PLAN VS VISION

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"The world seems so quite. But I can see the smoke. Something’s still burning somewhere, I can smell it. I don’t like it. Is this what my life is all about? Putting out fires? Taking care of and looking after burnt dreams and expectations? Scraping, polishing, makin’ ‘em look shiny and ready for another fire, another slap in the face, another hook under the chin? In boxing, they say that everybody’s gotta plan until they are hit. Boxing can be so much like life, I never figured. Mohammad Ali whopped everybody’s ***, claimed supremacy over all and any, and nowadays finds it hard to life his arm. But he does it with a smile, a real fighter, fighting whatever life throws his way; hook, jab, jab, duck, upper cut, you’re done!
I need a plan. So I can get hit and realize my plan sucks. Nope.
I need vision. So I know where I want to go. So any number of hooks and uppercuts may throw me down, but never throw me off.
I need persistence. Resilience. Back at ya, suckers.
And for my vision and persistence to work, I need Faith. We all need to look up towards something once in a while, and for good reason. I need Faith like a priest needs a Sunday. Ha haaaaa. My vision is to be based on that Faith. The vision of a smiling soul, happily subservient to a Wise God. The vision of victory, with or without the scars. The vision of that inflated chest yet a humbled face, with or without pomp or style.
I need to be better than yesterday. To be better than worst, than bad, better than good. Maybe someday that will take me to being better than best. That is EXACTLY where persistence comes in. Keep on keepin? on!
So I ask myself. Where do I want to go? Where do I want to end up? Hmmm, wrong questions will lead to misplaced answers. So articulate, my friend.
What do I want? Bliss of a smiling soul? What about worldly successes? Want that? Yes. Do you think both can come together? Soulful bliss coupled with worldly success? Haan? What books have you been reading? Haan? These two are INDIRECTLY proportional; get more of one to have less of the other. What makes you think you can have both?

The same thing that got me this far. That is what makes me thing that I can have both. I asked the Mighty Giver, and Lo and Behold my friends, I got it. I am clear that a smiling soul is top priority, and if I ever have to decide between worldy successes and a smiling soul, I will choose ? God be willing ? soulful bliss. And thanks to this exercise in therapeutic writing, I am now going to go ahead and define ? no, REDEFINE soulful bliss.A smile at the end of each day. Smile of contentment. A full, hearty smile. When I am sitting alone in my room, I want to be in a position genuinely thanking God for all that HE has given me."

...

HOW do you think of FAITH?

OR I BETTER SAY, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT FAITH?

The "rational" mind is a tool whose foundation is the perception of distinction and separation. It is incapable of seeing beyond itself to a larger awareness that flows from a grand unity--the indivisble, Oneness. It sees heads, it sees tails, but is blind to the coin itself.

Faith is a bad word to the "rational" mind because it seems to be the ultimate absurdity. Faith does not make sense. It does not make sense because it is beyond sense. Beyond the capacity of the thinking mind--beyond the capacity of the tool.

A hammer is a tool. I wield the hammer, the hammer does not wield me.What sense can a hammer make of the infinite? It only deals in boundaries and limitation.

Circular discussions are a soothing balm to the thinking mind. It is fruitless to argue with one's tools.Until one is ready to explore the "absurd" there is only the veil.

One.

...

I BELIEVE IT'S ALL ABOUT BELIEVING...

BELIEVING IN THE UNSEEN...

NOT TRYING TO SEE IT...

THE PRESENT.

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Yesterday is history,

tomorrow a mystery,

today is a gift,

that's why it's called the present!

][--DÉJÀ VU--][

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What an unexpected set of twists and turns?!

I still can't believe this is happening!!!

"Déjà vu"

Everyone is familiar with the concept of not the particular name. That feeling of having done something, been somewhere, or seen something; while at the same time, recognizing that you have not done, been, or seen the event. Scientists and psychologists describe this feeling of déjà vu as occurring when the brain takes a greater than normal amount of time to process the information it receives from the senses; thereby, making it seem as though the experience was familiar to the individual.

!!!!!!!!!!!

THE SEAGULLS DRAMA!

I was distracted from spotting planes by this amusing drama that went on for almost half an hour... My starting point for my afternoon walks. Seagulls are always there to greet me. Praise the Lord, He is the Most powerful... He knows it aaaaaall...

'REGGADA'?

Listening to it have always made me feel soooooo happy...

The words hit you like a lightning bolt and changes your entire mood.

It really lifts my spirit...

It's just that I don't really get what the word means?!

"Reggada" ?

But I certainly love it... It's one of the best song lyrics I've ever heard...

It’s a song that gets stuck in your head and plays in your mind as background music all day long. Something that keeps you going.

May Allah grant us happiness... Amen.

TELLS A LOT!

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(English) shoe

(Dutch) schoen

(French) chaussure

(German) Schuh

(Italian) scarpa

(Spanish) zapato

(Arabic) ne'aal

Did he make it?

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Observe everywhere a unifying reality. Nothing, in itself, is complete. Everything is part of a totality which, taken all together, is right, good, and beautiful.

Imagine that weight no longer exists. There is nothing firm around you. You are becoming space itself.

Cast away the last of your earthly attachments. Pour out the little grains of sand, representing your last, lingering earthly tendencies. Release your ego from its little nest of security. Offer yourself into the vastness of space all around you. Embrace the galaxies. You are they, and so much, much more.

The very universe is you!
Rejoice calmly in your newly discovered liberty: in your freedom from littleness! Dwell on that image of vastness, until you feel that infinity is what you truly are.

...

U DON'T WANNA KNOW ;)

YOU DON'T WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!

I SWALLOWED ‘EM…

BUT BEFORE THAT, I BROKE THEM DOWN, AND MOREOVER, ENJOYED DISSOLVING THEM IN MY MOUTH…

WHAT A TORMENT!

in less than a split second...

She is about 20 years old, used to go to college, like many of us, she had hopes and dreams for her future, but, subhan Allah, her life just suddenly changed. She has cancer and she suffers from an unknown disease that has affected her brain and nervous system. She now cannot study, she is loosing her eyesight and her hearing. She can bearly walk. She has stopped going to college, even though she used to be an outstanding student. Doctors have not been able to come to a decision on the cause of this disease, some have even told her that she has only a few months to live. So, i am just hoping that we all start praying for her so that she can get better insha' Allah. So please, please rememebr her in ur du'aa, she really needs it. And another thing, i think we should always stop and thank Allah for all the blessings he has given us. However rough r lives can sometimes be, there r always others who r suffering more. So i think we should always just stop and say "AlhamdulilLah for everything"

Just goes to show how meaningless a person's life is and that in a split second, when a person had everything planned out and all their goals set, they can go from a somebody...to a nobody... May Allah make her ending a good one and may her pain and suffering be in meezan 'asanatiha...

And us all...Amen.

UMMMMMM... WORLD....

The world
Is rolling off of a precipice
Into chaos
And everyone knows what is best
For everyone else
But not for themselves
We have to be told what we like.
Up is down
And down is up
It's an insane mess

IT'S 11:56 PM

ALL RIGHT...

NO IT'S NOT...

I’M NOT FEELING WELL AT ALL…

I CAN’T SLEEP…

I'VE BEEN UP FOR THE PAST 18 HOURS...

ANY SUGGESTIONS?

CAN ANYONE LEND A HAND…?

IT WOULD BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED…

\\ \\ LANGUAGE // //

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""Paris, resting place (or vacationing spot) of kings whose spacious front sees nothing similar under the canapy of the heavens." That is a little literal and it is much prettier in French than in English."

IS IT TRUE, CAN SOME WORDS SOUND OR FEEL BETTER IN A LANGUAGE THAN ANOTHER?

**THE SUNRAYS AND ME**

Well, a few days ago, everything got so messed up…

So I decided to get out of the house… but ended up sitting in the balcony… Don’t know, but I’ve always loved it…

I was staring at the sky -even though it was sunny and humidity was at its peak but the sky looked different- and noticed that the sun rays were trying to make it easy on me by playing around with the clouds… I got my camera and started shooting… I’m not so good with landscape shots… but guess it worked this time, not ‘cuz of me or the camera... It was ‘cuz of em… the sun rays…

Praise Allah for this natural gorgeousness,
Thank God for the blessing of sight…
And most of all insight...

::::....SARA....::::

WELL, HERE IT’S PRONOUNCED ‘SERA’.

AND MY FOLKS CALL ME ‘SARA’ WITH AN ‘A’ AFTER THE 'S'.

UNLIKE MY FRIENDS, AND BACK IN SCHOOL...

THEY USUALLY PRONOUNCED IT LIKE SO.

ANYWAYS…

IT’S SARA, WITHOUT AN ‘H’ (I.E. SARAH)

(: IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU:)

'THE ULTIMATE GOAL'

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WAS WONDERING AS USUAL, WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE SPIRITUAL GOAL?

The answer in the words of the Qur’an is: ‘A soul at rest’ (89:27).

Thus the spiritual goal is to attain this state of peace in the soul.

The highest spiritual goal for man is his spiritual uplift when he has attained the high state called ‘peaceful soul’ in the Qur’an. This may also be termed as complex-free soul which can withstand all kinds of negativity.
Thus a developed or complex-free soul is one which, having reached a high level of thinking, has risen from all kinds of negativity and has attained a positive identity in the full sense of the word.The importance of the peaceful soul, according to Islam, is its being deserving of salvation and thus eligible to enter the purest and finest realm of paradise.
The way to reach the stage of the peaceful soul depends upon man’s relation to God. The more man turns his attention to God, the more he will receive inspiration from Him. With the help of divine inspiration, he will be able to pass through the various stages of spiritual uplift until he ultimately reaches that pinnacle of sublimity so desired by the Almighty.

MR. KIND HEART,

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Ever been on a drive? Inside in your ride

And your looking through the glass, see a car on the side

The engine's broken and the car is smoking

And the dude is shaking cause the heat is baking

Or this cat's (guy) gotta flat, and the spare's all whack

No jack in the back, and no clue where he's at

There ain't no real rush, but you roll right by

Not even asking the guy if he needs a supply

He might be alright, and to pass ain't a sin

But within you feel bad the state that he's in

How hard would it been, just to ask “you ok”?

That might be the deed that you need to succeed

That might be the deed that will so please Allah

That your forgiven the sinning you did when you was living

It's a small little thing, that can cling and just ring

And will bring the blessing from Allah Who's the King

We pass on the deeds cause they seem all small

But it might be the deed that's the best of them all

Mad when see all the passes I took

On these small little deeds I just overlook

Mr. Kind heart,
I don’t know who you are and what you do, but I feel like talking to you. I feel like telling you that probably you’d think what you did was nothing, but it was a big thing, and it will last with me forever. I have become more enlightened with a different perspective about life, the lesson that I learnt would take a lifetime for people to realize. I must thank you. I have learnt to take better care of things that might not seem more important.
Thank you!
Much appreciation,
Sara.
******************************************
WHAT HAPPENED?
Well, I was driving on my way to the hospital, and I got so lost, that I didn’t even know where I was… and ahead were two roads, one goes east and the other goes west… however, I had to choose one of ‘em and that caused me getting more lost…. I stopped the car several times and waved for the cars passing by, but none stopped… it was a high way, and not even one walking soul… A few minutes later, this old man appears on the side of the road, so I stopped, and he started directing me, and guided me to the right track, and gave me his cell phone number in case I forget what he said, & get lost again… he was soooooo sincere…It ws a li’l waste of time for him, but I’m sure the Lord of the worlds will reward him for stopping in the heat.

I just can't believe

Small little deeds that I overlook, can you see?

Little deeds that I overlook, and you read

I read about it in my holy book, it says

Small deeds never overlook

DREAMWORLD...

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This has that deep feeling….

when you first awake after a long rest,

and the veil of the dreamworld still exists.

Really tranquil.

::..DONT SLIDE..::

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Even on a day like this when you're crawling on the floor

Reaching for the 'phone to ring anyone who knows you anymore

It's all right to make mistakes, you're only human

Inside everybody's hiding something

Staring at the same four walls, have you tried to help yourself

The rings around your eyes they don't hide, that you need to get some rest

It's all right to make mistakes you're only human

Inside everybody's hiding something

Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment

Don't slide

Even at a time like this when the morning seems so far

Think that pain belongs to you but it's happened to us all

It's all right to make mistakes you're only human

Inside everybody's hiding something

Take time to catch your breath and choose your moment

Don't slide

You brought this on yourself and it's high time you left it there

Lie here and rest your head and dream of something else instead

Don't slide.

REFLECTIONS? OR MEMORIES? OR THEY'RE BOTH THE SAME?

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Through the mirror of my mind

Time after time

I see reflections

Reflections of

The way life used to be

As I peer through the window

Of lost time

Looking over my yesterdays

I thought I'd done my best to memorize

HAVE I?

I need to believe

In my heart of hearts of hearts

BELIEVE IN YOU,

AND ME...

LOOK CAREFULLY >>>

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"Important lessons: look carefully, record what you see. Find a way to make beauty necessary; find a way to make necessity beautiful."

--ANNE MICHAELS--

- - -ENDEAVOR- - -

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I'VE TRIED, DON’T TELL ME I DIDN’T.

Have you ever tried to enter the long black branches

of other lives -

tried to imagine what the crisp fringes, full of honey,

hanging

from the branches of the young locust trees, in early morning,

feel like?

Do you think this world was only an entertainment for you?

Never to enter the sea and notice how the water divides

with perfect courtesy, to let you in!

Never to lie down on the grass, as though you were the grass!

Never to leap to the air as you open your wings over

the dark acorn of your heart!

No wonder we hear, in your mournful voice, the complaint

that something is missing from your life!

Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?

Who can travel the miles who does not put one foot

in front of the other, all attentive to what presents itself

continually?

Who will behold the inner chamber who has not observed

with admiration, even with rapture, the outer stone?

Well, there is time left -

fields everywhere invite you into them.

And who will care, who will chide you if you wander away

from wherever you are, to look for your soul?

Quickly, then, get up, put on your coat, leave your desk!

To put one's foot into the door of the grass, which is

the mystery, which is death as well as life, and

not be afraid!

To set one's foot in the door of death, and be overcome

with amazement!

Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?

While the soul, after all, is only a window,

and the opening of the window no more difficult

than the wakening from a little sleep.

Only last week I went out among the thorns and said

to the wild roses:

deny me not,

but suffer my devotion.

Then, all afternoon, I sat among them. Maybe

I even heard a curl or tow of music, damp and rouge red,

hurrying from their stubby buds, from their delicate watery bodies.

For how long will you continue to listen to those dark shouters,

caution and prudence?

Fall in! Fall in!

-- Mary Oliver --

HIM ? ; )

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IF YOU TRY TO ALWAYS DO AS THE PROPHET SAID HERE:

"Wherever and in whatever circumstances you are, fear Allah; do a good deed after every sin, for it will annul it; and be kind and cordial in conduct towards the servants of your Lord."

AND IF YOU ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS, CORRECTLY:

QUESTIONS

THEN 'MAYBE', AND I SAY 'MAYBE' YOU WOULD BE A WINNER...

HEHEHHEHEHEHEHEHE :) HEHEHHEHEHEHE

ASPIRATION AND ESCAPE...

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There, in the equipoise of motion, bird and pilot

Holding the substance and the shadow distant, rise

In the impossible element, expend their spirit,

Passioned by their own speed, till the spirit fails...'

WHAT FIRST OF ALL DOES FLYING SIGNIFY FOR THE SOUL OF MAN?

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Surely, in the first place: ascent, endeavour, aspiration.

Secondly: escape, release, freedom, the longing for pure, untrammelled, unobstructed movement, the longing to shake off the fetters of this earth. 'Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at rest...',

Now these two impulses — aspiration and escape — were the two main springs of life and art.

*****BALLET*****

As a kid, in the schools' gym, I used to look at myself in the big mirrors, thinking, while performing, could I fly???

THE BIG PICTURE!

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Let’s think this whoooooooooooooole life over,
But to make it easier for you to travel with me through this li’l journey of few lines,
Let me ask you this: have you ever visited Google earth?
If you have, then of coarse you’ve tried to zoom in to a specific spot…
And in that spot, you’ve definitely seen how it was a captured moment…
But that’s not what the big picture is…
The big picture I’m referring to here, is when you zoom out.
When you zoom out, you see how things are getting smaller and how huge the world is…
But don’t forget how finite it is….
So I do this zooming out almost everyday…
But not on Google earth…
In my head…
When I face a trouble, or find things smooth, or get totally lost, or feel at ease…
I start getting outside the box…
I find some people who are content, some aren’t, some are full of hate, some are hopeful, some are dying, and some are coming to life…….
So it just goes on….
Until one day it all stops, and gets reversed….
You can't zoom in all the time, you have to stop at a certain point…
Basically, its not the end of the world right now…
Is this making any sense?
Well it does to me, and actually makes me feel so needy and helpless…
But most importantly, me…
It makes me feel like me, and gives me a space in this world…
Hope I'm making it a good one, for the ones before me, the ones with me, and the ones coming after me…
Amen.

UP UP UP!

When the world crumbles down

When you can’t help but frown

When your soul’s gonna drown

Just stop, just drop and look up

When the tears start to flow

When you feel oh so low

When your life’s one big show

Just stop, just drop and look up

When you think there’s none to hear

When your heart is full of fear

When you’re hurt by devils spear

Just stop, just drop and look up

When your life is full of greed

When your soul needs to be freed

When all your heart does, is bleed

Just stop, just drop and look up

When things don’t seem to go your way

When hurtful things are what they say

When the sun doesn’t shine today

Just stop, just drop and look up

When you’re howling like a lost hound

When strangely somehow you’ve been crowned

When the devils drum is your sound

Just stop, just drop and look up

Raise your hands up to the sky

Ask for help from THE Most High

For tomorrow you may die

The day the Dunyah says goodbye

"WITH PAIN THERE IS GAIN."

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Call it a catastrophe? A crisis? A calamity?

You name it…Its been hard, quiet difficult to handle…

OPEN HEART SURGERY....

PROBABLY CANCER!!!

GETTING FIRED.

……………

SO WHY?????

MAYBE 'CUZ OF.........

MISSING FAJR!

GOSSIPING?!?!

SMOKING????????

WORRYING TOO MUCH...

..............

AM I TOOOOO HARD ON US? ON MYSELF?

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PRAISE THE LORD...

IT’S ALL GOOD...
I mean it, from deep down my heart…

As long as we’re believers, it’s all good…

[94:5] With pain there is gain.

[94:6] Indeed, with pain there is gain.

[94:7] Whenever possible you shall strive.

[94:8] Seeking only your Lord.
--QUR'AN--

BE FOR ALLAH AS HE WANTS YOU,

HE WILL BE FOR YOU BETTER THAN YOU WANT.

WHERE TO? UMM DUNNO!

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SITTING DOWN THERE, SITTING STILL, LEFT IN BITS,

BECOMING SO NUMB, NOT EVEN HAVING TIME TO ROLL MY EYES,

THINKING, THINKING, THINKING…..

THINKING ABOUT HOW SOMETIMES I FIND MYSELF IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING THAT I’M CLUELESS ABOUT…

TOTALLY CLUELESS, NOT KNOWING WHERE IT’S TAKING ME, OR WAS IT ME TAKING IT?! REALLY DON’T KNOW!

"GOD's command has already been issued (and everything has already been written), so do not rush it. Be He glorified; the Most High, far above any idols they set up."

Qur'an [16:1]

LEARNING TO SEE!

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OBSERVE!

If you look hard enough, you can figure out a little bit of history/background in each and every thing around you. Well, like, we all studied in Geography, or was it Science, that you can find out the number of years a tree has been around, by cutting it open and counting the rings around the sliced trees will tell you how long the tree has lived. So what I’m trying to say is if you look close enough, if you observe, you can really find out a lot. ‘Observe’, it’s such a deeply, thought-provoking word, isn’t it? Observe; observe as much as you can, have you noticed that even the black tyre marks on the roads tell you stories of things that happened on them?! The way people react to things have reasons… history behind everything… Observe and you’ll see…