Habits, part 2

Cont'd from page 3

8. Stay Hopeful, Don’t Give Up.  If you fail in an attempt, don’t beat yourself up and be tempted to give up. Instead, stay positive, knowing God is Forgiver, Most Merciful. Ask God’s help and try again the next day! God gives us a good model or template for this related to the habit of saying, “God willing.”

Remembering God Every Chance We Get

[18:23-4] You shall not say that you will do anything in the future, without saying, “GOD willing.” If you forget to do this, you must immediately remember your Lord and say, “May my Lord guide me to do better next time.”

In conclusion, God willing, we keep our focus on our purpose in life which is to worship God alone (51:56).  When doing a self-reflection, we remember the purpose is to increase our submission to God alone.  When creating new habits, we do them out of reverence to God alone.  God willing, if we do it in this way, and ask God to help us, then He will change our behaviors to grow our souls and be pleasing to Him alone.

References

https://liveboldandbloom.com/12/habits/how-to-make-good-habits-stick

https://theweek.com/articles/711574/scientific-secret-building-good-habits-sticking

Robert

The Importance of Meditation

In the Quran, God Almighty says: [33:41] O you who believe, you shall remember GOD frequently.* [33:42] You shall glorify Him day and night.

And the footnote reminds us: * Your god is whatever occupies your thoughts most of the time. Hence the commandment to commemorate God and glorify Him day and night. See Appendix 27.

Our worship practices are all designed by GOD for us to achieve this goal, God willing. For example, [29:45] the remembrance of GOD (through Salat) is the most important objective.

And: [4:103] Once you complete your Contact Prayer (Salat), you shall remember GOD while standing, sitting, or lying down.
This is why dhikr (commemoration or meditation) is so emphasized by God, and we spend our days and nights, God willing, commemorating GOD alone.

[3:41] … Commemorate your Lord frequently; and meditate night and day.”

[73:2] Meditate during the night, except rarely.

[76:25] And commemorate the name of your Lord day and night.

I set small goals, for example, aiming for 5 minutes of dhikr a day.  This is achievable and bite-sized for me.  You can vary your dhikr each day. It could be commemoration, reading Quran, watching a video about God, listening to a version of the Night of Destiny (commemoration) audio, or listening to a few dhikr songs. 

God is Forgiver, Most Merciful and He has pardoned us for not doing as much as we should: [73:20] Your Lord knows that you meditate during two-thirds of the night, or half of it, or one-third of it, and so do some of those who believed with you. GOD has designed the night and the day, and He knows that you cannot always do this. He has pardoned you. Instead, you shall read what you can of the Quran. …

Praise be to God for this awesome gift of meditation to grow our souls and gain such grand credit, God willing.

Reference

Appendix 27, “Who is Your God?” from: Quran the Final Testament, Authorized English Version, translated from the original by Rashad Khalifa, Ph.D.

Abeer

[7:205] You shall remember your Lord within yourself, publicly, privately, and quietly, day and night; do not be unaware.