Transitions and Transformations

I have made two transatlantic journeys. The first from the desert of Kuwait to the tropics of Miami, USA. I was 12 years old. There was nothing familiar in my new home, not the climate nor the culture or the values.  There was so much to straddle, to learn and unlearn.

Then I returned to the Middle East in my 30s. I thought I knew what I was coming back to.  But that was not the case in the least. Bahrain was very American, down to the Hardees and Applebees which was disconcerting and very Western in many ways.  Perhaps it also was that I left the East as a migrant worker’s child and returned as an U.S. expat.

Everything changes.

In my 40’s, I immigrated to Ireland with my daughter.  So, in a way, I had the experience of moving to a new country just as my parents did when they emigrated to the U.S.  However, I was familiar with Ireland because I had been visiting my in-laws for the previous 10 years.  But, visiting is very different to living in a place.  And although I was confident with my ability to navigate new places and assimilate into different cultures because I lived in many different cities as well as in different countries, Ireland was altogether different. While there is a shared language, the cultural values are unique.  At the end, we ended up returning to Bahrain so that our family could be reunited.

I have also experienced alchemical & spiritual inner shifts mediated by hormonal changes of Pregnancy, Birth, and Menopause – all within 7 years during my 40’s. Life turned upside down, inside out, and all sorts of everything and I was reborn twice within a decade! Read more about these transitions & transformations below.