Bismillah
I’ve been wanting to start blogging again for the longest time and finally decided to just write. Or type! Instagram took over and became my blog but I actually regret not writing blog posts. I know that no one reads blogs anymore, but these posts are more for me than anyone else.
Instead of imitating someone else’s format, as I previously did with my “Some things I learned” posts, I thought to come up with my own. And the first thing that came to mind was “An ayah, a hadith, and a quote.”
An Ayah
This month’s ayah is from a Surah that I taught one of my students. I taught it to her literally: word-for-word, and she memorized with me in our online class. Usually students memorise outside of class and then recite from memory in class, but she opted to memorise in class. It ended up being too much pressure and she now memorises on her own. But I digress.
“O you who believe, why do you say that which you do not do? How despicable it is in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do!”
(Qur’an, 61:2-3)
Husbae caught me red handed, doing something I had told him not to do. Oops! It was just something silly but it really was a cause for me to reflect on this ayah.
A Hadith
Narrated by Ibn `Abbas:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “There are two blessings that many people are deceived into losing: health and free time.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 6412
On health: I was sick for two weeks, which is the longest I can remember being sick for. I honestly didn’t take care of myself as well as I should have. I thought those herbal remedies were a waste of time and didn’t bother making them, but it turns out they actually help. Lesson learned😅.
On time: I feel like I’ve been wasting a lot of time lately, especially because the Islamic studies program I’m attending is coming to an end, and is therefore taking up less time per week. I’m currently writing exams on the subjects that we covered. In order to make better use of my time, I discovered a method where instead of writing a “To Do” list, write a “Could Do” list. This gives me the feeling of freedom and flexibility and no pressure. Because a “To Do” list feels restrictive and makes me feel resistance to doing them.
A Quote
“Mental toughness immediately increases when you find the right subject. You’re more likely to stick with things when you’re genuinely interested.” -James Clear
How this quote relates to my life currently: Being in Egypt, the land of Al-Azhar Al-Shareef, I thought i would give it a go. So I started studying (along with a friend and private tutors) toward the entrance exams, but I just couldn’t get myself to study the subjects I have little interest in. But the program is comprehensive; you can’t pick which subjects you’d like to do and be exempt from the rest. So I decided that wasn’t for me. I instead focused on my psychology studies, and completed my earlier this year, Alhamdulillah. I genuinely love psychology and I enjoyed my degree program. It obviously wasn’t achieved without its challenges, especially some of my assignments. I needed the break afterwards and initially felt like I was done with my studies. But for the past month, I’ve been dearly missing it and longing to learn more. I feel like something is missing from my life. So I made the decision to do post-graduate studies inShaAllah.
Please make du’a for me to get accepted and to excel in my studies and to be of benefit.
What I’m Reading
A good friend of mine recommended “The Four Tendencies” by Gretchen Rubin, and I highly recommend it too. The Four Tendencies is a personality framework that divides people into four distinct types: Upholders, Questioners, Obligers, and Rebels. You can do this quiz to find out which one you are. It helps you understand how you and the people around you deal with their outer and inner expectations, so you can better manage your life, work and relationships. I discovered that I’m a “rebel”, which has been really helpful to understand and accept myself, and manage my life better. It explains why I can’t do “To Do” lists and instead instead need a “Could Do (if I feel like it)” list, to give me the freedom of choice that my personality requires.
That’s all for this month, I will be updating you at the end of next month with some of what I was up to. If you don’t already follow me on Instagram, please follow me @wasfeeya. I just posted some thoughts there too.
With best of du’as for your worldly and Hereafter success,
Wasfeeya