*Some people leave an extraordinary mark on the world when they depart and Maya Angelou, the award-winning poet, author and civil rights campaigner will always be remembered as a woman who inspired millions with her immense wisdom. Fatefully, her last message on her Twitter account was: “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.”
Here are some of my favourite Maya quotes:
“Try to be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud”
“It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.”
“I do not trust people who don’t love themselves and yet tell me, ‘I love you.’ There is an African saying which is: Be careful when a naked person offers you a shirt.”
“If you’re always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”
“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope”
I imagine Maya’s autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will be flying off the shelves again!
*I adore the smell of freshly ground coffee and although I’m not a regular drinker, I love organic, Ethiopian coffee. Apparently coffee was first discovered around AD 850 in the Kaffa region of Ethiopia and then travelled to Yemen around 600 years ago. This week I tried Boon Coffee (the tree, coffee bean and the drink are called ‘boon’ in Ethiopia) – it has a gorgeously rich aroma and taste. Even better, part of the portion of the profit from this organic coffee brand goes directly to help Ethiopian children in coffee farming communities attend school.
*Hayley from BeStro, the brainchild behind Dubai’s cutest raw vegan eatery, is holding a free workshop – a super foods and raw vegan chocolate truffles master class at noon this Friday 30th May in Galeries Lafayette.
*As some of you may already know, I recently qualified as a Zen meditation teacher and so will be giving a session after my lovely friend’s Hatha yoga class this Saturday in Safa Park (Gate 5) at 6pm. Look out for the yogis with their mats on the grass when you walk in!
Love & Light,
