Manal Omar, International Fixture in Peace Building Here to Discuss Joy and Pleasure for Our Mental Health

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English - June 22, 2020 15:49 - 49 minutes - 90.2 MB - ★★★★★ - 21 ratings
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Manal Omar is an internationally known figure on the world stage when it comes to peace building, women’s rights negotiations, and so much more more. Manal has several times been named by various media and educational institutions such as Georgetown University as one of the most influential Arabs in the world. There was a great conversation about women's rights, freedoms, access to joy and pleasure, as well as delving in to some more delicate topics. The mood was positive throughout. We have a show with laughter and conversation that flows freely amongst two people who have just become friends, Manal Omar, Founder of Across Red Lines as well as International Superstar Peace Builder working with NGOs and Presidential Administrations and world government and spiritual leaders to protect women and to negotiate peace treaties

🔹 Holds a certification in Global Mental Health – Trauma and Recovery from Harvard Medical school

🔹 Recognized among the “500 Most Influential Muslims in the World” by Georgetown University and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in 2009.

Manal believes strongly that the key to a more peaceful world rests in the selves of everyone. She takes a bottom up approach to peace negotiations, starting with the individual people involved, then tribal or cultural, then religious, then creates the correlation amongst them all to work toward governmental and legislation.

🔗 www.AcrossRedLines.com - Across Red Lines, founded by Manal Omar

🎬 https://youtu.be/tC80GATqbB4 - Watch this episode

“Through Across Red Lines, women learn to access their power through body knowledge, take inventory of their past experiences and how it has impacted their leadership style, and the secrets to joy and pleasure as a way to connect with the divine and their higher purpose. Although ARL’s curriculum is tailored within an Islamic framework, women of all backgrounds are welcome.” – Across Red Lines Website

🔵 Across Red Lines on Facebook - 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/AcrossRedLines

🔹 Regional Coordinator for Women for Women International for Afghanistan, Iraq, and Sudan, and set up programmatic operations in Iraq

It stands to reason that bringing more joy and pleasure into our lives would be good for our mental health. Joy and pleasure are like light in the dark to depression. You can always turn on more light to make a room brighter, but you cannot turn on more dark to make a room darker.

In order to focus on the self, Manal focuses on bringing Joy and Pleasure into our lives. You would never guess, but Manal also happens to work as a Pleasure and Sexuality coach.

🔹 Women’s Rights Negotiator for the Middle East and Northern Africa

🔹 International advisor for the Libya Stabilization Team in Benghazi in 2011

A reason or Two to watch or listen, according to the Words of Clarity Blog by Mike McBride on MOCwithTiffany.com

Our guest on this episode of Moments of Clarity with Tiffany, Manal Omar, brought some very high-level expertise, and experience to the Moments of Clarity show.

1. Manal talks about how her advocacy work in being a peacemaker in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and various other places around the world actually brought healing to herself as well. As she worked to advocate on behalf of people in traumatic circumstances, and understand their pain, the more she would up healing her own pain, and from her own traumas. They may not have looked the same, but healing from trauma is healing from trauma.

2. You will learn a lot, about the plight of women around the world. Inside of Western society, and outside of it. You'll learn about the lack of access to basic healthcare and clean water, the appalling number of women around the world killed as a result of domestic violence, and Manal's efforts to advocate for them be able to be fully themselves, in all of the forms a woman can exist, mentally, spiritually, sexually, etc.

You will also learn so much more about her experiences around the world, her current efforts through Across Red Lines and her book, Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity - My Own and What It Means to Be a Woman in Chaos” https://amzn.to/2YGXovi,

🔗 https://momentsofclaritywithtiffany.com/words-of-clarity - Words of Clarity blog on Moments of Clarity with Tiffany - by Mike McBride

🔗 www.childabusesurvivor.net - A blog by Mike McBride

Continuing the Interview

Tiffany and Manal chatted about how world conflict and violence against women affects Manal’s mental health and also the mental health of people in general. War Zones and conflicts bring anxiety, fear, and vulnerability to the forefront for the people living in them. Survivors are left with PTSD and Survivor’s Guilt, let alone the arduous task of trying to recreate a life after everything is destroyed.

⁉️ Statistic: More women died in the 21st Century from violence against women than casualties in all wars combined. That includes World Wars I and II, The Gulf War, Rawandan Genocide, and so many other wars. Most died at the hands of loved ones

Of all of the people that Manal has met, from presidents to kings, Prime Ministers, Religious Leaders like the Dalai Lama, and so forth, she explained how shocked she was that the meetings that had the greatest impact on her were with Military Generals.

Manal has a more positive view about the military than she had previously. She saw that in the warzones that she was stationed in, most of the military leaders that she worked with really wanted to send their troops home. They wanted the fighting to stop as much as anyone. Soldiers in these war zones had a high likelihood of developing Complex PTSD and other Mental Health problems because of their experiences.

🎬 Manal’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/manal_omar_women_at_the_negotiating_table_the_missing_piece_in_peacebuilding

🔹 Former Associate Vice President for Middle East and Africa Center at US Institute of Peace under Obama Administration

🔹 Master's degree in Arab studies with a concentration in Economics and Development from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Mason University.

Additional discussion was had about Manal’s time living in war zones, and one in particular, Baghdad, Iraq’s capital city. Manal wrote a book about her experiences living through the American bombing and occupation of Baghdad. Manal herself manages mental health problems including PTSD, Survivor’s Guilt, and Depression. Writing is a tool that she uses to heal from the trauma and loss that she has experienced.One of the most profound lessons learned from living in war zones is that things can change overnight, or even minute by minute.

👓 “Barefoot in Baghdad: A Story of Identity - My Own and What it Means to be a Woman in Chaos” - 🔸 https://amzn.to/2YGXovi

🔹 Member of the board of directors for the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and AltMuslimah

🔹 Named among “Top 500 World’s Most Influential Arabs” by Arabia Business Power in 2011 and 2012

It was clear to see that Tiffany and Manal became fast friends. As a matter of fact, there is more to this conversation than what’s in this episode. This is just the show broadcast on the radio. Keep an eye out in the future for some bonus episodes including the aftershow. It was so funny to hear Tiffany asking Manal about being a pleasure and sexuality coach. It’s something that Manal not only takes seriously, but takes pride in, and has developed long weekend retreats with full curriculum for women. Would you be interested in attending such a retreat?

🔹 Pleasure and Sexuality Coach

🔹 Reiki Master

More About Manal

Manal Omar is the founder and CEO of Across Red Lines, which is dedicated to facilitating a safe space for Muslim women and women of all walks of life to connect them with their leadership power and life force energy through experiential and peer learning. Manal has a certification in Global Mental Health - Trauma and Recovery from Harvard Medical School. She has studied with many spiritual leaders over the last several years to combine the medical and neuroscience aspects of trauma with spiritual practice. Her experience as a humanitarian worker and peacebuilder for over 20 years has connected her with women's rights groups across the globe.

🔵 LinkedIn 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/manal1omar - Contact Manal on LinkedIn

🎬 https://youtu.be/g46thRP0RXk - The Stream - President Jimmy Carter's 'call to action' on women's rights featuring Manal Omar:

Manal has worked with United States government agencies, the World Bank, United Nations, Oxfam UK, and Women for Women International. She has served as an advisor for global figures, a trainer for peacebuilding facilitators worldwide, and has mentored young leaders through Generation Change and YouTube Changemakers.

Manal is a Truman National Security Fellow and an inaugural Foreign Policy Interrupted fellow dedicated to including women in foreign policy and peacebuilding. She was named among the Top 500 World’s Most Influential Arabs by Arabia Business Power in 2011 and 2012, and named among the 500 Most Influential Muslims In The World by Georgetown University and The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in 2009. In 2007, Islamic Magazine named her one of the 10 Young Visionaries Shaping Islam in America.

Manal is also the author of a book, has given TEDx Talks, and has been featured on CNN, C-SPAN, Al Jazeera, and PBS, to name a few.

Learn more about Across Red Lines

🔵 LinkedIn 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/across-red-lines-0835aa17b

🔵 Twitter - @AcrossRedLines 🔗 https://twitter.com/AcrossRedLines

🟠 Instagram - @AcrossRedLines 🔗 https://www.instagram.com/acrossredlines

🔵 Facebook - 🔗 https://www.facebook.com/AcrossRedLines

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