In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful; blessings and peace be upon Prophet Muhammad s.a.w.
Reflection
O ye who believe! Retalation is prescribed for you in the matter of the murdered; the freeman for the freeman, and the slave for the slave, and the female for the female. And for him who is forgiven somewhat by his (injured) brother, prosecution according to usage and payment unto him in kindness. This is an alleviation and a mercy from your Lord. He who transgresseth after this will have a painfull doom. (Al-Baqarah, 178)
YOU never can tell what type of impact you may make on another's life by your actions or lack of it. Others too influenced us a lot; but factors that melt our hearts do not necessary be involving human beings but almost anything including functions, encounters, books and magazines.
One day while visiting a relative who was admitted to a ward in Melaka Hospital, I came across a pamphlet with these soothing and inspirational words. Please read them slowly, taking your own sweet time to absorb the words into your heart and mind.
Take Time
Take time to think...it is the source of power,
Take time to play...it is secret of perpetual youth,
Take time to read...it is fountain of wisdom,
Take time to pray...it is the greatest power on earth,
Take time to love and be loved...it is God-given privilege,
Take time to be friendly...it is the road to happiness,
Take time to laugh...it is the music of the soul,
Take time to give...it is short a day to be selfish,
Take time to work...it is the price of success,
Take time to do charity...it is the key to heaven.
The key word here is ‘take time’. Don’t rush to do things just to complete it. Once I read I lovely article in a local daily entitled ‘How to live a simple and peaceful life’ in which the writer noted that in our daily lives, we often rush through tasks, trying to get them done, trying to finish as much as we can each day, speeding along to our next destination, and then leaving so that we can go to another one.
At the end of the day, we realize what madness this all is. We often become exhausted and stressed out from the grind and the chaos and the business of the day. We don’t have time for what’s important to us, for what we really want to be doing, for spending time with loved ones, for doing things we are passionate about.
It doesn’t have to be that way. It is possible to live a simple life, one where you enjoy each activity, where you‘re present in everything (or most things) you do, where you are content rather than rushing to finish things, writes the well-being guru.
The guru also suggested that we slow down (take time as mentioned in the pamphlet I found at the hospital) and enjoy every task. Whatever you are doing, whether it’s a work task, eating, brushing your teeth, cooking dinner, driving to work; slow down. Enjoy whatever you are doing by paying attention, instead of thinking about other things. Be in the moment.
Be in the moment and being present – this advise was also given by an ‘ustaz’ (religious teacher) who teaches in a ‘masjid’ near my house on how to concentrate when one is performing his/her ‘solat’ (prayers).
Often during ‘solat’ our minds would stray, our bodies would be on our prayers mats perhaps in a row of congregators in ‘masjid’, but we would be thinking about worldly things such as our activities before ‘solat’ or plans to execute after performing the 'solat'.
If this thing often happens to us, then we have to practice being present. One way to do it is to enjoy our tasks including performing ‘solat’. It is during ‘solat’ we have the opportunity to meet the King of Kings (Allah SWT). Isn’t it a pleasure to us if a king invites us to his palace to meet him in person?
No comments:
Post a Comment