Amina Nahabet

“Trust yourself. Trust your heart. Follow your gut.”

If you are upset, forgive as quickly as you can and don't hold on to the upset. You can choose, be upset for 3 minutes, 3 hours, 3 days, or 3 weeks. You have that choice. 

(Excerpt from an interview with Tarek Nahabet, CEO & Performance & Leadership Development Coach, Senior Adviser AM LLC, Loving Son, Peace Advocate for Israeli and Palestine)

St. Crois, US Virgin Islands

My mother was born in England, her father was Egyptian and her mother was British. She grew up in England, Egypt, U.S., Sri Lanka. At one point she went back to Egypt because of my grandfather's work with the World Bank and with the Egyptian government. This gave my mom a very international upbringing. She even had the opportunity to work with her father for a short period of time while he was the Deputy Prime Minister of Egypt under President Anwar Sadat.

All of my friends and people who meet my mom love my mom. That's a testament to her kindness and her genuine love for people. And she definitely poured so much love to her kids. Even today as adults, she's always been there to support us with whatever we have going on. Mom is somebody who's willing to sacrifice herself for the well being of others.

My mom is also a super intelligent businesswoman. She had a daycare center for 13 years, been a realtor and has always been at the forefront of keeping up with the latest health science, making sure that my father and my brother and I are healthy and strong and doing the things that we need to do to keep our health in check. Something she instilled in me that has absolutely made a difference in my life is my meditation practice. She had my father and us boys learn how to meditate when I was twelve. Years of meditation practice gives me peace of mind particularly when something isn't going the way I want it to go. Meditation also gives me clarity. It gives me the ability to quiet my mind, to turn inwards, to really check in what's going on, and then be able to have the proper thinking to see what that solution is going forward. I reap the benefits of transcendental meditation, which is the meditation practice that we do, for my heart, neurology, general health and wellness. I’ve been able to keep my body at optimum state, expand ability to withstand challenges, stress, because of my meditation practice.  My mom gave that gift to me.

My communication with my mom is extraordinary. She and I can talk about anything, sometimes it's a mother-son conversation, and other times it feels like friend-friend, and then other times we can talk as intellectuals. We honor and really listen to each other and hear each other’s unique perspective regarding any topic. One of the things I turn to her most about is about relationships. Nobody knows me more than my mom and sometimes I struggle making decisions regarding romantic relationships. She allows me to speak my mind, vent sometimes, and she gives me very useful perspective. She used to say to me, “If you are upset, forgive as quickly as you can and don't hold on to the upset. You can choose, be upset for 3 minutes, 3 hours, 3 days, or 3 weeks. You have that choice.”

She always encouraged me to be true to myself, when I am confused and my mind and my heart seems in conflict, she’d say “Trust yourself. Trust your heart. Follow your gut.”  This might sound cliche, but staying true to who I am learning to check in with my heart, check in with my gut and listen was a huge breakthrough. I got this in 2019 when I was in a relationship and things were not going the way I wanted them to go. I had to override the rational thinking and just really trust and follow what my insides were telling me, follow my mother's advice. Back then, I was involved with someone who I worked with, shared a home with. Ending that relationship resulted in losing my job, home and it meant starting over. Logic said leaving the relationship was not the right thing to do, and listening to my heart and my gut led me to learn a valuable life lesson which has now led me to an amazing job, a new home and a wonderful relationship and more importantly, I have freedom and peace of mind. I also learned discernment, and I’ve now created that my mind is now in service of what my heart desires. I’m a much better Coach because of this. When you think about this, there are a lot of people who stay in jobs, homes, relationships they hate because it’s illogical to leave.

I wouldn’t be all that I am today without the guidance and love of my mom. I am so grateful for the support, love, time, energy, education that both my parents poured into me and provided for me. I was given a solid foundation, a springboard towards living an incredible life.  Thank you, Mom!