Shayan Ali
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Stories (22)
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The Whispering Earth
Noor was five when she first heard the forest speak. The sensation she experienced was different from hearing words.The sensation created a tender stillness which wrapped her in an embrace similar to a delicate blanket.Baba Jan grasped her small hand when they left their village boundary to enter the vast green forest which extended like an ocean over the hills.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Earth
Human
Dawn, as usual, stretched shadows along the windowsill as it rolled into the small bakery on 7th Avenue, wrapped in gentle pink light. Zahra entered the space while the door softly groaned behind her because she had neglected to oil the hinges last week. She released a subtle breath which bore the exhaustion of dawns and countless days shaped by repetition. The bell above her produced a weak ding sound that became inaudible because of accumulated dust from previous seasons.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Humans
Why is it so hard to make good financial decisions?. AI-Generated.
As a behavioral psychologist, I’ve seen a thousand times how we set goals and intentions but fail to follow through. With saving money, it’s no different. It is one of those things in which everything becomes 10 times as difficult.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Education
In a Season of Darkness, Grow Towards the Light
"Pain is unavoidable. Suffering is optional." As a healthy man soon to turn eighty, I was struck four months ago by multiple myeloma. Myeloma is a blood cancer, an intensely painful condition in the bone marrow that over time can weaken and hollow out one's spine and other bones. It can feel like a leaden anchor relentlessly pulling you underwater. Conventional pain medicines have done little to alleviate this pain. I am largely confined to a recliner by day and a bed by night. While experiencing a harrowing, inescapable level of physical anguish, I've developed a new relationship with pain that has revealed a way of being I hadn't imagined possible prior to the onset of this cancer. I've described these discoveries to my medical team and they've urged me to share them with those enduring intense physical pain. I describe them not as a prescription for others but simply as one individual's journey of discovery, an evolving personal response to a common, inescapable challenge.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Longevity
"Forget Your Age — This 10-Second Balance Test Reveals How Old Your Body Really Is"
So I was lying in bed the other night, trying to read my phone, and started complaining to my wife about how my vision keeps getting worse, and then how stiff I feel when I wake up in the morning, and how a recent injury is taking too long to heal and she said — "well, yeah, you're 44. That's when things start to head downhill."
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Longevity
"7 Medical Mysteries That Could Save Your Life in Today’s Healthcare Maze"
On a blistering Sunday morning following an 8-mile training run, I was sweaty, winding down, and heading for home when a car slowly came up on my left side. The car stopped and an elderly woman whom I did not know had a look of desperation as she shared the following medical horror story with me through her open car window.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Longevity
"Is the State of the World Really Making People Choose a Child-Free Life?"
Does this sound familiar? People are not having children because they are worried about the state of the world. About climate change. About governments that push a babies-at-all-costs agenda only to leave parents in the dirt when it comes to the nitty-gritty reality of actually raising a child.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in The Swamp
"The Protein Cookie Problem: Why Marketing Isn’t Nutrition". AI-Generated.
The first time I saw a protein cookie, I squinted at the package in confusion. I was halfway through a road trip, stopping for snacks and scanning the aisles, when I came across a completely regular chocolate chip cookie, plus protein. From the food label, the product was seemingly selling itself as a special, new health food. Reader, it was not.
By Shayan Ali5 months ago in Longevity
