The Things That Stuck
Oh Allah, Revealer of the book, Mover of the clouds, Defeater of the tribes, defeat them and grant us victory of them (Ameen) .Please donate here for our brothers and sisters in Gaza: launchgood.com
Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatuLlah wa barakaatuh.
Trust that you're good, striving and thriving.
I'm not one for resolutions ,so don't worry this letter isn't about that. Don’t be surprised when you even see 2022 making an appearance in it!🤣
A while ago , I discovered that I'm one for quality over quantity. Anchored by this verse, I decided to lean into this completely and focus on consistency and improvement.
So , yesterday, as I was going through the ONLY resource I use to reflect on my year , I had a big smile on my face and a heart filled with gratitude. I was even happier knowing that 2024 already looks like I'll be continuing this journey and not starting over.
The review also inspired me to share a few things that I stuck with this year:
1. The Qur'an: This relationship has taken every form this year.. Subhannallah! I can't disclose it all but I'm grateful to Allah for helping me to hold on ,find meaning and be flexible with every opportunity to connect with it. Right now, we are highlighting words, and looking for root letters in our reflections. (Your Duas are needed🥹).
2. Qur'an Reflect: Joined in 2022 or so and it has been my greatest companion in expressing myself ,sharing reflections, learning and reducing my social media time. I LOVE the challenges and I appreciate the community.
3. Companionship: I'm a loner by nature and my best moments are those spent ALONE. That changed a little in 2022, I began to value community more. Since then, it has played a huge role in keeping me accountable, striving for Jannah, discovering new ways of achieving my intentions and reminding me of my purpose on earth. I guess it is safe to say, community is here to stay! The community I have stuck with is AA Plus and I LOVE IT. I've gained sisters and the best companions from this community, it's helped me to grow, inspired me to seek further and helped me to be kinder to myself. Oh and it's also open for registration for one week ,I invite you to come and join us!
4. Mindfulness : I can't claim to be calm, neither can I claim to be one who takes a deep breath and relaxes before every potentially hectic moment ,but I try. My sister calls me a worry wart, but I have tried to worry less this year. I have also tried to leave things for a minute, hour, day or week before I react WITH SENSE. I have also tried to make this part of my pre-Ramadan prep too.
I don't meditate everyday, but I run to meditation in never-wrecking moments or times of discomfort and I'm taking that as progress! I am also aware of the incredible benefits of living a mindful life. My BEST plug for this has been Muraqabah, a community led by a fabulous teacher who has given me the tools to improve the quality of my Solah and daily interactions. I am also SUPER pleased to announce that the mindfulness masterclass has now opened up and I have a $100 discount code for it. Trust me when I say this course is one of those that you will find beneficial. The impact of the learning on your Solah, work, family and life in general is worth it. If you are done with distractions, feeling overwhelmed and guilty all the time, you should invest in it. All you need to do is to enter this IBADAHPLUG100 code in the form during the registration process (please hit ENTER after entering the code).
5. Seeking Knowledge: Seeking knowledge means the world to me. The more I seek, the more fascinated I become by this beautiful religion! Allah has blessed us!!!!! I'm always in complete awe of how COMPLETE this religion is. This is something we don't know, because we don't seek.
Islam has everything you can think of from health, wellness, productivity, finances, entrepreneurship, leadership, parenting, you name it. As I am like this, I just want to take everything EVERYTHING from Islam. I want to stop looking for what is not lost ABEG! I'm so pleased to find the incredible work that our teachers have done in this regard. I was soooo happy when I took a leadership course from Ribaat this year!
Learning might look different for you, but I encourage you to start this journey, ISLAM IS BEAUTIFUL AND COMPLETE. You just need to start Seeking. There are many institutions ,but I'll stick with the 3 that I've been most consistent with. They are all open for registration ,so check them out.
Habibtie, let's do more than YouTube knowledge in 2024, please.
Alhamdullilahi Robbil Alaameen! Looking forward to hearing from you on what stuck as well. A comment or response to this email will be great!
Till Next Week, Insha Allah
We leave you in Allah’s care,
One of us at Ibadahplug