Lessons of Life
Set Your Priorities Right!
Life Is Not A Mess, We Make It
Bring God Into Your Life To Succeed!
(M. Javed Naseem)
Life is a big test of our organizational abilities and
management skills. It challenges our patience and steadfastness to the limits.
Only the cool-minded are able to handle these affairs wisely and neatly. We
make mistakes when we are mad or upset; and we make wise decisions when sanity
prevails.
Life is good and full or happiness or life is miserable and
full of problems, it all depends on the choices we make in life. Sometimes,
there are not many options available and the situation requires a wise
decision. Those are the situations that test our ability. We can turn a
‘miserable’ life into a ‘bearable’ one if only we could set our priorities
right. We should know how to shuffle things around and that shuffling would
give us a little more room to play – thus getting us out of misery.
If we use all our intelligence, education, experience,
expertise and skills to figure out the purpose of our life in this world, life
would be much easier and less painful. The study of the Quran will unfold
before us the purpose of life on this planet. Allah says:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ
ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلإِنسَ إِلاَّ لِيَعْبُدُونِ
“I have only created
Jinns and men,
that they may serve
Me.”
(al-Quran 51:56)
(al-Quran 51:56)
Allah, the Almighty, is our Creator and He created us to
serve Him. That’s the purpose of our life described very clearly and in very simple
terms. As a matter of fact, serving Allah might include a million things. So,
simply put, we are here in this world to obey the commands of Allah. Now, from
these commands we figure out that this world is a big test for us and we are here
to prepare ourselves for the next life in the Hereafter. Life in this world is
temporary while the life in the Hereafter would be eternal. We are in a
traveling phase and we should make use of all the facilities and elements that
can be beneficial or helpful in our preparation for the Hereafter.
We are on a journey and this world is a stop-over (or rest
area), not the destination. We should use it for refueling, for short-term
resting, recharging, energizing, picking up things that we need for the trip, discharging surplus baggage, and move on.
One thing is certain that the Hereafter is for those who
believe in it; for those who believe in meeting with their Creator on the Day
of Judgment. In other words, it is the Faith (their belief) that’ll become
their shield against the Hellfire. Allah asks:
يَامَعْشَرَ ٱلْجِنِّ
وَٱلإِنْسِ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ
عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِى
وَيُنذِرُونَكُمْ لِقَآءَ يَوْمِكُمْ هَـٰذَا قَالُواْ
شَهِدْنَا عَلَىٰ
أَنْفُسِنَا وَغَرَّتْهُمُ ٱلْحَيَاةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا وَشَهِدُواْ
عَلَىٰ
أَنْفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُواْ كَافِرِينَ
"O you assembly
of jinns and men! Came there not
unto you messengers
from amongst you, setting
forth unto you My
signs, and warning you of the
meeting of this Day
of yours?" They will say: "We
bear witness against
ourselves." It was the life of
this world that
deceived them. So against themselves
will they bear
witness that they rejected Faith.”
(al-Quran 6:130)
(al-Quran 6:130)
In the following verse, Allah reiterates that we should not
ignore His signs and should pay heed to the warnings. We should not forget the
purpose of our creation. Otherwise, we would become the fuel of Hellfire.
وَلَقَدْ ذَرَأْنَا
لِجَهَنَّمَ كَثِيراً مِّنَ ٱلْجِنِّ وَٱلإِنْسِ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ
لاَّ يَفْقَهُونَ
بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ لاَّ يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا
وَلَهُمْ آذَانٌ لاَّ
يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَآ أُوْلَـٰئِكَ كَٱلأَنْعَامِ
بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ
أُوْلَـٰئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْغَافِلُونَ
“Many are the jinns
and men We have made for Hell.
They have hearts
wherewith they understand not;
eyes wherewith they
see not; and ears wherewith
they hear not. They
are like cattle, nay more
misguided, for they
are heedless (of warning).”
(al-Quran 7:179)
So much for the purpose of life! Now, let’s talk about our
handling of life (or the affairs of life) in this world. When things in your
life seem almost too much to handle, when 24-hours in a day is not enough,
and when mismanagement in life becomes a permanent source of tension and
stress, remember the story of the jar with golf balls and coffee. The story has
so many versions on the internet. Here’s the original one.
 |
| Elisha Goldstein |
The Wisdom In Golf
Balls
How To Become More Mindful Of What Really Matters
(Excerpts from the book ‘The Now Effect’, by Elisha
Goldstein, PhD)
A professor stood before a philosophy class holding an
empty jar. As the students took their seats, she began filling the jar with
golf balls. When they reached the top, she asked the students if the jar was
full. They agreed that it was.
The professor then took a bag of pebbles and
poured them into the jar, and they made their way into the spaces between the
golf balls. Again she asked the students if the jar was full, and they
agreed that it was.
But
the professor had another trick up her sleeve. She brought out a bag of sand
and proceeded to pour the grains into the jar, filling up more of the remaining
space. Again the question came: “It’s full now, correct?” The answer was a
resounding “Yes.”
The professor then took a sip of her coffee and dumped the
rest into the jar, filling up spaces that no one thought were there.
“So what does it mean?” the professor asked.
A witty student raised his own coffee mug and asked,
“There’s always room for coffee?”
The professor, along with the rest of the class, had a good
laugh. Then she said:
“Imagine that this jar represents the space in your life.
The golf balls represent what’s most important — family, children, health,
friends, things that you’re passionate about — the things that at the end of
your life you would be glad you paid attention to.”
“The pebbles are essential but less important, such as your
house, your car, maybe your job.”
“The sand is all of the small stuff in life that we’re
trying not to sweat.
“The coffee, well, you already answered that one.”
The professor continued, “There is room for all of this only
if you put the golf balls in first. If you put the sand or pebbles in first,
there won’t be room for the golf balls. The way we pay attention to our lives
works the same way. If you spend your attention or mental space sweating the
small stuff in life, you won’t have the capacity to pay attention to what is
most important to you.”
This is a classic story that speaks to us becoming more
mindful of what really matters. I do the same exercise with my clients and
students. Why? Thoughts of what is most valuable fly in and out of our minds
all the time, and we don’t see the space between our awareness and these
thoughts. This exercise provides a physical representation of thinking about
what really matters and simultaneously makes us aware of the space in which we
have the opportunity to choose a response. The practice of intentionally paying
attention to what matters primes the mind to become more aware of what is
meaningful.
The biggest question at this stage of the process is, what
in life really matters to you? Is it your relationship to your partner, paying
attention to your children, taking care of your body, sharpening your mind,
being kind to yourself or others, making room for play, or living with greater
ease?
Paying attention to the things that you value in life is
fundamental to your happiness. We know that our minds have an inclination to
follow the path of least resistance, so we need a compass to help us
intentionally come back to our priorities.
Did we learn any lesson from this story?
Yes. If we put Allah (remembrance of Allah) in the empty jar
of our live, we’ll have plenty of room in the jar to fill it up with lots of
other things.
But if we put other worldly or material things first and
fill up the jar of life, there’ll be no more room left to put Allah in our
lives. We would be too busy to handle and shuffle others things that will never
leave us in peace and tranquility.
It’s up to us to make the right choices and keep the balance
in life!
Moral of the story:
Don’t fill up your life with sand! Set your priorities
right!
Fill up your life with God first!
*************
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.