Skywards

I was relaxing on the plane gazing out the window watching the aircraft take off. The beautiful scenery flashed in the background. The city was crawling with vehicles and pedestrians. I narrowed my gaze on the people as we climbed skyward. They soon began to fade into little black dots and the buildings into slightly larger gray spots. Soon I was looking down at a mountain top which was now the size of a walnut. We were only at a few thousand feet high!

At 20,000 feet I wasn't able to see a person. Makes you think... Each person considers himself to be the world. Day-in day-out he lives for himself and believes the world revolves around his life. Yet at 20,000 feet he can't even be seen. What about from space, only a few thousand miles away from earth? The entire earth would only be a small golf ball floating around in the depths of darkness. Amazingly all of mankind's majestic space exploration has yet to penetrate "the first sky". But we do know that if you journey far enough within the first sky, the earth's solar system fades to black. One can't even begin to imagine the great distance of "the second sky", or better yet "the seventh sky". I suddenly zoomed back down to earth and further down to a person.

In perspective, we really are insignificant. We are like ants roaming around in a huge backyard. Billions of us plaguing an area the size of a golf ball. Yet as insignificant as we are and as tiny as we may be, I am still proud to be. For if I raise my hands towards the sky and call upon "The Master of the Universe", I am sure that He will respond. It absolutely blows my mind how valuable we are to God. He is there day and night to attend to us. Although we may ask for meager things, He promises to still respond. His mercy and forgiveness encompasses all things.

But yet more eye opening is the fact that while God is The King of Kings and the Master of all Things, we can easily enter upon him as we please. We simply raise our hands and focus our hearts, and "The King" minds our knock. In perspective, picture a king of this world. He reigns over vast lands and has power over millions. How hard do you think it would be to meet this king. If you were merely a commoner amongst the people, it would be near impossible to meet him. You would probably have to do a backward somersault while blindfolded and land in a shallow bucket of water just to get an appointment.

But not the King of Kings. What did we do to deserve such honor?
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What passed is History

A wise turtle once said, "What passed is history, and what's next is a mystery. And today is a gift, that's why they call it present." This is a quote from the animation Kungfu Panda, where the turtle master is advising his disciple to let go of his bad experiences and look beyond to what the future harnesses in opportunity.

Live each day on its own merit. Don't dwell over the past. What happened is gone. The painful memories are no longer going to cause harm. Too many people get caught up on things that happened years back. They aren't able to get passed it, and their lives suffer because of it. They carry unnecessary stress which burdens their relationships and blurs their perceptions. People do this because it's so easy. Nothing can be simpler than not doing anything and playing the blame game. The problem is out there and you attribute your misery to others and your past.

People who live for the future also have a lot of problems. They can't seem to be satisfied with their current situation. They always say things like "everything will get better once I buy this or finish this project or get into this program." They are always relying on future circumstances for a solution, but the solution never seems to come their way. Soon they'll be too old to realize that they missed out on what really mattered.

Living in the present is a real gift. You release the negative memories from your past that weigh you down. You stop worrying about the future and what may come. You become proactive and take charge of your life. You enjoy the moment and realize that a day passed will never return. You become honest with yourself and think about what you really want. You realize that you shouldn't waste your time doing things that you don't want to do. You take control.

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Test Day

Its been 4 long months of brain wreckage. The good news: I finally finished the CFA exam. I feel like a 10 ton boulder was lifted off my chest. The preparation that led up to the exam was exhaustive and tense. The days immediately before the exam were nerve wrecking. You get into a frenzy, magnified by the fears of friends around you that are dreading the exam and are a mess. I am more than sure that my thinning hairline must be related.

Suddenly in the havoc of it all, I started to put things into perspective. The CFA exam would last merely 6 hours. For those important 6 hours, I had spent at least 300 hours of study time. I had trimmed my social life and dedicated time daily to study. I had pooled all my resources and energy in order to accomplish my goal. The expected reward (at the end of the program) would be the CFA designation, an upward pressure on my career.

ALL THIS WAS FOR A 6 HOUR EXAM?

A monologue took over my head, "Isn't life just one big test? How much time do I spend in preparation for the life's test? Do I dedicate half as much energy and resources to succeeding at life's test? If today was my last day on earth, would I pass life's test? What is at stake in life's test?"

Life is one big exam. Your curriculum and guidelines are the Quran and Sunnah. They spell out the principles and values that are core to your success. They are a clear guideline for the test, that is life. If you are able to follow the guidelines you are guaranteed a pass. If you slip up and fall, you can get right back up and get back on track.

I began to imagine what it would be like if I had all the answers to the CFA exam right there in front of me, before I took the exam. The preparation for the exam would have been sweet. All I would of had to do is memorize the answers and download them onto the exam paper to score a 100%. But what if, instead of just copying the answers on to the exam paper, I began philosophizing claiming there was a pattern that I was going to follow and instead changed the answers from an A to B to C. Wouldn't you say that I was being stupid and would be sure to fail?

But isn't that exactly what we do on a daily basis? We know what we need to do in order to succeed in life's test, but we just don't get around to doing it. Instead of answering life's choices with the correct choices, A, we may become philosophical, lazy, and unfocused and choose B. Obviously, the wrong answer results in failure.

The problem is that life's test isn't constrained to a few hours, it's continuous as long as you breathe. We lose perspective on life. We grow too accustomed to our routines and details. We often forget to take a moment before each choice to adjust our intentions and align our choices with our desired goals.

We don't dedicate nearly enough time, resources, or energy to the test of life? At the end of the day the stakes in life's test are high. The reward of passing is eternal bliss. Comfort and pampering beyond one's wildest dreams. The fulfillment of every desire upon thought. Peace. We could definitely expend more dedication for such a precious reward.

Thankfully, we get another day to breathe. Another day means another chance.
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The 2 Rakk'ah Solution

An old man walked in on Sheikh Khaled Al Jubair(1) and asked him to help him out with a problem he was having. He was 70 years old and smoked for a half a century. He wanted to quit smoking now but he didn't know how.

The sheikh fell silent, deep in thought. He then proclaimed, "Follow this prescription and God willing you will quit. Every time you smoke a cigarette, I want you to immediately wash up for prayers and pray 2 Rakk'ahs to Allah(2)."

The man exclaimed, "I smoke 40 cigarettes a day! Do you want me to pray 80 Rakk'ahs.?"
"Yes. That's my solution to you. Its up to you to take it or not. If you decide to take it, come back tomorrow to inform me of what happened."

The old man went and came back the next day. "So what happened yesterday" asked the Sheikh.
"I only smoked 5 cigarettes yesterday." The old man was excited. "Every time I would take out the cigarette, put it in my mouth, and watch the flame burn up the tip, a voice in the back of my head reminded me that I would have to pray 2 Rakk'ahs immediately afterwards. My enjoyment slowly withered as the voice grew louder and louder. By the 5th cigarette, I began dreading what I knew would come next."

The sheikh asked him, "Do you know what that voice in the back of your head is? It is the Shaytan. He nagged you to stop smoking so that you wouldn't continue to pray."

The man implemented the system for a few weeks and slowly, but surely he had quit smoking cigarettes.


This system is derived from the Prophet Muhammad's teachings:

"ما من رجل يذنب ذنبا فيتوضأ ويحسن الوضوء , فيصلي ركعتين فيستغفر الله عز وجل إلا غفر له"

"Whoever commits a sin, then washes up and prays 2 Rakk'ahs and asks Allah for forgivness; he will be forgiven."

I call the system, the 2 Rakk'ah solution. It works with anything you want to do or quit. I tried it out myself and so far the results have been real favorable. I had a problem waking up for Fajr prayers. Today is my 4th day on the system, and so far my record is 3 out of 4.

Try it.


*Notes:

1. Sheikh Khaled Al Jubair is a Saudi heart surgeon which has dedicated his life to treating the hearts of people both medically and spirtually.
2. Rakk'ah literally means bow. It refers to a full unit of prayer.

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Life's Short

I stood on the balcony on the 11th floor of my hotel room, and gazed out into the Meditereanean Sea. The water gleamed with the sun's reflection, truly a beautiful and tranquil sight. The Alexandrian breeze lifted my daughters hair and she turned to me and said "upa upa" demanding to be carried. As I stood there with my daughter of 2 and a half in my arms I began to ponder the situation.

Thoughts began to rush to mind... It was very probable that my parent's had stood in this exact spot and looked at the same sun glazed sea. At that time I was the one demanding to be carried though. The days had passed and now I was the one doing the carrying. When I returned home, I spoke to my parent's about this notion. They confirmed my thoughts. More than 25 years had gone by. It seemed like yesterday that my mother had watched me off to my first day of elementary school. It was just the day before, when my parent's watched with a gleam in their eyes as I took my first steps. When they thought back of it all, it felt like a blink of the eye. The point is: Life is Short.

When you think back on your life, you may find that you lived a busy and full life. But what is it that you left behind for humanity? What is your unique mark onto life? That's what really matters. Never belittle your accomplishments. No matter how big or small your contibution is, one should exist.
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Yes Man

I watched the movie Yes Man a few days ago. The idea of the movie was really inspirational and eye opening. I really was excited and thought I was going to give it a try. But the more I thought about it, the more I started seeing some serious shortcomings. I'm still really psyched by the idea, that's why I'm taking a jab at tweeking the idea so that it can actually be applied.

The Yes Man idea in brief is that you should be open minded to everything and try new things. Say yes to everything that encounters you, and you will set yourself free by experiencing new and diverse situations. The character in the movie goes from being a self centered introvert to an outgoing spontaneous guy.

There are a few major problems with the idea though. You become reactive and slowly destroy your personality. You await people to run their ideas by you and then accept blindly without regard for your principles or preferences. You don't initiate anything. You don't innovate anything. You simply become a pawn in the game of the first person who approaches you.

The Yes Man idea can be really powerful, if someone is stuck in life and can't seem to get things rolling. The idea will take you out of your comfort zone, and into a broad world of opportunities. When someone presents you with an opportunity, before you say YES, first weigh it against your principles to see if it is acceptable to you. If all checks out, say YES. Once you have a full plate of events on your schedule, you will have to start filtering the things you say YES to. You can do that by weighing new opportunities against your goals. If an opportunity gets you closer to one of your goals, then say YES.

So now your exposed to new exciting opportunities, but you are not proactive yet. You are not in the driver's seat. You're not taking initiative to do things that are important to you. So now all you have to do is figure out what it is that is important to you. Once you know what it is that you want, say YES to it.

For example, if you decide that you want to become more social, your objective is: to become more social. Ask yourself, how can I become more social? If you decide you'll get there by attending more social events, your goal is: to attend more social events. So now you know that to achieve your objective all you have to do is achieve your goals. The next step becomes simple, actively seek your goals. Don't hesitate. Just say YES. Or in Nike terminology, Just Do It.

I'm going to start the Yes Man and let you know what happens.



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