Appreciate life, regardless

🌈1405 Sunday, 10 May 2026 20:09

London

My mind is jumping from one thing to another and not staying in one place. I found myself thinking about someone I had not seen in 7 years. I started writing about it, but it felt too personal, so I removed it. Then I found myself Googling and researching something else, and suddenly 15 minutes had gone by.

I woke up early today and felt very, very, very fresh in the morning. I went to bed around 12:45 last night.

It is now 20:58, and I am sitting at the desk in Knightsbridge. I can hear someone speaking far away, sounds like Chinese. The water is flowing in front of me in a fountain. It is a little cloudy, half grey, but quiet, mild, and beautiful. Everything feels still and calm.

Being in this peace, I make a wish for all the people who are feeling any discomfort in life in any way. Please, please, please God, help everyone heal. Amen!

I mean, generally, I am just feeling good and grounded. The evening feels very pleasant. I am on my own, but interconnected to every single thing around me, as if I am a part of it. In this state, I ask: what would it take for me, and for you, to feel this connected and grounded all the time?

I woke up early today at 07:30. I felt grateful while lying in bed that it was before 8 am. I read 1 rukuh of Surah Kahf in bed, then read Dad’s long good morning blessings message, then affirmations. After that, I sat at the edge of the bed and meditated with 40 Surah Fatima.

I walked to the kitchen and made a creatine drink, then walked back to my room and drank it while sitting down. I went to the loo, brushed my teeth, and got dressed in black ripped jeans. I had my hoodie on and, just as I was coming out of the room and locking it behind me, the girl from the next flat was there. She said, “Good morning Ash, how are you?” I replied, “I’m good, you?”

I left home at 08:20 on my bike, heading towards Carnaby Street from Queen Square, Bloomsbury, which is where I live now. It is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful area.

After a few minutes riding on Oxford Street, I reached Marshall Street Leisure Centre. The roads were still pretty quiet. It was Sunday morning, and even the few people I saw made me wonder who they were and what they were doing so early on Oxford Street.

I only did 30 minutes of rowing on the machine, and my old workmate and friend Benji was there at the gym. We waved at each other while I was on the rowing machine. I sweated a little around my lower chest. Perhaps tomorrow I should increase it from 30 minutes to 45 minutes.

What would it take for me, and for you, to feel very energetic tomorrow and be able to do an extra 15 minutes of workout? And may all negative mind patterns please be removed, across time, dimensions, space, and reality.

After the workout, I returned home straight away. It was 09:30. I was on a call with Mother at 09:50. I had a piece of bun, a pack of crisps, and a portion of chicken for breakfast.

I had a decent 20-minute call with Mother. Dad was home, resting after lunch. My nephew had been visiting an hour earlier when I checked the camera from bed before getting up, but he had already left. Mother was resting too.

I told her that I had woken up early, gone to the gym, and was now eating breakfast. I also told her that we had our building meeting today and would probably go for lunch with our building mates. We said we would catch up later and said our goodbyes.

For the rest of the morning, I just stayed in, doing this and that until 13:50. Then I got up and washed my face with cold water. The water felt very nice. I washed my face with cold water about 100 times.

I was wearing shorts then, but I put on my tracksuit bottoms, took a jumper in my hand, and went downstairs to the ground-floor boardroom. We have a private boardroom in the building where we hold building meetings. It is very fancy.

About 10 of us met up and started with introductions – where we live, what we do, even things like which fridge we use and which bathroom, since we share kitchens and bathrooms in a four-floor house with 3 massive kitchens and 7 bathrooms.

We all had a really good laugh for the next couple of hours. It was so much fun that we decided to go for a pint at the local pub around the corner near Russell Square Station. There was no food there, so we walked across the road towards the little Tesco Express, and there was another pub there called The Friend at hand.

About 9 of us went in together like a big gang, and suddenly the pub became really busy and crowded.

I had a Sunday roast with lamb and a cider. It was so much fun, and we all laughed so much during that hour and a half there.

We returned home around 17:30. I had 30 minutes to rest, then got ready and headed towards Knightsbridge to spend my usual weekend evenings here.

3 things I felt grateful for today:

• I am so grateful for the new place and the new flatmates.

• Grateful for the delicious roast lamb lunch.

• Grateful that some sort of writing got done after sitting here since 20:00, and now it is 22:01.

I shall walk around Harrods now and get something to eat.

What would it take for me, and for you, to wake up 10 times bigger, thicker, leaner, more muscular, more energetic, confident, happy, grateful, wake up early, make it to the workout, have everything okay with family, friends, and everyone around us, and then have a relaxing, relaxing, relaxing, yet productive day tomorrow?

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Goodnight, good luck!

Ash Khaleem