As the year draws to a close and most share their reflections for this year, there is a big part of me that doesn’t want to publicly.
Then I think I offer The Reflective SPACE and it feels lacking in courage not to.
And for most of my life, bold is what I have been. I was one of the first Pakistani women to study and qualify as a social worker in England in 1991, one of the first therapists and the first in my family to set up a business.

So here are my reflections for 2024.
It started off really good in terms of my business, two brand new clients to serve one was Azra* the other Hamid*

Azra* is a business owner and a carer of elderly parents trying to juggle a business with caring responsibilities. She was burnt out from a very painful divorce and trying to find her place emotionally and spiritually and financially. She worked with me for 3 months and embarking on the personal alchemy journey was able to carve out some time and space for herself without feeling guilty. She comes from a very emotionally abusive family and community and being the sole carer, it was hard for her to unlearn habits but we explored who she has in her family and friends to support her rather than doing everything herself.

Her shop flooded and she didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with the insurance company demands.
Being a carer for elderly parents, there are no words it is an unpaid job in the UK and with all the medical appointments and practical tasks, she was spent.
Entrepreneurship is glamourised don’t you think? And she also had to run a business. Do all the behind the scenes stuff no one wants to talk about when running a business.
We explored strategies like slowing down, simplifying and how she invested in self care. Like most carers she neglected herself. I really got her to build her sanctuary upstairs where she could invest in time and space for herself.

Then there was Hamid* being a social worker with over 33 years experience I get referrals most coaches don’t get.
This referral was interesting it was to work with a man with cerebral palsy who had a porn addiction. He is in his late twenties. He is Muslim. Having worked with boys who have exhibited sexually harmful behaviour, I loved just having to work with porn addiction. I worked with him for 6 months. We looked at him being reassessed for speech and language needs. He lacked confidence and although he was working, he didn’t have friendship We looked at the need to watch porn.

It emerged he wanted to know how to flirt hence the porn sites. He also didn’t have many friends.

Hamid* enjoyed working with me and although the speech and language assessment didn’t happen, his mother and he got an insight as to his potential and he grew in confidence.

2024 was also the year I discovered Human Design and The Gene Keys and this contributed a great deal of understanding of myself and human condition.

I love learning and I offered a Sufi Tarot card reading or two too
The community that I lead Transformation of Consciousness Community #transformation #consciousness got all fired up with conversations about Human Design and Tarot

I am a 5/1 Generator and I really embraced the knowledge in these communities.

A close friendship with Tom Rebro and Mac McGregor has developed for me due to my interest in Human Design and The Gene Keys nd I have met Mac in London and hope to meet Tom too

Meanwhile the Middle East crisis has gone on from bad to worse and I met Matan Rubenstein at JCM Partners in Dialogue for the first time in February and loved this young man and met Lina Fauor again as well as my other JCM friends in Vallendar. It was a small conference and I loved hosting the workshop Healing stories in the Qur’an and Bible and met Joury Bushnaq again she has such a beautiful voice.

It was in March 2024 that I fired my website developer. I have never had to fire anyone in my business but this guy it felt like I was working with an adolescent.
I just found an email that I sent him asking for half my money back.
—————————————————————-
Dear xxxxx
I don’t think you have listened to my experience as a customer.

You know I run a side business and work on the business whenever I have time when I hired you.

And since I have been working with you the goal posts have changed multiple times. From you working on SEO to using AI and writing articles for me to me writing the articles.

It is not just the schedules meeting.

My issue is the way you communicate via email.

There are no responses to the emails or acknowledgement usually and if I am querying something or wanting something corrected, you get angry or irritated.

I feel I have to adjust to your schedule each and every time.

I feel like I have to walk on egg shells with you.
This is not good for my stress levels
I am already doing a stressful job, and extremely stressful job where money is not at stake but lives.

So to open an email with that level of anger towards me is not something I opened a business up for.

While you are probably unconscious to how much anger you were feeling when you wrote the email, I am not. I am highly intuitive and probably some of that anger is nothing to do with me. Because you send me another email soon afterwards saying you will publish the article.

That erraticness and mood swings I am used to with my social work clients but you are not a social work client.
You are someone I hired to improve my Website.

I could ask for some of the money back to keep the faith and a sign of good faith. The Website is half finished.
And if you wish to give half of the £4444 you can or even a third of the £4444 I paid you, I would appreciate it .

In my last email I didn’t even ask for the money back because to tell you the truth I prefer to have the peace and space and time to work on the website by myself. Or to hire someone who communicates with me not in this dismissive manner.

Peace is very valuable to me in the troubled world we live in and I would rather let you go.

I have every right to the money or some of the money back.

However unless you yourself wish to refund some of it back to my account, I would prefer we have no further interaction or communication with each other.

I will not be recommending your services to anyone but rest assured I will not be publicly trashing you either.
I have seen others do this with coaches and it leads to a sour taste in my mouth..I am far too candid for that.

You may have been running your business for 9 years but I am sure you have had your customers who have not been happy with you. Xxxx was one and now I am the second. I am sure there are others.
I should have spoken up earlier about my not being happy but felt I could manage it.

I can no longer.

I need to think about my health and really no amount of money invested is worth more than peace of mind.

I am scheduling this email to go out at 8am Thursday morning because this much I know that you don’t like seeing emails in your inbox after working hours.

So I wish you the very best in the future.
If I see some financial refund, I will know you tried to restore the good faith between us.

If I don’t no problem, it is a bitter lesson I have learnt in business not to give money to a service provider until half or  whole of service is completed.

I ask you sincerely not to email me any further.

Taniya

That was March 2024 Marissa Loewen was instrumental in helping me navigate this situation and advising me to block the guy but also make sure he didn’t have any access to my website.

I think it was May 2024 I stopped running The Reflective Space Membership a low cost membership I started.

I decided to go back to premium services and working with a few clients but fell in love with marketing The Reflective Space Masterclasses. I fell in love with copy writing and actually did some copy writing for two amazing service providers and both secured business revenue with the copy I wrote.

June and July was Election fever in the UK and it was around this time I heard the term Technofacism.

2024 was also the year that my understanding of natural law as opposed to common law and my friendship with Michael John Shoeman blossomed and I am so glad to have met him. I also discovered the reality of Osho and the reality of cults via a documentary.
Technofacism is a term that many don’t understand and is a threat to humanity it goes beyond business and with how the world affairs are going, everyone needs to understand the threat. My pink 🩷 movement and pink 🩷 club is my way of reminding you that we need to stand together for justice, for freedom, for democracy.
2024 was the year of riots in the UK but fascism didn’t win in the UK
2024 was also the year that I met Maginel Galt a very beautiful soul who I hope to know more in 2025.
It was the year that my husband uncle died but he is blessed to be buried near my friend Fuad Nahdi and the year my mum friend passed away.
Both deaths got me thinking of my life and what I REALLY want to do.
And the earlier death of this Uncle who was the life and soul of any party prompted me to visit my mum sister in Canada and found out more regarding my parents and also to start writing my book and this led to me connecting with Mirav Tarkka who really has become more than a writing mentor.
There are no words to how she inspires and writing on social media can be like writing on the water.

Seriously I love social media but if you value your words and your stories, want to leave a legacy write a book.

Everyone has a story in us.

So much has happened to me and for me this year in my fast paced life personally and professionally.
One of the highlights was meeting Claire Sweet in person in November
If you need a financial advisor I would recommend her.
She really has helped me to get more out of my money and is an extremely charitable person.
The more I earn from business, from my investments the more I give to charities.

Yes my life is surreal with my youngest son being in two brilliant short films and my middle son graduation and becoming a social worker, I sometimes cannot believe this is my life.

2024 has been a good year for me with some bittersweet moments and I am still slowing down.
I have so much farther to go and I will remember this was the year that i discovered you don’t have to be in launch mode all the time.
Building relationships is what it is all about and so I joined The Coaching Jungle VIP membership and Marc Mawhinney community has really helped me with my copy and getting MORE confident with having multiple offers.

Yes 2024 has been a good year for me and as it ends I think of those in the Middle East the hostages in Gaza and the children of Gaza. I cannot stop thinking of both. I think of those in India in Congo in the Ukraine in Sudan in Kashmir.
There’s so much war and I think in this divided world we live in, where so many of us are so connected to a fantasy if what life should be rather than living it, I am grateful for having some peace in me and around me and the safety of my home.

Here’s hoping for a peaceful and just 2025.

#reflectionsofthemuslimalchemist
#thereflectivespace
#slowingdownandthemuslimalchemist