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Compassion is the guiding force that bridges the gaps between individuals and fosters understanding in a world often fraught with discord. It is the profound ability to empathize with the joys and sorrows of others, to recognize their struggles as our own, and to extend a helping hand without judgment or expectation. Through compassion, we acknowledge the shared human experience, embracing diversity and uniting in solidarity. It is not merely a fleeting emotion but a conscious choice to act with kindness, to alleviate suffering, and to nurture connections that transcend barriers of culture, race, and creed. In practicing compassion, we not only uplift those in need but also cultivate a sense of fulfillment and purpose within ourselves, for it is through serving others that we truly find meaning in our own lives. Please listen to this episode if you are trying to integrate more compassion into your work or life.

Any realizations before we wrap of the year and toss it in the books to welcome 2024? Please join me as I share my realizations as you reflection on yours to move into the new year!

Please listen to today's episode on the “Savior Complex” that leads to burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma among the helping professions. In this episode, I will reference an article that shares information about the “Savior Complex” while exploring some of the common behaviors that serve as precursors in developing the “Savior Complex” to mitigate and instigate changes to those behaviors. The episode will close with a self care activity

May this new year, you keep it real by keeping it simple silly and not getting caught in cycles of accomplishing those realistic goals and expectations

Although the holiday season is a time of family gatherings and gift giving, it's also a time in which many people face stress, loneliness, and pressure to participate when they may not ‘feel' to do so. Please listen on how to tackle that stress and address your authentic needs at this time.

This is the time to “Take it all off” and take a look into the mirror to understand who you really are and where do you wan to go!

Sometimes we just need to hit the pause button to step back and reflect on our purpose. While purpose isn't just about doing but rather on being and understanding what really matters the most to us in our lives. After a long break, I'm doing this episode on hitting the pause button to reconnect with purpose by recognizing and emphasizing the things that matter the most. So, listeners I'd like you to hit the pause button to listen to this episode as you reflect on what matters the most in your life.

Challengers welcome back! May is Mental Health Awareness and Military Appreciation month, so to honor these two events, I decided to do a topic on Mindfulness and mindset by interviewing two wonderful speakers who are advocates of health and wellness. Please join me as I converse with Bridget & Eric Siscko on implementing the mindset of mindful living.

Many of us experience the inevitable changes and transitions when our parents age. We witness their vulnerabilities and we witness the shifts in our roles and responsibilities. The journey with aging parents opens our eyes to the reality of life and gives us insight about ourselves. So how do we regulate our emotions to process these changes whether it's through health conditions or other events ? Please listen to this episode as I share with you my personal experience with my parents as they transition with changes in adulthood.

Please listen to this episode if you are are curious to know, “ Does The Body Keep Score?” Our aches and pains are somatic signals calling for our attention. Do we often overlook these signals by writing them off as ‘old age' or ‘bad choices?' Dr. David Forbes gives us insight about healing using our bodies rather than our minds to make changes.

Challengers welcome back to Challenge Me 4 U! Did you know that last week, Facebook ‘faced' a tremendous decline in users ? As a social media giant, it was a platform that aimed to connect users with one another, but over the past years it has transformed into a toxic playground of marketing ads and posts that leave users feeling disconnected, exhausted, and unfulfilled. To elaborate further, I interviewed my former colleague, Mr. Chris Arias, who shares his experience that led to his decrease in using Facebook as a tool to connect. Please join me as we explore this topic further. (Statistical data was obtained by The Guardian: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/06/first-time-history-facebook-decline-has-tech-giant-begun-crumble).

Last year we were healing and this year we are building resilience! Challengers please listen to this episode on cultivating resilience. We have been through the challenges presenting by the pandemic and we have learned new skills to survive and thrive so let's refine our self-care strategies to build resilience and move forward with our goals for the year of 2022!

Today, I had a lovely guest speaker who posses an exuberant spirit, she is a health coach, an amazing wife, a wonderful mother, a daredevil, a cancer thriver/survivor, a runner, a workout guru, and a fashionista, but most importantly a genuine human being who is willing to share with us her journey of how she decided to live her life to the fullest by living in the NOW! Please listen to Mrs. Sukanya Sridhar's episode and if you are interested in receiving her style of health coaching to transform your health; please visit her website https://trainyourbrain66.wixsite.com/mysite

We have often heard of the phrase “Paying It Forward” where we pass on the act of goodness to others but let's take a moment to gain insight on how to ‘Pay It Inward ‘by developing the lens of going within ourselves to advocate and address our needs while recognizing our values or identifying what's important in our lives. In the service fields, we often find ourselves putting the needs of other before ours while minimizing or ignoring what we need. This can lead to stress, burnout, and pose risks in other areas of our lives. When we understand who we are and what we need, then we can understand ourselves and others better and serve wholeheartedly. NVC or non-violent communication is one of the tools of language that allows us to learn how to communicate effectively using empathy. So please join me and my wonderful guest speaker, Danielle Reiff as we share our experience, strength and goals to Pay It Inward as we serve others in our jobs, communities, and relationships.

It's the season of changes. The fall does bring evident changes. As we are witnessing these changes, we notice that for some changes we welcome them and for others we may not. We may feel uncomfortable so what do we when we experience the uncomfortable or unpleasant changes, please listen to this episode.

Challengers welcome back to Challenge Me 4 U! Are You Privileged and Not Know that you are ? It's okay, this is not about shaming or guilt tripping anyone. This is about becoming aware of our privileges or the lack of it to advocate for bridging the gaps. The gaps in understanding the barriers experienced by marginalized or disenfranchised groups to help build opportunities and resources while expanding upon diversity and inclusion. Please listen to this episode as I share with you an article on the 5 types of Privileges.

Dear Challengers, Can any of you remember who exactly shaped your lens or definition of success? What did that look like? And..How did that impact your life? Definitely you experienced the results from someone else's wisdom but how did it feel within, was there a timeline imposed and I invite you to challenge some of those old ideologies as you are listening to this episode.

Welcome to Season 6! Dear listeners please join me today on a wonderful topic of an Immigrant's perspective of creating home abroad. I'm delighted and honored to have a dear family friend, Dr. Tasmia Ahmed share her and her family's experience as immigrants integrating their culture, tradition, and values from Bangladesh with American values while also shedding light on cultural awareness and competency.

Dear listeners/challengers, we all may have pondered at some point in our lives about navigating our unique personalities into the mainstream culture. How do we discern and balance between our values and normative social influence to integrate into a community? Please listen as I share my own research about this topic, “Navigating Through Social Norms.”

Listeners, please join me today on the topic of The Healing Power of Laughter! Do you ever find yourself a bit too serious or extremely focused with the mundane, that you often forget to smile or engage in lighthearted activities as a way to decompress. You may have heard the famous saying, Laughter is the The best medicine, so let's hear it today as I have our guest speaker, Ashaad Hipps share his favorite form of self-care through humor and laughter.

Never leave home without it because if you do, you won't know what is right for you! That's right, dear listeners, I shamelessly speak about this word in my episode so please listen and hone on your ‘B' Word skills!

Less is More? How?! You might be thinking in what sense? Dear Challengers, I want to share with you the most essential and profound notion that doing less is actually more when it comes to productivity. We have all been raised on this belief that hard work or constantly accomplishing things in order to be valued, so let's challenge this point that doing less allows us to bring more to the table of who we truly are by connecting more with ourselves while accepting that it's okay to do less and not be on this constant wheel of productivity to determine our worth.

It's all about Family! Listeners welcome to season 5 episode 5. It's been a minute, been busy with my grad school finals, but had the wonderful opportunity to interview, Ms.Analise Taylor. She speaks and shares the legacy her father had created for his family. She is honored to speak about how he set the foundation for her family's future generation. So as you are listening, dear listeners pay your respects to those leaders in your family who set the foundation.

Please join me today on a lovely topic Transformation or “Change Begins at a Home.” An article written by LCSW, Geralyn Ryan. She is our guest speaker today so I'm honored to have her join me as she shares her journey and reflections with us to give us an opportunity on how we can begin changing within and within our homes.

Challengers! Welcome again to season 5 episode 2. Today I would like to share the topic or address this question on how social workers facilitate social change ? I'd like to share my insight about the profession as well as answering my wHy, I chose this line of work. Also tune into my self-care activity in the end.

Welcome to season 5! Dear listeners please join me on a topic commemorating my maternal grandmother who was a real challenger of her times. A woman who came from a strict religious culture yet challenged these rigid systems to raise 7 children and came to the United States to provide them with opportunities. This topic will be given by Mr. Sajjad M. Qadir who was the only son and the youngest of all and supported my grandmother until her death. Dear listeners, If you have anyone in your family who went through life living through thick and thin, then let's celebrate and commemorate their efforts with gratitude and love.

Today, I'm delighted to share an episode dedicated to Dr. Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication process. A process in the form of language that allows us to connect deeply with ourselves and with others. To elaborate further, I had the pleasure of interviewing a seasoned non-violent instructor, Eze Sanchez who shares his experience through his personal lens and perspective as an instructor to provide us with insight of this transformative process. Please join us as we have this conscious conversation to relish the art of empathy in NVC.

Challengers please join me today on the topic of enhancing pediatric healthcare with a dear friend and pediatrician, Dr. Nirupama Gupta. Who recently opened her practice at BLUEJAY Pediatrics-Direct Primary Care in Leesburg, Va. As we evolve daily here at Challenge Me 4 U through coaching, connection, and community as a whole.

Please join me today on the topic of conscious choices in self-care. We all talk about self care but find ourselves not having the time or resources to do so. So what's getting in the way. Dear challengers, ask yourself today, what choices am I making to live the life I want? Am I conscious that I even have a choice to choose. Stay tuned and listen to this episode to discover.

Please join me today as I share with you this topic on friendships which are conscious connections that nourish us during our challenges or success and how can we appreciate these connections that serve our growth. An article presents 7 traits that are crucial in developing friendships from the heart.

Please join me today on welcoming this new year of 2021! May we heal in this year, to persevere without fear, so we can rehabilitate and elevate. As I list my 20 takeaways from 2020, that gave us an unprecedented opportunity to cultivate resilience.

Please join me today in a delightful conversation on The Barefoot Path to Authenticity. I have a wonderful guest speaker, Mr. Justin Dreyer, who will share his experience, journey, strength, and wisdom that has paved an authentic path to fulfill his sole purpose. He fulfills his purpose by implementing the Wim Hof method to allow himself to reconnect with his body, mind, and earth. Changing and healing, one step at a time.

Please join me today on a very important subject of embodying resilience as we face challenges. I have a wonderful guest speaker, Mrs. Marvene Edwards who will share her experience and her resilience that inspires many of us to continue to get up and face the world again. She is dedicated in serving the vulnerable population with her support to her stars and peers at Positively U.

Excited for the holidays in hopes to spend time with loved ones? Let's do it all safely and effectively as we celebrate this season by taking effective measures during COVID-19. Please join me today as I offer some suggestions and precautions to ensure your holiday season is filled with health, wellness, and joy!

Challengers! Please join me today on this topic for the need of advocacy in our education system in United States. This pandemic of COVID-19 is giving us an opportunity to identify the barriers in our education, health, and government systems that are correlated due to lack of awareness and proactive civic engagement. To elaborate more, I have a wonderful guest speaker, Mrs. Noorain Ahmed who will share her challenging experience as a parent educating a child with autism. Her experience is an example of why we need to go out and become active citizens and participants in our communities to enhance the welfare of our population.

Is there hope for victims enduring the detrimental impact of domestic violence during COVID-19? As we are sifting through this pandemic, social services are still struggling with providing optimal care or resources for victims of domestic violence. Please join me today as I discuss this topic with a special and wonderful guest speaker, Dr. Uma Sarmistha on her findings through her research and collaboration on this topic

The focus of this season is to emphasize community care while remembering to hone in on self-care. So, today I welcome you to explore ways to improve our connection among our families, social groups, workplace staff, and other associations.

Challengers! Please Join Me Today on this topic of translating our passion into purpose by understanding our values that paves our career path. Please welcome guest speaker, Lisa Kurian, a prospective medical student who recognized her passion and identified her values through her life experiences that solidified her purpose in choosing medicine as her career path.

Being of service gives us an opportunity to give back to others, but service begins from within, so let's dive into to discover the skills we need to provide valuable service.

Please join me today on the do's and don't s of personal development and how to choose the best guidance and support for your journey of personal growth.

What is self-love ? How do you manifest self-love in your life? I hope listening to my perspective gives you the opportunity to think how you define self-love in your life.

Please join me today on a topic that is often a re-occurring theme in our lives when it comes to questioning our existence. Who am I? What are my passions? Why am I here (purpose)? Where am I going? When does this materialize? How do I make it happen?

Please join me today on an essential topic of intentional communication. It all begins with the message, the sender, and receiver but how can become effective in this exchange of communication ? Please listen and tune in :)

Please join me today on the topic of Friendship and my guest speaker today is a dear and special friend, Mandre Umana, an artist and graphic designer, who has helped me realized the art of friendship.

Please join me today with a guest speaker, Mr.Greg Cahill, who will share his experience and wisdom on BEing present and in the moment.

Please join me today's with a dear and wonderful guest speaker, Mrs. Rabia Qadir sister of late Farooq Ali Khan who will share her experience, strength, wisdom, and hope of processing grief from the loss of a loved one but accepting the loss by keeping them alive in memories.

Please join me today with a guest speaker, licensed pharmacist(Dr. Aaezah Shafi), who will share her journey of how self-care has transformed her life physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. From an Islamic spiritual practice, changing diet with a nutritionist, and working out 4 to 5 times a week, our guest speaker enhanced her life through self-care

Please join me today on this topic on how to use your body as an instrument in dance. The guest speaker today is my instructor and guru for Bharatnatyam (Indian classical dance), Mrs. Vinata Vedam-Mai who will also commemorate her loving thoughts for her beloved mother who passed away a year ago on this date and left a legacy of dance as a gift for many of us.

Welcome Back to Season 2 with Challenge Me 4 U. Today's topic emphasizes on how our relationships impact self-care? Do we need a relationship makeover? Please listen to this topic to find out.

Please join me on the topic of the day with a special guest speaker, Tim Bryant from One Love Prison Meditation Project. We will be discussing how meditation liberates us from any of life's given situation to reduce stress. Whether you are a person quarantined at home, or in prison.

Please join me on today's topic of how to regulate strong emotions such as anger through art. Today, I have a wonderful guest speaker who feels that women get stigmatized for expressing anger and are taught to repress anger because it was not a feminine expression. Here she will share how art became her channel to express as she gives back to others.