Make a difference through different roles

Summer is the best time to reflect on plans and projects, on both professional and personal levels. It is vital to visualise your dreams and aspirations while it is equally important to evaluate and self-critique. We all have room to improve, and become better at any of our roles, whether in our career paths, or even our roles within our family and community. It is important to listen and learn from each other and openness is the key to better oneself. One book I came across this summer was Aleph by Paulo Coelho, which opens up new dimensions of thoughts, and takes the reader through a journey of self-discovery. Coelho is one the most interesting authors of our time, his books are made of detailed stories and themes that touch upon delicate topics on humanity, religions, and the connections of world cultures and traditions. To me Aleph – was a striking title, I learnt that Aleph is the first alphabet letter not only Arabic, but in Hebrew, and Aramaic as well. I enjoyed his exploration of the Aleph. It is an abstract way of explaining a starting point, how souls connect through experiencing this stage. Exploring notions of energy created by connections we have with others. I could not help not to be fascinated by the artist element that could accompany these themes, and as a creative person, there are many doors of exploration to be opened and discovered. I find myself always t could feed into something creative to be explored. Coelho offered these themes in abundance, with every page that was turned. From a relaxing break with a good book and intimate time with family and loved ones comes a great deal thankfulness and a constant reminder of the blessings that surround us. I am equally looking forward to a new set of cultural programmes that will be taking place at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities and this would include concerts, exhibitions, publications and public programmes. Let’s have a look at our international participations during September. A special exhibition called “1,000 Vases” was held alongside The Paris Design Week. This exhibition highlighted one of the most ancient crafts in Bahrain- traditional pottery, paired up with very contemporary design that will elevate this traditional craft to another exciting level. The designs of the vases showcased were worked out by two young Bahrainis, Othman Khunji and Maitham Al Mubrak , in addition to other participants who have designed their personal products through an online platform that was open to the general public under the name of ‘Make your own Pot’ – which accompanied the first exhibition exploring this theme which was titled: Unearthing. The work highlighted transforming an ancient craft that has been present in our land since the time of Dilmun civilisation. It showed ways for young minds to reshape and redesign objects with long history in the most contemporary of settings. BACA has many plans in store for this summer. Please stay tuned, connected and I hope everyone reading these thoughts can reflect on beauty, blessings and appreciation of life and our ability to make a difference through the different roles we all will have.