Guest: Farahana Kassam
Farahana shares how she has encountered a great deal of emotional pain and suffering through her life and took the time to expose publicly for the first time the traumas of growing up. She discloses being raised in a household where her parents did not get along, there was physical abuse that she witnessed, and she learned to set her own needs aside to become her mother’s referee and protector. With vulnerability, Farahana shares that her parents today are not reflective of who they were while she was growing up and that she has always been protective of them, thus, keeping her true experiences to herself. She conveys deeply how embarrassing or hurting her parents in any way is not something she ever wished to do and is the reason why she has waited until present day to share this ‘untold’ part of her story. Farahana also uncovered a dysfunctional marriage that she was in and how she fought and tackled cancer. Part of the pivot in her spiritual journey is when she encountered mindfulness and learned how to leave the part of her life that was led by anger, rage, and confusion. It has taught her to shift her mindset, look at semantics and language to redirect her thoughts. Mindfulness has given her the ability to decipher between fact and narrative. Her key message to the listeners is that: as people, we aren’t always going to have it together — it takes work, even inner work will be a lot of work to tap into, inner work takes commitment on a daily basis, take time to look into the mirror without judgement and go through each layer, one at a time.
Guest Bio: Farahana is a published author and certified Mindfulness Meditation Coach. She is a firm believer that life happens for us, not to us. Her expertise focuses on bringing the practice of mindfulness and meditation to children, educators, parents and medical professionals in educational, therapeutic and corporate settings. Through formal training and seminars for adults and creative storytelling for younger audiences, Farahana uses her creativity and passion to bring mindfulness to everyone she serves. She continues to take her life experiences and turn them into her life purpose. She says, “our life experiences can either be used as a step down or a step up and we have the power to decide what it will be”.
Farahana was born in Vancouver, Canada and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, and currently resides in Dallas, Texas. She is a mother to her beautiful 9-yr-old son and claims that she is here to live her best life yet.
Passionate about: All the programs and learning offered by Mindful Schools. www.mindfulschools.org
