... Sohar....

Sohar Gate

Sohar : is the most developed city in Sultanate of Oman outside the capital Muscat. It is about 200 kilometers north of Muscat and about 200 kilometers south of Dubai. Sohar was an ancient capital of Oman and many believe it to be the birthplace of Sinbad the Sailor. Having a rich sailing history, Sohar was traditionally a fishing town, but is more recently known as Oman's industrial hub due to the massive developments in the Sohar Industrial Port

Industry

Sohar is currently experiencing significant investment and economic shifts making it the focus of attention of many local and international investors and businessmen. This change is due to a series of investment projects and economic giant in Sohar industrial area where Sohar Port is. Located east of the Strait of Hormuz, Sohar Port was established in 2002 and it is operated by Sohar Industrial Port Company (SIPC). Sohar Port is considered a world class port. With current investments exceeding $12 billion, it is one of the world’s largest port development projects.

The Omani government has paid special attention to the city of Sohar, and placed it in the priorities of the future plan of the Omani economy in 2020. The goal of the Omani government is to make Sohar a business and industrial hub and help the Omani economy diversify away from oil. In order for the Omani economy to achieve this economic diversification, the Omani government is investing in a number of projects in the industrial area of Sohar. For example, it is investing more than 5 billion dollars in the steel industry in which Oman aims to be one of the Gulf Cooperation Council's leading producers. In addition to the steel industry, there is also the industry of aluminium in Sohar industrial area. Sohar Aluminium Company was established in 2004 and it is considered one of the leading projects that play a major role in the sultanate’s economic diversification strategy.

 Education

Sohar has three high educational institutes:

• Sohar University - a private university in association with the University of Queensland.
• The College of Applied Sciences - a government owned college.
• Oman Medical College - a private university in association with West Virginia University School of Medicine.

Parks

Sohar has two main parks. The first is Sohar Park, which is located in Al Humbar. The second is the Silver Jubilee Park which is located in Sallan.

Shopping

Sohar has a traditional Souk in the town center, and another traditional shopping market in Al Hujra near the Sohar Fort.

There are also a number of new modern shopping malls and hypermarkets, including Lulu, Safeer Mall, Safeer Hypermarket, Al Fair , and Centerpoint.

  

Hotels

There are four hotels in Sohar:

• Crowne Plaza Sohar - A 5-star business operated by the InterContinental Hotels Group hotel at the borders of the city near Al Buraimi.
• Sohar Beach Hotel - A beach resort in the heart of the city.
• Al Wadi Hotel - A mid-range hotel near Salan area.
• The Green Oasis Hotel - a budget hotel near the Sohar Hospital and opposite the Oman Medical College on Al Muwaylah Road.

In addition to these hotels there are several touristic Hotel apartments around the city such as Butterfly Hotel Suites and others.

 Sports and Leisure

The city has the Sohar Regional Sports Complex and the Sohar Plaza Cinema.

Sohar Beach Hotel

Sohar University

Sohar Beach Hotel

Sohar Port

Sohar Fort

Sohar Roundabout

How to Be Good

Philosophers have been debating what is good and what is not for centuries. Many people find that it's more complicated than just being kind, and several complex religions have arisen with the attempt to understand the difference between good and evil. While every person's journey is different, being good has a lot to do with discovering yourself and your role in the world. Here's how to be a good person on your own terms

Steps....

1. Be proactive. It's tempting to infer that as long as you avoid doing the things you know are bad (stealing, badmouthing, lying, intentionally saying hurtful things etc.) then that means you're a good person, but there's more to it than that. By avoiding bad behavior, you've made a big step towards becoming a good person, but you've only just begun. In order to be good, you actually have to do good things rather than just avoid doing bad things.

2. Consider the results. Have you ever heard the saying that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"? It's not enough to want to do good, and to try to do good--you must also think about whether your actions actually had good results. Not every attempt to do good will end with good results, so when things don't work out, be willing to reconsider your actions and change them accordingly. Never let your sense of duty, loyalty, or obligation get in the way of doing what's right. For example, many parents feel that it's always good to help their children in every way they can, but there are times when children need to learn lessons on their own and face challenges in order to achieve or to avoid mistakes in the future. A child who has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving needs to bear the responsibility of his or her actions. If the parent bails the child out, then helps the child avoid consequences, s/he will only learn that the parent will be there to help even if s/he does wrong. The intention is good (wanting to help the child succeed) but the action might not be (removing all obstacles from their path).

3. Consider the greater good. What might seem like a good head in your situation might not have a very good impact on a broader scale (in the example above, the child doesn't have a DUI on his record, but is then free to go and violate the law again, this time possibly hurting or killing someone else). People often do right things for the wrong reasons, and wrong things for the right reasons. If you're playing a game with your team, for instance, it might seem good to try and score as many goals as you can to bring your team to victory. But look at the big picture. How will your teammates feel if you score all the points instead of helping set them up to score at times, never allowing them to get a shot in? How will that kind of victory affect the team spirit? Would you still feel good if your team won, but your teammates felt that it was an individual effort and they weren't involved?

4. Define what "good" means to you. Ultimately, you have to decide on your own code of ethics, and what matters is that you follow through with what you believe makes you a good person. At times, this may conflict with what others believe is good, and they might even accuse you of being wrong or evil. Consider their views - either they know something you don't, in which case you may learn something from them and "update" your morality, or perhaps their experience is limited, meaning that you should take their views with a grain of salt.

5. Be balanced. In the struggle to be good, it's easy to swing from one extreme to another. However, any form of extremism can lead to closed-mindedness, a quality that can be found behind what most people can agree are bad deeds. In Buddhism, there's a term for avoiding extremism: "the Middle Way". Whenever you find yourself leaning towards an extreme, try to find the Middle Way before you act. This isn't going to be easy, but if being good was easy, wouldn't every good-hearted person be good? Here are some dilemmas you may encounter:
• It's good to be humble and kind, but is it not good to be so humble and kind that you let people walk all over you, to the extent that it damages your physical and emotional health, or lessens your ability to care for, spend time with, and provide for your family?
• It's good to be responsible (pay your bills on time, plan for retirement, save up for your kids to go to college) but is it good to be this way to the point that you hoard away hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets and wealth for your own family's financial security without ever giving someone else (who isn't fortunate enough to be born into your family) a helping hand?
• It's good to be positive, but is it good to be so positive that you ignore risks and brush mistakes under the rug, never learning from bad decisions because you're always "positive" that it'll work out the next time around?
• It's good to be honest, but is it good to be so honest that you hurt people's feelings unnecessarily, violate someone's privacy or prevent someone from finding answers that they might need to find for themselves?

6. Give people the benefit of the doubt. To the extent that it doesn't jeopardize your safety (like getting in the car with a group of people you just met), assume each person you meet is a good person, and act likewise. If you see someone do something that you consider to be bad, consider what they are dealing with in the context of their own life--don't jump to conclusions. Try to discover what motivated their bad act, and if appropriate, show them how it was hurtful by using nonviolent communication. Many times, helping someone else become a good person in a gentle, open-minded and unimposing way can help you learn and become a better person yourself.

7. Be good for its own sake. Don't try to be a good person because your parents told you to, because you want recognition or respect, or for any kind of reward except your own satisfaction in doing what you believe is good. Never act superior to anyone else or brag about your "goodness" or "righteousness". Your dedication to a particular creed, ideology, or set of guidelines does not make you better than anyone else. Do what you believe makes you a good person on your own terms, and remember that it's an individual journey--everyone's path is unique. Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.

8. Learn. There are many places you can learn the right thing to do in more subtle or complex situations. You can learn from your own mistakes, you can learn from others, you can learn from history, you can learn from people who are involved in the field.

9. Find a guide. Find someone who you can talk to about these important things. Relationships are very important in life, and such a relationship can be invaluable in your journey of becoming a better person and doing good things.

10. Make a group. Relationships are really important, when you do good things with other people the out come can be exponentially greater.

(Be a good person in your own way)

The most important thing in life

Probably the most significant question we can ask ourselves is what is the most important thing in life. The question has far reaching implications in that the answers (or lack of them) that we arrive at can determine the course of the rest of our lives.

Many would consider money or financial success as the most important factor in life.The high rate of suicide amongst lottery winners would contradict this. Others would search for fame, yet the list of famous people who have committed suicide or died from an overdose of drugs continues to grow.

Good health would be high on anyones priorities, and the presence of love in ones life is also of major importance.

I would propose that wisdom is the most important thing in life.The best definition of wisdom that I have read is “ the best means to achieve the best ends”.Wisdom is needed to achieve the best results in the myriad decisions we all need to make daily in our personal,financial,family,work,community lives.

Each one of us has a unique mindset or set of beliefs which is continuously changing and which we use to make decisions, each of which has significant roll on effect on how the rest of our lives turn out.These mindsets are determined by the unique environments we have grown up in, our age, our education and the cumulative impact that each life experience has had on us.

Our unique mindset is either working in our favour or working against us in each and every situation that we face.One way that we can test how online our thinking is in a particular situation is to look at the results we achieve as a result of the actions we took. Good results means our governing beliefs were online, bad results means that we need to re-evaluate our beliefs to determine what caused the negative outcome.

I would propose that life is very much like a game and that a comparison between the two is very enlightening.In any game, you need to be fit, possess certain skills and have a good knowledge of the rules in order to participate.In life, we need to have a good knowledge of the rules that apply and to use this knowledge continuously in order to assess and make decisions in every situation that we face.The more intensely we play the game of life,the better our knowledge and application of the rules, the better the results we will achieve, much like a football player who is skilled, trains hard and knows the rules.

During the course of our lives we progress from being dependent on our parents for food and shelter and emotional support, to being independent as we become young adults.We learn to make decisions for ourselves, and as we see the results of our decisions we get feedback and the resultant experience adds wisdom to subsequent decisions.

The next stage is to develop relationships with others,or interdependence, and it is through these relationships that significant personal growth can occur.Many of us however have a low sense of self esteem which holds us back in relating to others.

How then do we make significant progress in our lives, as evidenced by personal growth or an increase in wisdom? We look at the results we have and are achieving in our lives.If our results are unsatisfactory, we reassess our beliefs and make adjustments to our actions.Additional important feedback is our emotions (fear, anger,unhappiness,disappointment etc) which acts as warning signs and which leads us to evaluate either our rules or beliefs, or our actions. Our target is to lead a joy-filled, intense yet balanced life, leading to good life results and continually increasing wisdom.