“I could never wear ‘Tudong’ on my head”…”It’s hot and it ruins my hairdo”.
“I couldn’t imagine fasting for the month of Ramadan” I couldn’t bear not eating for hours…!
“I like to go clubbing”,“Carnival is my life”
“I don’t think I could pray 5 times a day” I’m busy with my work..
“I love women/men too much”
“I have to drink a glass of wine every now and then”
etc. etc. How many times has someone uttered the aforementioned phrases to me? And how many times have I thought to yourself, Is this person really serious? Believe me, I’ve heard a thousand and one reasons why family members and friends have a hard time in practicing the Basic Islamic practices which are considered as “Fardhu or “Wajib”. For some reason those practices are cramping their current lifestyle.
The way I see it, when you combine faith and dedication, you can give up or do anything (even the things you previously said you could not do or give up.) I cannot imagine standing before Allah on judgment day and saying, “Well, I couldn’t at least make the effort to submit to you because I enjoy life too much or being busy with it.” I realize that trying to be a religious person, a person who lives a God-centered life, means that I will have to give up some of the things I used to love. I realize that I will have to make small changes in my life or even drastic ones. After all, how is there growth or improvement if my lifestyle and my behavior stays exactly the same as it did before I committed myself to Allah S.W.T? One of the things I’ve had to accept is that I won’t be able to partake in everything that goes on in the world. And “Alhamdulilah” for that!
However, that is not to say that a person will not have struggles. Being a muslim or any religion for that matter, you have and would still have things to struggle with. I think that is the nature of a faith. In some matters we will struggle and then succeed. In others matters we will find ourselves succeeding one moment and then right back where we started. As frustrating as it is, I believe that Allah recognizes the effort and judges us by the intention to improve and not just by the success itself.
I actually find blogging to be therapeutical. It sort of dissipates the feeling of displeasure I have over anything so I don’t remain harboring anger or annoyances (even if I don’t blog about the issue at hand) but most blogs does it and it’s quite amusing reading their reviews.
Another thing I noticed (and this may be slightly negative) is that most bloggers have become awfully quiet recently, and I think it’s because they have ‘talked’ so much on their blog. It’s like when people ask you how you are, and you just don’t want to discuss it because you’ve already written on your blog, and you just asked them to go and read your blog. So most of them might just say, “I’m good” without further elaboration
It’s ridiculous, and when you’re quiet, people think you’re tired, or sad or something you’re not. So, I figured I’d make this slightly interactive for a change, and therefore ask those of you who read this: How has blogging changed you and your life?
BLOG IS LIKE A GARDEN, HOW DOES YOUR'S GROWS? /4:28 PM
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROWS?
It may be a strange analogy, but I feel that blogging is similar to gardening in the sense that they both kind of grow when nurtured. And when it comes to gardening, if neglected weeds will grow, and for blogging, when neglected, spam will collect or someone might take over your url. I’ve read about it! He He!
Anyway, analogies aside, I’ve been spending some time thinking about my blog, although I am newbie at this but I will try to improve it as I go along with it. Insyallah.
When I first started on this blog, I only had a very vague idea about what a blog was. I only enjoy reading my friends blogs however most of them are photo bloggers and I am not into those things. So I thought I gave it try then this blog come into existence.
I actually wanted to narrate about my life, my experience during the yesteryears with my family and friends but I find it a bit difficult. Firstly, there’s a limit to the misadventures that could occur to a bunch of young people, and secondly, it seems much harder to narrate things from the past, code name everyone with initials to protect their identities that even I forget who is who at times. But who knows, I may always go in that direction, since there are no proper rules in blogging (and the fact that I will not attempt submitting my blog to ruthless reviewers who will tear apart every single thing - though I must admit, the one and only review I have submitted this few days didn’t have much to complain other than the lack of visuals to work with!) I will just stick to current stories and daily complaints. Ha! Ha!
I have started thinking my Ramadhan Aspirations. Overall, what I really want is to keep moving forward in improving my understanding about Islam. I want to successfully implement Islamic practices into my lifestyle and keep them. I want to move to another spiritual level and not find myself trying get back there again come next Ramadan. Although that’s the only time when im actively indulging myself in reading the Quran. Alhamdulillah, I have successfully maintained some of the goals I set for myself last Ramadan. I’m doing all of the Fardhu and Sunnah prayers (alhamdulillah), I pray Tarawih/Witr almost every night and I read few pages of Quran everyday, not accounting the Tadarus. Goals I haven’t successfully achieved? Reducing my “dunya intake” (less TV, less magazines, less STUFF) and spending some quiet time doing dhikr.
Needless to say, I will be working on the aforementioned goals from last Ramadan and one new one. So, here are my goals: (1) Dedicate at least a half an hour per day to the remembrance of Allah (dhikr).
(2) Not to miss Tarawih prayers. Insyallah.
(3) Read atleast two pages of The Quran.
(4) Reduce my “dunya intake” by replacing it with Islamic activities or self-development activities. (Connects to number 1)
More than anything I want to use the month of Ramadan as time to strengthen my iman. May Allah help us all to achieve our goals. Amin!
I finally weighed myself today and I have lost, drum roll please..... 4 POUNDS! Hip, hip, HOORAY! Hip, hip, HOORAY! Four down, 12ish to go. I've been working out, and boy do I feel like this guy! I don't know how I managed to get this weak, but I know I'll never do this to myself again! I've been trying to jog a little... I did try it again the other day and made it about 5 minutes farther.. baby steps. So, I'm working really hard at just trying to workout. At least my efforts are paying off. I'm allowing myself one or two times a week to really 'cheat' on my healthier eating. Typically during nights of ramadhan right after tarawih and tadarus(small group.. always lots of good food!) and Sungkai. I have to have some fun here! (at least until my weight loss stalls.. then I'll have to get more strict. Not now though!) Am I the only one that is realizing how much they totally suck fitness wise right now? I feel like I've got such a long way to go before I get to where I want to be. I'm glad I started when I did... it sure wasn't going to get any better on its own!
“Life’s a series of pulls back and forth. You want to do one thing, but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet you know it shouldn’t. You take some things for granted, even when you know you should not take anything for granted”.
-taken from “Tuesday with Morrie"
I like to acknowledge my thanks to a very wonderful person, whose been there the whole time in creating this blog. Thank you......:)
