A pictorial response to the application question: Show us an activity you enjoy doing. Tell us how you think it contributes to your personal and professional development.

1. Positive & Happy Energy
Farah Ali Otaki, BS, MPH, CPH
October 2013
A pictorial response to the application question:
Show us an activity you enjoy doing. Tell us how you think it contributes to your
personal and professional development.
Music:
La Galleguita
Alex Fox
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Photo Credits: A flowery passage. FAO 2013

2. Any ‘Liberating Activity’
• A range of activities that bring
me joy and positive energy.
• These contribute to my
maturation and development,
and add value to my personal
and professional life, making
make me feel glad to be alive.
• The first examples that come to
my mind…
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Photo Credits: A flowery passage. FAO 2013

3. Coffee
• Having a warm and
relaxing cup of coffee.
• One filter coffee, with
skimmed milk, please!
• I do not drink a lot of
coffee, but my morning
cup is the highlight of
my day…
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4. • Somehow it makes my days feel more
spacious…
• It is the time when I focus on extensively
listing all that I have to do during the day,
highlighting the priority items.
• I sometimes use this time to come to terms
with any ‘bottle necks’ that arose in the days
that elapsed; either accepting them or
coming-up with plans to circumvent them!
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5. Although I might
consider myself to be
a ‘professional’ coffee
drinker; I do not claim
any sort of
professionalism as to
the activities that are
coming next ;)
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6. Bonding with family and friends
• I consider myself to be a
‘people’ person to the furthest
extent.
• I enjoy meeting people,
interacting with them, getting
to know them better, and
learning from their experiences
and differing perspectives…
• I like to ‘bond’ with those who
matter; I believe that moving
away from superficial links,
between loved ones, is what
makes life worth living!
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Photo Credits: Jasmines. FAO 2013

7. • Alongside all my roles (as a
daughter, sister, colleague, and
so on), I always strive to create
value in my relationships.
• I always work towards
‘becoming friends’ with
everyone whose life crosses
mine.
• I never spare an opportunity to
assign a common goal with my
friends in order to team-up
with them and nourish some
sort of ‘interdependence’.
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Photo Credits: Jasmines. FAO 2013

8. ‘Walking’ in Nature
•It inspires me to live my
life in a vibrant way!
•It assists me in framing
my problems; putting
things into perspective,
and separating the
challenging components
from all the emotions
that come along!
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9. Floral Photography
• There is something in the beauty and delicacy
of flowers, that encourages me to be myself,
and to respect and cherish humanity’s
diversity…
• Documenting and revisiting those floral
photographs allow me to continuously relive
the feelings they solicit.
• I enjoy sharing those photos, as a form of
expression, with people who I somehow
associate those flowers with!
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Photo Credits: Purple hues in a sea of green. FAO 2013

11. Dancing
• When I am happy, when I
am sad; whatever I am
feeling, I choose to dance it
through…
• It neutralizes my emotions
and sets the stage for a
focused approach to life!
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13. To my mind, life is a
dance; I dance
spontaneously through
its ups and downs, with
all those whose lives
cross mine…
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14. Reading a ‘Self-Enriching’ book
• I am passionate about reading!
• It improves my communication skills,
especially my writing style
• It widens my horizons, increases my
imagination and creativity, and assists me in
noticing details in my life without overlooking
the overall ‘picture’…
• Reading books helps me in better
understanding myself, those around me, and
the life I am living!
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16. Yoga
• It assists me in letting go of the
‘past’- not that I have a problem
with mine ;) and focusing on the
‘now’!
• It helps me in being present,
totally present, in all that I do!
• It helps me in recognizing that
things do not happen ‘to me’they just happen! In other
words, to accept things, as they
are.
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17. Breathing Exercises
• Improve my appetite and enhance my sleeping
patterns!
• Clarify my vision and bring peace to my mind
• Raise my energy level, and make me feel more lively!
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18. Drawing and painting
Solicit my creativity and encourage me to do
things ‘my way’!
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22. Spending time with youngsters
• Young children are happiness magnets!
• It is absolutely beautiful to see the world
through a child’s eyes…
• They remind me that all we need is love,
safety, and space to play to create a world
where fun is but a smile away!
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23. Writing my diary and working on my
scrap book
• Documentation, in of
itself, means a lot to me!
• It helps me in
understanding and
recalling the trajectory of
events in my personal
and professional life, and
their associations…
• I enjoy documenting
memories of milestones
in my life!
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24. Visualizations
•
•
Creating visual representations that
summarize the research projects, that
I am involved in.
Every now and then, I like to give
myself the space and resources to
summarize where my research
projects stand:
– It enables me to better understand
the intricacies of the projects, and
to look at them from a holistic
perspective.
– I utilize those summaries as a
communication medium.
– It facilitates group work, and
assists in attaining a homogenous
level of understanding among my
team members.
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25. Cultural Expansion
• I try to attend as much as I can of cultural
events, wherever I am!
– Almost all the events, incorporate a certain aspect
of ‘Arts’ that introduces an element of creativity
and flexibility to my life…
– These events introduce me to new communities
of people.
– There is always a message or a piece of
information that goes back home with me…
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26. Helping Others 
• Great opportunities to help others seldom
come into my life; yet, small ones surround
me every day. I work hard not to miss any of
such opportunities...
• It makes me happy and gets me closer to
people!
• I learn a lot in the process of helping others!
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29. Photo Credits: At the edge of green and blue. FAO 2013
Thank you for your kind consideration!
I look forward to hopefully meeting you in the
near future!
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