The Open Session....Singapore Edition

Confession #1: I have always been envious of the ladies who are in Morocco and London attending The Open Session with the very beautiful, Aida Azlin. These ladies have no idea how I wish I was them, there, in London and Morocco. 

Ever since I attended Aida Azlin's Dear Hopeful Singleton's class which she conducted last year with Ustazah Musfirah, I was amazed by both of them. They are young, always so positive and they tirelessly represent the true meaning of resilience. 

Confession #2: I have a huge girl crush on Aida Azlin. She is such an inspiring lady. I look forward to her love letters every Tuesday and would sometimes read them over and over again to knock sense into myself. I know it does not quite make sense to many, but I hope this feeling resonates with others who do look forward to her love letters. I do not think I am the only one, right?

So, when I read Aida’s love letter last Tuesday, I saw a link that she was conducting her first Open Session right here, back in her hometown, Singapore, I quickly clicked on the link and secured a seat. I did not care if I was going to attend the session alone, or that I might feel out of place, or awkward, or whatever. I just signed up and worry about all that later. Screw all that thought, I was making thing happen for myself, by attending the first Open Session in Singapore!

Confession #3: I was quite excited for the day to come and was superbly curious about the sharing session. I was wondering how this gathering of sisters from all over Singapore would be beneficial to me and the rest of the attendees. 

I came with an open mind and a happy heart. What was the worse that could happen? My favourite bread shop, Konditori, was located below venue and I would return home with my hands full of bread and pastries (which I did). I know I will sleep with my tummy full if the session disappointed me. But I had huge faith in Aida, she would not let me down.

Confession #4: I learned a lot. When I meant a lot, I meant A-WHOLE-LOT. Here’s just a few things that was shared and remembered based on my memory.

1. What love can do to you
2. Getting closer to the Deen
3. Detachment from people because of love
4. Being an instant mom, fostering 3 kids out of the blue.
5. Finding love for yourself, your family, your friends and others.
6. Marrying someone because of an even greater love, for His sake.
7. Grief because her best friend got married, then another lady shared her own experience about how her own bestie got married and how things would still be ok eventually.

There are more but I am just going to keep it to 7. The session was mind-blowing. I tried to hold back my tears when sisters shared about their path, their journey, their experience. I was in awe with the strength they had in them. What I had gone through, was nothing compared to their's. They were fiercely awesome.

During the session, my thoughts wandered to so many things that could be expanded. Loving what we do, daily. Waking up daily simply because you know you’re going to have a kick-ass day because we love life, we love what our tasks at hand and you really mean it! That just got me inspired me further to work on another entry. But that shall be for another time.

Confession #5: I personally think this Open Session should be conducted more often, maybe a monthly gathering for sisters from all walks of life. If that was how great the first session was, I cannot imagine how wonderful the future sessions will be. Dear Aida, do consider grooming someone within AA to still continue this session in Singapore, even when you are in Morocco or London. Topics can be the same. That way, sisters all over the world are sharing, uniting and supporting one another through The Open Session. 

I am sure many among those who turned up benefited from the session and would love for this to be a regular thing. I know I will be looking forward to future sessions, if there is any. I hope I am not the only one thinking this.

Aida, thank you for doing what you do. Thank you for conducting The Open Session, it was an eye-opening and mind-blowing experience learning about the topic of the day. Your spirit in championing sisterhood and uniting us all is simply admirable. Continue this path where you shine the very best and at the same time, letting others shine too. In the mean time, I shall wait patiently for the upcoming love letter which will sit lovingly in my inbox tomorrow. 

For those of you who are wondering what is so amazing about this Tuesday’s Love Letters all about, click here and sign up for it. I hope you too feel the love of sisterhood.  

naimefied look:

hijab: The World Map dUCk

top: Uniqlo

pants: Thavia The Label

Dear Google... I Do!

Years ago,  I tried to apply for a position in Google. 

But what can you possibly do in Google, Naime? I am sure many would have wondered about that.

Well, Google has all the answers, I am sure they can find me a creative position somewhere in there. *flips scarf*

Unfortunately, I think I probably screwed up my interview and of course, there would have been so many other better candidates out there who would do wonders in the position I applied for. Needless to say, I did not get the job. 

Ever since then, I knew I had in me to be able to be a consideration to possibly work in THE best company in the world. Since I was shortlisted for an interview, that was a good sign, right? Knowing that possibility alone, became a drive for me to push myself as well as my own boundaries to perform better, that I was probably Google worthy enough. Oh, the things I tell myself to make me feel good. 

But frankly deep down, I know I have many areas for improvement and I still have a lot to learn from the ground.

Recently, when I received an invitation for work-related matters at Google Office APAC, it was an immediate ‘Yes!’ from me. Oh my, it felt like Google proposed to me to try out my very famous teh tarik (best in Bedok Reservoir) in their brightly lit cafeteria (I kid you not, my teh tarik is the bomb!), discuss about how wonderful of an addition I would be to them, followed by candle light dinner in front of their LEGO Wall and even a romantic comedy midnight movie at their famous mega Google Wall before ending the night. I think I just made Google sound like a tall, dark and handsome prince from the enchanted castle of Mapletree Business City 2.  

Given the opportunity to visit THE best company in the world, having read and heard so much about their work place, I am (still) in awe how Google created their work place to be a conducive working environment. One can sit anywhere and maybe everywhere to get their work done, have a discussion, meet up with group members and so many more. Just one visit to that legendary office got me inspired to push my limits and be even more productive. 

I foresee myself moving my own bed in and maybe even being happy to be working on a Sunday there, hahahahahaha. 

After the visit to the legendary office, I believe all of us could do up our place (regardless whether it is our home or workplace) to be like Google’s. Why wait for the opportunity to work there to be productive, to push boundaries and go beyond expectations? Look within our own space and think of opportunities or what can be done with the space that we have, rather than leaving it bare and unused, worse still, forgotten entirely.

Looking at the way things are going now, I am going to pretend that Google proposed to me and I totally said yes, again! With this imagination, I will be performing way beyond expectation than what I initially set for myself. You might probably see me at the lounge more often these days, in some quiet corner working on my ideas, proposals, projects, googling up ways to instil creativity and so much more. 

When I need more interesting sights (beyond the work wall), you might even see me at my favourite Starbuck cafe doing some work and writing contents for this blog of mine. After all, I am the Chief Executive of naimefied.com, ehem, ehem. I need to work extra hard for this platform.

So dear Google, anytime you guys think I am going to be a great addition to your Google family, it is an absolute, ‘I Do!’ from me.

Now guys, if you are Google, did I just melt your heart? 

 

Psst... For the love of dUCk, I just had to post a shot of D's famous purple dUCk box amongst the Google giant signage. It felt like I just unlocked an amazing achievement! D, I hope you are reading this. I did this for you!

If being invited to Google is the start of never missing the opportunity to be amazing in 2018, I cannot wait for the endless blessings of 2018 to unfold and create more wonders. 

Thank you Google for the opportunity to experience a moment in your WOW office! 

naimefied look:

hijab: dUCk

top: aere

pants: thavia the label

shoes: christy ng

Hello 2018

Hello 2018,

Of course, January has obviously ended and this post should have been up since weeks back. It should be, Hello February 2018, but oh well, here in naimefied, anything is possible!

Back in 2017, I created #dear2017 to be my own personal project for myself. Unexpectedly, I had such a wonderful time working on it. What started as a simple idea got me into learning so many different things, signing up for classes, gaining new knowledge, I started reading more often, finding my own inner peace and so many more. I may not have had the energy to have listed them down as often as I would like to, but it sure was a year filled with so many wonders. Blessed would have been too mild of a word to describe the journey in this personal project of mine. To all the people I crossed path with, worked with, met and more throughout 2017 and before, thank you for the many countless, unforgettable memories.  

Although January 2018 has come to a beautiful end, I looked back at the notes I had made to myself some time back which was meant for 2018. I knew the positivity of 2017 needed to be rolled over into this wonderful year, so I thought of these which I think would be a wonderful so called ‘resolution’ for 2018. I do not normally do resolutions, simply because I just am not a resolution sort of person. But I figured this year, let me give this a shot.

So here’s the list of how I would love my 2018 to be:

1. Create opportunities for myself 
2. Create more possibilities of happy moments 
3. Make time to disconnect/ unplug my mind so that i can declutter from unproductive thoughts
4. Simplify and focus (this is supposed to help me with my procrastination mode with happens endlessly
5. Have good thoughts of people
6. Influence good thoughts of people onto others (especially if/when they are on not so good mood)
7. Never miss the opportunity to be Amazing!

7 is my favourite number. It is not too much nor too little. So I am not going to be too ambitious and over promise myself on this. These are doable things on my list which I believe I will work on achieving them. I just need to procrastinate less of course. So this list will (in my mind), help me overcome procrastination and slap it wherever it hurts most, hahahahaha.

So if you ask me, 2018 is not only going to be an amazing year, I am going to work on making sure it is AMAZING. 

So #hello2018, here comes Naime…

naimefied look:

hijab: dUCk

top: aere (blue), love bonito (white)

pants: love, bonito