I remember Ramadans as a teenager in our Tenafly home, you’d try and wake me up for sehri (pre-dawn meal); some mornings I’d make it downstairs, but typically I’d fall back asleep and you’d come up with a bowl of cereal and banana so I could eat something before it was too late.

I’m not sure how the conversation with the Pakistani High Commissioner in London started with my telling him the story of how Arif and I first met and he poured the whole bottle of chilli pepper into the curry he was cooking—not the usual way to start a formal meeting with a high-level diplomat you’re meeting for the first time!

My dad bought this figurine from his family’s auction house in Kolkata when he was maybe 18 or 19. Why did this piece catch his eye?

Be present, take your time, enjoy the process, let life simmer, take a deep breath and cool it down, savor the results — and slurp as needed!

Whenever you came into the room to check on Arif, you stood by his bedside and placed your hand on his arm or held his hand in yours; that physical touch was so reassuring, even I felt it.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.” Not exactly the words you want to hear from a doctor. “It’s not malignant,” she said. “But it is atypical.”

My newest book is “BenchTalk: Wisdoms Inspired in Nature” — a collection of heartfelt reflections, gratitudes, and life lessons by people from all walks of life, young and old, shared in yellow journals—a treasure trove of hope and connection when we need it the most.

Lying prone on a day bed gave me time to think about what I wanted to say to my dear Zayd as he embarks on this next chapter in his life—building his second start-up in one of the greatest cities in the world, while exploring the “life of the mind” at an incredible institution that holds so many memories for Arif and myself

I’m reminded me of the very first personal story I wanted to write — the one that revealed to me the power of our ordinary stories, and which ended up changing my life.

‘Fall down seven, get up eight’ is a Japanese proverb I often think about. My daughter tells me, it should be get up 100 for all the times I’ve fallen. But I’m getting back up!

I walked into the suite, he turned around and saw me, and poured the whole bottle of red pepper in his curry!

I see a story in just about everything; and then ask myself what’s the deeper meaning. Like this katori. It had a story to tell. I simply asked.

An honor to present the 30 Days book and journal to the Pakistani Ambassador in Paris.

As I walked in, a bestie came over to hug me, adding with a twinkle that I looked like a cupcake — actually, I was going for cotton candy, I said with a wink. 😉 Joy!

“My Baba would say,” Dalia starts but has to hold back tears, “that if nobody’s criticizing you, that means you’re not doing any work.

Capture your own story in the 30 Days Journal.

If I could share one message with the world, it would be this.

And this is how our friendship began, on January 1st, 2022 – one story leading to another, about our fathers and mothers, about pottery, special friends, kind gestures, and pixie sticks… unraveling, story by story, the threads that bind us.

A 2022 Kindness Calendar with inspiring stories, 365 ways to share kindness, and joyful art. Support KindWorks and spread kindness.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison shares a wisdom from his Mom, who passed away in 2020.