What is Eid al-Adha
At the end of the Hajj (annual pilgrimage to Mecca), Muslims throughout the world celebrate the holiday of Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). In 2008, Eid al-Adha will begin on approximately December 8th, and will last for three days.
What does Eid al-Adha commemorate?
During the Hajj, Muslims remember and commemorate the trials and triumphs of the Prophet Abraham. The Qur'an describes Abraham as follows:
"Surely Abraham was an example, obedient to Allah, by nature upright, and he was not of the polytheists. He was grateful for Our bounties. We chose him and guided him unto a right path. We gave him good in this world, and in the next he will most surely be among the righteous." (Qur'an 16:120-121)
One of Abraham's main trials was to face the command of Allah to kill his only son. Upon hearing this command, he prepared to submit to Allah's will. When he was all prepared to do it, Allah revealed to him that his "sacrifice" had already been fulfilled. He had shown that his love for his Lord superceded all others, that he would lay down his own life or the lives of those dear to him in order to submit to God.

For more info feel free to visit the source of this post: http://islam.about.com/od/hajj/a/adha.htm

Stop to ask yourself One Question

What do you want in life? That's the real question,
Because once you know that you'll have a goal,
And once you have a goal, you have a direction.[a Kung Fu master]

A handicapped Parking space that speaks for itself

The sign which says: "If you want my place, take my handicap!!!"

Fwd: The remedies for "disturbing emotions"-"Happiness" By Matthiue Ricard - Part 3

This post will be a somewhat long one, but it is necessary to put it in one so as to comprehend the remedies as a whole.

Introduction:
1.    The goal is not rid oneself or transcend an emotion, not even hatred, but to regulate experience and action once an emotion itself is felt.
2.    Being able to repeatedly free oneself of such afflictive thoughts as they occur gradually erodes their very tendency to form again, until they stop appearing altogether. "Take care of the minutes, the hours will take care of themselves."
3.    The best means of analysis is introspection and self-observation.
4.    This requires the cultivation of watchful attention to the unfolding of our mental activity, along with mindfulness of the distinction between destructive emotions and those that nourish happiness.
5.    Like an infection that goes untreated, the disturbing emotions gain in strength when allowed to take their course.
6.    Remember, thoughts, emotions, desires come and go, they pass through your consciousness, but they are not a part of it, much like a mirror , for example, it will reflect both angry and smiling faces. The very quality of the mirror allows countless images to arise, yet none of them belongs to the mirror. The experience of introspection shows that the negative emotions are transitory mental events that can be obliterated by their opposites, the positive emotions, acting as antidotes.
7.    The procedure involves recognizing that the afflictive emotions are harmful to our well-being. This assessment is based on observation of the short and long-term repercussions of certain emotions on oneself and on others. Having come to this awareness, you still have gradually to familiarize yourself with each antidote- loving-kindness as antidote to hatred for instance-until the absence of hatred becomes second nature.
8.    This familiarization consists of three principal ways: antidotes, liberation, and utilization.
9.    Antidotes: consists of applying a specific antidote for each specific emotion.
10.    Liberation: allows us to unravel, or "liberate" the emotion by looking straight at it and letting it dissolve as it rises.
11.    Utilization: uses the power of emotion as a catalyst for inner change.
12.    The choice of one method over the other will depend on the moment, the circumstances, and the capacities of the person using them.
13.    All share a common goal: to help us stop being victims of conflicting emotions.

The use of Antidotes
1.    Consists of neutralizing afflictive emotions with a specific antidote, just as we neutralize the destructive effects of poison with antivenom, or of acid with alkali.
2.    In the same way, by habituating your mind to altruistic (selfless) love, you gradually eliminate hatred, because the two states can alternate, but cannot co-exist. So the more we cultivate loving-kindness, the less space there will be for hatred in our mental landscape. It is not a question of suppressing hatred but of turning the mind to something diametrically opposed to it; love and compassion.
3.    It is equally impossible for greed or desire to coexist with inner freedom. Desire can fully develop only when it is allowed to run fully rampant to the point where it monopolizes the mind. The trap here is the fact that desire, and its ally pleasure, are not ugly like hatred. They are even extremely seductive. But the silken threads of desire, which seem so light at first, soon tighten, and the soft garment they had woven becomes a straight jacket. The more you struggle the tighter it becomes! Desire can drive us continuously to seek satisfaction at any cost. On the other hand, when we contemplate its disturbing aspects and turn our minds toward developing inner calm, the obsession of desire can begin to melt like snow in the sun. Make no mistake- there's no mention here of ceasing to love those whose lives we share, or of becoming indifferent to them. When we stop projecting the insatiable demands of our attachments onto people, we are able to love them more, and feel genuine concern for their true well-being.
4.    Anger can be neutralized by cultivating the nature of patience repeatedly. This does not require us to remain passive, but to steer clear of being overwhelmed by destructive emotions.

Freeing the Emotions. - Liberation

1.    Here, instead of counteracting a disturbing emotion with its opposite- anger with patience, for instance- we simply contemplate the emotion itself. It is neither possible nor desirable to suppress the mind's natural activities, and it would be futile and unhealthy to try to block its thoughts. You are overwhelmed by a tide of anger. You feel as if there's no choice but to let it sweep you away. But look closely. It is nothing more than a thought. When you see a black cloud in a stormy sky, it seems so solid that you could sit on it. But when you approach it, there's nothing to grab on to; it is only vapour and wind. It is a temporary condition and you don't need to identify with it.
2.    The more you look at anger in this manner, the more it evaporates under your gaze, like white frost under the sun's rays.
3.    All we can say about anger, for example, is that it is born in the mind, lingers there a moment or two, and then dissolves there, like waves that arise from the ocean and dissolve back into it.
4.    Unless we pursue this investigation, we end up being fixated on the object of anger, and overtaken by destructive emotions. If, on the other hand, we come to see that anger has no substance of its own, it rapidly loses all power.
5.    When a thought arises, recognize its empty nature. It will immediately lose its power to elicit the next thought, and the chain of delusion will be broken.
6.    It is at the very moment of anger's emergence that we must recognize its empty nature. That understanding will strip thoughts of their power to build into a stream of obsession and oppression.
7.    Once we get used to looking at thoughts the moment they appear, and then allowing them to dissipate before they overwhelm the mind, it is much easier to to maintain control over the mind and to manage the conflictive emotions in our active lives.
8.    To encourage or vigilance and hard work on this issue, we should try to recall the bitter suffering that destructive emotions have caused us.

Using the emotions as Catalysts - Utilization

1.    This technique is the trickiest and most subtle.
2.    When we look closely at emotions, we find that they contain in themselves positive aspects that can be used as building blocks into a positive nature or even catalysts to eliminate their negative aspects.
3.    When we fall into the sea, for example, it is the water itself that buoys us and allows us to swim to shore. But we still need to know how to swim in it, how to use that same drowning water in our advantage to save us! In the same way, we need to have enough skill to exploit the emotions to good effect without drowning in their negative aspects.
4.    Anger can be used to rouse us to acting and overcome obstacles. Desire has an element of bliss that is distinct from attachment; pride, an element of self-confidence that can be firm without lapsing into arrogance; envy, a drive to act that cannot be confused with the unhealthy dissatisfaction that it entails.
5.    What gives an emotion its harmful quality is the way we identify with and cling to it, when we attach ourselves to the object of the emotion and to the self that is feeling it.
6.    This kind of practice requires great command of the language of the emotions. Allowing powerful emotions to express themselves without falling prey to them is playing with fire, or rather trying to snatch a jewel from a snake's head. If we succeed, our understanding of the nature of the mind will grow accordingly; if we fail, we will find ourselves overwhelmed by the negative qualities of anger and its hold on us will be strengthened.

Three techniques, One goal.
These techniques are simply different ways of tackling the same problem, and achieving the same result. Just like avoiding being poisoned by a toxic plant. We can use antidotes developed to neutralize the effects of specific poisons. We can strengthen our immune system, or we can analyze the poison, isolate its component elements, and discover their medicinal qualities.
Each of these techniques is like a key; it makes little difference whether it be made of iron, silver or gold, so long as it opens the door to freedom.
We must never forget, however, that the source of disturbing emotions is attachment to the self! If we want to be free of inner suffering once and for all, it is not enough to rid ourselves of the emotions themselves; we must eliminate our attachment to the ego.

The healing power of prayer.

Dr. Larry Dossey, the chief of staff of Medical City Dallas Hospital. While practicing in Dallas, Dr. Dossey came across patients who were miraculously cured of life-threatening illnesses without medical explanations. His New York Times best-seller Healing Words was published in 1993 and examined the role of religious practice and prayer in health—presenting evidence and published data to prove the healing power of prayer. Dr. Dossey's works were once thought of as radical in the traditional medical community, but now are used as textbooks in nearly 80 medical schools. Dr. Dossey's latest book is The Extraordinary Healing Power of Ordinary Things.

In short his first book says research has proved that:
1- There is a strong evidence to the healing power to someone praying for another, which we call "DU'A" whether to heal, to prosper, to be happy etc.
2- Prayer works just as good from the other side of the world as it does at the bedside...
3- The strength of the effect was not by number but by genuine authenticity and love. Meaning you don't get 10 stronger effect for 10 people praying for you, but the depth and quality of the prayer and love itself from one person has the major effect. (ie love for the person together with depth, sincerity and presence of mind in prayer)
4- Let the prayer be more in the form of "May the best outcome prevail"
5- Prayer can effect and harm the other in the form of negative, as well as positive prayers, and be careful, since prayers tend to have what is called "the boomerang effect" where the harm returns to praying person.

Happiness - 2 (By Matthieu Ricard)

1. The narrow world of the self is like a glass of water into which a handful of salt is thrown - the water becomes undrinkable. If, on the other hand, we breach the barriers of the self and the mind becomes a vast lake, that same handful of salt will have no effect on its taste. When the self ceases to be the most important thing in the world, we find it easier to focus our concern on others. The sight of their suffering bolsters our courage and resolve to work on their behalf, instead of crippling us with our own emotional distress.
2. Most of the time it is not outward events, but our own mind and negative emotions that make us unable to maintain our inner stability and drag us down.
3. This knot in our chest was tied not by our unfaithful husband, our object of desire, our dishonest colleague, or our unjust accuser, but by our own mind. It is the result of mental constructs that, as they accumulate and solidify, give the illusion of being external and real. What provides the raw material for that knot and allows it to form within us is an exacerbated sense of self-importance. Anything that does not respond to the self's demands becomes a disturbance, a threat, or an insult. The past is painful, we are unable to enjoy the present, and we tremble before the projection of our future anguish.
4. it is by transforming our minds that we can transform our worlds.
5. The disturbing emotions tend to distort our perception of reality and to prevent us from seeing it as it really is. Attachment idealizes its object, hatred demonizes it!! These emotions make us believe that beauty or ugliness is inherent in people and in things, even though it is the mind that decides if they are "attractive" or "repulsive". This misapprehension opens a gap between the way things appear and the way they actually "Are".
6. it is essential to be mindful of the movement of thoughts in our minds, to identify the types of mental activity that lead to well being and hence encourage them, and discourage those that lead to suffering, even when the latter give us brief instances of pleasure!

The remedies for "disturbing emotions" will be highlighted in the next e-mail.

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"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given."

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"Anything that is of value in life only multiplies when it is given."

Happiness - 1

In a few messages I'd like to share with you my highlights of a book i read recently: "Happiness" by Mathieu Ricard.

• We take for permanent that which is ephemeral and for happiness that which is but a source of suffering:the desire for wealth, for power, for fame, and for nagging pleasures.
• Living on a pendulum between hope and doubt, excitement and boredom, desire and weariness, it's easy to fritter away our lives, bit by bit, without even noticing, running all over the place and getting nowhere. Happiness is a state of inner fulfillment, not the gratification of inexhaustible desires for outward things."
• Happiness is a skill, a manner of being, but skills must be learned.
• Pleasure is exhausted by usage, like a candle consuming itself. Savoring a delicious meal is a source of genuine pleasure, but we are indifferent to it once we've had our fill and would get sick of it if we continued eating.
• Pleasure is the happiness of the madmen, while happiness is the pleasure of sages.
• A poet Robert Burns describes pleasure:
  But pleasures are like poppies spread,
  You seize the flower, its bloom is shed,
  Or like the snow falls in the river,
  A moment white - then melts forever.
• Remaining painfully obsessed with a situation or the memory of a departed loved one, to the point of being paralyzed by grief for months or years, is evidence not of affection, but of an attachment that does no good to others or to oneself.
• If we let ourselves be over whelmed by our personal problems, no matter how tragic, we only increase our difficulties and become a burden on those around us.If our mind becomes accustomed to dwelling solely on the pain that events or people inflict on it, one day the most trivial incident will cause it infinite sorrow. As intensity of the feeling grows with practice, everything that happens to us will eventually come to distress us, and peace will find no place within us.
• If there is a cure, what good is discontent? If there is no cure, what goos is discontent?!!
  

The Beauty of Imperfection

"Ring the bells you still can ring
Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in."

- Lyric by Leonard Cohen

How to WISELY shop for Happiness

A very interesting Interview with  a professor known as "Professor Happiness"

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/23/healthscience/22conv.php?page=1

Some of the interesting facts You'll know are:

• bad things don't affect us as profoundly as we expect them to. That's true of good things, too.
• As a species, we tend to be moderately happy with whatever we get. If you take a scale that goes from zero to 100, people, generally, report their happiness at about 75. We keep trying to get to 100. Sometimes, we get there. But we don't stay long.
• most of us will return to our emotional baselines more quickly than we'd predict
• Human relationships and experiences provide more happiness than any other thing.
• The data says that with the poor, a little money can buy a lot of happiness. If you're rich, a lot of money can buy you a little more happiness
  

Along with the good things, a few little inconveniences always appear.

Just like marriage

Nasrudin spent the entire autumn working his garden. The flowers had blossomed in the spring - and Nasrudin noticed a few dandelions appearing, which he hadn't planted.

Nasrudin tore them up. But the pollen had already spread and others began to grow. He tried to find a weed killer which only killed dandelions. A specialist told him any type of poison would end up killing all the other flowers. In despair, he went to ask a gardener for help.

- It is like a marriage - said the gardener. - Along with the good things, a few little inconveniences always appear.

- What can I do? - insisted Nasrudin.

- Nothing. Although they are flowers you did not count on, they are still part of the garden.

Are you a nomophobe?

What is Nomophobia?

According to Wikipedia:

Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. The term was coined during a study by YouGov, a UK-based research organization.The study found that nearly 53 percent of mobile phone users in Britain tend to anxious when they "lose their mobile phone, run out of battery or credit, or have no network coverage".The study found that about 58 percent of men and 48 percent of women suffer from the phobia, and an additional nine percent feel stressed when their mobile phones were off. The study sampled 2,163 people. 55 percent of those surveyed cited keeping in touch with friends or family as the main reason that they got anxious when they could not use their mobile phones.The study compared stress levels induced by the average case of nomophobia to be on-par with those of "wedding day jitters" and trips to the dentists. Ten percent of those questioned said they needed to be contactable at all times because of work.

More than one in two Nomophobes never switch off their cell phones.The study and subsequent coverage of the phobia have resulted in columns by those who minimize their mobile phone use or choose not to own one at all.

Be...and Let Be

Get to know your best friend.. your ally.. yourself!

Live this minute. Let what you do this minute be your life's purpose.. What God chose to expose you to "this minute" is the perfect experience.. don't wait for anything or anyone to provide you with "feeling" for your moment.
What is meant to come will come. Be the container for it to come. Be the space for it to happen. Be the space, don't live a "chase"!
Yours is the perfect situation... what will come, however good, is just the "icing" on your already perfect cake.

Feel the moment.. feel the moment... feel this moment.. spend time with yourself.. build firm roots in yourself.. You nourish yourself with the care, love and tenderness it deserves. Hold it- like you would a dear child-when in distress... smile at its shortcomings like you would a smile to a baby tripping while taking its first steps....Be firm with it as would a compassionate mother discipline her child..
Allow yourself to be... to feel..

Allow it to feel the perfection in Allah's creation... the perfection in the diversity. The perfection in every smile... in every success...The perfection in every mistake.. in every shortcoming.. in every weakness.. in every painful episode..

Nothing in this universe was not carefully calculated. Nothing in this universe is not in its perfect place. Every person, every habit, every trait, every fault, every perfection, every failure, every good deed, every sin, every moment of rejoice, every moment of regret...

What a miracle it is that lies within each one of us. What  miracle it is that lives in each flow of breath that I take, each bite of my nails, each scratch on my skin.. each blink of my eye!!

Let us just live the miracle!

Live what you are meant to live... Don't question... Relinquish the desire to to explain.. Relinquish the desire to find a reason.

If you fall into a  swamp get out... flap your wings. Let go of the past. Splash its waters off your feathers as a duck would dry itself, and return to the only point of reality.. NOW

Live the repentance..feel the forgiveness.. Let your look‏ ‏to the world be inside out ..don't look outside in..
"in" is one.."out" is too many..

As you look out, pay attention to the good. Disregard the negative..remember... Attention is food... so...feed only that which you wish to grow.. and what you don't feed will die..


Mahatma Ghandi is quoted as saying:‎"As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world..as being able to remake ourselves!"

But the key to transformation is not to "be" something else. Stop your seeking and searching, for that sort of perfection is neurotic and impossible. Your real perfection is to relax into yourself-into being yourself completely; accepting your "flaws" and humanity exactly as they are.

Non-resistance, non-judgment and non-attachment are the 3 aspects of true freedom and enlightened being.
Don't be tempted to try harder to be perfect, try harder to accept your imperfection!

People don't lose respect for you if they find out you're only human..chances are, they'll be relieved, and feel more able to relax in your company.

Think how simple your life would be if you eliminated the impossible things -the things that probably weren't meant to be anyway- and concentrated on doing what works.

Learn to be thankful

"In everyone's life,at some time, our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."[Albert Schweitzer]

There is Light in Loss

"Whenever a great loss of any kind occurs to anybody, loss of whatever kind, disaster, something goes drastically wrong, death, for some people that has been their spiritual breakthrough.

Loss is very painful, because any kind of loss leaves a hole in the fabric of one's existence. A person dies, or something you had identified with completely is gone. Your home goes up in flames. There is extreme pain at first. But whenever a form dissolves, which is called "death," what remains is an opening into emptiness. Where the form once was, there's a hole into emptiness. And if it's not resisted, if you don't turn away from it you'll find that the formless—you could say God—shines through that hole where there was a form that died."[Eckhart Tolle]

Learn to say No

A stranger sought out the Father Superior at the monastery of Sceta."I want to make my life better," he said.  "But I cannot keep myself from having sinful thoughts."

The father noticed that the wind was blowing briskly outside, and said to the stranger: "It's quite hot in here.  I wonder if you could seize a bit of that wind outside and bring it here to cool the room." "That's impossible," the stranger said.

"It is also impossible to keep yourself from thinking of things that offend God," answered the monk.  "But, if you know how to say no to temptation, they will cause you no harm."

Steps towards a Spiritual Being

1- Eat slowly.
2- Drive slowly. Go "slow" through life.
3- Be Present.Go through each task with a present mind. Give each moment its due attention.
4- Practice "doing nothing" every now and then.
5- Be minimalist, Declutter.
6- Eat healthy.
7- Exercise.
8- Develop Equanimity (i.e.mental calmness, composture, evenness of temper) and Detachment.
9- Limit your exposure to media & advertisement.
10- Pray with Awareness.
11- Create a morning ritual, (Doing something that will give you a good start into your day).
12- Go for quality not quantity.
13- Enjoy simple pleasures.
14- Learn to pack & travel light.
15- Rebel against Fast Food & Fast Life.
16- Live "Early" (in sleeping ,waking,etc).
17- Find a Passion (a hobby, job etc for which you feel passion).
18- Think about the Benefits not the Difficulties.
19- Turn away from negative thoughts.
20- Accept what "IS" - Go with the flow of life.
21- Don't criticize.
22- Don't attempt to label yourself or others.
23- Focus on Solutions. Don't complain.
24- Empower yourself with knowledge.
25- Don't procrastinate.
26- Be Grateful.
27- Learn to Reflect.
28- Whenever you approach a point of choice, always ask: 'Will this simplify my life?'

Be With Allah

Be with Allah…Shaykh AbdulGhani Nabulsi.

Be with Allah and you will see Allah with you,

Leave all else, and beware of your greed.

And suffice with Whom you belong to

in all your worldly issues and He will suffice you.

Absent yourself from the impurities of the material,

drop all other than Him, and leave your deceptions.

Don't be deceived by yourself,

rather ask it(yourself) to perform what is due upon it.

Allah is your light so shine by It,

and beware of the opposites(ie.other than Allah) lest they distinguish your light.

Then lower your nafs (ego) with humility to Him,

before you find it (your nafs) forcefully lowering you.

Worship Allah as though you see Him, be patient,

and avoid anxiety over Kashf (enlightenment or experiential knowledge)

Don't say: Allah hasn't shown me fat-h (enlightenment),

and don't ask for it, instead ask yourself to be devout,

Be in His hands as He wishes of you,

whether He unites, or separates you.

Amongst people- if He so wishes- you will taste humility,

or-if He so wishes- He will raise you.

If He harms you, none can benefit you,

nor can any harm reach you if He wishes you benefit.

And if He gives you, who can stop Him?

Or who can give you if He forbids you?

No one can protect you from His harm,

yet if you ask His help He will be there for you.

You are but a slave to him,

so let His closeness be your passion.

Prize in His connection if He so bestows upon you,

or accept His disconnection if it is His wish.

Trust in Him whenever you are inflicted,

and avoid expressing your pain to other than Him.

Don't build any hopes on other than Him,

only He who planted can water you.

If only you would know what you were

before the lord of the Lords created you!

You were nothing, then by Him

you became the best thing..the human He made you.

Be forever a follower,

don't ever wish to be followed.

Till when will you keep building your churches of desire? 

Break those crucifixes and abandon your synagogues.

Avoid planning in all your matters,

and do good to He who did you.

Preserve the sanctity of He who sees all

whenever you aim to do(something),or whenever you send you ear(to hear).

All praise be to him,

Oh mind be fearful of your Creator's annihilating you.

Submit to Him, and take refuge in Him,

Don't be stubborn and abandon your innovations.

This is the faith of Taha(Mohammad PBUH),hold on to it, 

Don't obey your weaknesses (incapacities).