Accepting yourself

Acceptingyourself

We often have a clear understanding of all the aspects that are not so appealing in others; we tend to be really forgiving and lenient with ourselves but not so much the same with everyone else. So this is really where it all starts.. we can only understand another soul when we fully understand and accept our own soul.
We have to learn to accept our own faults and mistakes. The most important of all is to learn to forgive yourself, don't beat yourself over something you once had done and now are ashamed of.. sometimes its easier to let your past mistakes control you, but you need to understand that YOU are in control of your thoughts and actions! and by now if you are not.. take control!  
Learn to accept everything about yourself, whether it be your appearance; your mistakes; your height..(lol I hope you're getting the point by now haha) everything and anything about yourself.

When you begin to accept yourself, you are fully aware of the fact you make mistakes on a daily basis; you understand and learn to forgive yourself; you begin to accept your flaws and learn to live with them. The acceptance of yourself allows you to accept the mistakes of others, you learn to forgive others the way you forgive yourself. And finally you come out of the false world of perfection and step into the real world; the world made of imperfect souls striving for perfection but what you choose to ignore is.. you have everything to be thankful for but the media driven "beauty" controls you. You ignore what you have been blessed with all along..
-Your eyes- might not be the shape you want them to be but you can SEE
-Your nose- again might not be how you want to it look but it works!
-your face; your lips.. you have it all and it works perfectly fine!
most importantly
-your life- you're still breathing, aren't you? (well I assume you are since you're reading this lol!)
you have another chance at life every single day, you have a chance to change yourself, if you cant accept yourself for who you are then by all means make a positive change!

Only when you accept your inner and outer self you will be thankful and happy from within.

captured this beauty in the early morning.

Feel cosy in your coated layer of skin

Okay maybe this is another sob story about acne and how it made me feel absolutely craaaaappy about myself; how it snatched away my self confidence and how I became uncomfortable in my own skin BUT there is a happy ending lol so keep on reading. So we're always being told something along the lines of "you are perfect the way you are" or "beauty is from within"..
Up until high school I didn't care much about "beauty" or the concept of "beauty". I didn't give so much power to my mirror reflection and my flaws were always unnoticed by myself. The odd few spots never bothered me, but as I reached the age of 12 I started to get more breakouts on my face and regularly. Even at that point I was fine with it I didn't really think about ways to cover it up, its only when I was constantly being told the absolute blatant.. "what's happening to your face?", " your spots have worsened".. "I feel sorry for you.." and so on, not only was it just people I knew it was also some of my friends. At that point I realised the acne on my face bothered everyone around me, more than it ever bothered me. I began to realise that all my friends had the flawless skin type and I had the other; the not so appealing type of skin. So what was next?, hunt for makeup lol! as funny as it sounds.. and as you may expect at this point already, yeaah I began to apply makeup to cover up spots. I started to understand the societal concept of "beauty" and how that extra coat or mask (makeup) is better, or at least better to put on than walk around in your acne prone natural skin. At this point my self esteem was really low I felt like the people around me felt disgusted by my acne spots/ marks. But on that note although I did begin to put make up on as I reached year 10/11 I didn't apply makeup on my face everyday to school. In the summer I had completed high school I began my acne treatment (a cream I was prescribed by my dermatologist). Thankfully the medicine worked its magic and my acne began to fade, I cant describe how good it felt! everyone around me had realised the improvement and I had received quite a lot of compliments.

But just when my self confidence began to rise.. I started getting other comments along the lines of.. "the medicine made your skin paler", "she wasn't as fair before". I don't know why but those silly comments made me feel guilty of something. I felt as though the medicine did lighten my skin. So to clear my guilty conscious I asked my GP whether the medicine I was prescribed had any thing included in it that would lighten my skin. He said that the cream had reduced the browning that my acne had caused by removing the damaged layer of skin. So the cream did not lighten my skin! (they wouldn't prescribe anything bad for the skin)
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But even during college I wasn't really feeling as confident in my own skin until the past year.
To be  honest I realised that the people who are the most beautiful are the ones with the most beautiful souls. Even the most beautiful face to everyone isn't at all real beauty.. if a person is kind at soul that person will magnify the strengths of another person; that person will have felt love for oneself and is full enough to be able to give another person the happiness they feel within themselves.

A person can never belittle another soul if they have love for their own soul. So no matter what your coated layer of skin looks like, it doesn't matter at all! you have to remind yourself that you are your soul and if your soul is beautiful it will shine through that coated layer of skin. Your skin should not dictate how beautiful you are, let the beauty of your soul beautify your face.

oh by the way! I don't go out like that LOL (snapchat moment)

Sunrise

The most beautiful things can only be admired from a distance   and the most beautiful things makes you feel as beautiful.

Recently I find myself awake at the time of sunrise, or usually after praying Fajr (Islamic prayer) I don't tend to go back to sleep straight after, rather I watch the sun rise.
There is a peace and tranquillity of mind that I have at this time of the day. I feel as though my mind is finally at peace, it's really just everything about this time of the day which seems so supernatural.. the beauty; the sound; the feeling in general is different! it feels as though nature works together to create this tranquillity. My favourite part is the sound of early birds talking? singing I don't know.. its soothing, so much beauty we miss out while we sleep. But the spiritual tranquillity in the air at that time is worth losing sleep over..

 some beautiful snaps I capture at sun rise.

Also during that time of day is the best time to meditate, it would be a lie to say that nothing ever sticks in your mind or bothers you by keeping you up to over think.. well I know it's really not healthy to over think but sometimes its hard not to. So my advise (coming from a spiritual person lol!) to pray and then to meditate, which will allow you to gain inner peace. Even for a couple of minutes, just sit somewhere comfortably.. inhale and then exhale slowly but take deep breaths. Inner peace is something so important but we are usually deprived of it. It's good to remind yourself every now and then that you are your soul, and it should be cleansed with prayer and meditation. However meditation is an on going journey, its not something you will master straight away or even in many years, its hard to block all the negative acquaintances at once, it takes practice and patience.
So remember to focus on what makes you feel light, try to get rid of the things weighing you down.. For one its not healthy for you and the most important, no one should have the power to control your thoughts or disturb the peace within you.

Finally if something makes your soul feel at peace then do it.. even if it means to wake up early and watch the sunrise. (it's worth it I'm telling you!! ahaa)

A day in London

A day in London

Hello London!, just like every other day in a city, the speed and its on going busy atmosphere wasn't at all unusual. Tubes/busses/bicycles.. you name another transport! believe me, it would probably be on the streets of London. But on that note,

 London busses!! is another story, I have never felt so suffocated in a public transport before, now I am very thankful for the not so cramped busses in Manchester lol! however I wasn't so surprised at how busy tubes were since I have already experienced travelling on tubes before.

London City Centre. Maybe not the best of weathers but HEY! its Britain! oh and by the way its not the brightest idea to be wearing heels in the city! believe me! unless you don't mind hours of a painful walk. luckily I had brought a pair of comfy flats along with me, probably the best idea I had all day haaha. 

Haa a quick snap of my facial expression in Canary Wharf. So beautiful and tranquil. Definitely a place I will visit again... and again lol although Canary Wharf is said to be much more beautiful at night when all the lights are on.. but it still won over my excitement even during daylight! although I'm curious to see how it looks at night but maybe next time :)