Niat

Developing on from in-vacuo's and AVP's comments on the previous post.

They drew my attention to niat ie intention.

In Islam, the most basic teaching teaches you that everything starts with niat. Niat that everything you do and everything that you are is because of God. I'm not so good at following that part simply because. But I do agree with the practice of niat. I generally believe that I should live life doing good or at the very least to not harm others. Those are, I guess, my general intentions in life. But what if I push it further?

It made me recollect back on my primary-school-agama-classes-days plus all those extracurricular-tuition-imposed-agama-classes where I had to memorise many many doa (prayer) outlining my niat for all things imaginable. It was crazy. There is a doa for when you wake up, before you shower, when you put on clothes, before you eat, before you step out of the house, when you study, at housewarmings and many many more. I resented it! Memory is not exactly the best gift I possess and what more in a foreign language and in meanings that I hardly cherish. Example 1: Doa when you wake up translates to something along the line of 'Thank you God for reawakening me back from my temporary slumber. And to You shall I return.' Geezz, talk about gibberish for a primary school kid right?

But after a degree or so, and a slight tweaking to suit me, it could easily translate to 'I am grateful to be alive today. I may not be tmrw' translation: Carpe Diem my friends ;p

But in all seriousness, I guess what I've discovered and am trying to highlight is that you should continuously be aware of and determine your intentions, in whatever way relevant to you, before setting out on doing something. Intention before action! Imagine what it could mean if I woke up every morning being grateful to be alive and wanting to live the day to the fullest. There will be no Monday-blues or any days blue. I wont get bogged down by the calamities of life and learn to appreciate and be grateful for each day as it comes. I will get things, well the important thing anyway, done much quicker too.

And that is just with practicing 1 intention in the morning. Imagine if I expand further. Leaving the house and embracing the traffic in the morning with the determination to learn more, to achieve more; being grateful for the wonderful food that I intend to enjoy before I eat; a simple housewarming doa with the intention of building a home and not just a house (think of it as wedding vows but for the family); Theres 10,001 niat for 10,001 actions!

You'd think its crazy that so much focus goes into intention and that it'll shave time off action right? Not necessarily so. I think its just a way of re-wiring oneself, to living life and every moment of it with well intentions and to living life purposefully. It will take time to adjust but it is a technique that can be mastered. Haha how would I know. I'll let you know someday soon hopefully. I'm gonna think of 1 simple intention to master first ;) Baby steps :)


^8 Cee

Agora

The stupidity of men is a bad joke.

To kill in the name of religion is disrespectful.

To follow blindly in the name or religion is insulting.

It happened then, and we tell ourselves,

Those men knew no better and that history shan’t repeat.

But it is happening now and the clown is us.

We're so caught up with 'life' that we do not realise,

that we are no different from those men of the past.

Funny isn’t it,

We pride mankind with advancement and evolution,

But really, what evolution is there, if the mind does not evolve?

And to question it simply,

Do you think it possible for our mind to ever evolve?

Or is our state of being fated to remain stagnant throughout human history?

Why can’t we dream of a better future, a better present,

when it is as simple as understanding the need to respect another?

(Quite angry)

But movie was good.

^8 Cee

Sweet Child O' Mine

Sometimes that one song can transport you back to time regardless of where you are and what you're doing. That one song can stop you on your tracks and memories and emotions simply rush through. And its that feeling where you're just THERE...i dont know where...but just THERE >>> lost in time and space

And no matter what you're going through, you simply smile


:)


^8 Cee

Sunset

Sunset was perfectly surreal today.
Wish I had a camera to capture it and forever keep with me.
Suddenly its like anything and everything in life made sense.
I didnt want it to leave me. I didnt want to live a day without it. I didnt want to forget.


Thats so typical us isnt it?
Why cant we love freely without owning?


^8

Life happens when you're too busy making plans...

So much to do
So much to see
So much to feel

And yet I sit here wasting life away...

Last Friday my company had a seminar for their Mgmt Trainees on Learning to Learn. In one of the session, we did a quiz to identify our learning behaviour. There are 4 different ways to learn - action, thinking, feeling, accessing.
i) Action: these people belief the best way to learn is by direct experience. Eg: if you want to learn piano, you just play and learn from there.
ii) Thinking: these people learn by reflecting on the past and imagining possible outcomes for the future. Eg: if you want to play tennis, you buy a book on it, then observe a whole season of Wimbledon, then imagine yourself on the court without actually yet being on the court, then finally playing it.
iii) Feeling: these people learn to recognise their emotions or psychology and use this to manage themselves. Eg: if you are nervous about giving a speech, you confront your feelings on why you feel nervous and use this analysis of yourself to overcome or manage it.
iv) Accessing: These people access others by seeking advice, instructions or experiences from others who may have been in a similar situation. Eg: if you want to learn how to play guitar, you get a guitar teacher to teach you.

The quiz says that I am low on action, ok on thinking and ok on feeling, and high on accessing.
I say thats pretty spot on.


So yeaaaaaa.... I gotta start making things happen!


But its not as simple as doing an impromptu trip....sure its a lot of action when I do that... but thats just cheating because no, I dont want to just drift along.

My CEO knew he wanted to be CEO by his mid-20s. But hey I'm only 21 and only 2 months into working so its still ok if i dont know what to do right? Wrong! I'm too easy on myself sometimes. Too easy on myself that I've even convinced myself to think that its ok to not know which department to want to rotate into next.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....ok gotta figure things out...figure out what I want to make happen.
but hehe there I go again - life happens as I make plans. Its a vicious cycle.

^8