As the first day of summer approaches and many of you start to splendor many moments outdoors bathing poolside by the sun, I shall start by blogging.

Zig Zag Zen

You may be asking how did I come to this name or how I came to the idea to start a blog in the first place?

The idea of the name Zig Zag Zen came from my amazing friend; Mikala Engel McCain who is based in California now married, working, and raising a little girl of her own.

We met while living in Yono, Japan while teaching English in Japan in 2006.

While living in Yono; the suburbs of Japan or as the Japanese call it “Bedtown” we always used to walk to the station together in our way to work.

According to Mikala, I could never walk in a straight line to the station. She’d call it zig zagging. I would just try to make it more exciting walking on one side of the street. Mind you, it’s about a 20 minute walk to the station with my little legs going to the station every day.

Now as far as the blogging journey, it’s been long overdue and advised from my dear old friend named Jahan which means world 🌍 or Universe in Persian.

His friendship means the absolute world to me. He also lives in the great state of California and has girl of his own. If you talk about the power of manifesting, he taught me it’s indeed possible. When we were 12 years old, he told me “Shahgol, I want to marry a red headed nurse” and 25 years later, lo and behold that he did. He also taught me the Persian art of what we call Taroffing. My father took us to Showbiz Pizza in Fayetteville, NC when we were about 8 years old to introduce us since we were going to go to the same school. There was one slice of pizza left and he asked me”Shahgol, would you like the last piece of 🍕 “ and I said “yes, if you don’t want it” My dad was kind of embarrassed as in Persian culture we say No, I don’t want it(when we actually do) but it’s custom to say no when the hostess offers you something. You could probably say yes on the third time, but to make a longer story short, I said yes to the pizza right away embarrassing my dear father. Now looking back, it is taught me never to take the last piece of pizza but not the last slice of cake. There will always be that last 🍰.

As far as always seeing the positive light and seeing humor in all situations, I owe that to my childhood best friend and sister from another mother; Polly. She always taught me to see the truth in the world and to live life with true intentions. My true intention in writing are for her as she always said to me “ It’s all about the intention”. She has always been wise beyond her years and now resides in New Mexico with her husband; a handsome Persian doctor in which fate will have them meeting in Fayetteville, NC and move across the country now raising two beautiful; brilliant kids.

Writing to me has always been ingrained and growing up I wanted to be a broadcast journalist for ABC News. Although, I went on another path it’s good to be able to lay it all out on paper and now digitally on this platform.

Recently, I have loved seeing the fruition of writing from my dear college friend, Rebecca Wenrich Wheeler whom I admire for teaching self care as a yoga instructor, and writer of three books to date of above all a mother to two children in my home town state of North Carolina.
I have always had a voice and been loved and cared for esp by my older brother; Shahbod

I have always have a voice and from the protection early on by my brother; Shahbod, He taught me early in life to not guard your feelings and talk it out.

There is so much to do on this blog but I would for it to foster and show all the beauty in this world of ours. When the higher beings give me, my loved ones and all mankind another day to open our eyes and see the greatness of our mother 🌎, it’s something not only to awe but most of all to cherish as it is in that precise moment.

I would like to show you my travels both past, present, and future but also current events in the DC Metropolitan area. I want to show not just all the good stuff life has to offer but all the wild stuff such as experiencing the early signs of menopause. This is what Zig Zag Zen entails. Life takes you through many detours, so we will explore all that together.