Emancipating Prisoners of The Past

I was caught by surprise when an old friend had SMSed me requesting for a brief appointment. This friend (F) has not been within my radar for more than 10 years. In his short note, F justified that he needed to clarify a few things with me.

Initially, we broke the ice by catching up with our latest leases of life since the last time we ever talked to each other. Then F moved on with an introduction of a self-help book that he read which consequently moved him to plan for our tête-a-tête resolution meeting. This inspirational book was actually Joe Vitale’s The Key: The Missing Secret for Attracting Anything You Want “.

The Career, The Book, The Past

Apparently F had just quit his job and ventured into setting up his own business which requires fervent dilligence and lots of faith in order for him to excel. The relation of his new endeavour, the book and that meeting was simple. He realised that the objective of this move of career was to change his lifestyle and elevate his state of living. Over the years, he face some tribulations in achieving this objective which sort of held him back from savouring the taste of success.

Resentment and Guilts of One’s Past is A Waste

It was through reading had he manage to rectify the mistakes he committed from within. Vitale contended in his book that one of the causes where one fails to move on and set off to the road of success is because of something from within. It could be because of one’s track from the past that has moulded his/her perception of others in an incident or tragedy. It could either be a sense of guilt or resentment. The bottomline is the feeling of one’s uneasiness or unsettled feeling one has towards another creature of God.

I was wondering that probably one’s uneasiness takes away some portion of one’s energy and concentratio may impede the free and focused thoughts in achieving the things wanted in life.

Power of Forgiveness

Thank God that this reminds me the power of forgiving and to seek forgiveness even before this incident. It gives an awakening and vindicates the significance of forgiveness at the back of our minds. I personally believe that by keeping this feeling of resentment or guilt would hinder a person from fully concentrating on accomplishing an aim. Both of these feelings would tire the heart, mind, and soul having our energy wasted.

Some Illustrations

For example, at a race track one thinks of reaching the line at the highest speed to beat his competitors. Throughout the race, he’s probably distracted for worrying if anyone will manage to take over him. It is within this split of seconds that the energy is wasted and the body may slow down due to the division of concentration. However, if the racer sets aside any thoughts except for reaching the red line then a fully focused winner is in the making.

Another example is when a person aims to achieve something out of jealousy or resentment towards another being because of a blast from the past. Actually, such mentality derails that person from the main objective of life as ordained by Allah. Probably if one succeeds on the platform of negativity, it may fulfill his self-satisfaction. However, where does one put God in this picture?

I wonder, would it distort the beauty of pahala and our relationship with Him if we attain this personal victory in such a degenerating manner?

May Allah Guide our souls, Ameen.

Prescriptions for The Human Boredom Or Melancholy

Burger King, Property Mas – In this fast-paced world of materialism, our surroundings tend to keep us occupied mentally and physically with its paraphernalia. We realise by then that the weekend is already around the corner and then you start asking yourself, “What have I been doing this week that adds up to my self worth?”.

Of course your time was spent without dissipation at work, studies or with your family members. However, what was the outcome that truly granted yourself satisfaction? It is like having your monthly wage and you splurge it on all your wants and needs but in the end of the day you don’t really see any of those things you’ve bought or invested in. As if money, disappeared into thin air.

A Muslim may lead a decent life and perform his obligations to God unfailingly and yet be enslaved by the mundane routines of the daily life. This occurs when he is not aware of the purpose of his existence which actually transcends mere fulfilment of moralistic behaviours and requirements.

Being human, I too have faced some stagnancies in life at times. Sometimes you’re on top of the world the next day it may seem vague or dark. Whatever it is, I am grateful because I believe that Allah by any means has saved me from nothingness in such situations.

So, what can one do when he/she feels life seems to be on a slope?

Laying Out Factors of Boredom or Sadness In Writing

Once in a while one has to stop and look into himself the progress that he has made mentally, spiritually and physically. If we are besieged by boredom or melancholy, it is best that we start identifying and jotting down all of those factors and finding means of alleviating them to break-free and emancipate the self from these obstructions of self growth. I suggest that a blueprint of our daily schedule is tailor-made to overcome our physical, spiritual and mental drawbacks.

Al-‘aqlus Saleem Fi Jismis Saleem

In order to have a stable mind is to ensure that the physical engine works well. Without a supplementary diet, the body slows down and our mental clarity fades which shall lead to depression. So no matter how bad the world seems to be, the body needs to be forced to have its fill. Another thing is to keep that heart pumping with extra-curricular activities like sports or arts/dancing.

Spiritual Bearing Spot-check

One needs to reset and recheck their spiritual bearing from time to time. No matter what objectives or aims that we seek to achieve, we must allot the core of these intentions that whatever we do it is for the sake of earning the Pleasure of Allah. A person who manages to reach this pivotal point of Spiritual Divinity, he shall not be disheartened nor angered by any state of divest. Some keys to contentment in life : Shukr for what you have, Redha for what you don’t have and Du’a for what Allah Deems best for you. On practical terms, is to increase or at least remain istiqaamah daily with some particular extra nawaafil prayers, Quranic recitations (with efforts of understanding) or simple zhikr as our soul food.

Mental Manoeuvre

The best part of being human is being able to forget, hence our Arabic moniker an-Naas which is rooted from na si ya (To forget). The mind is like the river flowing along the streams which can be disrupted or blocked. Try altering the way we do things, our daily schedule or our surroundings. We will realise that our life shall follow a different stream but still leads to the same ocean. A new ambiance disassociates the mind with the usual boring or sad things that might have kept us restless and pointless. Actually, whatever that seems significant to us is just a matter of something that WE have built in our minds. Try pondering Maslow’s Self-Actualization phase and this hadith for example[ Forgive me if I’m quoting this wrongly ];

On the authority of Abu Harayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: Allah the Almighty said:

I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me.
If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and
if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an
assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw
near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at
speed.

Related by al-Buhkari (also by Muslim, at-Tirmidhi and Ibn-Majah)

If one truly understands how their own mental, physical and spiritual mechanism works, they will be able to manoeuvre their emotions and wants. Of course I’d have to agree that it is not easy to reach this level of spiritual mastery but remember, better trying than not at all. I hope that this article could help a little bit in that sense. God Bless!

Even a computer gets bored of its owner!