MINDFUL SENSORY AWARENESS; FOSTERING MINDFULNESS BY EMBRACING THE RICHNESS OF OUR SENSES IN DAILY EXPERIENCES

 Are we all living in the present or do we just pretend to be in the moment physically? The world has evolved completely in the past few decades and we all are now entrapped in the era of technology. In this fast–paced world, we can connect ourselves with anyone in just a few seconds, but at the same time, we can sense a kind of disconnection from the present moments. A person can be present physically but feel absent mentally or lost in his/her thoughts about something else. It is a common distraction we all can experience in our daily life, and our senses play a very crucial role in all this.

Senses are one of the most unvalued blessings, we never think for a minute about what happens if we can’t see this wonderful world full of colors. What will we feel if we can’t hear the beautiful voices of our loved ones, can we imagine not smelling the wonderful fragrances? We never thank Allah after tasting a variety of delicious food and yes! How easily do we forget the feeling of touch and sense if it is safe for us or not? These senses are the real blessing that enhances our lives in countless ways.

The sense of sight allows us to behold the breathtaking beauty of nature, marvel at artistic creations, and witness the vibrant tapestry of colors that surround us. From the glorious hues of a sunrise to the intricate details of a flower, our ability to see enables us to appreciate the world's visual splendor and find inspiration in the simplest of things. Similarly, listening to numerous wonderful voices, the aroma of that coffee has the ability to cherish memories and evoke a range of emotions. Taste, an exquisite sense, allows us to indulge in a world of flavors and delights. From the tangy zest of citrus fruits to the comforting sweetness of chocolate. Don’t forget the sense of touch that enables us to feel the gentle caress of a loved one, the softness of a pet's fur, or the warmth of the sun on our skin.

In a world full of these blessings, mindful sensory awareness is necessary. Mindful sensory awareness involves intentionally paying attention to the sensations we experience through our senses. When we engage in mindful sensory awareness, we learn to appreciate the beauty and depth of each sense. Through the practice of observing things, we train our minds to be fully present, allowing us to embrace the moments. It will help us to make ourselves more positive towards life and it helps to find peace, joy, gratitude, and happiness in the present moments.

When we engage our senses with mindful awareness, we turn ordinary moments into extraordinary experiences. So, let's start the journey of mindful sensory awareness by consciously engaging with our senses and immersing ourselves in the present moment.

Discipline - Key Element in Building Healthy Habits

 

Discipline is amongst the most important personality traits to build a person’s strong lifestyle. In this ever-evolving era, we all are in a continuous race of finding success whether it is in the form of peace, money, health, education, or anything else that lies in between personal and professional life. But is there any shortcut to reach the top? The answer is NO! We cannot reach anywhere before the right time and without the right planning.

 

People are unaware of the fact that without personal growth and discipline, one cannot manage to retain his or her professional growth. Discipline is the bridge between our aspirations and our accomplishments. It is the fuel that transforms dreams into reality and unlocks the full potential within us. We all dream about the fulfillment of our plans, and goals, and achieve what we think during different phases of our lives. A kid of today is different from the past because the world is changing every other day. They are growing in the era surrounded by technologies; the instant accessibility of entertainment and information poses challenges to maintaining discipline and focus.

It is important to maintain the balance between setting boundaries and allowing the children to explore the world. But is discipline only have significance in children's lives? No, it is essential in every phase of life and for every person. A life without discipline is just like a ship without radar, we cannot ignore the significance of being disciplined. Practicing self-discipline can boost your well-being and outcomes in different areas of your life, from relationships to health to your career. Discipline is a driving force that helps us to stay focused, and overcome the obstacles in our journey to personal and professional excellence.

By practicing the habit of discipline, one can achieve the long- term goals, a peaceful mind, improvement in physical and mental health, and ultimately a positive lifestyle. A disciplined approach to time management empowers us to prioritize tasks, eliminate unnecessary distractions, and make the most of each precious moment. Discipline cannot just affect our lives but also impacts the people present around us, because if we are positive then we try to create a positive environment around us. It is an essential attribute to shape our lives and enables us to reach our goals. In all different phases of life, discipline acts as a guiding principle, ensuring that we make conscious decisions aligned with our long-term goals and aspirations.

Discipline provides structure and motivation toward building a healthy lifestyle with balanced habits. We prioritize our well-being above everything and then we start working on ourselves first, as it acts as a foundation to set goals for a better life, for a healthier life. Discipline establishes a routine and then we stuck to it to achieve day-to-day goals. We all can practice this basic habit to observe the drastic changes in our lives. 

LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION - GENERATION Z

The year 2018 was marked as the cutoff point between the Millennials and Generation Z (Commonly known – as Gen Z). Anyone born after 1996 is a part of Gen Z, they are the first generation to be completely raised in the era of smartphones and social media. Over the past so many years, we thought that Millennials were obsessed with social networking sites but Gen Z took it to the extremely next level. This generation is highly obsessed with social media and spends more than four hours daily which is directly a waste of their precious time.

Generation Z has an obsession with more visual platforms and less messaging-oriented platforms. This generation thinks differently as compared to the other generations. Millennials came into the generation of internet explosions while Gen Z came not in the era of the internet but the fastest of all times. More than 50% of youngsters are highly influenced by the use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat.

Gen Z focuses more on what matters to them and what they can do or not, there is no in-between situation for them. Gen Z is skillful, creative, open-minded, multi-taskers, and curious but at the same time, they are over-thinkers, depressed, have the worst sleeping schedule, and can’t handle face-to-face interaction because they prefer to be behind the keyboard of their smartphone screens. But a variety of social networking sites provides them with a number of opportunities to communicate with new people all over the world whether we talk about Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. They have a unique skill to make a zone for what actually matters to them.

They are the powerhouses in their job places when it comes to remarkable management of day-to-day activities and they know exactly how to prioritize their duties. But in all goods, they are addicted to the use of technology and the excessive use of social media made them addicted to photographs, and videos and engages the audience with visual skills. Previous generations have their priorities more related to basic needs but today, Gen Z is more worried about how many likes, comments, and shares they get when they upload a photo, video, status, or anything else through their social media account. They believe the concept that social media has the power to make or break people with just one post.

But not every glitter is gold. Gen Z is more connected to the people on social media as compared to the ones living with them and this is damaging our family system. They know how to chat with an unknown person behind the screen but sometimes they don’t realize how badly they treat their parents, teachers, friends, and the close ones around them just to make their stance right.

Ending without discussing the trolling and frequent use of abusive words is not satisfying for me and the readers. We all have mobile phones, internet connections, and social networking sites but we have no right to use bad words about anyone’s personal or professional life. We are unaware of the fact that maybe someone is going through the worst part of their life or maybe it was his or her happiest moment and our single negative comment can ruin their whole event. Our young generation needs to understand the value of people’s personal boundaries. There should be a line of respect when you criticize them for anything. It’s better to say nothing if you don’t have a good thing to say. Give respect first to gain respect.

PAKISTAN - A BLESSED LAND

 

“Now or Never”, the first declaration of Pakistan was titled by this name in a pamphlet that was published by Choudhry Rehmat Ali in January 1933. It was a very powerful slogan that clearly gave the message of what Muslims of the sub-continent wanted and then the unbeatable struggle for a separate homeland established all over the world. 28^th January 1933, was quite a historic day even after seventy-five years of independence the people of Pakistan still remember all the struggles done by the brave leaders of history.

Pakistan was not given to Muslims of the sub-continent like a piece of cake it was a complete bloodshed separation history and the journey for a hardcore love for an independent homeland. It was history just to achieve a sovereign identity for Muslims which was nearly impossible in the sub-continent. On 14^th August 1947, the first country under the name of Islam came into being on the map of the world. The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the dream of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the vision of Quaid-e-Azam, and the revolutionary struggle of various Muslim leaders’ men and women, young blood, and even kids from every field of life. 

The word PAKISTAN was originated by Choudhry Rehmat Ali with the concept of “Land of the Paks” which indicates the spirituality and religious aspect behind the whole independence journey. It is both a Persian and an Urdu word and every letter of this word represents a unique meaning. Punjab, Afghania (North-West Frontier Province), Kashmir, Iran, Sindh (including Kachch and Kathiawar), Tukharistan, Afghanistan, and BaluchistaN. Pakistan in spite of all the political scenarios is still a very interesting and blessed country. Among the numerous facts, the first and most important is that Pakistan is the world’s first Islamic country to attain nuclear power. 

Pakistan has the largest canal-based irrigation system in the world but still, we have some serious issues of shortage of water. We all are aware of the Khewra salt mine which is the world’s largest and oldest salt mine in the world. According to the survey, the National anthem of Pakistan ranks among the top anthems all over the world. 

When we are talking about the wonderful facts about our homeland how can we forget the second most beautiful capital in the world that is Islamabad, Pakistan. And also, we know the importance of one minute when MM Alam shot five planes in less than one minute during the Indo-Pak 1965 war.

The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan is one of the world’s largest mosques. After all the amazing facts, it is not justified if we forget that our tea is always fantastic and our intelligence is also fantastic. Pakistan is completely rich when it comes to tourism and tourist destinations. The country has some highest mountains, lakes, oldest civilizations, valleys, historic places, and much more for all the tourists.

Pakistanis are one of the most hospitable nations across the world. Pakistan is a blessing for us and it is our responsibility to love and respect our homeland not because we have a green passport but because this land has given us the most important thing which is identity and freedom and this has to be above all as nothing feels safe in slavery.  

How are you - an unanswered question

How are you? I am fine. This is one of the most important and fundamental questions we ask many people we meet daily. We ask this question no matter what our relationship is with that person, and we usually get the same answer. But is it really as simple as we thought?

No, it is the most complicated statement, which hides tones of emotions, thousands of feelings, and several untold words. If people who are close to our hearts understand this, I am sure many of us will easily come out of the untold and hidden depression. We are all facing trauma Behind the hidden laughs, smiling faces, behind the screens, and even behind the social media memes.

We all have a lot of social media friends, real-life friends, colleagues, and several people around us, but we cannot open up in front of everyone. Sometimes we have to hide our real lives from the closest people just not to cause stress, or we can say that we don’t have the courage to explain what’s going on in our lives or what we are fighting with. It is critical to determine whether your family, friend, or anyone you are with is actually fine and doing well in his or her life, or if they are just pretending to be fine in front of you and everyone else.

This life is really unpredictable and we don't know what will be the last breath of anyone's life. It is better to ask them before they give up on it. It is a harsh reality of our society that we do care for the deceased but ignore the feelings of a living person. It's all about our priorities because we usually get busy in our daily routine and ignore our loved ones or take for granted the feelings they are indirectly sharing with us through quotes, memes, social media posts, or even with the change of their moods and behaviors. It should get attention, and we have to respect someone's feelings, whether they are happiness or sadness, irritation or joy. 

What we have to do in this regard is to pay attention to the people we love, care about, and all those with whom we are connected in any way. It takes no money to be kind to someone. It just takes some of your hours and sometimes some of your days, but you can save someone who is going through the worst situation in his or her life. We, as a society, have to be patient and kind to spread positivity in this negative environment, and we have to realize that social media trolling, personal attacks, and comments on someone's personal life can ruin their lives. Just for our seconds of fun and enjoyment, we are actually destroying our society and our generation. Be kind to yourself and give time to those who deserve your precious time. Change is necessary, but change from the inside is the main change that has the power to prevent our society from more damage. 

Luxurious life - A different story

We are living in an era where brands have become needed and a symbol of supremacy in society. We all want to have the best lifestyle and, for us, what is actually meant by the best lifestyle? As I have observed in recent years if we talk about the best lifestyle, it definitely starts with a big house instead of a happy home, a branded dress with too much arrogance inside, a car which should be more expensive than our neighbors, a high school or college in terms of speaking English instead of a quality standard education system, get together at least every month in a sound restaurant, an air-conditioned room, office and even now a traveling mode should also be air-conditioned and even much more.

Have we ever thought that this is actually the best lifestyle? Not by default, we have confused this generation between a luxurious life and a happy life. We have all now become addicted to these luxuries and, undoubtedly, we have made these things our needs. We are all equally responsible for the bad behavior of our younger generation because we didn't teach them about right or wrong. Instead, we taught them class differences, and new modern use of YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. We all have smartphones and we all know what is happening in someone's social life, but we are far away from our family, from our close ones, from those who actually need our attention.

Now it's not about the smartphone, it's about which company the young boy or girl is using, it's about which brand he or she is wearing, whom they are following on Instagram, and how many followers they have on social media. Which YouTuber is their favorite, which is the recent restaurant they have visited. We have no concerns about the quality of education and we are not willing to make innovations in our educational systems. Our generation is not thinking about doctors, engineers, medical-related fields, business degrees, law fields, not even the film-making fields. What they are watching is a YouTuber making a fun video and he or she is easily earning a lot of money just by using a mobile phone, on the other hand, young blood has completed his or her graduation or doctorate degree and their initial salary is not even 40 - 50 thousand. They paid lacs and lacs to this educational system but what they got is depression, long-time workload, bad behavior from the seniors, and low pay with more than 8-9 working hours. A ticktoker is making more money than a professional degree holder.

Where are we going? We want an independent life on our father's money, and we want luxury, but we don't want to do a hard-working, stressful job. Our generation is looking for all the shortcuts for making money and a lot of social media influencers on Instagram and other social sites with millions of followers. We have no control over our talks and aggression. There is no patience level for anyone, whether it's about family or about anyone in practical life. We need to understand that a happy life is not about a luxurious life, it's only about a peaceful life.

Our new generation is talking about stress, and depression, as they have everything they need but they are not realizing the blessings they have in their lives. They are all unaware of the importance of education because when any graduate gets the degree, he or she starts searching for contacts because, without reference, getting a job is really tough in our country. We have to stop this trend of social media influencers. What are they doing? They are promoting a good face, branded expensive dresses and makeup products, and dance and new song promotions. What are their qualifications and abilities? No one is ready to ask them what they are doing for youngsters and why they call them influencers? It is the responsibility of parents, teachers, the elderly, and even organization heads to think about it. We are not working on the skills and quality but we are investing in limelight stuff. In reality, luxury is the time we spend with our family while being busy in our daily routine. Luxury is that space we give to someone to recover from the past, actual luxury is the happy moments we spend with our friends. It is that peace we find in between the laughter, it's the mindset for doing something new every other day.

We all have to make some boundaries in which we have to understand that a happy and family-loving, peaceful lifestyle is far better than materialistic luxuries. We have to tell the younger generation that luxury is in the time and effort they are putting into building their future. We need to understand this unless we face massive disasters in the upcoming generations.

WOMEN - THE REAL ARCHITECTS OF SOCIETY

Most of the people says that there should be no specific mother's day, women's day or any other day for anyone special to us. But can we get out of this negative perspective that controls our minds and drag them towards negativity? What is wrong with celebrating a day for the ones who make our every day so perfect and wonderful? Whether I'm talking about mother, sister, our beautiful daughters and wife, women working with us in any workplace, studies at any type of educational institution etc. What is the problem with treating them uniquely and differently and making them feel special for even a single day? 

"A woman is the one who is Wonderful, outstanding, marvelous and adorable. Make her feel like she is everything to you, everyday, every minute, every year and specially with every beat of your heart."

Women's day is not about just a day, but it's an amazing idea to acknowledge the achievements of the lady, from her professional experience to the lady who is a perfect housewife to the mother who takes care of us from childhood till age. This is not just a day, but an opportunity to change the world and make them realize what women are doing for the home, for the organization, for the country and all of the above, for building generations and the nation. 

As we are all busy in our daily life and do not even make much time for the people special to us, they all understand and support us. If we give them true happiness and attention even for a single day, they will remember it for their whole life. Women's day is, in my opinion, the perfect opportunity to make them feel special and all we have to do is to make them smile. We can spend some quality time with our mother, sisters, daughters and mothers. A husband can make his wife feel like the queen of his life. It's not about a day, it's about realizing what they are meant to us. We celebrate birthdays, anniversaries or any other events, so why not women's day? No matter how much money you have, it's the effort you put into making sure that our women remember it for the rest of their lives. Your one-day effort can also change someone's whole life. Women around us work with us all. All they want is respect, honor, acknowledgement, unconditional love from the family and support to fly high. 

"Where there is a woman there is magic."

Put all the negative sides of the story aside for a while and just think about what you can do by your side for the people you love and for the people who do everything for you daily. Just take a moment and think about it.

The month of march has begun, and on 8th of march women's day will going to be celebrated internationally. Make sure you will make some time for all the women around you at your home, at your workplace, at your educational place or any other. Keep remember that it's not about the day but it's only about she is special, she is unique, she is respectable and above all she deserves the true love and respect from all of us and from our society. Respect of her rights is the most special gift we can give her on this day. Happy women's day to all the amazing ladies all around the world.