The Arabic Quotes in my Home and What They Mean

The 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak is one of my all-time favorite books.

 I read it in Arabic & English and cried both times. So much wisdom in there…and when you read the title “40 Rules of Love” – it may sound like a sappy romance novel. It’s not that kind of love…(to quote Oprah’s talk at Stanford) “but the kind of love that really counts, the kind of love that when everything else is going wrong and nobody even knows you’re choosing it, you choose love. The kind of love that says ‘I’m here for you, no matter what’…The kind of love that means you make the right decision, even when you know the other person is wrong. You choose love, because love is not just – it’s a verb, and it’s everything that represent kindness, and grace, and harmony, and cooperation, and reverence for life.”

…I’ve taken a few of my favorite quotes and made them into wall art for my place here in Htown. I’m working on a video tour where I’ll show you my furniture and tell you what I paid for it, budget vs. reality, etc…..and I know these will be in there, so I wanted to do a post dedicated to the wall art I have thus far. 

Here are the quotes and what they mean:
“Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step. That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for. Once you take that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.” Below is me in the Maldives! Jan 2017.
“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.”
The top is my Arabic name "Hessah Al-Otaibi." The quote reads: “Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be far-sighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn.”
“Love cannot be explained. It can only be experienced. Love cannot be explained, yet it explains all."
"East, West, South or North...it makes little difference. No matter your destination, be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you can traverse the whole wide world and beyond.”

That’s it for now! Thoughts?

I’m excited to show you more! Stay tuned…and please SUBSCRIBE if you haven’t already: 

https://www.youtube.com/c/shannonemaher

 

Love,

Shannon

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