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What if you’re not alone and definitely not crazy for longing for a healthier world? What if your tribe is out there also searching for ways to navigate this tumultuous time in history? This podcast is for people looking for wisdom and courage to take a stand and plant seeds of change – with purpose and joy.
Come join us as we explore the rich web of life and our being – who we are and what we wish to become. We humans are gardeners; creators and guardians of life, of connections, of stories, and of the change we wish to see in the world. Step inside the Human Greenhouse to get inspired and nourished, so you can shine your unique light on this precious Earth – we need you!
The Human Greenhouse podcast is hosted by Tatjana Harttung and graced by wonderful humans with something on their mind and in their hearts to share.
[00:00:00] Tatjana: Welcome to the Human Greenhouse. Today it's my great pleasure to welcome Samar Yunis to the show, Samar is a clinician, a manager, an educator, a mentor. And also a social emergence catalyst. And you also work in the regenerative space So welcome to the show, Samar. Maybe you wanna put a few more words to who are you?
[00:00:21] Samar: Thank you for having me. Who am I? That's like a million dollar question for me.
[00:00:26] Tatjana: It is, isn't it? Sorry.
[00:00:28] Samar: Basically. I, uh, was born to. Palestinian parents who had left Palestine in the late fifties came to Kuwait and started their family here for economic reason. They had to leave. So I kind of grew up with that kind of background of where Palestinians. You are Kuwaiti, where do you belong? What culture do you have? I mean, the language is similar, but the dialect is different. The food is slightly different. So it's, it's, it was that kind of amalgamation of roots and cultures and so the question of belonging and identity has always been a huge question for me.
[00:01:06] Beyond that. I mean, I'm really loving being a grandmother right now. I've just become a grandmother a couple of months ago. I am a mother, so these roles are, are the most important roles in my life at the moment. I don't like to call myself a healer. I'm, I'm a facilitator of healing by, by trade because I'm a physical therapist. That's my training. So I've always loved. Working with people. That's something that I've truly enjoyed, just kind of being there for people, helping them heal physically and hopefully on other levels as well.
[00:01:36] Tatjana: Yeah. And it's connected, isn't it? The sort of inside and the outside. So one of the things that you and I have talked about is as we go through life, as we are daughters, mothers and now you're a grandmother. What do you see that you have that they have brought you that you are now sitting with?
[00:01:52] Samar: Thinking of my mother and my grandmother. I believe my mother never got to meet her grandmother. My grandmother was an orphan. And even thinking of my aunts, my mother's five sisters, she has five sisters. I think the common thread that I see. Is their kindness. They have so much kindness.
[00:02:11] They have such a sweet spirit about them. They have this lighthearted, cheerful air, about them. Whenever you're around them, that's what you feel. Their cheerfulness or lightheartedness, their kindness. And I feel like this is one of the most important values that were passed on. To me and my siblings.
[00:02:29] And also I feel like they were passed on to my children as well. And another important thing that I really don't see it much with other families around, but the love for the land was a very, very big thing for my, in my family. I grew up listening to my mother's stories about how they played in the woods and how they actually made their own toys.
[00:02:51] I mean, economically, they were not doing too well back then. So they didn't buy toys. They made toys from leaves and sticks and, you know, rocks and all of these things and they made up games and it was all outside and they was climbing trees and. And she would talk about the olive harvest and all the song and the dance and the love that, that just resonated from her when she would be talking about her childhood and the community that she lived in.
[00:03:21] And, it was so sensual. Honestly, there was just so many sensual details about it that I always felt like every sense of me was engaged. You know, I could smell the air, I could hear the sounds of the nan. I could see the images. And it just hit me recently that my mother was such a good storyteller.
[00:03:41] Honestly, I don't know if I am. I, this is one, one thing that I would love to maybe. Develop and cultivate a little bit more in myself because I just loved that and both my mom and dad were really good storytellers.
[00:03:54] Tatjana: Yeah. And I think very interestingly enough ' cause we've touched on this, you and I in conversation before, how central the olive tree is to also the culture and the sentiment of, you know, what is it that we're looking after. And also the stories that, that the trees hold, Because they're very old. What about the legacy of food? Because I can disclose that both of us like good food.
[00:04:17] Samar: Oh my goodness. Yeah, food was my, my son has this funny thing about my mom is that like, whenever she's around them, all she thinks about is like, she says, he says, I feel like there's like always this food. You know, going around her head, you know, what do I cook? What do I make for you?
[00:04:31] What do I, yeah, food is a big thing in, in, in our family and for my mom and my grandmother and I, and for me as well. 'cause I remember I used to. Beg my mom to drop me off, so I can help at my grandmother's place so I can help her cook, you know? And that's what I learned to how to cook first from my grandmother and then from my mother.
[00:04:50] So yeah, food is big and Palestinian food is. So much. There's just so many vegetables in it. It's really kind of rooted in vegetables. Yeah, there's meat and there's maybe a bit of fish. Fish was less because my parents' hometown was farther from the water, but the meat and the chicken were staples as well, but. Vegetables were really strong for them. So, my dad, whatever chance he got, you know, like the garden, he didn't really care much about growing flowers, but. He wanted to always, and I was always like, why don't you grow flowers? I wanna see more color. He was always growing all sorts of vegetables.
[00:05:25] Whatever house we lived in, you would find like every vegetable you could think of that he could grow, we would have that. So yeah, and we would cook from that. And cooking is a. Is a huge thing in my family, you know, and it's it brings us together and it's and I've always seen it, like, kinda always felt it, how while you're cooking, you're really using your hands and there's a lot of, if you cook with your heart, you feel it in your hands.
[00:05:50] And that translates into the food that you're cooking. So even my daughter, my kids, when they were younger, they would ask me, they, like, they were telling me, oh, the food was really good today. You must have been thinking really good thoughts, mom. When they were,
[00:06:01] I mean, it's funny because they were only like 10 or 11, I remember, and I would look at them, I'm like, wow, how do they know to ask that question at that age?
[00:06:10] Right. The relation between the
[00:06:11] heart and the, you know, and food. It's mind blowing.
[00:06:15] Tatjana: it resonates very deeply with me as well. I had a, a, a grandmother who, was an excellent cook. Uh, Went to one of those schools as a young woman where they teach you to run a household and cook. And, but I think she had a love of food, throughout her life and she had four children of her own.
[00:06:31] And I remember as a child, whenever I got the chance to sort of sneak into the kitchen with her, it would be one of the places where. You know, you could ask about, you know, tell me about my mom, or tell me about this, or, and she never used any recipes. I think she had them all in her head. But she would do these beautiful things.
[00:06:48] And again, it's that nurturing and love for the land. Whenever she served Melon in the summer, and I do this as well, I got that from her directly. You know, she'd arrange whatever melon was available, on a big plate, and then she would go into her garden and pick a rose. You know, big abundant rose and put it in the middle.
[00:07:07] And she's like, you cannot serve the melon unless there's flowers in the middle. And I just, it was just such a richness to that. And then, you know, when you asked her, you know, what goes in this? She's like, oh, just, you know, just get a feel for it and use your hands and it'll be fine.
[00:07:21] And after she died, I inherited her cookbook from when she went to that finishing school, whatever it was. And there's these comments on all the recipes, like, this doesn't work, you have to do it differently. Or, this didn't taste nice, or this is the best, whatever. So she had a real opinion about what we put into our bodies, right?
[00:07:40] How it tastes, what it looks like. So I think there was something there as well. Right? You, as you say, you come together when you cook, don't you?
[00:07:47] Samar: It's funny 'cause that was the same experience with my mom and my grandmother is like, there's no recipe and there's no, no measurements. I'm like, how
[00:07:54] much? I'm like, stop asking how much. feel your way through it. I'm like, I dunno how to feel my way through it. I wanted to be like, I wanted everything scientifically measured and I like, you know, with practice I figured it out how to feel your way through it.
[00:08:07] And I still do it. Like sometimes my son would ask me. Just last week he says, oh mom, when you made glam last week? And I said, I have no idea what I put in it. And I have no idea how, because he was trying to take the recipe. And I'm like, I just went with my, what my heart told me to do. You know, it just what the moment required of me.
[00:08:25] I just did that
[00:08:26] Tatjana: Yeah. And what a lesson, right? That you have to sense and respond to the moment that's presented to us. You know, even if we're saying there must be a recipe somewhere yeah, it's a great metaphor for I think, much of life. And as you think about that now in terms of, you know, the gifts, the stories that came through your mothering line.
[00:08:45] I know she's a little one still only a couple months. What are the stories that you are looking forward to telling your baby granddaughter or even telling her now?
[00:08:54] Samar: Oh, I've started already. She has beautiful eyes. She's just,
[00:08:57] Like she has this deep, soulful way of looking at you. I'm like, this girl, I feel like she is 50 or, or 70, you know, the way she looks at me. But yeah, when we, our mornings are, are, are the best time is, is the morning with her and, uh. you know, I would like her to grow up with stories as well of the land. And I would like her to learn to love the land. That's something so important for me. Just having grown up with parents that loved their land. So I wanna pass on that love. And I was reading her a story that one of Lena's friends, my daughter's friends you know, gave her, and it was about an olive tree, and it's about what the olive tree means to, to, to the people who planted it.
[00:09:38] And, she's just looking at me and looking at the tree. And these are really the things. And again, it's connecting with the heart. I would like her to find a way to connect with her heart as much as possible. Maybe stories about using her hands at some point when she's old enough and she, I hope that she gets curious about the kitchen and cooking and that's one way to, to learn to connect with the heart and the hands or just kind of really knowing that.
[00:10:04] Her hands are extension of her heart and to remember as much as possible when, whenever she uses her hands with anything, whenever she touches anything, to feel that love in her heart. So everything is blessed and loved so she can transmit that love. So, so, you know, use it for good. Use it to restore, to recover, to create, to build to. To give rather than, destroy and, what we see happen these days with all the destruction, you know? And I really pray to God that her time is much better than our time.
[00:10:37] Tatjana: I think we all do. Right? And it, it's one of those things that, you know, the thing that's gonna heal us, all of us, it is love. And it is that sense of, I I'm grateful to be allowed to be here. And with that, there is also an obligation to send that out in the world.
[00:10:53] Right. It doesn't mean we can't be frustrated or we can't be anxious or grieve or whatever and I love that analogy of the heart being the extension, the hands being the extension of the heart. Because that is that embodied reminder of, you know, whatever I touch, I'm going to imprint something on.
[00:11:09] And I'm sure your, your granddaughter, you know, she's not, maybe not, well, she's not hearing the words right. She's too tiny. But she's hearing the tone of voice. She's feeling the love, she's sensing all the stuff that's going on in your body as you are sharing your stories.
[00:11:24] Samar: and I find it interesting that my, my mind immediately went to hands and her hands and using her hands and it made me think of her hands. My, my daughter just sent me a video clip there. They're in Jordan now visiting her in-laws.
[00:11:36] And I just kept staring at her hands. I love my granddaughter's hands. I really love her hands as much as I loved my mother's hands and I don't know if they look like my mother's ha, I see that. I see my mother's hands in her hands, you know, I stare at them and I'm like, oh my God. My mom's hands, I realize are my imagining that.
[00:11:55] But there's something about hands that speaks to me.
[00:11:58] Tatjana: Yeah, no, I think there is something about that. And I mean, we know biologically we're connected right from grandmother to granddaughter. We are, you know, a part of each other. The DNA is there, we're connected for life and beyond. And there's somehow something very reassuring about that, I think.
[00:12:14] Our elders are with us. The elders of the future are with us. You know that there is that connection. We're not alone. And maybe that's really important right now as well. Especially as it's also not possible to go to. To the land. In, in your case if we think about generations, Samar, you know, we talk about, and we'll put this in the show note for everyone Joanna Maisy talks about seven generations in her book, active Hope.
[00:12:39] What would our mo mothers of the past, right? So our grandmothers great-grandmothers, you know, the women that are sort of. Slightly further back, what do you think that they would ask of us at this moment in time? What is the female wisdom or the energy that we, that we need to think about?
[00:12:56] Samar: I think they would want us to be, to live a life that's aligned, very much, aligned with with truth, with what's true for us. You know, even now, thinking of just my mother and my grandmother, of course, you and I talked about the, you know, conditioning and societal conditioning and the learning and the unlearning and all of these concepts that we've talked about in the past.
[00:13:19] I feel now that they're gone, they would want. Me and my daughter and my granddaughter to learn how to do that right. To pay attention. I mean, there's no getting away from the conditioning. We live in community it's impossible for us not to be conditioned, but at
[00:13:35] Tatjana: Absolutely. All of us. Yeah, definitely.
[00:13:38] Samar: Just to be aware to to kind of sharpen that, capacity to. To detect, to monitor, huh? Where is this response coming from? Where is this, you know, reaction coming from? And then when you really kind of trace it back, you'll find that it's because of a condition, it's a conditioned response. So I think that's what, where they would like us to go. Because even, like, even when I think of my mom and my grandmother. On the surface, they might seem, they might come across as, you know, they were, both housewives took care of their houses and their husbands and their families and their kids and everything, but they were, there was so much power in them.
[00:14:20] There was so much strength and power in them, I think they would've been a lot happier had they been, had they cared less about society and what society expects of us.
[00:14:30] Tatjana: I have sons as, you know, grown up sons. But it feels that's important as well, right? That we need, you know, these generations that are coming and your baby granddaughter is, is, you know, younger than my guys. you know, showing up in the world as themselves.
[00:14:45] And also, you know, taking the hit when that is sometimes not aligned with other people's expectations of what they should be doing or how they should be feeling or the choices that they make. And I think that is that gift, right, of, hey, we've seen, previous generations conform to, you know, different societal norms.
[00:15:04] That meant that, you know, if you were expected to be a homemaker, then that's what you did. And if you're expected to be other things, then that's what you did. But breaking more free from that and also, yeah, living with honesty, right? And truth in your heart
[00:15:18] super vital and not always easy.
[00:15:21] Samar: No, I think it's the hardest thing. I think it's the hardest thing and I think when we get, when we are at that point, there's definitely a lot more, it's a lonely place. Let's put it this way. I feel like it's a lonely place. You know, the norm is for people to conform.
[00:15:36] Tatjana: Yes. And some of that makes sense, right? From lots of different angles and yet a lot of it doesn't make sense. I wonder also if, you know, I don't know about you, but, one of the ways that I have found strength and continue to find strength, are in the women that I call friends. Right? And I have.
[00:15:53] You know, pe people in my life that yes, they're friends 'cause we're not biologically connected, but they're family. So, so community is really important for me. And it's not just women by the way, but I think women probably have an a, a natural understanding of each other for lots of different reasons in terms of our journey through life.
[00:16:11] But that's certainly something that, that is very nourishing, very sustaining, and very real. For me, I don't know about you. I mean, I have girlfriends that are also, if they think I'm off course, they will tell me and, and it'll get direct. and, And I love them for it, you know, as much as I, I'm like, ugh, with the feedback it it's such a glorious thing to have women that just speak the truth.
[00:16:31] Samar: I, I completely agree with you. I, I've had this, I mean, it's not very alive in my in my sphere, but I've had this, and I know I've gone through a couple of instances in my life where I actually, I. I knew what I needed. I didn't need somebody to tell me, oh, you poor thing. I needed somebody to tell me snap out of this right now.
[00:16:49] You know?
[00:16:50] Tatjana: Yeah, pull yourself together.
[00:16:52] Samar: exactly, I would call when I feel like my, I can't snap out of it. I need that, like my sister is one of those people for me is my sister who lived here, kowai. Like I remember that, that day, about a year, a little over, right, about a year ago, where I was just like wallowing in my, ah, and like, I called her up like. And she goes, snap out of it right now. This is not how, who we are. This is not who you are. I'm like, yes, thank you. That's what I called to hear you say that because that's what I needed to hear right now. I
[00:17:19] Tatjana: Yes. Yeah. And I'll shout at you as you tell me.
[00:17:23] Yeah. No, that's wonderful.
[00:17:25] Samar: The funny thing is she stopped by like an hour or two later. She stopped by and gave me a hug 'cause she felt like she was a little bit too, not, I don't wanna say aggressive, but maybe a little bit too harsh for somebody who's going through a crisis. So she gave me a hug and I'm like, I would've been fine with without the hug even, you know? But that's thoughtful. That's nice.
[00:17:43] Tatjana: So how do you sustain yourself, right, as a professional, as a woman, as a mother in community you know, it's, these are turbulent days, right? Let's not beat about the bush. How do you keep up nourishing yourself and, navigating through all the stuff that's going on at the moment.
[00:18:01] Samar: that's a tough one, and I
[00:18:03] don't do a good
[00:18:04] job most of the time.
[00:18:05] Tatjana: I know big breath.
[00:18:07] Samar: I really don't do a, I have not been doing a very good job with that. Normally in other times not in the past, probably year or so, but in other times I kind of just stay in touch with my heart and what makes my heart sing. It could be as really as silly as.
[00:18:25] Playing a song from the eighties that I used to go crazy dancing to it, and I would just blast that song and start jumping
[00:18:33] around
[00:18:34] in my bedroom.
[00:18:35] Tatjana: to that. Yes. Yes.
[00:18:37] Samar: That itself is nourishing for
[00:18:38] me.
[00:18:39] Tatjana: Get
[00:18:39] moving. Move that body.
[00:18:41] Samar: exactly. Sometimes that's all you need is just to jump around and, and to hear music and to go through all that vibration and just to get the energy out of you. And, And I actually, I did a little bit of that yesterday 'cause it was, I felt a lot of built up of rage over what's happening on like.
[00:18:56] And I couldn't release it in any way. And meditation does not work when you're raging like this doesn't work yeah. You just need to move and sweat it out. So it's dance, it's movement, it's song it's it's connection. Also connection with people who care.
[00:19:10] So that's another side to me that I need to be better about. I don't know. It's false pride. I guess. It's I need to reach out more and tell people, Hey I'm kind of down, or I'm going through a rough time and I just need a friend. I, you know, I don't do that as often as I should, but I believe in, in, in that power.
[00:19:28] 'cause when I do, it just transforms. The whole, energy and it just makes, it makes me feel so much lighter. It's you need people who can ground you. You need people who can laugh with you. Who can cry with you. You know, you need that space.
[00:19:43] Tatjana: Yeah. And, and, And also to, you know, the, power of, of gratitude, even if it's the tiniest little thing I think is one of those things that sustains us as well. And we can collect them like little pebbles on a beach. Right. I know you love the ocean too, but you know this thing of just, you know, collecting little gratitude bits.
[00:20:02] Samar: I don't know if you know Sophie Strand. I've, I've been really into, like listening to whatever interviews she's had on podcasts and everything, and there was this she's very much an animus, you know, she tries to connect with ev within, other than humans. So it's not just a community of humans, but also connecting with the other than human.
[00:20:20] And also when you mentioned gratitude I remembered that, is that, this is one, this is like the most important prayer that anybody can do is just to kind of wake up in the morning. And I try to do it every morning when I remember and just to say, thank you for this life. Thank you for this breath.
[00:20:36] And then I go on my morning walk and unfortunately it's. Scorching hot in Kuwait right now, so it has to be an indoor track walk. But still, like this morning, my earpiece didn't, my AirPods didn't work and I thought, oh my God, this is gonna be a boring hour. I'm like, no, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna make it an interesting hour.
[00:20:53] So I was just going around. I mean, I. Looking at everything around me and just saying, I love you. Thank you. I'm grateful. I mean, internally, I felt a little bit stupid at times, but it just, I felt so much lighter after the walk, honestly. the energy of gratitude is so uplifting.
[00:21:10] Tatjana: And it's funny 'cause it's, it's one of those things that you, we almost have it's, it's a little bit like a, a fitness habit. I work with clients as well and I bring it into the, to the space. You know, whether it's just, you know, when you go to bed, write two things down that you were grateful for.
[00:21:25] You know, have a little notebook or whatever, or do a voice note on your phone or whatever works. But what I'm noticing, and I dunno what your sense of this is, is that if people have n never done it or they've had a long time of having to survive, hold on, you know, be very tight also in their bodies, then it's a hard thing.
[00:21:46] To lean into gratitude in the beginning because it feels like a surrender that people are maybe not always ready for. And then you see the change. I mean, I swear if people have been going through some gratitude practice you can see it in their face the next time you see them. It's almost like the muscles in the face are just sort of relaxing a bit, and it's not all tense jaw and you know, constricted throat, there's a pathway that somehow has opened and sometimes people don't even realize it themselves.
[00:22:15] But I think we have to practice.
[00:22:17] Samar: I love that. I love that you actually see it on their face as well, that it reflects on the.
[00:22:22] Tatjana: Yeah. And I, maybe that's that thing of, you know, you look at people and you observe and, and you sort of, sensory spawn sponge, you know, and you sort of sense, ooh, oh, what's going on here? But I wish that. Everyone, regardless of where they are. Right. We can always be grateful if we can breathe. And it may not be much, may not feel like much, but yes, and I can breathe. Is a good way to get centered. And then take it from there.
[00:22:46] Samar: Yeah, just you know, thinking of the gratitude it's, it's another thing that I uh, thinking of my mom and, and my grandmother This was something that I've always heard them say that like, I've all, like whatever is happening, even if it's something that's not good, even if it's something that's really not good that this happened, they would just say the word in, in, in Arabic is. Thank God is really, it's,
[00:23:06] Tatjana: Yeah. Yeah. It's a beautiful
[00:23:08] Samar: yeah. You know, it's just, they're always thanking God. Whatever is presented to them, they thank God for it. You know, it's that surrender and it's that love for God and it's that trust as well. I think it's,
[00:23:22] there's so much
[00:23:23] space and trust.
[00:23:24] Tatjana: Yeah. And it's not a, it's not a limp surrender, I feel. Right. It's, It's uh, when, when people practice it, it seems to be very intentional, you know, that the gratitude is also about, I am choosing, I am as a, an awake human being with all my senses and the environment that I'm in.
[00:23:42] I am choosing to be grateful for something.
[00:23:45] And that's a huge power in that. And I think that's maybe also something to remember and remind ourselves of, especially for communities that are exiled under threat in the middle of war, whatever it might be. Is the little bit, but a little bit from a lot, which goes for all of us, right?
[00:24:04] Is probably a powerful energy
[00:24:06] Samar: Yes. I love that you chose that verb, choosing. I am choosing to to say thank you. I'm choosing. It's just so much power and choice,
[00:24:16] Tatjana: There are really many ways to meet other people and other people's cultures in particular. You can go and visit their country. You can spend time with them, you can read about them, you can try the food, or you can experience what I experienced when IF first met Samar, about a year ago. And that is someone who's in the room with a really strongly embodied sense of not only herself and her family, but also her Palestinian culture. And I think I heard Samar drum before I heard her really speak, and that was one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. So it's an interesting reference into how do we get to know someone because there was so much of Samar and also Samara's.
[00:25:06] Culture and the love of her people, in that drumming last year. And it has stayed with me as has the relationship with Samar. And I think that what I love about the connection that I have with her is that for me it's a window into a culture of people that I don't have ready access to. It's also a culture and a people that is currently under some.
[00:25:28] Major duress. And what I want to maybe also emphasize with that is that is one people and one culture, but it could be all of us. I could just as easily have spoken to somebody from a different culture. And it would've potentially been a similar story of both love and longing for a culture but also some of the things that make it unique and also have some challenges with it.
[00:25:57] And for me, it's really important that if we think about regenerative living and being. We're also thinking about that all of us are connected and that means that I am not othering, other people around me, but that I seek to find a way to make a connection and see what might we have in common. And in our conversations, Samara and I have very much found that we have the, maternal or the ma matriarchal lineage as, a common denominator that we have a lot of stories and lived experiences and, observations from the life of our mothers and our grandmothers.
[00:26:36] And this is very poignant right now because Samar is now our grandmother. I think also that if we sort of use the principle of being all connected, it also reemphasizes that it takes a village. It takes a village to raise a child to give it a sense of context and place. It also takes a village to get peace, right?
[00:26:57] We're in this together. And it takes a village to find a vision for the future. And there's many ways to do that. And some of those ways I think start with just noticing that, Hey, this person is not that different from me. This person also has dreams and aspirations and a legacy and a culture.
[00:27:17] In some ask case, there's some extraordinarily yummy food to go with it as well that I know she's very good at. But I kind of wanna leave a question for you all as you're listening to this episode, and that is. What can you do to not only feel connected to yourself, but maybe in feeling connected to yourself?
[00:27:34] What are the linkages and the connections to people around you? To land around you, to heritage around you to nature around you. What does the sky tell you about who you are and who your people are? And are there other people that you maybe not initially think of as your people that are really your people as well?
[00:27:55] If you look close enough and open your heart to it. So, just some thoughts here as I sit with this episode with Samar. And think about what is it that maybe the world needs. Some love, some laughter, some good food, some time together. Some drums should all be drumming. So I hope you feel inspired and in listening to what Samah has to teach all of us actually. And I hope you enjoy the episode.
[00:28:23] How do we deepen our connection to each other? You know, you and I have talked in the past about, you know, abundance mindset and sowing some positive seeds of change, and that's also what this uh, human Greenhouse Podcast is about. How do we deepen the connection to each other Also. Those that are each other that we may not know yet or that we are far away from,
[00:28:45] Samar: Yeah.
[00:28:46] Tatjana: so we're not othering, right? You know, when there are women or families hurt in places around the world, yes, I count my blessings where I am, but I also grieve with them and it doesn't matter who they are,
[00:28:57] Samar: I, I like, one of the things that I feel are really important and this is a work in progress for me, for sure, is to be so mindful of the energy that I bring to whatever setting I'm in, whether it's with my granddaughter, with my kids, with my sister, with friends, at work, wherever I am with a complete stranger ordering.
[00:29:21] Lunch or, you know,
[00:29:23] it's the, being responsible for the energy that I bring to that place I think is extremely important. And we are human. We, we do mistakes and we forget sometimes we're so wrapped up in our own world and everything, but it's,
[00:29:38] that practice is so vital and, um. it reminds me of Chris, remember Chris at Segars.
[00:29:44] It's better to
[00:29:45] be present than prepared. Oh my God. It's, that never leaves me. And to me presence is brings that on. You know, if you are truly present, chances are you're really mindful if you're present. You can't be present without being mindful.
[00:30:00] Tatjana: No, there's an alert, there's an awareness and an
[00:30:03] awakeness.
[00:30:04] Samar: Yeah, if you're, mindfully present where you are, then you gotta be a psychopath to bring really bad energy into that setting. Honestly. I mean, that's my only explanation. If you're really mindful and you still bring bad energy that you're sick, you're a sick person, you need help.
[00:30:20] Tatjana: I'm wondering also if there's something there in terms of, you know, when we are present and when we are aware and intentional about the energy that we bring. You know, in, in that way we are also inviting others to be so And we're getting out of the echo chamber that we would otherwise risk sitting in.
[00:30:39] everybody has a phone with the whole world at their fingertips. And you know, you sometimes see that people are sort of sitting in this echo chamber where the stuff that they feel or think is resonating because that's the algorithm, right? And it's not necessarily always a bad thing, but I think when we put that thing down or whatever, that distracts us.
[00:30:57] And decide that no. Right now all that is required is for me to be as present as I can possibly be. And curious and open. I mean, the world just opens up, doesn't
[00:31:08] it?
[00:31:08] Samar: The, I think the sky's the limit to what could. What could happen, what could come out of it. It's something beautiful can come out of being completely present. And it's and I agree with you it kind of indirectly gives permission to the other person to also bring to themselves fully. I mean, we keep hearing this phrase holding space. It's holding a safe space. It's being present. It's that safe space.
[00:31:31] Tatjana: Yeah. That we show up with the right intentions. That is what makes it safe, right? We're not sitting there plotting how we can get the most out of it and be extractive, but just allowing it, you know, the gift of company, of other people.
[00:31:43] Samar: yeah. Being who we are, truly, who we are, aligning with truth and just speaking our truth and just being love and I. Extending that love to the other person. Oh my God. Don't you wish that's, that, that's how life goes.
[00:31:57] Tatjana: No, definitely.
[00:31:58] Samar: thinking of all the conflict that takes place whether it's personal conflict work. You know, related conflict or at the level of different countries. I mean, it could be magical just to have more presence.
[00:32:12] Tatjana: I sometimes talk about it as the magic of the five minute conversation. There's a Danish philosopher in Denmark called loutro, he's not alive anymore, who's also a vicar or a priest. But one of his famous statements is that we never. Engage with another human being without holding parts of their life in our hands, right?
[00:32:30] So even if you borrow or you lend somebody an umbrella, you are touching somebody's life and there's something about those two minute, five minute, 62nd conversations. You know, they're everywhere. They are the people that you meet, if you go for a walk, they are the people that you meet, shopping or in an airport or on the train, or.
[00:32:48] Whatever. Right. And I sometimes also think it's worth remembering that yes, I might have had 15 conversations with the kind of work that I do, but maybe the elderly lady that lives down the road from me here, maybe I'm her first. Hello that
[00:33:03] day.
[00:33:04] How wild is that?
[00:33:05] So it's like sharing that, right.
[00:33:07] Sharing the abundance of. Of connection.
[00:33:09] Samar: Yeah. Which reminds me again of like, one of the things that my mother, always insisted on is the choice. Again, back to the word that I love that you just used. You always have the choice of what you bring into any interaction that you have. And always choose kindness. Always choose to bring.
[00:33:28] You know, to be kind and to bring kindness
[00:33:30] to that space. It's so that lady
[00:33:32] that your neighbor, I mean, even though you could have had whatever, you could have had conversations with 15 people and maybe five of them really kind of, I. Conversations that got under your skin for some reason, difficult people to deal with. We all have those.
[00:33:46] Tatjana: happens.
[00:33:47] Samar: That lady, you could be the first one. So I completely agree. It's, and it, it goes back again to mindfulness.
[00:33:54] Tatjana: absolutely. So I have a question for you because I have heard you play the drums, which was quite magical. Speaking of hands, and speaking of where did you get that gif, by the way? Talk to us about the power of drumming.
[00:34:06] Samar: I love it. I think the first time I learned drums, it was my dad had taken us. It was the first time my dad kept, took us to visit Palestine. My ancestral homeland and it's my cousins
[00:34:16] are very musical and they all like the, I have, one of my aunts has four kids, I think. All four of them are musical.
[00:34:25] They play drums, they play the, is like, I dunno if you know it, it's the it's a string instrument. It's kind of like the guitar, but it's not a guitar. So yeah, I got fascinated by the drums and I just felt to me, funny enough, back then I was what, like I was 11 years old. It just felt manly and I. Feeling and I now thinking of it, I think I just loved connecting with my masculine side. I just loved bringing
[00:34:50] that
[00:34:50] Tatjana: I was thinking I almost sense that as you're talking, this is sort of masculine energy
[00:34:54] Samar: Yeah, exactly. And until now, and I think when you when you heard me drum, I was just, I'm rusty. I, I really need to practice. It was that. It's just when the moment calls for more masculine energy, I just go
[00:35:07] for it.
[00:35:08] Tatjana: And what a beautiful thing. That recognition of the balance between masculine and feminine energy, which isn't men and women, but we all possess both, right. And what I thought was interesting, and I have experienced that myself. I used to sing in a choir. There's something about the power of instruments and song.
[00:35:27] Not necessarily together in the same room. When I experienced you playing drums last year, it reverberated emotionally in the room, right? Everybody. It was like, it's like that very ancient, ancestral piece of drumming. We all know it. It doesn't matter where people are from in the world. The beating of a drum, I think is something that is in all of our DNAs, I'm convinced of it.
[00:35:52] So, so you sort of lean, it is a little bit like the fire, right? Sitting in circle around a fire, the drumming the smell of newborns. There's something that is so ancestrally anchored in us that if someone is good like you were, it just awakens a layer that we normally don't see.
[00:36:10] Samar: I love it. I mean, you reminded me now, I haven't really played it in a while. I think I'm gonna do that right after
[00:36:15] we.
[00:36:16] Tatjana: This is my sneaky way of getting you to play again. You realize this of course, right? So what's the next year for you in terms of you sending your awesome vibrations out in the world? What are you hoping for?
[00:36:27] Samar: This is. Confusing for me. Honestly, I'm still not clear on that. Like there are certain things that I would like to do. I'm still not sure I'm in the middle of trying to figure out, where I'm living, whether I'm staying where I am, whether I need to move. I'm still kind of waiting to feel for the right thing to do, the next thing to do.
[00:36:47] I know that whatever I do, it'll always. Using my hands will be a part of it for sure. Using my heart will be a part of it. I, discovered a love for, I think I've had it all my life, but I didn't really, I wasn't really able to identify it clearly until probably last year or the year before. A love for you know, coaching and mentoring.
[00:37:10] Realized
[00:37:11] that I have a gift there, that I'm not, I'm utilizing it, of course here and there, but I'm not fully utilizing it. And I do
[00:37:21] believe
[00:37:22] that I am responsible. If you have a gift, you're responsible to, extend it and
[00:37:26] Tatjana: And what a wonderful thing to discover that and see that having a positive impact.
[00:37:31] I.
[00:37:31] Samar: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, even 20 years ago I was I worked as a health sciences instructor in, in Abu Dhabi. And I remember I really loved doing that, but I especially loved mentoring students. They would come to me and
[00:37:46] it. They were, they would gravitate, they gravitated towards me. It was a beautiful feeling actually, how much these young women, like what, 19, 20 years old, just loved to come and sit with me and be mentored.
[00:37:57] And
[00:37:57] I mean, funny enough, this was 20 years ago. And I'm just realizing, looking back then and on all the different jobs that I had since then as a manager, as somebody that led so many teams. The best part about the job was the mentorship, was the part where I had
[00:38:15] one-on-ones with people, and made a difference.
[00:38:17] And they would come back. I mean, there are people that would come back months or years later to tell me that of a certain instance where I actually made, really made an impact, made a difference. I'm like this is why I'm like, this is a gift and I need to use it. I need to extend it, not use it. I don't like the word use extend.
[00:38:31] Tatjana: Yeah. No, I love that. And how wonderful also to realize that conversations that we may not have thought of as being particularly groundbreaking have actually been very enlightening and or made a diff a real difference for somebody. That's fantastic. yeah. So Samara, if people have resonated with your story here where can they find you? Is it on LinkedIn?
[00:38:49] Samar: I am on LinkedIn, so that's an easy way to find me
[00:38:52] Tatjana: I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today. It's been an absolute pleasure. Any last thoughts before we wrap up?
[00:38:59] Samar: I think we've covered it all.
[00:39:00] Tatjana: Just breathe, yeah, yeah, just put your hand on your heart.
[00:39:06] Thank you for listening. I really enjoyed my conversation with Samar and I can't wait to hear her play the drums again. If you enjoyed this episode, feel free to sign up to where you listen to your podcasts normally for the Human Greenhouse. You're very welcome to join the mailing list on the human greenhouse.com. You can also send me a message there directly. I love to hear from you guys and again, thanks for tuning in, and I look forward to you joining our next episode of The Human Greenhouse.