Blog Archives
Lifetime Resolutions

Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New-Year_Resolutions_list.jpg
Hello My Dear Readers,
I’m not really one for New Years Resolutions, but recently, God has been reminding me of my goals and dreams in this life. When I seem to be down or discouraged, something happens or someone says something that reminds me that His plans for me are still unfolding…perfectly. With that being said, I have created a list of goals and hopes that I want to aspire to not this year, but for the rest of my life. These are my prayers and dreams that I want to never stop striving for, no matter where I am in life.
Dear Lord,
For this year and for ever more:
- Keep me humble
- Help me to continue laughing at myself
- Please don’t let me lose my dorkiness and nerdiness, and may I continue to never be ashamed of it
- Don’t ever let me lose my compassion and empathy for others
- Help me to grow in patience and forgiveness
- Strengthen my love and respect of others
- Help to me to be better a wife and best friend to my one and only
- Don’t ever let me stop dreaming
- Strengthen my hope and trust in myself and most of all, in You
- Until You say it’s time for me to have children, help me to devote myself and my life entirely to my husband and those around me for You
- Help me, Lord, to always see You in those who are suffering and in pain, especially those who show otherwise
- And please, may Your Light continue to shine through me
Peace and Love,
Ariffa
The Small Things

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/royblumenthal/3297359139/
Author: Roy Blumenthal
Dear Readers,
We all have a lot going on in our lives that tend to occupy our minds and worry us more than we should allow. There are times when I am so focused on a project that I find it very hard to sit still or focus on something else without feeling guilt or anxiety. The little or big things that go on in our worlds tend to make us oblivious to the larger world that we live in. Your neighbor, a store clerk, a customer, a teacher, a co-worker, or whomever may not know what you’re going through, but even so, they are still in this world with you and may be going through the same problems that are probably even greater than yours. I believe that everyone could use a blessing, a good cheer, or something to make their day and perhaps, lives, a little brighter.
When I was senior in high school, my dance teacher took some of my classmates and me to a very expensive restaurant to celebrate our graduation. Little did we know that the gentleman who was dining alone across from us overheard our conversations and generously decided to pay for all six or seven of our meals. This was of course a wonderful surprise, but I’m talking about making a difference in someone’s day by doing the seemingly small and insignificant things that really matter:
- Looking someone in the eye and giving them a genuine greeting and genuinely wishing them a good day.
- Putting back unwanted store merchandise in the correct location.
- Stopping your car to allow a waiting driver to pull in front of you.
- Greeting people who you normally don’t notice or speak to.
I know these may seem meaningless or senseless to some, but from being on both sides of each scenario, I can tell you they make a difference. From the sudden gleam in a janitor’s eyes to the feeling of relief that someone cares, I can tell you that it’s worth it. So please, stop and see someone today and try to do so everyday.
Peace and Love,
Ariffa
Something is Enough

“This image was originally posted to Flickr by Trocaire at http://flickr.com/photos/8485582@N07/10882117144. It was reviewed on 16 November 2013 by the FlickreviewR robot and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.”-Wikipedia Commons
Dear Readers,
There are and have been so many disasters in the world. And for some particular reason, my heart especially aches worse for those affected by Typhoon Haiyan — in the Phillippines and around the world. Lately, I cannot seem to shake the feeling that people seem to be ignoring the suffering of the world or have forgotten about it already. Now of course the media has a significant impact. Even so…
My own theory is that many of us feel that there is nothing we can do for those suffering in the world. Some may feel like they don’t have the money or time to contribute, and therefore they shut themselves off to the pain of what’s happening around them. I can understand that, and to those people I say Something is Enough. Prayer is enough. A thought of well being for others is enough. And if you want to take it a step further, do something in honor of those in need. Donate blood. Donate clothes and food. It can even be something as simple as giving someone a smile or a genuine, heart-felt wish for a good day. I believe that God placed us on this Earth to be of help to someone, no matter how far or near they may be. The greatness of our lives is reflected in how we devote it to others. So for today, for tomorrow, and the days to come, pray for someone, smile at someone, do something in honor of someone. And please don’t ever forget. As an author, my goal is to inspire you and touch your hearts and minds, make you see something different. And I hope these words have touched you.
Peace and Love,
Ariffa
What Matsui Can Teach about Education & Community
In 2009 the Yankees won the world series against the Philadelphia Phillies…mostly because of Hideki Matsui. Now, this is just personal opinion, but I am not the only one that feels this way. That night, Matsui became the first Japanese-born player and full-time designated hitter in the history of MLB to win the world series MVP award. Matsui was my favorite athlete even before this happened, so I was of course extremely upset when the Yankees did not sign him the next season. And although Matsui played for other teams, he remained my favorite player, never forgotten by Yankees fans and non-Yankees fans. And it was yesterday afternoon that Matsui signed a minor league contract with the Yankees, officially retiring as one.
I sat teary-eyed through the entire ceremony not because Matsui is my favorite athlete but because of what he stands for. The best way to describe Matsui is quiet, humble strength. You see, Matsui is the only Yankee to hit a grand slam at his first, I mean first, at bat. He went 4-4 and 3-4 on his first two days back after returning from wrist surgery that had him out for several months. And through it all, Matsui remained humble and a true definition of a team player. He actually apologized for getting injured, and shies away from talking about himself. He has stated that he felt like he didn’t deserve the MVP award, and although most players would name this as their shining moment in their career, Matsui named a victory against the Boston Red Sox as his favorite moment because the Yankees won the game in a total team effort.
The way I feel about it is that one can be a great baseball player and have awesome numbers, but if your attitude sucks and you’re all about yourself then, to me, those numbers mean absolutely nothing. Besides his quiet strength and humility, what I like most about Matsui is that the man has a sense of humor. He is known for playing jokes on his teammates and every once in a while you could catch him making faces at the camera. Oh, how I miss watching him play!
So, how does this relate to education? Well, say there was this great teacher, and you asked him or her what their best/favorite moment was in their profession. What would you think if the teacher said, “Winning educator of the year” as opposed to “Watching my students evolve” or “Seeing my students light up when they understand something” or “One of my students telling me that I’m their role model”? Matsui represents greatness by being great through others. One is a great player and a great teacher through the action, influence, and aid of those outside themselves. With education being more and more about testing and numbers and treating students like they’re all the same, I know that it can be quite difficult to truly teach and help a student.
Matsui represents how a community should be. A community should be, well…a community. This simply means placing others above yourself and being there for them and actually caring. Matsui reminds me of who I am, who I want to be, and who I have to be in order to consider myself truly successful. I am only as great as the impact that my words and life has on others.
Thank you, Hideki Matsui. I hope and pray that one day I can share these words with you in person.
Peace and Love,
Ariffa
In Honor Of…
I’ve been feeling a bit down lately, so to cheer myself up, and perhaps some of you as well, I have decided to write today’s post about compassion. It’s actually a repost from when I first started blogging, but its meaning is the same, nonetheless:
I sometimes get the feeling that we as a society are afraid feel and let others see our emotion and compassion. And sometimes we can just be flat out cold. I’m sure some of you have seen the show “What Would You Do?,” well this is a story from a first hand experience. I used to live in New York City (NYC), and as most know, NYC has thousands of homeless on the streets and in the subway trains. Sometimes that person is not homeless, but a severely disabled or scarred member of society that needs some change for surgery or what not. More often than not, these people are asking for money and food. As a child, you learn to adapt to your surroundings and you observe and blend into what is “normal.” Therefore as a child, I thought it was completely normal to ignore a person in need and pretend that they are not literally standing in front of you asking for help.
I moved away from the city when I was ten, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I rode the subways and walked the streets of NYC again (I was visiting family). I cannot describe the immense pain and heartache I felt. The majority of that emotion was not only because the person was disabled or homeless. It was because 1) That person was being ignored by a train full of people or by hundreds of passerby and 2) I could not imagine how that person themselves felt to hear complete silence or no movement of help towards them when they ask for it (not to say that there weren’t some noble souls). Whenever I could, I gave to those on the subway some money and offered a prayer of blessing to those on the street and to those I did not have cash for. Like most, I sometimes wondered if they would actually use that money for good, and you know what I thought to myself? I say “it’s on them.” It’s on their soul if they decide to take advantage of person when he/she is doing something that they see right. I say to myself “don’t worry what others think, or what that person may do with the money. You’re doing what you think and feel is right.” I sometimes feel like we use the “they’ll use it for alcohol” excuse because we are afraid to show compassion for fear of being looked at as weak or foolish. If something is the right thing to do and it feels good, why not do it?
What is ironic about this topic is that emotion is treated completely differently when it comes to the media. Although it is their job to tell the news (and stretch the truth), the media tends to focus much too much on drama, and it is at times ridiculous and even offense. I will never forget when Steve Irwin died and the media asked his beautiful daughter, Bindi what she thought Steve would be saying to her at that time. Can you get any more invasive that? And with a child? Bindi smartly responded (and I’m sure her mother wisely prepared her for this intrusion) that the answer to that question was private. When the media was interviewing survivors after the 2011 tsunami in Japan some of the first words that they used to describe a man was “he looked like he’s been crying for days.” Then there was the question of “I know it’s hard on you, but can you describe how you’re feeling right now?” In tragedies of the past and tragedies of today this stupid question has never failed to be asked. We as viewers see the damage, destruction and the same horrific and saddened faces of people who have suffered because the media shows them over and over. We do not need to know how they feel because we can see it.
Good deeds of course happen everyday, and sometimes the media does capture it. I’m sure that most have heard the story about a cop buying and giving boots to a homeless man. Although it is great to hear good news often, I sometimes wonder why this has to be news in general. Then I remember my past experiences and realize that it is quite rare to see something like this happen. This is a good thing, and yet it is a reminder of something sad. With that being said, good deeds should be done in the shadows (when it can be helped of course). And whether we feel brave enough to do it in the open or do it when no one is looking, we can sometimes feel helpless, which can make us not help at all. We can feel helpless because we may feel like we are not able to effectively reach those in need whether they are near or far away (so we can therefore feel like our help has no impact), or because we simply don’t carry cash to give to those in need (I rarely carry cash). And to that I say “in honor of.” What I mean is, if you feel like you cannot help someone for whatever reason, do something in honor of them. For example, you can donate clothes in honor of those in natural disasters who lost everything. You can donate blood in honor of those who lost their lives. “In honor of” can also simply be giving someone a thought or prayer of hope and well-being. Even if you have the money in your pocket to give to those in need, just giving them a simple blessing from the heart is doing something. Do Something. I promise it will make you feel good and perhaps make you a little happier.
I hope today’s post has reached you. Let it light a flame inside of you.
Peace and Love,
Ariffa