Some books are carefully planned. Others insist on being written. FLOW was one of those.
It began as a conversation with myself during a season when everything familiar was shifting. For years, like so many, I moved through life on urgency: proving, pushing, performing. Busyness became an armor, hiding the quiet places inside where fear and longing lived together.
When the world slowed in 2020, so did I, albeit awkwardly. Stillness felt like failure. Yet in that silence, another voice surfaced. Not the critic, not the hustler, the one that remembered.
It remembered the teachings whispered in kitchens and gardens, passed through our North African lineage:
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Baraka the blessing that moves without force
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Niya the clarity of intention
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Himma the sacred fire that doesn’t burn out
From Hustle to Flow
At first, I scribbled survival notes: reminders to trust grace, to set intention before word or action, to move with devotion instead of pressure. I never planned to share them. But over time, they grew roots, asking to be shaped into something I could hold, maps for anyone standing at a threshold, searching for another way.
In February, as my professional world shook, I realized how absent baraka and niya were from spaces of social change. Too often, competition and scarcity replaced purpose. I wrote about anchoring social change work in blessing and devotion instead of scarcity and interest. When I felt that the field was transforming in a way I didn't feel aligned with, I turned the question inward: How do I anchor my life in blessing and devotion?
That question became FLOW, as a practice. I kept gathering the lessons I’d lived through (failures, softening, breakthroughs) into a companion I could share with fellow seekers.
The Heart of FLOW
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re allowed to stop striving, whether you can step off the chase... then you already know the heart of FLOW.
It’s about reclaiming our natural rhythm:
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A pace guided by blessing (baraka)
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A direction shaped by intention (niya)
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A fire fueled by devotion, not exhaustion (himma)
A Living Practice
I didn’t want FLOW to be another self-help manual of rules. I wanted it to be a companion, something we could return to on the days we feel lost in the noise.
Writing it taught me this: Life meets us when we move with blessing, with clear hearts, with steady fire. We don’t need to become someone else to live well. We only need to return to ourselves.
Invitation
FLOW is for all of us who want to move differently:
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To trust quiet nudges more than loud demands
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To anchor in meaning, not momentum
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To choose grace over grind
Inside, we’ll find words and practices to help us step back into rhythm, to walk with baraka, niya, and himma woven through our everyday lives. Because we were never meant to muscle our way through existence but to move with flow.
You can get your FLOW ebook here.
Heartfully,
Ratiba
