Tag: AtoZChallenge

A to Z challenge 2022- Reflections

My reflections of A to Z challenge 2022

This year my theme was;

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

This was my third year doing this challenge. I enjoyed myself very much this year like the previous two years.

This year, April was the month of fasting for Muslims so I couldn’t give as much time I wanted to the other bloggers doing this challenge. I did however got to visit a few blogs regularly like Maggie, Yinglan, Tanya, Lauren, Ella, Paula, Jim, Ruth and Fandango. There were others I wanted to visit but due to scarcity of time couldn’t.

I do plan to visit some of the posts I missed in the coming month.

April was also the National poetry month and I got to read great poem daily from my favorite bloggers like Punam, Mich, Melanie and many others.

My heartfelt gratitude to all those kind friends who visited my posts daily and gave their positive feedback.

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A to Z challenge Z for Zakat

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Zakat is the 4th pillar of Islamic faith.

As one of the pillars of Islam, zakat is a form of obligatory charity that has the potential to ease the suffering of millions. Zakat is calculated on annual savings and 2.5% of which is given in charity.

“And establish prayer and give zakat, and whatever good you put forward for yourselves – you will find it with Allah.” (2:110, Qur’an)

With the literal meaning of the word being ‘to cleanse,’ Muslims believe that paying zakat purifies, increases and blesses the remainder of their wealth.

Zakat is also a spiritual connection to one’s maker – to purify your wealth for the will of Allah is to acknowledge that everything we own belongs to Him, and it is for Him that we strive to end poverty and help our brothers and sisters.

Zakat is paid to deserving people so that there is equitable distribution of wealth in the society. Ideally, a Muslim society should be free from poverty and Zakat helps us to achieve this target.

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A to Z challenge Y for Yellow

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Yellow is the cheeriest color

Anything yellow can make us happy

Bright yellow sun or the sunflower

Fried eggs on the breakfast plate

Sweet little duckies or lemons in lemonade

All flowers yellow, like roses, tulips or daisies

Lemon meringue pie or mango ice cream

You may have guessed that I really love yellow

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A to Z challenge X for Xenial host

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Finding words starting from X is difficult. So I’m sharing this post which I did for A to Z challenge last year! 😅

Xenial (hospitable)

A xenial host opens their doors along with their hearts

Their table and homes always welcome 

Be you a friend or a total stranger 

They give unconditionally and generously 

An enviable trait to emulate if we can

Find that generosity of spirit in us

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A to Z challenge W for Why

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Why?

Why do we get our best ideas when we are about to drop off to sleep!

And forget about them when we wake up?

Why when we start for an appointment on time, we are late by half an hour

And if we leave five minutes early, we have bushels of time to spare?

Why the day we wash the car, it is going to rain so hard and cover it in mud

And if we don’t wash it hoping it will rain to wash away the dirt, it doesn’t?

Why when we want to cook something special for someone special

It will be quite a failure in the departments of taste and looks

And a meal cooked in fifteen minutes, comes out looking like cordon bleu?

A special day, a special occasion and doing the best we can to look dazzling

Turns out that the dress, chosen with care is unflattering 

And after hours spend on the hair, it’s fallen flat!

Why the best laid plan of mice and men often go awry?

Why?

I am sure you must have experienced such incidents and have asked, Why? 

This poem is a re-share as I wrote in three years back!

Hope you will share some of your experiences in comments.

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A to Z challenge V for Vaccination

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

With the drop in infection rate of Covid-19, the topic of vaccination has taken a backseat.

But vaccines are nonetheless very important. Not only for Covid but also for other infectious diseases. Some time ago some people started this mid-information campaign against childhood vaccinations saying that they can cause Autism and other issues. There are many authentic studies conducted and they all disapprove this theory.

Preventive vaccination is the tool we have to protect ourselves and our children against deadly diseases like smallpox, polio, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and many more. It’s a long list and the latest is Covid vaccination which has doubtlessly prevented numerous deaths and hospitalizations. I myself am an example as I got a very mild case of Covid because of vaccination.

What are your views about vaccination?

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A to Z challenge U for Updates

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Please wait your app/ laptop/ pc/ phone/ watch is UPDATING!

While I agree that updates are at times necessary, most of the time they are a pain in the backside. The most irritating and dangerous are those on your windows. They can take a long time and the results are often dismaying.

iPhone and Apple Watch are frequently updated and while most of them seem to make BNI difference at all, some have known to stop the device from functioning properly. I had such an experience sometime back when my iPhone 6 just stopped doing anything at all. Luckily my son hadn’t updated his phone and he could fix the issue. One thing that can be admired is that after these mess-ups, there is immediately another update to fix what the previous update destroyed.

Do you have automatic updates turned on on your devices? Or do you read the reviews before installing updates?

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A to Z challenge T for Tears

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Changing tears to smiles
Make someone happy, add some joy
Hold a baby or child crying 
Listen to their woes and issues 
Be the clown do something to make them happy 
Some need food or a helping hand
Others may need reassurance or safety 
Even a small gesture can alleviate someone’s hurt
It gives you unmeasurable joy too
When you change tears to smiles

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How do you change tears to smiles?

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A to Z challenge S for Sharing

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

Sharing- One of our biggest desire

From the day a child can talk, they like to share their thoughts, their joys and sorrows. As we grow older we all want people who are open to listening to us.

We all want to share our views, our worries, and our hopes. If those we love spare us time, we gladly do so with them. But if they are too busy, we turn to others, for if not loved ones or friends, even strangers would do. Sharing is such a natural instinct that we do it regardless of our level of familiarity with our listeners. That’s why conversations with strangers become so meaningful and important at times. The fact that we may never meet these people gives our sharing a whole new level of comfort.

So if you have older people in your family, or in your circle of friends, do try to give them your time and attention. They have a lot of stories, anecdotes, and life experiences to share. Sit with them for a while even if they with tell you stories you’ve heard many times before. I promise, you’ll rise up from that meeting a wiser and kinder person.

Do you like to share your thoughts and worries with family and friends?

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A to Z challenge R for Rainy day friend

Personal experiences, incidents and smiles

They say ‘Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone’

Good weather friends are easy to make
It’s a challenge to find those who’ll stand with you
When things are difficult, circumstances are complicated 
If you are lucky to have a friend that will hold your hand 
Or offer an ear to listen when you need them
Value and cherish this friendship as it’s priceless 
And if you’re lucky beyond belief, you’ll be such a friend
Yourself!

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Rainy day friend or sunny day friend?Who are you?

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