Every year\u2019s Ramazan (using the Turkish spelling) brings with it so many emotions. An anxiousness to reflect. A sense of doom. An optimism about the month ahead. But I think most of all a reminder of connectedness with something larger than myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The hours are finally reaching a point of not being physically destructive. After 25 years of experimenting I\u2019ve finally figured out the best foods. And so as I down my first peanut butter, banana, and mom\u2019s homemade strawberry jam, I\u2019m focusing this year on three goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(1) Spend purposeful time in reflection and forcing myself to both write down and confront those reflections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(2) No angry and negative thoughts about the people around me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
(3) Maintain an exercise regimen – no matter how simple – to invest in mind, soul, and body. But not in a way that would leave me worse off for trying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My hope is that I can really unlock what this last year has done to me, and find the good and the bad and the growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But first I\u2019m going to chug down another 20 Oz of water before the threads of the sun come over the edges of the horizon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good luck to everyone and may Allah accept your fast. <\/p>\n
Every year\u2019s Ramazan (using the Turkish spelling) brings with it so many emotions. An anxiousness to reflect. A sense of doom. An optimism about the month ahead. But I think most of all a reminder of connectedness with something larger than myself. The hours are finally reaching a point of not being physically destructive. After […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQyAq-vL","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":728,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/01\/01\/2014-resolutions\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":0},"title":"2014 resolutions","date":"January 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"2014 is here! and it's going to be a big one (I'm turning 30!). In 2013, I gave up soda for my New Year's resolution. I killed it (I only had 24 oz all year), and my waist line agrees. I really missed soda though. In 2012 when I gave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Year Resolutions"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":229,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2010\/01\/02\/leaving-the-bubble-behind\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":1},"title":"Leaving the bubble behind","date":"January 2, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It has taken me almost six months to write this post. It's been floating in my head for a long time. Since she left really. But I had to really know what I wanted to say. This isn't a breakup post with a person or a closing of a chapter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1005,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2014\/03\/14\/ending-the-week-with-a-smile\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":2},"title":"Ending the week with a smile","date":"March 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Today so many good things have happened. Micky came home last night, and we went out to breakfast as a family. The kids had their chocolate pancakes. We had our breakfast foods. And then we dropped the babies off at school. It was a really nice family breakfast (even though\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life Updates"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":173,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2009\/09\/10\/taking-responsibility\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":3},"title":"Taking Responsibility","date":"September 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The flip side of calling out those who can't compete is taking responsibility when you fail your team, or you fail yourself. I feel like tonight I did both. We lost again, and I was a very selfish player. I didn't move the ball well, and I didn't play solid\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":220,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2009\/10\/30\/frankly-my-dear-no-one-gives-a-damn\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":4},"title":"Frankly my dear, no one gives a damn","date":"October 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"That's how I feel right now about my need to make excuses for myself of late. No one gives a damn, and nor should they. I don't have any good ones... there rarely is a good one. I need a good reason to move forward, and I think that I've\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":257,"url":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/2010\/02\/12\/reflecting-on-a-good-week\/","url_meta":{"origin":1969,"position":5},"title":"Reflecting on a good week","date":"February 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a really good week this week. That's a very rare statement for me over the last two years. The general problem has been me. Sometimes the problem has just been the uncontrollable set of circumstances which life delivers on us. With all of that though, I had a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "just thinking out loud"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onvural.net\/melih\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}