Emily Merrell  00:00

Hey, my name is Emily Merrell. I’m a taco loving people connector. And I’m obsessed with playing the name game and all things networking. I’m the founder of secondary society, a female focus networking community, as well as a business coach for female business owners passionate about bringing their business to the next level with the help of events, community and connections. I crave deep conversations, and I’m continuously curious to see what makes people tick. And I’m invested in uncovering their stories with some life lessons along the way. This podcast is aimed to inspire and educate as you tackle your busy day to join the conversation and tune in for the second degree podcast. I’m your host Emily and today I am so excited to have my dear friend nor hand a mad spiritual coach and all around incredible human being on today’s show nor hand. Welcome to the show.

 

Norhan Ahmed  00:58

I Emily, and welcome stateside. Yes, yeah, back back in the US back in New York.

 

Emily Merrell  01:06

Where have you been hiding out for the last few months?

 

Norhan Ahmed  01:09

I took some time out after I got laid off from my job in May I took I hurried away to Cairo, Egypt, which is where my family is originally from. And I’ve been just taking just some time off for my mental health the past five months. I

 

Emily Merrell  01:24

I am so curious. But Egypt is like and is it? Did it feel like a culture shock going to Egypt and then coming back to New York? For me,

 

Norhan Ahmed  01:34

not really. But only because I had been going back, like every summer since since I was a kid some summers, we skipped some summers we go. But of course, like it’s just a different environment, just because it is the Middle East and the way that we think is different from the west. And so as a third culture kid, which means that like you’re someone who grew up in the West, but then you still have that background back home or you still have that peace back home. Um, you just feel it. There’s definitely a different mindset over there. But it’s becoming slowly more westernized. So it’s less like that. But then you have to also take care of like the culture over there. And just like the mindset over there is different. It’s always gonna be different. Yeah,

 

Emily Merrell  02:12

no, I could imagine what is. I’m always surprised going I love going to different cultures. But then I’m surprised when I see an advertisement for friends or like something very American that catches you off guard in a place that you don’t expect to see it. Was there anything like that while you were there that surprised you or made you chuckle?

 

Norhan Ahmed  02:34

I think that the fact that there’s like a lot of American like American European retailers over there like LA there’s like a Zara, there’s Starbucks over there. They’re like they’re they slowly there’s a Dunkin Donuts opened up a couple of years ago. Yeah, there’s been doughnuts and like, I think that like just realizing that like these, these type of countries, they really want want to appeal to like an American western audience because they want to increase tourism. So they’re bringing a lot of those brands when they brought those brands back to the back to the country because it’s considered a third world country. Yeah, like it is considered that. So it’s just bringing these brands attracts more tourists so that they have that experience. Even while in the Middle East.

 

Emily Merrell  03:14

You’re like, let’s go see the pyramids. And, you know, Duncan, Egypt runs on Dunkin. Let’s go grab some Dunkin Donuts.

 

Norhan Ahmed  03:22

Yeah, no, it’s good. The coffee, there’s good.

 

Emily Merrell  03:26

Like, oh, it’s known for its world renowned coffee and like I’m grabbing Dunkin Donuts. I feel like that feels sacrilegious to me. Well, I am glad that you took some space. And we’re able to be in a place of chillness and relaxation. And one of the things in our hand that I’ve always admired about you is that you’re just such a multi passionate human being from reading your poems. Recently, just I love everything that you put out on Instagram. You are this incredible speaker, this community builder, you are just the spiritual entrepreneur like you do a lot of things. So let’s start at the beginning. How did this I love what you said third generation? Is that what you called it our culture, Third Culture Third Culture person delve into this multi faceted, complex entrepreneurial spirit world? Well, I think

 

Norhan Ahmed  04:21

first thing is um, Capricorn. And so we’re very passionate in general, and then um, mostly Earth and fire in this chart. So it was just too much passion that needs to go somewhere. I just have a creative spirit in general. And of course, like I come from a very rich heritage, Egypt like in kind of hieroglyphics, skill packs, right, just just so much rich history there. So it’s, like embedded literally in my ancestry. And I think that like just a lot of Arabs in general are very, very passionate and very creative. From what I can tell. I’m we’re artists, we’re painters, we’re writers, we’re entrepreneurs. And I’ve always just been a very passionate person in general. So that’s just something that’s I’ve always been. So how like, so you asked me how I got into like, the spirituality aspects everything. Yeah. So come 2020 I literally had a spiritual awakening, I had some of like the most wildest experiences of my life. What happened was I kind of like, got triggered by a person. And so when that happened, it just kind of like initiated me onto this path was what I was needed. I think it was it was around like February 2020. I was like, man, like I had just like, been officially divorced from my ex in November 2019. So it was around that time I’m like, I was working a nine to five job in office before the pandemic and I’m like, You know what, God, I really need a change in my life, I need something to change something needs to change, I don’t know what needs to change. And so I as as you ask as he answers, he answered me and and then I had a spiritual awakening. And I really was limited to just something called a dark night of the soul, which is just a really deep spiritual depression. So if you think about like the fact our mind body connection, we think depression is a spiritual disease. It’s actually not it is mental. It is a mental health issue, but it’s also a spiritual issue as well because and I will talk about it later, but it just has to do with our energetic and energetic centers or points in the body, and how our, our external circumstances dictate how we feel in like in our body, basically. And we’ll talk more about that force. But so after after I went through that I kind of started falling a lot of like occultists and spiritualists, on Twitter and on Instagram, like learn more and more about like the chakras or learn more about energy. I learned more about just how to heal your body from the inside out. I started to read about Dr. Dr. Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay. I even got into some Bell Hooks there’s a lot of just like feminist and virtual work that just like I didn’t really I didn’t know any about I didn’t know anything about you don’t know this stuff unless it just comes to you. And so it literally catapulted and really just went like that like it’s like you are meant to be this person and we use this person the situation to put to kind of a trigger you into this like transformation and it’s painful. It’s really really painful because you don’t nobody around you knows what’s going on with you and you don’t know what what’s going on with you. And that’s that nobody’s really spiritual anymore, right? Not that no one’s really spiritualist that not everyone thinks it’s woowoo. Or it’s like magic, but it’s really not. It’s just that society and the world has moved away from it so much that we are just focused, so focused so much on these capitalistic standards that like I just need to like hustle, make money and try to survive in this world. And nobody’s really thinking about the fact that like, no, but everything around us is energy. This is not magic. This is you. You are the magic. You are You are the woowoo there’s no woowoo nothing, right, we’re not witches, here, we’re just people who are spiritual that are about raising the collective consciousness.

 

Emily Merrell  08:03

Hmm. So basically, uh, you were, there was a moment where you were triggered. And then that new viewer at posed a question. And then this door essentially unlocked where you continued learning and growing, and getting into chakras and astrology and spirituality. So for someone who might be in the same seat that you were in, in 2020, that might be feeling really stuck or might be feeling like I’m unsure what my next move or my next step is, and is open to exploring spiritual spirituality. Do you have any starting points for people?

 

Norhan Ahmed  08:45

I remember. I remember like, I was like, I don’t know what’s going on with me. I keep having these dreams. I keep having these like weird intuitive downloads and even think ahead. I didn’t realize that such a strong intuition. I really think the first thing that someone needs to do is to seek out a spiritual counselor, a mentor, tarot reader, somebody who knows what’s going on or even just follow a couple of like bipoc LGBTQ I like, spirituals spiritual people in a cultist on like Twitter, or they’re mostly on Twitter, but also there’s on Instagram, just trusted people that can really start to like engage your mind and start to like, fill in those gaps of information where you’re like, Oh, this is what’s happening. This is what’s happening. And then I recommend when you’re able to financially do so book a session with them and kind of just like, Go understand what what’s going on.

 

Emily Merrell  09:37

And what was the first one that you booked?

 

Norhan Ahmed  09:41

Oh, wow, man, that was such a. So I’ve seen so many people since then, so many people that I trust and it’s very much about integrity. I’m always I move with integrity, like and I say that completely. 100% No bullshit. I move with integrity. Like that’s just I’ve always been like that. So Oh, I really like to invest my money when I when I have it into like, people who will have investing integrity and that same work ethic and really care about the service that they provide and the help that they’re giving you more than the money that they’re giving. So that’s just something I wanted to put out there. The first person I booked wow, you know, you know, I’m gonna tell you, I’ll tell you one person that I first saw, her name is Marissa and she is indigenous and she lives in Canada. And so I used to follow her on I on Twitter, and then I followed her on Instagram and I met with her twice and this was during like my spiritual awakening as well. And she her name is now I don’t know what’s like its death and rebirth. Tarot or something on on Instagram? I can look it up right now actually one second because she deserves a shout out she really liked she like we’re we’re like friends now. Like death and rebirth Tarot death and rebirth Tarot on Instagram. So Marissa, I’ve seen Francesca she’s also another one limit Limitless Living lift, fit limit limit LIS living fit on Instagram and on Tik Tok. She’s also helped me out a lot. There’s also Gina at enter the unseen or the unseen. I can just like look it up as well. I’m butchering this. I’m butchering

 

Emily Merrell  11:21

them on the spot you were doing? Yeah,

 

Norhan Ahmed  11:23

like they deserve they deserve the shout outs. One second here. Let me pull it her up. It’s definitely entered the unseen. Oh, shoot, here she is. Okay, enter the unseen. So like I’ve seen like a lot of different people that have helped me across the board. Yeah, just like are more knowledgeable than I am about the stuff and about what’s going on with me, because it’s a lonely process, you’re isolated. If you are the generational curse, because your family, if you are the one that’s going to break the cycles, if you are the one that’s That’s like going through this initiation phase, people around you and like you’re you’re going crazy, like what’s wrong with you, there’s something wrong with you, you’re not, you’re not really living the status quo of the family, right? You can’t live this household, the family, you’re the one who’s was pulled out of everything. And now this is where you’re here. So you need to find community and you need to find a mentor, if you’re able to do so you need to find uncomfort. So that’s following the right people on social media,

 

Emily Merrell  12:16

I think that’s a really good point to have that feeling of you feel like you’re going insane, your family thinks for sure you’re going insane. And you’re just hanging out in the wrong room. So when you change scenery, and you hang out in a room, even if it’s a virtual room, if it’s on Twitter, or if it’s on Instagram, or if it’s on Zoom, but surrounding yourself with people who are going through similar life phases, or be have gone through the set life phases and haven’t made it across the bridge that made it to the other side and understand what you’re going through and can can nourish and guide you. As you go through those those very uncomfortable moments. It’s a lot easier than

 

Norhan Ahmed  12:59

you need sole Norseman you need so Norseman and ever since the pandemic, we’ve been isolated and it’s still had an impact on us, right? You need to surround yourself with the right kind of people. Which is why as you like, I don’t know, if you’ve seen like collective energy wise, people are not just losing their jobs, they’re losing friends. I’ve been losing friends since 2020, they a complete energetic shift has been happening in their lives if they’re open to it, and that’s what they’re, that’s what their life contract is about. Right? And then their their marriages are ending. This is ending this is everything is ending for them. Right. Some people are switching careers like completely switching careers and like doing entrepreneurship full time and not going back to nine to five, there’s just a lot of changes happening where people are now going to be in their purpose more than ever, and they’re going to leave that toxic relationship those toxic friendship groups, if if they’re open to that change, if they’re not open, then they’re just gonna stay where they are. Definitely

 

Emily Merrell  13:50

and they’re gonna be like, Why does this feel so uncomfortable? I don’t know. You’re like you got to make a shift when you gotta or man or person you have to make that adjustment. So Oh, well I love that thank you for so much for sharing about your dark night of the soul and for you then going on this journey. So now as as a spiritual guide yourself and as a coach, how are you helping your clients figure out what the eff is they’re going through

 

Norhan Ahmed  14:20

so my like, like statement or how I help people is I help heal physical and emotional pain through addressing the mind body connection and I do so through psycho spiritual tools to heal chronic ailments from the inside out. And I do this like tools like it’s like I use like light astrology on like, like not like a very like deep scholarship. I also use astrology for myself just to figure out myself and I’ve gotten astrology readings from like, really, like well known astrologers. And like, well known as and like they’re smart and they’re experienced. And so EFT tapping and LP energy work and honestly, it’s really like it’s really much it’s really intuitive coaching. So it is intuitive coaching is it’s really Much like I can just ask you a couple questions, and I can tell where this is going. Like I can tell the patterns that are in your life because I’ve, I’ve seen similar patterns, especially women of color, women of color, Latinas, and the arrows and all of us, all of us, we just have a collectively, we have we go through the same things we still have, we have the same, almost the same, like blue a blueprint throughout our lives. It’s like either the generational trauma or it’s the toxic family dynamics, or it’s like the, the, the intergenerational trauma or if it’s like, if it’s past life, something like it’s just a lot of things that we’re not aware of, that we refer to as daily, daily, daily, like you can I was, I was just thinking this right now. Like, just before we go on this call, you can literally be abused for years and not realize you were being abused. That’s literally what it is. Right? So how do I help clients, I, they come to me, they fill out a form they let so I can do some research. I look I like to look at like just the astrology chart just to see like, what what what kind of energy is this? There’s obviously side journal astrology, but I just do the regular tropical, because I’m not familiar with such astrology. So I do that. And then I go in and I asked and like, Okay, so what’s one thing that’s really bothering you right now, like through your body, like is it like, and here’s the thing, I’m not a doctor. But I’ve been able to heal some elements in my body just through like, like holistically and through that mind body connection. And I can talk about that. So let’s say someone has back pain, like lower back pain, that’s your root chakra, that’s your root chakra is at red chakra, it’s at the bottom right here. And it really deals with your foundation, you’re the basis of your foundation, your survival. Your this is this is the center where usually it’s honestly mostly blocked 90% of us have that more than 90% of us had that blocked all the time. Because we have if your thirst, your income, or there’s periods of time where you couldn’t you you’re in poverty, or you have any childhood trauma, that’s where it gets stored. That’s why a lot of people have a lot of back pain, they have to release those blockages. And I used to have severe back pain, severe severe, it was so bad. Um, I think that when I started to work, I’m still and still and I am telling everyone here like listening that like these chakras are constantly getting blocked, you have to constantly work on it. It’s like a constant work in progress. So I’ve always had a weak, weak like root chakra. And so when I started working on my root chakra, and I started, and I started to just even like, like, do some physical activity and yoga that really helped us to unblock a little bit and to just relieve some of that pain. Another thing that I’ve been able to heal my knee pain, I still I still have like an people will say oh, because doctors will say always because, you know, she might be like the like the standard science will say okay, maybe she needs to lose a couple pounds, right? But here’s the thing, like, I, I’ve been going I’ve been going to the gym, I’ve been physically active more than I’ve ever in my life and I still have this knee pain on and off. Why? Because knees are knee pain sores, a lot of our anger just like, you know, just like our stomach, but even our knee, like some knee pains from anger actually. And some people won’t believe me, right, they won’t believe in but so what I did is I Oh, I had to like I literally just had to, like relieve myself my anger and release my anger and my knee like I’m obviously like, going through so going through something right now. So it’s the word up a little bit. But you know, it’s, it’s, it’s been okay for the past couple months because I was at peace and everything was good, but obviously it’s gonna it’s gonna flare up depending on like, what’s what’s happening in life. So that’s anger and then also stomach, I’ve had severe stomach issues. In college, they put so much stress on us and like to be honest with you, I wish college did anything for me and it didn’t. So I used to have a lot of like, pain here like above my navel, which is the solar plexus chakra. And solar plexus chakra talks about our confidence, it talks about our ability to show up in the world. And it usually gets blocked here, especially if it’s like, like, it usually gets boxed or due to the fact that we don’t have we don’t feel like we have that confidence. We have low if you have low self esteem or imposter syndrome, which everyone can relate. Right. So if I’m if you’re really really stressed and you’re going through like just exams and final exams and everything and it gets blocked and you have these stomach issues, you have to work on your solar plexus chakra. Also, if you have a lot of fatigue and you’re not able you procrastinate a lot and you’re not able to finish your task. It’s a solar plexus chakra blockage. So how do I heal that? I had chronic stomach issues my life I have IBS, right. But I mean, I’ve went to a gastroenterologist I’ve went to the I’ve went to the doctors, they really didn’t do much for me to be honest, they told me about inflammation, right? Inflammation is actually sort of anger and and unresolved emotion in the body. So the more that you’re able to resolve your emotional issues, the least amount of inflammation you’ll have in your body actually So so how I heal that is I actually and I’m still healing because my solar plexus chakra is also weak because again, it’s the three is part of the three lower chakras of our of our system, the root is blocked and everything else is has issues because that’s our foundation. What I’ve been able to do with that is I would repeat An affirmation, I will do solar plexus meditations, I will just kind of remind myself that I can I can do this right, I can get through this, release that release breathwork, release that anger, release that anxiety, all of it, right. So it’s really just being able to tune into your body. And then I’m the guy that helps you do that, because I was gonna, I mean, unless you have a mom and dad that that knows this stuff that’s able to help you with this, you really don’t know, people just when I my family gives me this slide. i They’re like, Yeah, something’s wrong with her.

 

Emily Merrell  20:31

Like, here’s an Advil and a Tums and shut the heck up, like you got, you don’t

 

Norhan Ahmed  20:39

the main root of all our issues is unresolved emotional issues that we have stored in our body, or for this trauma that we’ve dealt with stored in our body. If you’re being told over and over again, you’re not good enough as a child that is gonna directly hit your root chakra. Why? Because it’s gonna hit your finances, why is it gonna hit your finances, because you don’t believe that you’re worthy or able to create the life of your dreams and be able to have the money that you deserve. That’s number one, then it’s going to hit your sacral chakra, which is your it’s, we call it like the second chakra, but it’s like, it’s where you’re at the bottom right there, right. And it’s also your creative center, right? So what else can hit your creativity and your ability to think and make decisions that are in the creative and in creative flow, which as entrepreneur, you’re creative all the time coming up with different offers, coming up with different ways to get clients sales calls are not really that easy to make when you’re first starting out. And then it’s gonna hit your soul fluxes, because then you’re going to be like, Okay, well, now I don’t have the confidence or even the energy to be able to do to be able to do these tasks and be able to do what I need to do to get my business off the ground or be in living my purpose, right. So now it’s hitting all of it. And it’s only one word though, since he was a child, and that’s not even compared to whatever else you want to

 

Emily Merrell  21:55

know. And then you have to you have to undo all of the doing that was done and work on each section, part by part, and I appreciate you spelling out the different chakras and you had mentioned earlier you also do NLP and EFT and for those that aren’t familiar with those Can you with those practice practices practices? Can you share with us a bit more what EFT is and then NLP EFT

 

Norhan Ahmed  22:22

is just a game changer. It’s a game changer. It’s really tapping on meridian points. That to release blockages in your subconscious and in your body right now I’m learning I’m still learning about EFT. So my main modes are not are not EFT, but it will be. And new NLP is neuro neuro linguistic programming. And it’s about really changing your brain and your neural pathways just like EFT Emotional Freedom Techniques, EFT so just making sure that both of them are just brain work, they’re doing the inner work like on your brain and on your subconscious to release the blockages. Like, for instance, when you tell yourself Oh, money is hard to make. Money is not hard to me, when he’s not hard to make money is easy to make. The problem here is that you see, because you have scarcity mindset, you see all these roadblocks in front of you. And you’re like, Well, how am I going to get there? How, like, obviously, there’s, I’m not trying to invalidate anyone’s current situation because trust me and I were like, I’m trying to look for a job just so I can get my business off the ground. And so I and I know that there’s a lot of competition, but it’s only perceived competition because it’s what’s for you is for you period, you just have to put yourself into that reality. So EFT, Emotional Freedom Technique and NLP are the are doing the brain work and releasing the blockages from your subconscious mind, right that are affecting your energy centers, because it starts from here it goes, it literally starts from up here, then it goes to the body, and then your and then pretty soon your whole body has blockages that you’re not even aware of. And it causes you anxiety, it causes you depression, it causes you to be really insecure. really jealous really just like comparing yourself to everyone self sabotaging impostor syndrome, everything everything. If people were would just learn to release the blockages within their body and to believe in themselves I think the world would be actively 1,000%

 

Emily Merrell  24:13

Rather than numb their body or not want to feel what they’re feeling and feel like that’s a lot of a lot of times the easier choice like let me let me get wasted or let me just take a pill for that or whatnot and then I don’t have to do the work to rid myself of the pain. This is all incredible. So I know you’ve also worked with gold before or Nicole and then hypnotism. I don’t I think that’s what you guys did together. Yeah, yeah.

 

Norhan Ahmed  24:44

She did hypnotherapy sessions with me. Yeah. Which I think

 

Emily Merrell  24:46

is such a cool, different offering as well like going back. Did you do anything about your past childhood or your past lives?

 

Norhan Ahmed  24:54

Oh, definitely. Oh my goodness. There’s a lot of past life type of work. is really deep, it’s really intense, you have to like, you have to go to someone really skilled for that like, and I obviously have to like learn how to do that I don’t know how to do that, which is why I’m like, the more that you can tap into what themes and traumas and things and people from people who are like, really religious don’t believe in a past life. But I believe every single religion has something about a past life. We’ve lived many lives before. And it’s really, really important. If you would to tap Go back, go back, go back, then you would realize what why these themes and patterns are repeating in your life, and you would actually realize why you have certain family members, right? why certain things have happened to you, and what is really your real contract and purpose in this world? Because, why, why? Why are certain things happening? And why is everything so hard? And like this aspect in my life, right? And like, if you go back, you can, you can go back and you could be like, Oh, wow, I was like this and this and this year, and this happened to me. So the craziest thing, I had a Reiki session back in December. I love to get Reiki sessions, just because until I can learn how to do Reiki on myself. And she was she had like, there was like a, it was like a different type of Reiki was like a Japanese type of like, learned Reiki and I don’t know, I found on Twitter. And I’m like, Okay, let me do this. And then she told me that I had a past life. Like, like trauma that affected my creative. Like my creative energy central chakra. And I’m like, Oh, I’m like, wow, like, this was dating back to like the French Revolution. I’m like, I didn’t even know it was there. Oh, like you see, it’s just so crazy. And it’s like mind boggling to go into this work and delve into this work. And it’s not for everybody, and I’m not for everything. Yeah. No, I

 

Emily Merrell  26:44

think it’s definitely something you have to start, like a poopoo platter, kinda to your point, try it, try a bunch of things, taste, taste a bunch of things, taste a bunch of different people. See what sticks, see what you like, see what resonates because not everything’s going to be for everyone. But holding on. And being open minded to those things. I feel like one of the good gateways for me was human design. I felt like human design was a good like gateway opener for me. Or Reiki was another one, I thought that was a really powerful one and breathwork. And so you know, like, start with certain modalities, and then astrological readings. Chakra ceremonies, like, slippery slope, before you know it, you’re doing it all every single morning routine is 45 hours. It can be you’re like, oh my god, I

 

Norhan Ahmed  27:36

can and here’s the thing, like, you might not have time to do all the meditations on all these chakras it takes. It’s not like it takes a little time to heal this. But like, you could just do affirmations, you could listen to binaural beats or like different like the HTC type of like, like everything has a frequency, right? Everything has a frequency in the world. So just listen to the frequency that’s associated with that chakra and just leaving and releasing those blockages within your body through breath work. You don’t have to actually always all the time, I mean, it’s recommended that you send humanity and each chakra individually for like months at a time so they can release the blockages but we know that not everyone’s gonna do that. Exactly.

 

Emily Merrell  28:14

Now I completely completely agree. Well, Nora Han I so appreciate you and I love the fact that you are diving in and you were also doing the work so you can share the work and you can suss out what makes the most sense for each person. So to that point, like not everything is for everyone and having a guide is helpful so then like a cruise can you know a cruise director you point them where they should go and what they should do. So what is the best way for people to get in touch with you?

 

Norhan Ahmed  28:41

Definitely. Instagram instagram.com/miss_nora Hen and no ra tn a med ah and Edie and my name will definitely be in the social here in this podcast episode so definitely Instagram tick tock nor hand dot heels that I know Yeah, I know it’s amazing yeah, I don’t have that heels. And that’s going to be those me two platforms where I’m gonna be talking about this work because I’m also a copywriter and content writer so if anyone’s looking for any copywriting services I’d love to work with like women owned businesses. I love to work with coaches I love to work in the spiritual space or not just with women, folks, businesses and brands. I just love that I love I love when women are just taking control and they’re starting their own businesses and I love I would love to write copy for websites sales pages landing pages you got it just hit me up on Instagram.

 

Emily Merrell  29:31

Also spiritually focused businesses I think is a perfect marriage.

 

Norhan Ahmed  29:36

Yes spiritually false businesses definitely right called

 

Emily Merrell  29:39

was called that in I like that. Yes. So Nora, Han Can you tell us an unknown fun fact about you?

 

Norhan Ahmed  29:48

My I first published my first poem when I was 15 years old. I was in high school. I submitted it. I submitted it to like, it was like a range of poems as a contest. So I didn’t win the contest, but they did have it in like a book And the homeless call to let go.

 

Emily Merrell  30:03

That’s incredible. And this is pre pre else’s let it go are

 

Norhan Ahmed  30:09

seeing so what what was that two dozen and what

 

Emily Merrell  30:13

was like years ago 10 years ago? Oh, wow, it’s actually probably right on par when they they did come out? I think it’s been out for a bit. Oh my gosh, it’s been out for a bit. That’s wild. That scares me we’ve been seeing let it go for too long. Um, who would be a dream person to be connected with?

 

Norhan Ahmed  30:34

In terms of like, like eye contact,

 

Emily Merrell  30:35

like dead or alive? Like if you want to were to go out to lunch with someone? Who would you want to take out to lunch?

 

Norhan Ahmed  30:43

I honestly would love to either go out to lunch with I know it’s like two people one and still life. May May she have a long life and Gloria Steinem for Bell Hooks, may she rest in peace on it. I think that I love like feminist type of work. And I think that when I picked up I picked up Bell Hooks book about love. In February 2022, and my life hasn’t been the same. Just thinking about family systems and feminism and the fact that just a lot of people don’t know how to love and show love and be vulnerable, which is why dating is like, not the best these days. And then Gloria Steinem her book, the great revolution within it’s a book on like self esteem and how our current like our current system education system just like breaks down yourself seeing how you how your self esteem breaks down, even in childhood and I haven’t finished yet because it’s like I’ve my mind has every couple pages My mind is one I just have to process. I have like ADHD so neurodivergent to like process. Wow. Like, I would love to sit with her and just like talk to her about her work as well. And so that that would be my interest my dream. Those

 

Emily Merrell  31:52

are great ones. I haven’t heard either of their names, so I will scope them out later. What show are you currently watching?

 

Norhan Ahmed  32:03

I am one of those people. I like to read watch my favorite shows over and over again. I like Eddie, remember remember when squid King came out? I didn’t watch the game. What’s the other one Breaking Bad? I didn’t watch it. Like I don’t really go with the hype. I just go with my like my comfort. Watch. I’m watching. I’m gonna re watch Gossip Girl again. For the millionth time. This is on the New Yorker. I love I love Gossip Girl.

 

Emily Merrell  32:26

Oh, I love that. Did you read the books too?

 

Norhan Ahmed  32:29

I did not read the books. No.

 

Emily Merrell  32:32

Definitely. They’re short. They’re They’re fun. I liked the books. They changed a bunch of things, obviously. But they were definitely very digestible and fun quick reads If you want to mix it up a bit. Speaking of books, what are you currently reading and you just talked about the books that you’re reading I’m putting down

 

Norhan Ahmed  32:51

right now. My current book that I’m reading is sacred contracts by our aliveness contracts about your contract in the world and the different contracts that you have with other people. So more like TPP into that spiritual thing.

 

Emily Merrell  33:08

You need a gossip girl just to counteract all the deep work that you’re doing.

 

Norhan Ahmed  33:12

Yeah, it’s it’s a lot. There’s just always new information that you just stumble upon. You’re like, wow, like now I’m trying to like you now you understand why you have certain dynamics with certain people. And what that purpose that what that purpose of that that dynamic serves in your own life.

 

Emily Merrell  33:28

That’s a really good point to have. What is your favorite emoji?

 

Norhan Ahmed  33:33

is a hard one. My favorite emoji light line, pull it up here is our most used one. Oh, definitely local it up here. I know it’s here somewhere. Okay, let’s see. What’s that one? It’s, it’s definitely the the one with the Queen and the black hair like the queen. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I liked that one. Oh, I

 

Emily Merrell  33:56

love that. I could see with that. That’s a good Halloween costume, too. And then my final question for you today is What permission Do you want to give our listeners today?

 

Norhan Ahmed  34:09

What permission I think take charge of your own life. And I don’t mean that in a way like we’re everyone’s like, it’s a mindset now. Like, it’s just like, it’s really just repeated over and over again. But just really, really try to figure out what your purpose in the world is so that you can live a more fulfilling life because I don’t think a lot of us are fulfilled and it’s true. It’s just we’re just going through the motions. We’re just surviving. Like find a way to thrive. Please find a way to thrive and unlearn. Unlearning is just as important as learning so please unlearn. Whatever ideologies, whatever thought patterns, whatever ideas were put in your head when you were younger by parents that didn’t know any better honestly, what worked for them might not work for you.

 

Emily Merrell  34:50

Beautiful advice and incredible advice for our listeners. Well in our hand, thank you so much for sharing you your journey your stories, such incredible wisdom. I so enjoyed having you as my guest today.

 

Norhan Ahmed  35:03

Thank you so much Emily. It was it was just a pleasure and honor to be here and

 

Emily Merrell  35:07

listeners. We will see you the next time on the second degree podcast. Have a great day everyone