Your feelings are your friends. Exploring holistic frameworks for graceful living. Writer, educator, UX designer, coach, startup mentor & course creator.
Feb 18, 2022 • 24 tweets • 4 min read
I just watched the full Zain ad. I'm not sure whether the people objecting to it have watched the ad or even know what they're objecting to.
Is it the short segment where women are doing yoga? Is that the part that's so offensive?
The objections to Muslims doing yoga in Kuwait has developed since its beginnings, when an MP was against a group of women going to the desert to do yoga.
I think the MP was against women doing things independently of men. I didn't quite get the objection.
Jan 15, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
When building systems, prioritize ones that help you:
1- Achieve top-of-mind goals
2- Overcome obstacles
3- Manage your Time, Energy, Attention, and Money
4- Deal with the urgent (and preferably avoid tasks from becoming urgent in the first place)
1- Top-of-mind goals
If you're building systems to deal with mundane tasks while neglecting your goals, you will likely not feel motivated to continue working on your systems.
You may even use your systems as a of of procrastinating on working on your goals!
Jan 13, 2022 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
When it comes to building systems to achieving any desired outcome, it's important to be clear on 6 fundamental details:
1- WHO will do the task 2- WHEN will the task be done 3- WHAT is the task 4- WHERE will it be done 5- HOW will it be done 6- WHY is it being done
The sequence of information is important here:
1- WHO will do the task is the first important piece of information, and it allows you to divide the tasks across the entire team. Every team member will be able to focus on their assigned tasks
Jan 8, 2022 • 21 tweets • 4 min read
An idea that's growing in popularity these days is that:
Systems > Goals
In this thread I'd like to show:
1- That goals are integral to systems
2- HOW to build simple, practical systems to help you streamline your life and work (without getting stuck in analysis paralysis)
But first: What does "Systems > Goals" even mean?
It means focusing on the INPUTS that lead to the OUTCOMES you want.
Focusing on your goals can be demoralizing. But a commitment to good practices will eventually lead to the results they help achieve.
Nov 2, 2021 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
One of the best ways to advance in EVERY area of life is to let go of your ego.
There are many misconceptions about what the ego is and many people struggle to grasp what it actually refers to.
I'd like to explain what the ego is and how to let it go...
Your ego (a.k.a. your self-image) is:
1- Your impression of who you are based on past experience
2- How others perceive you, which can also feed into your impression of who you are
It's an IMPRESSION, but we treat it as the truth. This leads to two destructive behaviors...
Aug 24, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
The vast majority of personal development content is counterproductive because it encourages us to look for answers "out there" (example: books you should be reading) when most people really need to return to themselves and find answers in themselves.
What do you really want to achieve?
What are you really struggling with?
How will you prioritize your own personal growth?
What do you already know that you can put to use?
What advice would you give to yourself, given the ambitions you have and the obstacles you're facing?
Jul 28, 2021 • 25 tweets • 5 min read
In the year before COVID I had a virtual assistant. It didn't work out the way I wanted it to, but I couldn't figure out why.
I've been thinking about Conor's thread since yesterday, and I think I figured out a better approach for ADHDers getting assistants...
With my assistant I personally felt too anxious about my interaction with her: I felt responsible for giving her guidance but I didn't have the breathing space to figure out what I wanted her to handle, and how.
I created a couple of SOPs for operations & email management.
Jul 2, 2021 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
There's a very common heuristic people use to filter out good advice from bad advice.
It seems incredibly reliable and hard to object to, but it's actually a false and often damaging heuristic.
What is it?
Taking advice from successful people.
Here's why it's a bad idea...
1- Many successful people are TERRIBLE at figuring out what made them successful, and so they attribute their success to the wrong things
Example: they succeeded because of hard work, when it was primarily just great timing.
May 8, 2021 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
I've been speaking about this a lot in the past 1.5 years, but I've never written a thread about it I can reference in my conversations.
So here it is: Why self-love is the most important starting point (and pursuit). 💙
And how I personally discovered this...
In late 2019 I was experiencing a dark period in my life.
Despite my obsession with self-help books for 10+ years, I had nothing to show for all my learning. What made it worse was that I was sharing ideas about how others can improve their lives, yet I was neglecting my own.
Jun 25, 2020 • 30 tweets • 6 min read
I recently read @RoamResearch's white paper, and there's a lot to be excited about. The paper itself touched on a few questions I've been obsessing over for 15-20 years.
In this thread I'd like to explore some of these themes/questions further.
Before going to university, I experienced an identity/existential crisis. Throughout my whole life, I was mostly interacting with Muslims (even in London), and I began to question whether my beliefs were universal truths or cultural defaults.
Jun 20, 2020 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
In the previous part of this thread (on interpreting Islam), I spoke about the intellectual and spiritual journey you're on and how it's deeply personal.
In this final part of this series I'd like to cover how you should engage with others.
There's a critical point to note...
You can only engage in a healthy way with others if you have a healthy relationship with yourself.
You can only be honest and kind with others to the extent you are honest and kind with yourself.
An unhealthy relationship with yourself will manifest in all relationships.
Jun 19, 2020 • 24 tweets • 5 min read
There's no escaping the fact that each one of us will interpret Islam on a personal level. It may not be accurate to say that our personal interpretation is yet another layer of filtering.
We are the melting pot for all the factors that come into interpreting Islam, & then some.
How you personally interpret Islam is not only a factor, but the ongoing practice. This can't be overlooked or denied.
Two siblings living in the exact same circumstances will interpret Islam in different ways. This isn't good or bad, it's a fact to accept.
Jun 18, 2020 • 32 tweets • 6 min read
So far in our look at the interpretation of Islam, we considered the factors necessary to a better understanding of Islam.
However, there are some factors that will inevitably shape our experience and understanding of Islam, even if it leads a false interpretation.
Many Muslims struggle to distinguish between Islam and the culture of their society. Conservatives are rarely invested in drawing a distinction because what they gravitate towards are old traditions, regardless of their origin.
They don't want things to change in society...
Jun 17, 2020 • 28 tweets • 5 min read
In my Twitter thread of threads on understanding Islam, I've so far covered the roles of the following factors in how we interpret Islam:
There's a common factor to them all: they rely on knowledge external to Islamic literature.
What does this mean?
Jun 16, 2020 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
One of the biggest factors in our understanding of Islam are the SCHOLARS we learn from.
The vast majority of Islamic literature is written by scholars attempting to understand The Koran and The Hadith. This is an added filter to our own understanding of Islam.
While scholars may be more learned than the average Muslim, this does not mean they're immune from making mistakes in their interpretation of both The Koran and The Hadith.
Using a lens doesn't mean you'll always see more clearly. The same with scholars.
Jun 15, 2020 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
"The Hadith" is interpreted by different sects in different ways, and there's a major dispute amongst the Muslim sects on what's considered authentic.
A few things to keep in mind:
1- The Shia consider the sayings of the Prophet AND the Imams as having equal validity
2- The Hadith, as I'm using it here, also encompasses the story of the Prophet's life (for the Shia, this would include the Imams' lives, too).
The accounts of the prophet's life is also referred to as Seera (السيرة)
3- There are several factors used to determine authenticity
Jun 15, 2020 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
4- The General (عام) and The Specific (خاص)
The previous point brings us to the necessary distinction between the general (or universal, or absolute) and the specific (or conditional): a ruling might be relevant only in certain circumstances, not all circumstances.
This helps explain verses revealed in times of war: there is an important context to consider to interpret the verses. We cannot assume the verses are absolute principles for all times and places.
More on "war-time" verses later...
Jun 15, 2020 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
Before exploring other factors, let's begin with the two primary sources of Islam: the vast majority of Muslims don't consider The Koran and The Hadith to be on equal footing.
The Koran is regarded as the primary reference and The Hadith as secondary elaboration to The Koran.
The vast majority of Muslims consider The Koran to be divinely preserved as-is, and it has not been tampered with since its revelation during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad.
As a book, it wasn't compiled until after the death of the Prophet, but it's considered sacred as it is
Jun 15, 2020 • 27 tweets • 5 min read
How Islam is interpreted is an important topic in today's world.
We constantly see non-Muslims pointing a finger at Muslim extremists and another finger at a Koranic verse and believe they've made an irrefutable connection between the two.
Let's explore this topic more deeply
My intention is to help both Muslims and non-Muslims appreciate the complexity that comes with interpreting Islam, but to also demystify the process.
Many years ago I asked a Muslim scholar how we can interpret the Koran. He said: The Islamic seminary teaches a 20-year course.
2- "I always make resolutions (but never keep them)"
In this thread I'll explain why resolutions commonly fail & share strategies that have served me well in the past...
I can't emphasize this enough: failure is an integral part of success.
Failures are stepping stones towards your goals, provided:
