Quite So!

I noticed that we tend to use the term 'Karma' rather loosely these days, and decided to create this episode where I trace back the word 'Karma' to its origins in India and Asia and compare it to the modern westernised concept of the word.

Today's episode explores hate in relation to other emotions: pain, love, jealousy and desire, misunderstandings; also and most importantly, your hate of yourself.

What defines a hero? Is a hero all good? Is good all good and bad all bad? Is the villain in a given scenario all bad? How do we decide what or who is good or bad? All these questions are tackled in today's episode on Heroism.

Resilience is a rich word that encompasses strength, endurance, determination and toughness, yet also implies adaptability and flexibility. In today's episode, resilience is discussed at the level of the group (the Lebanese population) and at the level of the individual.

Our fear of the other is what drives us to discriminate and alienate and maybe even hate other human beings. In this episode, I give you my Middle-Eastern take on otherness by discussing religion, race, and sexuality.

This week's episode was definitely triggered by the war in Gaza. However, since this is not a political channel, the episode partly discusses humanity's response to the war through social media and protests. Of course, I am pro-peace and advocate only that for humanity.

If you've read Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert, or watched the movie, then you are familiar with the Italian saying: Il Dolce Far Niente (the sweetness of doing nothing). This episode touches on the issue of getting out of the everyday rat race hustle we are so used to, along with a how to section: how to slow down at work, and how to slow down at home.

This episode is divided into two main parts: physical imperfections and mental imperfections. And remember, you are perfectly imperfect!

How loyal should you be to your workplace? In your friendships? In your love connections? Tune in to delve into my personal experiences and viewpoints on these three aspects of loyalty...

Having high expectations from others and from yourself (and even from certain situations) can cause you a lot of anxiety and stress and misery. In this episode, this topic is discussed from various angles, including how to let go of expectations and lead a happier life.

Interested in finding out more about how creativity works? What about how your mental state affects your creativity? To delve deeper into creativity and all its aspects and its effect on your life, tune in to today's episode!

Do you know that your "weird" is those most precious pieces of your personality that make you, well, you? So embrace your weird and celebrate yourself!

This episode includes my definition of social bullying and my take on how to deal with it. I also end with an idea on how each individual can curb social bullying.

Have you ever gone out to lunch by yourself? Without even looking at your phone? Well, of you haven't, it's about time you tried it. Listen to this week's episode to find out some tips and tricks on how to successfully do that.

Many have gone on a quest for happiness, and many have theorized about it. In this episode, I give you my version of what happiness is, and I give you my idea of how it can be practically attained.

If you are thinking about adopting a dog, this is the episode for you. I give you a glimpse into the reality of having a dog in your home; no fairytale version here...

Death is a topic most would like to avoid, but facing it prepares you for the inevitable and enhances the quaility of your life.

To serve others should come from a place of love, and caregivers should be careful not to reach a state of resentment during their servitude. Hence, the importance of solitude.

In this episode, solitude / aloneness is viewed as a choice to spend time with oneself and to dare to dream; and with dreaming comes beauty in life as dreams seep into one's reality.

In this episode, I dicuss how girls and women have a powerful voice that they must project out into the world. They must not shush themselves and tamp down their voices just because that is how things are supposed to be.

Today's episode includes war stories told by survivors of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), and I am one of them.

In this first episode, I tell you, my dear listeners, about how my YouTube channel I Read Aloud (@ireadaloud) came about and how this new podcast, Casual Fridays, took its first breath.