© 2016 Najwa Zebian
All Rights Reserved
Book Cover Design by Wajeha Chams
To the heart in you, don’t be afraid to feel.
To the sun in you, don’t be afraid to shine.
To the love in you, don’t be afraid to heal.
To the ocean in you, don’t be afraid to rage.
To the silence in you, don’t be afraid to break.
Contents
You Are the Sun
Power
Rest Your Heart
Think of Me, Too
Let the Mask Fall Off
Stay True to Yourself
Broken Wings
Be Sought
Respect Me
Be Considerate
Take Responsibility
An Ironic Reward for a Beautiful Heart
Feel Me
Lifelong Learning
Take the Lead
Change
Be Honest with Me
The Way They Treat You
Simplicity Is the Key
Reason
Priorities
Care for My Soul
Don't Be Shallow
Contentment
The Power of Silence
Philosophy of Life
Invest Your Feelings Wisely
Forgive and Forget
Be Content
Be True to Yourself
Over-Analyzing Kindness
The Vicious Cycle of Rudeness
A Heart That Cannot Feel
Pamper Your Wishes
Take Responsibility
Dream Wisely
A Dialogue with Myself
Happiness Is in Your Hands
Trust?
Where Am I?
A New Language
Baby Steps
Delusion
Wholeheartedness
Free
We Are in This Together
Through Their Eyes
The Journey
The Heart’s Aches
Happiness Perfected
Let Me Be Your Weakness
Too Proud
Questions Unanswered
Be a Treasure
It's Time to Change
Want Me
Lead Your Heart
Follow Your Soul
My Philosophy
Break Free from the Illusion of Power
Hollow Hopes
Common Sense?
Dreams Unfinished
No One’s Watching
An Enigmatic Feeling
Be the Master
Know Yourself
Don’t Make Me Wait
The Nature of Life
Blurry Lines
New Chances
Silver Lining
The Quest for Reasons
A Wish Come True
Life, Simplified
A Step Forward
Why I Believe
The Right Thing
The Power of Ownership
Will You Dare to Ask?
Don't Lose Track
Happiness Is at Your Fingertips
Sincerely, My Heart
Thoughts Unexpressed
Goodness Gone Wrong?
Be Sensitive
Let Go
Decide
Inspire
Transparent Heart
Intuition
Mature Decisions
Believe
What If
A Battle to Win
Contemplating Happiness
Listen to Your Heart
Disappointed
Between the Lines
Avoidance
The Language of Silence
The Rare You
The First Step
Ignite Change
A Serene State of Mind
Take That Step
Beyond What Your Eyes See
Dream
Write Your Happiness
Figuring You Out
Moments to Live for
What Would You Do?
In Case You've Ever Wondered
Take It or Leave It
Educate Me
Human Me
Read My Silence
I Deserve It
Never Doubt
Perspective
Time and You
Open Your Eyes
I Wonder
Your Life and Theirs
The Power of Words
Never Settle
Seal My Lips
Negative Intentions
Together
Wake Up to the Darkness
Sometimes
Know Yourself
The Other Side
Close Your Door
Unjustified Excuses
Past What You See
Lesson Learned
Take Care
That Path
Accept Yourself
It's You
The Little Things
Your Opinion of Me
No Time to Waste
My Butterfly
Choose Happiness
Imagine
Pure
Respect Me
Take Care of You
A Fateful Sky
The Stars Within
Smile
Reframe Gratitude
Open Your Eyes
Soul Food
Moonless Nights
Just a Moment
A New Look
Grow Stronger
A Little Wiser
All About You
Love
Goodness Is a Choice
Take a Step Back
Say Something
Unconditional Love?
Work Hard
How Dare You
Your Inner Beauty
Heal
Lost
A Castle of My Own
Make a Difference
Dream Your Journey Away
Age and Wisdom
Choose Beauty
A Taste of Your Own Medicine
Listen
Understand Me
The Best in Me
Doors Unlocked
Change
A Sunset You Dread
It's Not You
Clarity
Let Go
Choose
You Are the Sun
For them to see you shine, you must stay far away, for you are just like the sun; when you're too close, your light makes them blind. And when you're too far, they seek you. So let them seek you. They're getting your light regardless, but appreciating your presence is different from recognizing your existence. If they don't appreciate your presence, they may never even recognize your absence.
Power
Respect the freedom that you were born with but that you’ve denied yourself. Break free from the power that power has over you and believe in your own beliefs.
Rest Your Heart
Your heart is precious, so take care of it. It may be able to forgive unconditionally, but don't exhaust it by surrounding yourself with those who constantly do you wrong. It may have an infinite capacity for patience, but don't exhaust it by surrounding yourself with those who don't value your time.
Think of Me, Too
If you want me to listen to you, respect that I can hear. If you want me to speak to you, respect that I have a voice. If you want me to look at you, respect my ability to see. Do you know how to do that? Listen to me when I talk, talk to me when you hear me, and look at me when I look at you. Share me not only your sadness, but also your happiness. If I can bear hours of your sadness, believe me, it's because I would like to see days of your happiness. Depend on me if you respect that I am worthy of your trust. Open your heart to me if you respect that I am worthy of
your love.
Let the Mask Fall Off
I appreciate a genuine effort over a fake attempt to gain my trust. The clouds overtake the sky for a little while, but the sun always strikes through.
Stay True to Yourself
Don't worry about what people think of you or about the way they try to make you feel. If people want to see you as a good person, they will. If people want to see you as a bad person, absolutely nothing you do will stop them. Ironically, the more you try to show them your good intentions, the more reason you give them to knock you down. Keep your head up high and be confident in what you do. Be confident in your intentions and keep your eyes ahead instead of wasting your time on those who want to drag you back. Because you can't change people's views, you have to believe that true change for yourself comes from within you, not from anyone else.
Broken Wings
Don't break a bird's wings and then tell it to fly. Don't break a heart and then tell it to love. Don't break a soul and then tell it to be happy. Don't see the worst in a person and expect them to see the best in you. Don't judge people and expect them to stand by your side. Don't play with fire and expect to stay perfectly safe. Life is about giving and taking. You cannot expect to give bad and receive good. You cannot expect to give good and receive bad. Does it happen? Yes, but don't make that an excuse for you to keep doing what you know is wrong. Don't blame life for what you do. That is so selfish and ignorant on your behalf.
Be Sought
Whatever you do, do it with purpose. Being focused is not something to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of. When you know what you are doing and have a clear vision of where you are going, you will not need to chase opportunities. Opportunities will seek you. Happiness will chase you. And, instead of being a choice, you will be the one choosing.
Respect Me
Own my heart with your respect. Free me from your deceit. Captivate me with your honesty. Rid me of your uncertainty. Challenge me with your thoughts. Enslave me with your genuineness. Impress me with your spontaneity. Treat me right, and I will treat you better. Keep me away from what I don't deserve, and I will bring you closer to what you deserve. Respect me. Be honest with me. I will give you nothing but multiples of that in return.
Be Considerate
Be considerate of others before you expect them to be considerate of you. Don't freeze time and isolate events in the desire to give yourself the right to blame others for not treating you with whatever you define as right. In the grand scheme of things, it is probably your perception that needs to change. Think before you speak and reap what you sow. Don't ever seek refuge only in people, for if you do, they will fail you sooner or later. But if you seek refuge in and forgiveness from a power much greater than yourself, you will not be turned away, and your eyes will be opened to the right right.
Take Responsibility
Don't rely on others to make your life better. You may seem like a puzzle piece that fits nicely into their plans at one point, but what happens if they change their minds? So be it. You have a mind to lead you by logic and a heart to lead you by reason. You choose your fate by taking responsibility and by taking the lead in your life. Don't make yourself part of others' plans. Make your own plan and be part of it.
An Ironic Reward for a Beautiful Heart
Beautiful hearts are hard to find, and to reward them when we do find them, we convince ourselves that they're too good for us. What a reward. Instead of holding onto them, we pull ourselves away. We push them away. We forget that the beauty of their hearts comes from their ability to love and from their willingness to liberate those whose hearts have caged themselves in the past.
Feel Me
I can point you towards the sky, but I can't make you reach for the stars. I can show you the moon, but I can't make you feel its beauty or appreciate its light. I can show you the pathways that you can take, but I can't make you walk down them. I can extend my hand to help you, but I can't make you hold it back. I can tell you the truth, but I can't make you believe it. I can tell you how I feel, but I can't make you care.
Lifelong Learning
If you think that education only takes place in an institution, think again. As long as you breathe, your mind, your heart, and your soul are seeking knowledge, so respond to them and nurture their needs. Ask questions and keep your life dynamic. Knowledge is not necessarily confined to a specific subject area. Knowledge is what drives your life and makes it meaningful. So, unless the institution you're referring to is the institution of life, education does not confine itself to the limits of any institution. It extends its wings into every aspect of your life. So, what are you waiting for? Start flying.
Take the Lead
You choose how your life is going to be. Don't let anyone make decisions for you unless they've got your head on their neck and your heart in their chest. Be a leader. A leader of your own life. And don't get yourself to a point where you realize that you are on a road that is not your own. And, no, leadership does not mean that you have to be popular or have people following you. Being a leader is about leading your own mind's logic and leading your heart's reason. Be cognizant of the decisions that your mind and heart make, and your life will be much more meaningful and rewarding.
Change
You can draw a path for your life and have all of your goals set. You can change yourself as much as possible and change things around you just to reach those goals. Here’s the catch. Never underestimate the power of fate. It can knock down the highest of goals that seem guaranteed in your life. Plan, yes, and decide, yes, but be prepared for plans not to work. If they don’t work despite your hardest efforts, there must be a reason. You may not be able to see the reason at the time, but you will one day, maybe even years later. Did your efforts go to waste? If you don’t learn from them, then yes, they did go to waste. Even after changing yourself and your surroundings for the sake of reaching that one goal, you may realize that it was waiting for you at the place where you started, when you were the true you who did not need to change or be changed. Change for yourself, not just for a goal.
Be Honest with Me
Don't tell me what I want to hear. Tell me the truth. It may hurt, but it definitely won't hurt more than the feeling that I was told something out of pity, not out of honesty. If you mean it, say it. If you don't, keep your words until the right person is standing in front of you. If words are said too many times, they become cheap, and I only deserve to hear what is valuable.
The Way They Treat You
Have you ever been told to treat people the way they treat you? Well, don't do that. Treat them better than they treat you. If a person's bad action makes you do the same, how can you say that you are any better? If a person discourages you from doing your own good, encourage him or her to do what's for his or her own good. Remember, you don't have to listen to them, but you also don't have to answer them back in their own tone. If a person disrespects you, react to him or her with respect. Learn from the best. Don't compare yourself by looking down. Always look up to those who struggled yet still inspired their worst enemies.
Simplicity Is the Key
We often fail to see the beauty in the simplest things in life: a smile, a fresh breeze of air, a full moon, a sky full of stars, a simple act of kindness, an inspirational conversation, a childhood memory, a mother’s kiss. These are the things that make life beautiful because they will always be there as a reality or a living memory. These simple things do not have a price attached to them, unlike the things we strive for nowadays that we think will make us happy. When we fail to appreciate simplicity, we fail to see and appreciate the most beautiful and important things in our lives. When we fail to appreciate simplicity, we fail at being truly happy.
Reason
Why am I doing what I'm doing? Ask yourself this question when you want to do anything. Diamonds placed in the wrong setting are worth nothing, so if your time and energy are put towards no purpose, you're not moving anywhere. If you're
not working towards a real purpose of your own, then you probably are working towards the goal of someone else. Ask yourself, Why am I doing this? It's a simple question that can save you valuable time and effort. Don't make spontaneous decisions unless the why is spontaneously answered in your heart. The minute you spend to answer that why could save you years of purposeless waste of time.
Priorities
Hold on to those whom you love very tightly. Love them back, respect them, cherish every moment you spend with them, and make them smile. Do not let a stressful day get in the way of spending the right time the right way on the right people. It's a balance that you can and must strike to make every day worth living. Don't let the day come when you will regret not doing this. Life passes by as fast as the sun sets and as fast as the night turns into day. Don't let life pass you by. Fill it with the love that you have in your heart and it will bounce right back
Care for My Soul
Your soul communicates with the people around you. It sends out signals in different ways, through your eyes, the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you move your hands, even the way you sit. Some people will pick up on those signals and interpret your feelings based on them, or they will not notice any difference. If they do, then they've got the key to your heart. If they don't, then they have much to learn about you. If you can look into my eyes and understand how I feel, then you've got the key to my heart. If you can know that the slightest change in my voice means that I am happy, sad, frustrated, amazed, irritated, or tired, then you are close to me because you are close to my soul and you can understand the way that it is expressing itself. Your soul can communicate with mine, understand mine, and care for mine. Therefore, I will care for yours.