This photo was taken on March 26, 2011

                     Today is my mom's birthday. 

She was born on March 26, 1933.  

She left us way too soon.  

She passed away from cancer at the age of 56. 

It affected all of us deeply.

            It is spring, a cold and unusual spring.  The whole world is devastated with the pandemic of coronavirus. Most people are staying home as directed by officials.  We can only go out to buy food and essentials. I have been a teacher for many years and for the first time in my career I am having to work from home. Just like my friends and many others, we are adjusting to a new way of life.

            I wonder what my mom would have said about this situation.  She was always looking for the good in every stressful situation. When she lived in Los Angeles area for a year and half, she wrote articles in Farsi which were published at Fogholadeh Persian Weekly Magazine. She gave suggestions in her articles as to what was the best way for parents to raise and deal with their children.  She believed that we have two channels of thoughts in our minds, a negative and a positive one.  She promoted for people to be more in tuned with positive channels through self-awareness. She believed by switching to positive thoughts we could suppress the negative thoughts and worries. She had gone through many challenges in her life.  Her parents were survivors of the Armenian Genocide, so she had to witness and endure the pain and suffering of her parents. Later in her life, she had to endure the pain of  several unexpected deaths in her family. The revolution in Iran and the ensuing political situation, and the war with Iraq didn’t help matters. About this same time she also had to deal with the distance of her two children who were residing in the U.S. at the time. Yet she was able to see the beauty in everything by choosing her mental focus.

            She was spiritual. She was never a judgmental person.  She talked and associated with people from all walks of life, with different backgrounds and means.  She truly loved people, especially children.  She really enjoyed helping people. She always felt it was her calling, her purpose of life.

            When my mother was sick I was far away from her.  Her death was unexpected and shocking to me and my brothers.  It took me many years to deal with it.  Finally, after 15 years I decided to publish her published articles in a magazine in a book.  But it was not an easy task, I cried a lot every time I opened the magazines. Twenty years after her passing I was able to translate the articles into English and publish them as a bilingual English/Farsi book. 

            Today I want to celebrate her kindness, wisdom, and generosity.  Let's look at the blessings in our lives. Let's listen to the birds singing and see the blossoms in the trees.  Let's celebrate life!

photo taken on 9.8.15

Walking and thinking.  It's time for self-reflection and evaluation of my beliefs and values. 

I have traveled the world extensively during the past 20 years.  Several times I have returned to the same country and have noticed many changes.  Some of the modernizations were not pleasant for me.  For example, I enjoyed the old movie theatres in Madrid.  In 1998 I watched Titanic in Spanish.  There were ushers to direct people to their seats.  These old theatres have been converted to concert halls.  The modern halls  are smaller than they used to be, like the ones in the United States.

One thought provoking observation I had, was most shops in different countries carried the same items, especially household goods that we can find at budget stores.  Everything looked the same and it was hard to find something unique to buy as souvenir. Even the Murano glass earnings and necklaces that are originally made in Venice, Italy are made in China or Turkey. Several years ago I bought many "Murano Glass" necklaces in Venice, but later I found them at a dollar store in Los Angeles.  Somehow it is good to have affordable items at different countries, but the world’s markets are flooded with these items.  We have over production.

In the last few years we heard a lot about keeping our earth safe.  But not many leaders and people are taking this issue seriously.  More than 30 years ago when I was suggesting  recycling to my friends and relatives, many of them would not show much interest to do so. Today, finally, the coronavirus is shaking us and making us to rethink our old ways. It is a worldwide wake up call. 

We do not need to go shopping and wasting our limited and precious time in the malls.  One bright side of this virus is that people are devoting more time to deep thinking, reading, and playing and spending time with their children.  We miss and now have much more appreciation for real socialization instead of texting and phone calls. It’s true what they say, you don’t appreciate and value what you have until you lose it.  I hope this crisis will end soon, but the lessons learned during the crisis will last a life time. Wake up and do something. 

Today I took a walk in Old Pasadena.  It brought back many sweet memories. 

It has just been a few weeks since we have been learning about the coronaviurs.  Everyday something new changes and affects our lives.  It is my school spring break.  The Glendale Unified School District decided to extend the break for another week to prevent the spread of this novel and unpredictable virus.  I have been spending a lot of time at home but I have gone out to buy food.  Today was sunny after a few days of rain so I wanted to take a walk.

First, seeing the famous Twin Palms Restaurants in ruins made me sad.  I have very nice memories of going there in the 1990s.  It was the hang out place for many singles.  It looked really run down.  Nobody wants to do business there.  It has gone through several different ownerships.  In a flash back moment I had some images from those fun days run through my mind.  The bands, the crowds, the friends...

Then I walked on the deserted streets.  Cheesecake Factory was completely empty during lunch time.  Mi Piace was closed.  My friends and I went to Mi Piace regularly.  Old Pasadena was the happening place in the late 90s. 

An overwhelming feeling of sadness took me over as a result of so many changes in the world today. It felt like everybody is being punished.  Rich and poor have to pay a price.  But at the same time I also felt happy and contented that I was able to walk.  I felt grateful to have had those fun and unforgettable memories.  I will always cherish the good days.

I hope my simple walk experience of today would help many people engage in some self-reflection, be appreciative of and value their good health, and all of the people around them.  I will not take the blessings of my life for granted.

Coronavirus and self-discipline

Hello,
It has been few weeks that we hear about coronavirus.  During the last two weeks there has been a lot of time about self-isolation.

I like to call it self-discipline.  For one day I enjoyed staying in my PJ, but after that I decided to be dressed and ready to work at home.  Work includes reading, cleaning, exercising, watching the news, and social media. I realized that taking a shower, getting dressed, and even wearing perfume is good for me.  I am the one to needs to take care of me.  I call this Me Time.  Well-groomed Me Time is essential for us. Being clean and presentable is not for just others, it's for me.

My spiritual and mental well being is as important as my physical health.

Let's have self-discipline during the times of crisis.  We can not just survive but thrive.

This photo was taken on Feb. 25, 20.