Dude, I’m old.
This is (almost) 50.
I am needless to say filled with gratitude. (ITS NOT MY BIRTHDAY)
When I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2009 the prognosis was dire.
The living since then has been layered with lessons on how to let go of toxic thoughts and behaviour and edging closer to my authentic self (hint: masti and madness)
Knowing myself does not mean I am not a mystery even though being mysterious is no longer socially acceptable. Rather now I can leave a party mid-way in favour of an animated film and cuddle on the couch. Chase those ‘shoulds’ out of my head with a chair. (Try it, no one needs that shit) Nosy queries remain unanswered. This does not mean I won’t engage, but meet me next to the waterfall, where we can’t hear each other. Really, talking is over rated.
Does knowing the carbon footprint of a banana compel me to throw it in the garbage? I have travelled excessively, in unmeasured ways, not knowing if I would land up on a mountaintop or in a souk. Even awareness is over rated.
Why am I here? Why did I make it and not the other? Here I’ll answer out of sheer weariness.
Maybe we will find what eludes us not by asking but by listening. Surrendering. And through the portal of love. Quiet your mind, restless ones. Quiet your mind.
This is (almost) 50.
(Oh yeah, and always wear sunscreen)
📸 Sufi Ray Dehni
Love is more plentiful than we think.
But love – in my experience- also morphs, as we careen along life’s flower and sewage strewn lanes, taking on fated forms we never imagined.
Cheers to summoning love in unlit tunnels, through difficult and upside down times. I lay myself at the feet of whatever breaks us open – love for man, woman, child, plant, animal, stone, song, lapis lazuli and even baby spinach.
And please admire my gorgeous @farazmanan sheath. Oh yes, and the hot, generous, huge hearted man I get to call mine.
📸 @kauverikhullaar
Makeup @natashamoorcosmetics
Love is more plentiful than we think.
But love – in my experience- also morphs, as we careen along life’s flower and sewage strewn lanes, taking on fated forms we never imagined.
Cheers to summoning love in unlit tunnels, through difficult and upside down times. I lay myself at the feet of whatever breaks us open – love for man, woman, child, plant, animal, stone, song, lapis lazuli and even baby spinach.
And please admire my gorgeous @farazmanan sheath. Oh yes, and the hot, generous, huge hearted man I get to call mine.
📸 @kauverikhullaar
Makeup @natashamoorcosmetics
Love is more plentiful than we think.
But love – in my experience- also morphs, as we careen along life’s flower and sewage strewn lanes, taking on fated forms we never imagined.
Cheers to summoning love in unlit tunnels, through difficult and upside down times. I lay myself at the feet of whatever breaks us open – love for man, woman, child, plant, animal, stone, song, lapis lazuli and even baby spinach.
And please admire my gorgeous @farazmanan sheath. Oh yes, and the hot, generous, huge hearted man I get to call mine.
📸 @kauverikhullaar
Makeup @natashamoorcosmetics
Dubai seems to agree with me. Certainly my hair is in the middle of a serious affair with @thehairkind_ (thanks for the refresh today ❤️)
While moving to a new city and climate has become a way of life, I have a few hacks to help with the transition.
I’ve been loading up on supplements like B complex, Calcium and folate.
I’ve started taking @nack.life to boost my immunity and seems it’s a beauty hack too.
@dimplejangda digestive tea recipe is a simple way to drink all the gut issues away. I alternate the tea with a tumeric shot every morning.
I’be been adding spirulina to my morning smoothie and taking @dimplejangda advise on ayurveda approved smoothie combo (hint: quit mixing your fruits and veggies – and fruit and yogurt – which leads to toxins in your gut)
Menopace Plus has active botanicals to support menopausateers like me 😜
This is not an ad, not even an endorsement just a way to muse on the morphing benefits of checking in and supporting life’s transitions
Habibi consents to making a slightly blurry appearance on my timeline after we drove to the remarkable @sharjahhow last night to soak in the Arabic- Flamenco fusion sounds of @maqamundo
The UAE continues to impress
(By the way, that’s ‘Beirut’ in Arabic embroidered on my back 🇱🇧)
Habibi consents to making a slightly blurry appearance on my timeline after we drove to the remarkable @sharjahhow last night to soak in the Arabic- Flamenco fusion sounds of @maqamundo
The UAE continues to impress
(By the way, that’s ‘Beirut’ in Arabic embroidered on my back 🇱🇧)
Habibi consents to making a slightly blurry appearance on my timeline after we drove to the remarkable @sharjahhow last night to soak in the Arabic- Flamenco fusion sounds of @maqamundo
The UAE continues to impress
(By the way, that’s ‘Beirut’ in Arabic embroidered on my back 🇱🇧)
Habibi consents to making a slightly blurry appearance on my timeline after we drove to the remarkable @sharjahhow last night to soak in the Arabic- Flamenco fusion sounds of @maqamundo
The UAE continues to impress
(By the way, that’s ‘Beirut’ in Arabic embroidered on my back 🇱🇧)
Habibi consents to making a slightly blurry appearance on my timeline after we drove to the remarkable @sharjahhow last night to soak in the Arabic- Flamenco fusion sounds of @maqamundo
The UAE continues to impress
(By the way, that’s ‘Beirut’ in Arabic embroidered on my back 🇱🇧)
The exquisite, romantic creations at the couture presentation of @farazmanan didn’t just dazzle: they commanded remembrance of why beauty is essential. And love.
Reuniting with my @sujstyle @natasha.moor @bysarahkhan @avnidoshi and @kauverikhullaar after moving to Dubai reaffirms my belief in a grand conductress we can’t discern, but which brings us home to the people that delight our heart sooner or later.
#Dubai
The exquisite, romantic creations at the couture presentation of @farazmanan didn’t just dazzle: they commanded remembrance of why beauty is essential. And love.
Reuniting with my @sujstyle @natasha.moor @bysarahkhan @avnidoshi and @kauverikhullaar after moving to Dubai reaffirms my belief in a grand conductress we can’t discern, but which brings us home to the people that delight our heart sooner or later.
#Dubai
The exquisite, romantic creations at the couture presentation of @farazmanan didn’t just dazzle: they commanded remembrance of why beauty is essential. And love.
Reuniting with my @sujstyle @natasha.moor @bysarahkhan @avnidoshi and @kauverikhullaar after moving to Dubai reaffirms my belief in a grand conductress we can’t discern, but which brings us home to the people that delight our heart sooner or later.
#Dubai
An afternoon to listen, absorb and fan-girl during a session drilling into the craft of writing, first person vs third choices, cultural narratives, female perspectives and more. If you haven’t yet picked up @avnidoshi @mira.sethi and #FarahAli’s books we can’t be friends.
#UnpeelingtheOnion @emirateslitfest
#REPOST @shobhaade
No words needed….except perhaps Lag Ja Gale…
#latamangeshkar #indiasnightingale
Thanks maushi @bysarahkhan for the picture book on Dubai, our new home.
@assouline
Thanks maushi @bysarahkhan for the picture book on Dubai, our new home.
@assouline
Thanks maushi @bysarahkhan for the picture book on Dubai, our new home.
@assouline
I was fortunate to get a peek at this monumental work titled The Guernica Project by multidisciplinary artist and storyteller @raghavakk
It takes maverick vision to reimagine and reinvent Picasso’s 1937 Masterpiece. This is @raghavakk first major showing in the UAE region @volteartprojects a gallery space which has quickly become a personal art sanctuary for me.
@tusharjiv has created a space which seems to germinate many exciting ideas.
If you are in Dubai head to @volteartprojects from February 17th onwards to encounter this magnificent ‘phygital’ project which retells history, defies definition and inhabits the new intersection of art, NFTs, disruptive technology and the pure experience of an emotional and visual shift that art offers: the proverbial friendly punch to the gut that tickles and turns on all the taps inside.
I was fortunate to get a peek at this monumental work titled The Guernica Project by multidisciplinary artist and storyteller @raghavakk
It takes maverick vision to reimagine and reinvent Picasso’s 1937 Masterpiece. This is @raghavakk first major showing in the UAE region @volteartprojects a gallery space which has quickly become a personal art sanctuary for me.
@tusharjiv has created a space which seems to germinate many exciting ideas.
If you are in Dubai head to @volteartprojects from February 17th onwards to encounter this magnificent ‘phygital’ project which retells history, defies definition and inhabits the new intersection of art, NFTs, disruptive technology and the pure experience of an emotional and visual shift that art offers: the proverbial friendly punch to the gut that tickles and turns on all the taps inside.
#REPOST @suvimusic with @get__repost__app 🌸When SuVi dubbed for Lisa Ray in A R Rahman’s movie 99 Songs for Netflix that came out earlier this year🌸
I Have to say that this was a hard core fan girl moment for me because I’ve had the biggest crush on Lisa Ray as a kid. So when Rahman sir asked me to audition to do dubbing for her voice I flipped out in ecstasy lol!!! Being a musician this scene was even more close to me cause this is everything we learnt in school 😂 hahaha hope you enjoy this little scene from the movie #99songstamil #dubbingartist #tamil #southindian #femalemusician #lisaray #repostios #repostw10
Yellow pigments came from clay soils that are rich in ochre. It has been there as early as 45,000BCE. The first lexical references to yellow was in the Neolithic period: “yellow as honey”, or “yellow as ripe wheat”. The colour yellow symbolises Basant it represents good fortune, spirituality, the ripening of the spring crops and the recent harvest. Yellow is believed to be the favourite colour of the Goddess Saraswati. The advent of Basant Ritu marks the end of cold winter season in the Indian subcontinent. Artist Gopa Trivedi explores the yellow hue palette in this artwork suggesting the vivid change in the seasons of life.
Artwork Title: Saffron
Size: Variable
Medium: Gouache and gold foil on Wasli, Video installation
#basantpanchami #saraswatipuja #vasantpanchami #saraswati #love #india #basant #jaimatadi #kolkata #instagram #saraswatipooja
To sit in a healing meditation with @marabranscombe is to return home: to the flowers, the grass, the earth, our crystal nature, to oneself.
My only question now is how do I get my hands on this in Dubai?
Congratulations Mara 🙏🏼
@marabranscombe with @get__repost__app To birth a book feels like the culmination of the defining, wild, challenging, and cathartic experiences that life brings.
What ever matters most to you right now- pour your heart into it. Break rules. Aim high. Be with the moon. Catch intuitive glimmers. See your visions in real time. Pay attention, take notes.
Deepest bows to those who have inspired me along my journey- to my soul friends, family, colleagues, mentors, and inspiring guides…. Whether you know it or not, you have been with me on this journey.
Blessed am I to receive the support of your guidance and wisdom.
@mirabaistarr writes:
“Mara Branscombe welcomes us into ritual as a doorway to the sacred in our everyday lives, and reminds us of our inherent connection to the great Mother through the cycles of the earth. She sprinkles poetry amid a carefully crafted roadmap shaped by her years on the path of love, inviting us to dance with our shadows and awaken the mystic within each of us, guided by the elements and aligned with the moon. This is potent medicine as we rise to tend to the cries of our embodied world.”
~ Mirabai Starr
Author of Caravan of No Despair and Wild Mercy
In awe of the female authors who stepped forward to honour this book.
@tracee_stanley @elenabrower @michelekambolis @samanthaskelly @mirabaistarr … Elizabeth Meacham and Sonja Grace.
@bylauramowbs is the illustrator behind this vision.
Link in bio to PRE-ORDER, arrives iMay 24, 2022.
Please share with your community- this book is for the explorers, mind-body learners, moon lovers, leaders, healers, and learners of life. #repostios #repostw10
Speaks to your blood, doesn’t it?
@maqamundo
@sharjahhow
