My Journey of Assisted Living: The Chronicles of Mahin Pouryaghma

Originally from Iran, Mahin Pouryaghma is a dear Baha’i who has striven to serve the Baha’i Faith her whole life. Mahin has been putting pen to paper and has been chronicling her journey of assisted living. This journaling has been published in a series of articles on Baha’i Teachings and, most recently, on Medium.

It has been truly inspiring to learn about Mahin’s work and so I wanted to bring it to your attention. Here are a few words from Mahin about her writing:

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am almost 89 years old, female and a Baha’i. I have been living in the US and Canada since 1964.

Can you tell us about your chronicles that have been published on Baha’i Teachings?

Health wise I have stage four metastatic cancer and for over two years, I have been living in an assisted living facility and waiting to go to Abha kingdom.

What does the art of writing mean to you?

I usually take a nightly walk shortly after midnight, when I pray and meditate in which time some ideas come to my mind. The idea came to me to share my dying, or going through the process of dying. Usually people write about the experiences of the dying of their loved one which they observe, which is second hand. It is like someone writing about something they observe from outside the house through a window, looking in, but I am IN the room and my writing is my personal experience. So I decided to write my own experiences firsthand in order to help people who are going through this themselves, as well as their loved ones who go through it with them. I have had no intention of being an author and I write my articles, which I name “my life’s experience” as a means of service as well as to teach the Faith. I am hoping that the more people read my articles the more people will be helped to realize what they are not alone and what they emotionally feel is common to many of us.

Thank you so much, Mahin, for taking the time to share this with us.

You can read Mahin’s life experiences on Bahaiteachings.org and on Medium.

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.