya tidak kita nampak! Lapuran sekolah anak kita dengan tiada satu tanda merah tidak kita sukai sebab bilangan nya kurang dari yang kita harapkan. Maka hampalah anak yang telah cuba sedaya upaya dengan segala usahanya untuk berjaya! Dab begitulah seterusnya, kita lupa untuk bersukur limpah kurnia yang Maha Esa sebab idamkan dan inginkan dan harapkan yang lain dari yang diterimana.

Alangkah bahagianya seorang Hamba Allah yang tidak mempunyai harapan tetapi mensyukuri setiap yang diterima sebagai anugerah Allah yang Maha Agung, dan sentiasa melihat dan menilai setiap sesuatu bukan dari kacamata harapan dan ekspektasi tetapi dari nilainya nya yang sebenar??

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Standing Ovation




Standing Ovation! That was the name of the double hibiscus that I first met in a dream! I searched the internet for a hibiscus that resembled the one I now have in my garden and found one with this name!This hibiscus was what I wrote about when I applied to undergo this course in ecopsychology.

I wrote:

It seems to me that my finding this course on the internet when I was searching for ways to deepen my understanding of human nature was a step in a series of steps that I had taken and continue to take in my life's unfoldment. Connecting with nature by observing and reflecting on what attracts one , as described in a description of the activities in the orientation course is something that I have recently found myself doing already. It seems natural to continue in a more guided fashion. I had a dream a couple of months ago of a beautful pinkish hued flower that had very many petals and I had gone searching for this flower. I instinctively knew it to be a hibiscus and I finally found one of the same colour. The flower was not opened, I only saw buds but I bought the plant and planted it in my garden by my front gate. I glanced at it each day and only saw buds and sometimes I would see the wilted flower and it seemed to me I kept missing the flower in full bloom due to my busy rushing back and forth to work and back .Then one day I saw the flower in full bloom. It was a double hibiscus , only it is not two flowers but 5 flowers with 5 stamens and each stamen was surrounded by a whirl of petals. I realised at once it was the flower of my dream. The flower gave me joy and beauty and , I also discovered in the following days a sense of balance that had eluded me before What else could deepen my experience and my realisations?I was searching for something on the net and then I found the ecopsychology website. I read in the ecopsychology website:"Nature connected learning in support of the United Nations manifesto for environmentally sound personal growth and social justice: the practical application of biophilia and ecology of mind. "

It was for me a course that was also in line with my Islamic teachings.

"Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the night and day are signs for the people who are Al Bab, ie those who think!!" ( This is at the end of Surah Annissa)

Looking at nature is a form of remembering Allah , a zikrullah!

When doing assignment 7 I had to fill in the blanks after finding something I was attracted to in nature.

I love this............................because.................................................................................

And I wrote: I love this peach coloured double hibiscus with its 5 flowerets because it is beautiful and it's 5 flowerets are so balanced and equal showing it to be whole abd balanced in all aspects .



The 5 aspects of life that I see are spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical and social which encompasses relationships! For this reason I was so much attracted to this flower with its 5 flowerets! What was more amazing for me was that last Sunday I went to Dr Harlina's house for the first time and there to greet me in her garden was this lovely double hibiscus again, only this one was the deepest red while mine was a delicate pinkish peach! I again counted the flowerets 1,2,3, 4, 5! Beautiful, so perfect, so balanced!

So now I did the next part of the exercise, part 2;

And the instructions were:

Instructions:

Place the phrase "I like (or love) myself because" in front of (2), the "because " clause of the sentence that you just wrote in SECTION 1.

I like (or love) myself (myself is substituted for the part 1 attraction) because (2)___________________________Now read the sentence including the new prefix: "I like (or love) myself because"____________(2) aloud. Read it to others, if possible.


And this is how it read:

I love myself because I am beautiful, the 5 aspects of my being are so balanced and equal showing me to be whole and balanced in all !

Goodness me! Now how could that be? I am balanced ? Am I really? Yet I had to read this to myself. As I read this, I reflected more and more the reason why I loved that flower and went searching for it after seeing it unfold in my dreams, even before I knew how perfectly beautiful and balanced this hibsicus is! What began to dawn on me was that what I saw in the hibsicus is a potential within myself, to develope myself and flower fully as perfctly as this hibsicus!

Next I had to do 12 interact catalysts and I will not relate the details here except to jump to the significant incidences that happened to me and that dawned on me later in the day and the next day. What amazed me was that I started on the assignment before travelling to KL for my meeting, getting a lift from my dear husband, boarding a bus, jumping on STAR, switching to PUTRA and meeting Kak Endok who then took me to Dr Harlina's only to be greeted by another perfect double hibiscus with its 5 flowerets!

So here are some of the 12 interact catalysts that may be relevent:.

2) the three most important things you learned from the chapter and webstring connections are:

I learnt that we reflect what we see. We mirror that which is in nature, when we lose our webstring connections with nature it is like losing a sense organ.

4) whether or not the activity enhanced your sense of self-worth and your trustfulness of nature;


Yes it most certainly enhanced my self worth by recognising in me the balance and beauty that is in the hibisucs.

5) the part of you, if any, the activity identified or re-educated inside or outside of you;

This activity re educated the part in me that knows that what I recognise in others is what is within myself.
9) Write one or more complete, single, short, power sentence "quotes" that convey a significant contribution that this assignment makes to improving our relationships.
I feel more sensitive to others today since doing this assignment because when I see others as mirrors and reflections of my own self., knowing how like a delicate flower , I thrive on love and care and shrink with harshness, I have treated others like I would treat the delicate flower that I am.

11) Conclude by identifying what things you have put into the trustable, uncontaminated, thought and feeling room/space you built into your psyche during Part/Chapter One. The use of these eleven Interact Catalysts will enhance your learning experience and that of the others in the course as well.


I have put into the trustable uncontaminated thought and feeling room/space that I have built into my psyche a conscioussness that is beyond my small self.


I am sharing this realization with you, my beloved larger family, may our gentle and loving ways out number our moments of thoughtless harshness..
Saadi said, it is easier to be a thorn , wounding others while not feeling hurt, but be a rose anyway or in this case,
Be a hibiscus.....

My dear Peachy Pink hibsicus, I give thee a Standing Ovation!!!

Monday, December 19, 2005

Slavery

Sume has written about modern day slavery here.

Indeed I have often thought we are all slaves in one way or another. What has changed since Voltaire proclaimed man is born free but everywhere he is found in chains.
Inspired by what Sume wrote , I wrote this..needs improving but maybe DITH or some other gifted person can help me out with it.

I keep saying it I know, that making things right is the responsibiliy not of the helpless but of those who have the advantages and priveleges and therefore the means to be empowered to set things right.
I will tell you about a game we did while doing the Rights At Home training in Lebanon.
We did not know it was a game of course , we thought we were doing some reporting .
The organizers dividied us into 4 groups .
One group was treated very well, they were given chairs and tables, and served food and drink and they ended up not doing much work but demanding more and more things.
The next group was treated well but not as well as the first group and they were looking at the first group and asking why weren't they given the same treatment but since they were treated quite well they did their work , stealing a glance now and then at the well to do group. The 3 rd group was mixed , some were given chairs and others had to stand . None of those in the chairs offered their chairs to those standing and those standing started to demand better treatment but were told to do as they were told.
I was in the last and least priveleged group. We were standing, and we were not given any paper and whenever we wanted to speak our minds our *facilitators* refused to listen to us.
I was really fed up with it and was at the back , and we at the back started a clapping campaign, we started shouting , we want our rights,and soon all the least priveleged were shouting and clapping in rythm , we want our rights. Then the less priveleged groups started to join us starting from the ones standing in the less priveleged group and of course the most priveleged group just watched in disdain surprised at our demands.

Well yes, it was just a game but, there we were , mostly activiists acting like most people.
As the Malay saying goes
Gendang Gendut
tali kecapi
Kenyang perut
Suka Hati

And here is my poem on

Modern Day Slavery

My body you may imprision
And claim control over
But you cannot have my reason
My mind you cannot buy over!

Bilal, Ammar, slaves you were
Yet free
But now what have we here?
Slaves who think they are free!


The worker in the factory
Exploited underpaid
Working for someone's glory
No future ahead

Cheap labour ,
Slave labour
For capitalist's gain
for ladies' vain

People whose minds are enslaved
And made to think they are free
Whose paths in life are paved
No choices for them, really!

For long since past ,their lives were bought
No permission sought
No means to ends
No chance to mend

Unless you and me dare
To break the chains
And all who care
Make peace and justice rule again

Friend, are you tired of my serious posts?
My gloom my doom ?
Go then my friend go eat your pot roast
One day this ease may go Boom

For our ease my friend is like the ship with two floors
And the down below thirsty
A hole may soon bore
And soon there is no need to be witty...

DITH's addition:(which I have edited a bit for brevity , which I like)

Materialism,
Money and more money,
Fame and more fame,
Power and more power,
Name and positions,

That's why we have people who are:

So engrossed in the material world that they've lost all humbleness,
So hard-up for money, they're wearing dollar signs as contact lenses,
They'd forgo their comfort to seek fame but alas, fame wrecks them to death!
The yearning for power overwhelms all else, killing the innocents is like exterminating ants!
Wanting names and positions that you 'd ass-lick people of high-places
(and then back-bite them behind their backs!)




Thursday, December 15, 2005

Street Kids




Yes they do not look like street kids, because they have been taken in fed, clothed educated and rehabilitated.
Hearing them sing about Mama was heart breaking. Many of us broke into tears, even the men.







This is old stuff but it apparently has not seen the light of day ( which means it had not been blogged by me)

The Children Nobody Wanted

What I remember most about her are her eyes. Large dark brown eyes in the sweetest face I could ever imagine. She was all of four years old. Father John held her in his arms as he told her story.
Some few months ago this child was found in the streets of Lebanon with her two younger siblings.In her three and something years, she had been thrown out into the streets with her two younger siblings. She cared for them for some days before being rescued and sent to this home . She had kept herself and her siblings alive by feeding them and herself with water from the drains.
She and her siblings suffered from a severe gastroenteritis but they lived , and her she was, with her large brown eyes and curly black hair tied back from her face by a pretty ribbon and her clean chubby body in a pretty dress.Who could have done this, who could have thrown out this little girl and her baby sister and brother? They investigated and this is what they found:
A desperate mother whose husband was imprisoned, who had no means to feed them and herself and in her lack of resources, and in her lack of humanity for having to live a life less than human , had deemed it necessary to throw out her children in order to survive in a land where she was herself not a citizen and had no rights....
More and more people are becoming stateless, landless,jobless..through no fault of their own except for being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Can you then look at a human being who is without his/her humanity and then blame them for being so, for not having a humanity because they have had very little human rights?
I know you can still blame them.
I know you can still blame them for being crooks and desperados who beat and rape and plunder and bring into this world more inhuman human beings, creatures with no rights, creatures thrown into streets, exploited and made use of, growing up to be replicas of their parents.
What do we do about this flotsam and jetsam , this scum of the humankind?
The Evangelical Society of Lebanon decided to pick them up and house them, cloth them, feed them, educate them, rehabilitate them...rehabilitate little children some of whom had become sex addicts, drug addicts, thieves and thugs, some as young as three years old.
They had a clinical psychologist to help them deal with their traumas, a lawyer who looked into their cases..in Lebanon Street children are deemed to be criminals by law...yes ,this little kids had police case files. ..Other staff included cooks and teachers and caregivers. Some were employed, some were carefully picked volunteers who loved children and could deal with them with love and patience.
It cost a lot of money, a whole lot of money which was not forthcoming from the Government and was not even chanelled to them from foreign NGOs because it was policy in Lebanon that non citizens could not receive the foreign funds meant to help them.The huge dilapidated multistory building that housed this children's home was built on the side of the hill.It was comfortable, cheerful ,clean but shabby with its paint peeling and its furniture needing repair.
How did this group manage.? Father John said, only by a miracle and a prayer did they manage all they had done.
They had room for only 100 children .
Most of the children were Muslim and some of their origins were only known by the way they looked, the dialect they spoke and their names.
We looked into the classroom of the four year old boys and girls, in their standard blue teeshirts and pants. Teacher asked if they would sing for us. They were happy to do so! Teacher took them to the hall where they sat in a small group, huddled like little kittens and then proceeded to sing a song about Mama. A song of praise to Mama..What Mama I thought? Yet the love and longing for Mama rang through their sweet children's voices, straight to my heart, piercing my heart, breaking it to pieces until I had to turn my face away, contorted in grief,a grief I must not show to these motherless children.

You want to know about their religion?
They were not converted, religion was not taught to them, what was taught was universal human ethics but those who requested to learn about their own religions were given the means to do so. They were given their prayer clothes and their access to the mosque.
Father John said, it is not meant that their freedom of religion is to be taken away from them.

Why are there kids out on the streets parentless in our society ?I saw them in Lebanon, in Cape Town and in Bombay. Here ? I am not so sure , they are not as visible.Here I am reflecting on the Lebanese kids I saw.
Street children are present in every society. In some worse that others.They are symptoms of the inhumanity of humanity where poverty becomes depravity. The Prophet SAW used to pray, Lord, protect me from the poverty that leads astray. That desperation that makes one less than human, that desperation that depraves.
War! In 1976 Lebanon was a beautiful and rich place. The Switzerland of the Middle East. Banking was Lebanon's chief industry. Up until today rich Lebanese are all over the world. If there is one thing I learned, it is that there are more Lebanese living in Brazil than there are in Lebanon.More thant 10 milliion Lebanese are in Canada, Brazil and Australia and, only 3 million are in Lebanon!
They ran away, they left Lebanon because of civil war after civil war! Why ? Simply because of a difference in religion. Then indeed, with neighbours like Syria and Israel, ready to interfer with Lebanese politics , it was a troubled area right up till 1089 or even up to 1990. You can see the scars of these wars in the city of Beirut and in the Lebanese psyche, and you can also see the Palestinian people, some still living in the refugee camps , in Shabra and Shatilla.

Poor people, people without rights nor citizenship, without rights to school, to jobs, not even rights to human dignity.They are exempt from tax, fed and given free water and electricity at the expence of Lebanese tax payers burdened by a war torn economy. Poor people, some of whom have lost their humanity and have become the scum of society, crooks , criminals, rapists and even worst!
They are hated by most Lebanese for good reason , some of the civil wars started with them!
If we want to play the blame game we can go on and on and it reminds me of the chilldhood song I used to sing, Oh Katak Oh Katak....
So you are think perhaps those who took them in have bad intentions? I do not have that thought. I think they mean well , as best as they understand it.
Why do we like to see bad intentions behind good acts? Who gives us the right? Intentions are hidden deep within our hearts.
They are not for anyone to know, sometimes intentions hide themselves even from the doer and only God knows.
When I do inquiry and examine my heart, I sometimes realise my intentions and the intentions within the intentions. Even within my own self I have to dig and dig and dig to find the intention...and it is by intention that God judges our deeds, God judges, but it is not one person judging another!
Is one person responsible for the deeds of their forefathers? Is it then in our collective psyche that we plant prejudice of one race against another? Do we look upon people and see their race, their religion and we forget who they are and what they are, fellow humans , humans that God in his Mercy has honoured..Laqad Karamna Bani Adam....we have honoured the tribe of Adam....
Ina Akramakum indallahi At Qa kum,,,,The most honorable among you in God;s sight is the most Godfearing, the one who does not judge others, who is too busy doing good deeds for God ;s sake...
Spend more time my friends following the examples of those who do good and understand that they reflect the true Muslim even if they call themselves by a a name other than Islam.
Do not seek the intentions of others but seek instead your intentions,
Look at another as God's children , to help , to protect , to honor and to befriend.
Understand what evil you see is only what is also found in your own self for this is what is taught us, that we are mirrors of each other.
Nurelhuda
Lebanon Diary July 2004

Thursday, December 08, 2005

I see you die slowly




You are dying slowly

I see you die gently
Dying from wounds invisible
Wounds inevitable
Onslaught upon onslaught
Attacks on your will,on your thoughts
On your very person
One you are not allowed to be
You wonder the reason
Why cannot I be me?
Why must I be as you please?
Why must you I appease?
I am tired of asking why
It is better I die
So I see you my friend die, slowly
Without a fight.... gently....

Nurelhuda

Dedicated to my friends either dead or dying who believe their task in life is to please another and be slave to another

And the days after...



I knew things would never be the same and they were not the same! When we realise more , we tend to see things in a different light and , I saw things differently.
It was the homeopathy seminar and the coaching workshop . These opened the eye of discernment .
I often became upset because I was stuck in my chair seeing cough and cold cases but these past few days , since last Friday have been interesting. The routine of General Practice did not seem so routine at all. Indeed it can be very interesting sometimes but now there was an added ingredient that helped even the most routine of cases become interesting.
What made the difference was my degree of interest in the people who came. I looked more, I saw more , I felt more , I was present more. I explained more and enjoyed myself more.
There was the girl who complained of having an itch in her nether parts once too often. I went into a detailed discussion of the flora and fauna of the bowels and what made the candida increase in population until it spread to the 'parts'.I explained to her how to help herself not get this infection with its bothersome itch but I did it in a way to help her realise the education I was giving her was for her long term benefit. Not that I had not done it before , but this time it felt different because I was aware of the coaching I was doing , life coaching.
There was the boy who was on holiday with his parents . He came in with a asthma attack and was put on the nebulizer. After this he complained of being dizzy and I made him a glass of warm milk after asking him if he tolerated milk. A talk with his dad revealed he has phobias and also had epileptic fits! I explained how homeopathy could help in such a case, going through what homeopathy is, just like Alastair said to do when he was teaching us how to communicate with men.Talk to them in terms of electricity and wiring, that will help them understand Alastair had taught us. I itched to treat the boy , knowing well that the case would yield to treatment quite well since there was a definite cause to his phobia but I restrained myself , telling the father to make an appointment so that I could take a full case and treat him systematically. I am giving myself a pat on the back for the restraint I had. I learned this in coaching class too. Be patient , practice patience ..
Today I have a bit of a cold and a slight fever , it has been there since yesterday afternoon. I know it is a virus I caught from one of my patients. These things happen once in a while when my resistence is down like it must be after my hectic week! Luckily my down time was when I was at home yesterday evening. I woke up this morning feeling much better and only slightly shaky.
I had a patient today who was extremely upset with my locum Dr who had told her in no uncertain terms that she was Not pregnant. She is 53 years old and had recently married a man of 34 . She came back to see me and insisted on repeating the pregnancy test. Of course it was negative . Seems to me she was having a pseudo pregnancy and was convinced we doctors had a plot against her but I hope she trusted me enough to believe me. I remember cases like this from my past but this is the first time I come across a premenopausal woman having this symptom!She even said she feels a movement in her tummy!
There is one thing more: I bought a number of books from Popular bookstore during my sojourn in the capital city. Among them are Azizi Ali's Millionare chronicles. One of the essays he wrote had this important advice. When asked , what to invest in he had replied. "Invest in yourself" Indeed, that is what I do, invest in myself. Attend courses , get educated , read books ..no one can take the education from you and of course many of the seminars I attend say, nobody goes home from a seminar without learning something, even if that something is that they fall asleep at seminars!
Another very good book is thinking smart by Khaw Choon Ean which discusses the Theory of Constraints.
Note that both books are by Malaysians. Yes indeed, after looking West , looking North , looking South, I find the answers under my nose in the form of quality writers and beautiful people like Tg Dr Jahid. and the rest of the BSC people and of course you my lovely fellow bloggers!

Friday, December 02, 2005

The past one week


Coaching notes
Hazizan coaching Wendy
Micheal coaching us

Above, Bicarasufi friends below, Amanda my massage therapist

Alastair's book
Alastair

Dr Jahid

Life will never be the same again. Things will never look the same nor feel the same. This one week is like a lifetime.
I had a call on Thursday morning from a doctor friend. She asked me to contact a friend of a friend whose daughter had just taken 25 panadols and was now very ill in ICU at Selayang hospital. She had been sent from another hospital after she bled from the orifices ..a sure sign of DIVC. In fact, her organs were in falure already when they decided to transfer her and she was in coma.I was supposed to fetch Al from the airport at 12 that night but changed my plans. Shoved my clothes into my bag, and grabbed hubby and took off to Selayang Hospital. I saw H lying so still and so cold in ICU , checked my bag for the remedy I had made, that had saved the life of a very close relative who had taken close to 50 tabs only to find it missing from my bag. My maid had taken out the botol of remedy and it was now on my table at home! Sadly I told the mum I would make some more and have it sent in the morning. I got a call in the morning from another friend. No need to make the remedy. I was a bit surprised but not for long. She seemed to have stablised , the BP and pulse were steady, no bleeding when I saw her but, in the morning, she started to bleed again and then she died at 6.30. I felt so shattered, she was only 20 years old and had been fasting the whole week before . She was in the midst of exams and had been a little bit down because she felt she did not do too well. We will not know what really happened. When her mum went to see her, she was studying in another state, she was already in coma. We do not know why she took the panadols but I feel sure she did not intend to kill herself ..but she died anyway. It happens so often. I had a patient who swallowed 20 panadols after her lecturer tore up her project which she had slaved over for months, spending money she could barely afford. I had packed her off to the hospital where she slowly slid into a coma but she recovered, with a bad liver and bad gastritis and I had helped her back to health , scolding her and cajoling her, giving her a piece of my mind sometimes and sometimes just listening to her woes until she regarded me as her second Mum. She has finished her studies and is married and so I will be getting not one grandchild soon but two. One from my daughter and another from my "adopted" daughter.

Then we had gone to fetch Alastair at the airport and the next day was the seminar. It was very good. I told Al he had grown in his ablitiy to teach since I last saw him. He had written a book about the experiments he did for several remedies , we call them provings and I was impressed with the systematic way he had done it. A far cry from the earlier provings bythe earlier homeopaths, and even by Hahnemann himself. Of course we have more tools at our disposal now.I did not know how much he appreciated my friendship until he had asked me to write something for him to place on the back cover. I wrote what I felt was real:
"What has always impressed me about Alastair is his dedication and commitment to excellence. His teaching has never been less than magnetic . I have seen Alastair at work and at play. When he does something, he does it with his whole presence and that is the quality that you will find in his provings."

There it was on the back cover!

On Saturday , regretfully I had to leave the seminar for a few hours to attend a gathering of my sufi online friends from Bicarasufi.com.I was on the organising committee. Luckily the place I had booked was within walking distance from Hotel City Villa and I did have a lovely time listening to Dr Jahid and I was delighted to meet friends whom I had never met before. Dr Jahid's short speech penetrated my heart and my sadr ( chest) ..the words so clear , ringing so true. Until today I can still feel the impact on my chest. It still feels kind of full which is one reason I say I will never be the same again. We plan to have more meetings and perhaps the next thing we will organise is forums.
I spent Sunday afternoon bringing Al to Low Yatt to buy some *toys* he wanted. Being the yuppy that he is, he loves all the electronic toys ..he was almost drooling. Al left early Monday morning . Alias took him to the airport.
Monday was an off day for me. I had arranged to get a deep tissue massage with Amanda who has a lovely place in Bangsar she calls the Wellness Place. Amanda had attended the Homeopathy workshop and she came to fetch me from the LRT station , gave me a wonderful massage and sent me back. She does very good work indeed!

On Tuesday was the start of my coaching workshop with Micheal Heah. There were 14 of us there and most of them highpowered people in the business industry. To my surprise I found that I knew a lot more about coaching than I would have thought I did and I also discovered where I need to improve. It was a mind opening 3 days. I am just thinking that I have to be careful or I will find myself in coaching mode with my friends who will then run away because I ask such penetrating questions that make them uncomfortable and have to seek answers!

A whole lot of other things were happening with family and other friends at this time. It had been a real upheaval time.
Of all times a friend chose to develope acute pulmonary embolism and have a manic depressive behaviour disorder , she had to have it during the week I was away. And a frantic other friend could not reach me to go with her to the hospital...
My hubby was transferred back to Melaka because his eyes were not yet fully recovered and he needed a less demanding job for the mean time. It was traumatic for him even though it was for the greatest good.

And so on and so forth. I guess I did not convey my emotions through all of this but perhaps they come through anyway and maybe these pictures will help you get the suasana!

Postscript:
After writing this I realised there may be parts which may be misconstrued. I realise I am not as involved in people as I sound...
I am starting to notice the changes in me. I explain more about what I do since I know people would not know unless I explained to them what I do.So the coaching is helping me to understand marketing and networking.

I'm Back !!!

It has been a long week! I am finally back in my clinic and seeing patients!
More later!