A No Filter Day – To Be Seen
A No Filter Day :To Be Seen Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar 29th August 2025 Copyright® To be seen –no filter,no hiding,no more a mask. Just skin.Just soul.Just the quiet courage it takesto show up as I am. No fear. No judgementin the curve of this jaw,no shamein the line of these eyes. This my reset:raw,real,reborn. […]
Everywhere and Nowhere: The Truth About Belonging
How cinema, markets, festivals, and memory reveal the beauty of identity, difference, and connection. Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar 26th August 2025 Copyright 2025 Bank holidays have a way of drawing people together – strangers, friends, families, whole cities. This Bank holiday for me was no different. From an outdoor cinema at Ilkley Lido, to Northern […]
How Hard It Is To Do the Right Thing?
How Hard It Is to Do the Right Thing We like to believe that doing the right thing should be simple. If we’re good people – if we go to church, the mosque, the synagogue, or whatever our place of worship may be – if we work on ourselves, share uplifting posts on social media, […]
What Music Unlocks in Us
When House Was God: On Music, Movement, and Holding the Aftermath In my 20s, I got lost in house music.Not just on nights out – I mean lost. In the rhythm. The build. The drop.The kind of lost where you feel found.The kind of lost where something divine moves through you. For me, house music […]
Beyond the Four Horsemen: Why I Found Gottman’s Model a Bit Shamey (and What Helped Instead)
Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar. Copyright 2025 When I first came across the Gottman Institute’s “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” I appreciated the clarity. It offered a sharp, research-based framework to understand why relationships fall apart. Criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling – these were the behaviours most likely to predict relational breakdown. Simple. Memorable. Supposedly universal. […]
To Be Loved
Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar © 4th June 2025 To Be Lovedsaid the fish Not by force,nor fear,nor need. But by a gentle driftof open seas,the tender pullof currents kind. A space to be seen,not seized,yet still – swimming free. This gentle and evocative spoken word, To Be Loved, is a meditation on the longing […]
The Stuckness of Regret: Exploring Why Neurodivergent Minds Get Stuck – and How to Move Forward
Table of Contents Add a header to begin generating the table of contents Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar – this writing is for anyone weighed down by shame and paralysed by past choices, it offers a path toward release and self-compassion. The Stuckness of Regret: Exploring Why Neurodivergent Minds Get Stuck – and How to Move […]
Navigating a Relationship with an Autistic Partner or Child – Whether They’re Younger, a Teen, or an Adult: Understanding Dismissiveness and “Talking Over”.
Navigating a Relationship with an Autistic Partner or Child – Whether They’re Younger, a Teen, or an Adult: Understanding Dismissiveness and “Talking Over”. Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar Navigating a relationship with an autistic partner or child – whether they’re younger, a teen, or an adult – can bring immense joy, deep connection, and a unique […]
Why I Chose a Circle (And What It Means for Glad We Talked™)
Why I Chose a Circle (And What It Means for Glad We Talked™) Written by Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar When I was creating and designing Glad We Talked, every detail mattered – even the small ones. Especially the small ones. You’ll notice that our menu icon and favicon are both built around a simple circle. In some […]
Masculinity, Language, and the Stories We Tell Boys
Masculinity, Language, and the Stories We Tell Boys By Yasmin Shaheen-Zaffar (This writing is accompanied by the artworks Three Boys Three Boys by Rozemarlin Borkent and Behind the Curtain by Banksy. Together, they reflect the beauty, hidden realities, and complexities of growing up masculine in today’s world.) We hear a lot about toxic masculinity these […]