Family, Parenting, Personal Development

Learning From The Little Ones: Daily Lessons In Perseverance

Just like so many others around me, I have been struggling with my relationship with mistakes (as reflected in this, this, and this post).  The beacons lighting the way to a better me become major obstacles to my development when they are seen as negative feedback. Taking the time to observe a baby at play… Read More Learning From The Little Ones: Daily Lessons In Perseverance

Community, Community Building, Community Development, Personal Development

Coffee: From Crutch to Companion

As my Instagram feed can testify, I love me a good cup of coffee.  I think that there is a great culture around coffee, such as the Swedish fika or the tendency for college students to get together in coffee shops.  I have made friends with not just the staff at Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue’s TWIGS café, but… Read More Coffee: From Crutch to Companion

Personal Development

Leggo’ Of Your Ego: The Difference between Perfectionism and Excellence

Throughout most of my life (or at least, as far as I can remember), I have been surrounded by people who are never content with what they have achieved; they always want to do a little more, and do it a little better. I have noticed two broad sub-categories amongst such people: those who take… Read More Leggo’ Of Your Ego: The Difference between Perfectionism and Excellence

Family, Marriage, Parenting, Personal Development

Parenting and Marital Happiness: Not Mutually Exclusive

I am a bit of a nerd, just in case you haven’t noticed yet.  I love reading studies and reflecting on the implications of the results found.  However, I also can be quite harsh when it comes to studies that demonstrate a combination of laxity in their data analysis and over-confidence in their interpretation. I… Read More Parenting and Marital Happiness: Not Mutually Exclusive

Blogging, Community, Community Building, Community Development, Family, Parenting, Personal Development

Why I Decided To Take Precious Time Away From My Baby To Start Blogging Again

My blogging journey—an incredible, fulfilling one that has given me so much—started almost nine and a half years ago right here in Sahar’s Blog.  I never intended to stop blogging—that is, until I had a baby. I had always intended to take a short hiatus when each of my children was born.  When my first… Read More Why I Decided To Take Precious Time Away From My Baby To Start Blogging Again

Community, Community Building, Community Development, Friendship, Personal Development

How to Make the Time to Nurture Deep Friendships while Having the Time to get to Know All Community Members: Some Thoughts

Just a couple of weeks ago, Bahá’í communities around the world elected their national administrative bodies in a unique electoral process.  One of its aspects is, as I personally understand it, that each elector has to make the effort to get to know all the members of one’s community. I also understand that to build… Read More How to Make the Time to Nurture Deep Friendships while Having the Time to get to Know All Community Members: Some Thoughts

Community, Community Building, Community Development, Personal Development

The Insistent Self: Dealing with Desire For Success

The way the conversation around success seems to be going, it remains a broad, complex, and subjective concept.  For example, I can define success as something you will consider completely unimportant. But even if we don’t agree with a certain definition of success, some of them still generate in us behaviours indicating that we just… Read More The Insistent Self: Dealing with Desire For Success

Media, Personal Development

Is There Such a Thing as a Healthy Consumption of Unhealthy Media?

Up until really recently (like, last week), I thought that an audience can consume a lot of media without it having a negative effect on it, as long as members of said audience are media literate, take the time to reflect on the message actually contained in the media they are consuming, and analysing how… Read More Is There Such a Thing as a Healthy Consumption of Unhealthy Media?

Personal Development

It’s Quicker to Get to my Service Project with a Car that Works: Some Thoughts on Material and Spiritual Progress

The question of gender equality is a fascinating one, to say the least. I recently had a great chat on Facebook with one of my friends on the implications of the advice given in this post about men encouraging women’s quest to be modest in their dress to help decrease the level of objectification of… Read More It’s Quicker to Get to my Service Project with a Car that Works: Some Thoughts on Material and Spiritual Progress

Personal Development

Redefining our World, one (or two!) Word(s) at a time: Success and Winning

The concept of success is a curious one indeed. I recently ran into someone who asked me how my book was doing. I shared stories about a nine year old girl who found solace in my book because it reflected things she and her friends were going through; about a friend of mine who, after… Read More Redefining our World, one (or two!) Word(s) at a time: Success and Winning