Aiman Azlan's Blog

"Simplicity Parenting" by Kim John Payne Chapter One: Why Simplify? 1. Kids are geniuses when it comes to observation of patterns. They know, just from observing our behaviours as parents, what are the things that the family hold dear. They can figure out, by themselves, the family values and the priorities set by the parents, intentionally or unintentionally and they are very much affected by them. 2. Childhood takes time and it requires it. It is a phase of foundation building of the self. Patience and constant reminders of what should matter more are required from the parents. They set the pattern for the family and the pace with which the family moves. What the parents value most is reflected in their lifestyle and behaviours; children will be directly affected by this. The children feed off of their parents. 3. It is never too late to reset our priorities and to reestablish better family values for the kids to learn moving forward. Human beings, at all levels ...

Following my train of thought in my previous post entitled " Live Simply, So That Others May Simply Live ", I came to this question: "Is idealistic realistic?" Many of us, if not all of us, love idealistic rhetorics. We love hearing them, most probably because they give us a sense of hope. A sense of hope is good, but what happens when it crosses over into the territory of false hope? Perceiving our world right now as an idealistic world is like perceiving a different world; a world in which we didn't live in before, we are not living in now, and we won't live in the future. In any time and in any place, we are bound to see happenings, things, or people that are less than idealistic. We see imperfections and they don't please us. In the real world, imperfections exist in the very fabric of reality. Does that mean that we forget our idealism and accept all these imperfections? Yes, and no. We can't live with them and we can't live without ...

Change is inevitable, but there are things that stay the same. These constants are essential because they keep us grounded and they give us meaning to life. They give us a sense of purpose and a good reason to get up in the morning. Wisdom, justice, compassion, honesty, gratitude, patience, hope, courage, and happiness are just a few of many things in our lives that are evergreen. No matter what time we live in, where we live, and what culture we belong to, these things that what we hold dear to our hearts. These are universal values that keep humanity intact. Knowing that we have all of these in common might provide a sense of belonging. You and I are very much alike. We see each other in each other, and despite our differences, we are not that different after all. Having said that, these universal values can change, not in terms of what they are but in terms of how they manifest. For example, love. Love is a universal value that transcends time, place, and culture. However, we ...

There is a saying that goes something like this: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime". I try to incorporate this saying into how I help people. Whenever someone emails me or asks me a question directly, I refrain from giving a straightforward answer. I try to help the person finds the answer himself/herself. I try to encourage the person to think and to reflect upon his/her situation and optimizing the knowledge that person already has. Interestingly, in many cases, these people already know the answer. Perhaps they never understand the answer that they already know. Perhaps they only memorized the answer without giving it much thought as to how that knowledge can benefit them. Allah knows best. My aim in helping them is to try to make them independent; to be able to think for themselves and to not rely too much on spoon-fed, black-and-white answers. I don't want them to keep coming back to me (or to...