An attention span, shorter than that of a goldfish :(

https://time.com/3858309/attention-spans-goldfish/

This is a real problem!  It truly is.  I hope I can make it through posting this, without being distracted AT ALL.

In my prayers, I start by telling myself to focus and I end surah Al-Fatihah, already thinking about something else.   I try again and tell myself to focus during ruku' and I find myself, not even realising I've finished my 1st rakaat, deep in my train of thoughts of yet some other thing.   This is so bad.

Is there a doa to ask for focus?

I have discussed this predicament of ours before with others.  To me, our brains adapting to rapid changes in topics started from the NEWS, yes the news on television.  How we jump from one news to the next, from local happy news, to sad international news, to the weather.  We have started to train our minds and heart to move on quickly to the next thing.

Then FB, Twitter and IG came and ensured that the trend continued, and we have become worse. Scrolling from one post to the next, in an even shorter time than watching the news.

I actually now include in my doa (when I remember!) for Allaah to help me keep away from IG.   I've made doa for FB before - and alhamdulillaah, and may Allaah keep it that way - it has been answered and I am mostly off FB - unless I have to check it for some business related activity.  However I can easily leave it. Now my challenge is IG.

May Allaah help me, in keeping my focus, training our brains and heart to be in the moment, starting with solat and then everything else.  Mindfulness.   I must read back my mindfulness notes.

I have sometimes accidentally left my phone at home and would spend the whole day without the phone and it actually feels more peaceful.  I have intended to make it a regular practise to leave my phone at home once a week, for a start - but I haven't started.   So when I accidentally leave my phone at home - I am actually thankful.

Let's start a new trend - a handphone free day, we can pick which day works best for us.
(How to contact? share  your home/office landline number with important people, or send email - which you should check at some few hours interval only.)

May Allaah help us all.

The Biology of Belief

I have just finished Bruce Lipton's 'The Biology of Belief'.  It's amazing.  The book starts of like a Biology text book in easy to understand terms - to explain factually and scientifically that is the foundation to understanding convincingly how beliefs can affect our life, that is our outlook in life, character, health and achievements.

There were some understanding of the professor, that was so in line with what is mentioned in the Quran and hadith.  One that comes to mind now,  you're not guilty of a wrongdoing, if you genuinely didn't know it was wrong.  

This book also tells us that prayers and meditation really do help calm a person which in turn is good for his mental and physical health.  Which leads me to think how God has always said in the Quran, what we believe and do (that God asks us to do) is only for our own good. :')    I am so very convinced, really beriman with the fact that whatever and every single act and details of what Allaah asks us to do, has some positive and beneficial effect on us - e.g. your exact postures and positions in prayers (which people don't pay much attention to).

I'm also happy to note that this scientist have argued against the dependency on pharmaceutical drugs that is quick to be on the shelves, without considering the overall effects on human.    After all these researches are also done by the imperfect human - their studies and findings are always limited to what they 'want' to find - and plagued with filters of information to the public - for whatever that is to their advantage.    The best medicine is your lifestyle, your beliefs, the environment and your food intake.   However the use of drugs are not totally ruled out - there are some real needs for drugs but most of them in emergency cases.  

The concept of placebo and nocebo effect is also explained and real cases provided.  The power of belief.

Reading some of the scientific findings and concepts in this and previous science books I've read always sparked some 'oooh' and 'aaah' moments.

Qada'and Qadar has been scientifically proven, the existence of a soul, and the different ways in which Rasulullaah SWT received the revelations made real sense now. Subhanallaah, if course God the Creator is so much more advanced in knowledge and means than the most advanced things that exists now. After all, all advanced technologies are also derived from nature.

I have wondered before if we can download and upload thoughts.  the book says that are already some scientific studies on downloading thoughts - since basically we are all masses of energy, and information in our brains are also energy being transmitted from one neuron to another.
I would love to download what I've learnt from my life and from books  - basically whatever understanding that Allaah has granted me, to my children and those who are interested.

Explaining them all may be overwhelming.  I may seem crazy, and it's too much info to tell in one seating.   This reminds me of the words of Jesus A.S. in the bible - "I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." People really need to be ready to receive, then only they can receive.

When we are humble, we learn more.

May Allaah increase for us, our knowledge and understanding, of the deen which is life here and in the Hereafter. Aamiin.

Independence from the people

I'm currently reading a book "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" by Jaron Lanier.

It speaks of the ills of social media, such as us being manipulated by the social media's algorithms to tweak our feelings and convince or put us in such a situation where we are inclined to buy or react to something.

The other ill mentioned that was interesting to me is the unrealistic expectations about life when seeing others post fake photos of happiness or perfection or put out fake personas. How we are unknowingly affected by them and it affects us in our self-esteem and how we value our own lives. Sometimes we even know it's fake, but can't help feeling affected.

Coincidentally, I am currently pondering over a hadith* about life - and the last part of the hadith says '.. the pride of a believer is in his independence from the people." How apt.

INDEPENDENCE FROM THE PEOPLE - is to me, when you're not easily influenced or affected by your surrounding and the people around you, be it offline or online. You are self-assured, masyaaAllaah and your iman is strong (aamiin) - you can read and see them, but it does not have much impact on you. You're quick to realise and get back to reality which is to serve God and do good.  Be  yourself.

Then it all boils back down to how we live our life. If we live it sincerely for God, there can be all kinds of challenges in the world, and all kinds of influences but we will not be brought down by it. We may be challenged, but we can overcome them insyaaAllaah and we get back up and move on to our greater purpose.

In the remembrance of Allaah, do hearts find peace.

* the hadith
Sahl ibn Sa'd As-Saidiy said: Jibril came to the Prophet s.a.w. and he said : Jibril, upon him be peace, came to me and said, 'Oh Muhammad, live as you wish, for you shall eventually die.  Love whom you desire, for you shall eventually depart.  Do what you please, for your shall pay.   
Then Jibril said : Oh Muhammad, the honour of a believer is his night-prayer, and his pride is his independence from the people."
(Al Hakim )
I got this hadith from the book HD40 : LIFE, compiled by Ustaz Hidayat Radja Nurul Bahri.  He advised me that all the hadith mentioned in this book is sahih. 

Tools for mindfulness

Mindfulness - is BEING in the current moment and being aware of your current thoughts and actions.

These are some tools to mindfulness :

1) "Niat" - making and being aware of the intentions of your actions or speech or even thoughts.
2) Seeking refuge from the accursed satan, for he is always out to make people forget or distracted.
3) Ihsan - doing and giving our best in whatever we are doing.
4) AlLatif - adopting one of God's traits that is Al-Latif, subtle, attention to details, gentle.
5) Make doa / supplications.

Lamarck

I was reading about Lamarck in the Wikipedia and came across this:

That year, he also published Recherches sur l'Organisation des Corps Vivants, in which he drew out his theory on evolution. He believed that all life was organized in a vertical chain, with gradation between the lowest forms and the highest forms of life, thus demonstrating a path to progressive developments in nature.

I am grateful, Alhamdulillaah, Allaah has made us of the highest form as Allaah mentioned in the surah At-Tin (95:4), translated as "We have certainly created man in the best of stature"

But not without advice (95:5-6) :

Then We return him to the lowest of the low,
Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, for they will have a reward uninterrupted.

It is so amazing, how our dreams can seamlessly blend in with our surrounding as it happens. Feels surreal.

Just now, I fell asleep in the bus, and dreamt that I was in a flight, and the air stewardess walked pass and went to the back of the plane and started speaking to someone on the phone in Hokkien so loudly.

I woke up and realised that it was some passenger speaking so loudly in Hokkien at the back of the bus.

'for the rest of your life'

Someone said that to me, that I should be happy for the rest of my life. 'The rest of my life' does not seem like it's that long. Doesn't sound like a strong enough excuse, to forsake what I have held for half my worldly life. I think perhaps I should struggle a bit more, and enjoy the fruits of my struggle in the Afterlife. May Allaah guide me/us to what is best for this world and the Hereafter.

Forgiveness

I try to forgive others cause Islam promotes forgiveness so very often, in hadith and in the Quran ... but if you forgive that is better for you.

It is better for you, because it truly is good for your mental and physical health.   I think that it is a requirement to achieve a 'sound heart'.

However, I have just realised that though I try to forgive others - those 'others' are often those people who are not constantly in my life.  It's easier, cause I don't face them every day.

What I've forgotten and what is tougher, is trying to forgive those people near to me, my spouse, my parents, my children - to forgive them every day, every night.

I will forgive them, and I will forgive them every day. I will also seek forgiveness from God for myself, and I will forgive myself everyday. InsyaaAllaah.

Buying Time

We buy time all the time, literally. 

When you pay for the cab fare or even for the train, you are buying time. 

When you pay for that food from the restaurant, you are buying time. 

When you purchase softwares, you are buying time. 

All these products and services, allows you to achieve your needs and wants, in a much lesser time, than if you were to do it without them. if there is no cab or buses or trains, you'd walk to work, and that would take half a day to a day - that's time.  Same goes for food, if you were to buy the ingredients and cook it yourself, that means also another half a day perhaps.  Softwares help you achieve your tasks and sharing them in a much lesser time that before they exists.

So what we're actually buying is TIME.

How about selling TIME for a change.  How can we sell time?

May Allaah show us and give us barakah. 

“By time, indeed, mankind is in loss, Except for those who have believed and done righteous deeds and advised each other to truth and advised each other to patience.” [Man's translation of the Quran, 103: 1-3]

Transcedent law or Law determined by positivism

Extracted from the book "Moral Vision & Social Critique" by Prof. Syed Hussein Alatas (1928-2007)
From the essay The Regeneration of Islamic Society written in 1954.  MasyaaAllaah he was only 26 years old then.

Quoting John H Hallowell :

"When law is viewed from the standpoint of positivism, true law appears to be not that which is secured transcendently but rather, simply and purely a product of the strongest will within the community.  Whether the will be that of the numerical majority or the numerical minority, positive law appears to be the only 'real' law since it is the only law that can be empirically experienced.

It cannot be a product of reason but only a product of will.  It cannot embody truths and values transcending individuals but only desire and interest peculiar to a particular individual living at a certain time ad a certain place."




Self note : God's law transcends community and time, and applies to all.  The All-Knowing, the Master Planner.   May Allah guide us all.

A sudden death game

Alhamdulillaah, when we left after the game event, I could go back to the office to get some things done, I could get the car that was parked near my office. I could attend class after that, and then meet my children and husband. I could return home, and lie on my bed. this morning, I'm having breakfast with my family and friends.

But not for Daniel.

He didn't know he'd leave this world at the game. He could not go back to office to clear his desk, or get his car, or return home and lie on his bed, or say goodbye to his family.

Last night I looked at my stuff in my room. And I thought about the stuff on my office desk. (Daniel will not be able to finish the project we were discussing). I should get rid of some things. I should leave behind things that would benefit others, insyaaAllaah.

Everyone knows death can come anytime, but it's not something that's on our minds often. Then something like this happens, like a slap of reminder to you. May God guide us all.