What comes to your mind when you think of a South Asian “Super Woman”? Do you picture her in a saree, salvaar kameez or in that red & blue onesy? How you answer this question may give you an idea of the challenges that each of us women are facing in balancing our versions of the East and West in …
Living Your Dream Life
Since ancient times, many wars have been fought battling the ‘good’ armies versus the ‘bad’ armies. But what does this mean to us in our modern day lives? Perhaps we can extend this ancient good versus evil concept towards developing ourselves. In today’s world, each of us has personal battles between the good and evil forces within us. Evil aspects …
What does being a ‘Canadian’ mean to you?
When I was growing up as a young girl, I wanted to desperately ‘fit in’ with the rest of my classmates. During our primary school days, my sister and I were the only children who looked racially ‘different’ from the rest of the students in our elementary school. We had ‘brown skin’ and many of the children were unwelcoming to …
Mental Health for Newcomers
Mental health services for Canadian newcomers have huge gaps to help understand and support our communities as they are increasingly becoming more culturally diverse. People who are new to this country and who are experiencing the migration or settlement and re-settlement stages are under a tremendous amount of stress. During the stages of resettlement: loss, and adaptation, and during the …
South Asian Mental Health Action & Awareness (SAMHAA)
Mental Health and Wellness knows no nationality, race, colour, culture, community, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation, or profession. In fact, it impacts and is impacted by all areas of one’s social, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and financial health. Canadian society has begun to shift its focus entirely from the ‘problems’ and reducing these ‘problems’ to focusing on how we …
Immigrant Parenting
Every immigrant parent who has moved to a new country has come here with hopes, expectations and intentions of creating a better life. There are dreams and long-term plans to start a journey that will be ‘successful’ and comfortable not only for themselves and their children, but also for their future generations. However, with the challenges of starting a new …
Immigrant Women’s Health Resource Clinic
I was very fortunate to attend the very inspirational local community grand opening of an Immigrant Women’s Health Resource Clinic recently on December 2, 2010 in Surrey, British Columbia. It is a fabulous initiative that recognizes the critical needs and gaps in health care services provided for immigrant women. And it is the hope of all partners in this project …
Sacred Balance & Happiness
As the first day of 2011 approaches, this day commemorates the start of another year and a new beginning. Along with celebrations, this day should also be a time to reflect, mourn the passing of 2010 and to move forward into 2011. When you think back about this year in solitude and in a peaceful state of mind – what …
Cultural Time Warp
Newcomers can take several months, years and even generations to successfully accept and integrate into their new identity. Many struggle with the need to live their life according to the rules and values they left behind in their home country, and, as a result, will find themselves living as if they are in a cultural time warp. Change, after all, …
What are you hungry for?
Food is intrinsically connected to all cultures around the world. Some say that you are what you eat and others use the experience of food to taste, touch, smell, feel and enjoy life’s experiences. Across all rituals and traditions however, eating together gives us a chance to connect, re-connect and spend quality time with our family and loved ones. Many …
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