Synchronicity

Last Saturday I was in KL to give a presentation and some tips about emotional intelligence to a group of women whose husbands had been detained without trial , some for the last 5 years.Most of them resonated with what I had to say because they had already reached the point of transcending their victim mentality and were empowered . I was thinking to myself , these women are getting stronger and stronger in spirit , in faith and in wisdom. Adversity has a way of either making or breaking a person but those who have a great deal of faith and a connection to the Divine will transcend their very selves to excel in spirit and this was what I saw in this group of women.

On the way back I found myself in front of Ampang Point and stopped to go to Pay Less Books. Indeed I paid less but I paid quite a lot, RM 180 and among the treasures I brought home was one on Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski. It was the unlikeliest title for a book about leadership but it was not merely about leadership, it was about surrendering to the inner guidance , about transcending , about understanding the unity of the Universe. He succeeded in establishing the American Leadership forum which up till now trains leaders from all over the US about working together and about being the Servant Leader.
Joseph Jaworski now heads an organization that trains leaders from all over the world called
Generon Consulting

Having had some amazing experiences with the kind of synchronicity he was talking about , I could relate very well to it.
What I have yet to experience is the coming together of like minded people to do something truly transcendental. There is this longing within me of finding the people who share my beliefs and my convictions and who want to bring about the consciousness of a transcendental way of being that is available to each and everyone of us . We do not have to be saints and prophets to experience connection with the Divine neither do we have to be gifted or otherwise superior for in truth we already are. Who will join me in my quest to truly leave a lagacy of love and light to the Nation and to the World ?
The book ended with a quote from Carl Jung

"Invoked or not invoked, God is present"

About Faith

Tiel sent me a note asking me to write something for the Progressive Faith Blog Convention 2006.

I actually got tired of writing on religion but I think Tiel did not mean that when she said write about faith.

But first let us get over the reason I got tired of writing about religion or belief:
Here is something that I experienced that will explain my point: Yesterday I joined a Malaysian online mailing list that had as its title Malaysia Spiritual Society. As I came onboard , I read one of the messsages from a guy who was just leaving. There were the usual oh please don t go, and other comments from others. I do not know what the dispute is really about but the gist of it seemed to be ' My religion is better that yours' and ' There is a big flaw in your religion.' Since this group of ove 100 people is mainly from one religion, with a smattering of members from other religions , there was a predominance of posts on this religion on the list ..which made me wonder at the name ...Oh no, not another religious wrangle or another place where one predominant group overpowers the discussuions....

There is another thing that is really bothering me right now: Since getting entangled in the training business , really , I think with me it is a calling, I have had from time to time been told to Islamize my training. Which put me into a wee dillemma really, not because I am not Islamic, I should think my words and deeds shout out Islam but because the material I was using was in my perspective very Islamic . My perspective said that all the material were principles that are embedded in Time . They were Universal Laws that had been put into place by the Eternal One.
Yet when asked to 'Islamize it' , I did . I took hadith and Quranic verses relevent to the topics and used them but I could not find the Muslim authors to quote because most of the material on these Universal laws were not written by Muslims ( but I suspect they had been dipping into Sufi sources ) .Then I got to thinking , hey hey hey , I am a Muslim and I wrote some of this stuff and what you are hearing is my Islamic perspective , is that not enough? Apparently not because for the last session I had in Bintulu , from a lot of positive feedback I got, one fellow commented that he/she disliked that I was pronouncing my quotes from the Quran wrongly and using quotes out of context. You can 't win can you?

Ok ok ok , so you think I am being defensive here right? I did a lot of soul searching and I did feel that I must learn to pronounce properly and also humbly state , please , those of you who have excellent Arabic, please correct me if I am wrong in my pronounciation and please, if I quote something out of context , do stop me and correct me.

What is the connection between what I am writing now to faith. What is faith? I do not want to look up the meaning here , I want to just write what I think faith is. Faith is believing in something so much that one acts on the beliefs , that one's perspective on things is from the perspective of the faith. Actually the Quran says quite often

Ya Ayuhal Lathina Amanu wa Amilusalihat.
Oh Ye who have faith and do good works

So actually one can have faith but NOT do good works but usually faith spurs one to good action.
What has many people quite confused is the definition of what good works is.
Many think it is prayer and fasting and going for Haj and throwing a feast now and then with people coming in to do the zikr , giving a donation once in a while to the orphans and attending weddings and funerals ..only of one's own faith mind you.
Then when you ask people who have been for Haj, they will tell you some nice horror stories of 'The Faithful ' performing the Hajj.Dear me nice and horror surely do not belong together. Oh but you know what I mean, the juicy stories that leave people shaking their heads and wondering how people of "other ethnic groups" could be so ill mannnered.
And you know the stories about how long it took to do the tawaf because a group from some other country decided to make a human chain and push you way way out so that the circle you had to make became very large. Or the man who did saie as though he was swimming and you were unfortunate enough to have been in his way and therefore stumbled after being pushed away by his hands and almost fell which would have been a disaster because you would have been stepped on. You have to admire the faith of these people really . They were determined to perform the Haj and fulfill their Muslim obligation at all costs, even if they inconvenienced their fellow pilgrims or caused a lot of grief to their fellow pilgrims........................................
You know I am being sarcastic here or at least I hope you do! I think for me ' Do good works ' is not about performing the rituals , which are important and meaningful enough when done with a lot of heart and done with presence and rememberence as well as with due consideration for the fellow worshippers...I think ' Do good works ' is being good and being kind to our fellow man, no matter what race, what religion , what perspective they are coming from. I think doing good works is being a Light in the darkness, being tolerant and speaking out against injustice , all injustice , not only the ones that affects one's own people but any people.

I woke up this morning upset with myself again. I could not find my identity card anywhere and then remembered my secretary took it to photostat for some applications I made and forgot to give it back. I saw myself asking her in a high pitched voice why she did not give it back to me and if she knew the consequences of trying to board my Air Aisia flight tonight without my IC and how about it if I could not fly....because I have a workshop to give tomorrow... As I saw this imagnary scene I was asking myself , Dear Lord , Ya Allah, there is this soft spot in my heart that inclines to kindness and goodness, and I am sure you put it there but why is it what comes out is this Shrill voiced angry woman who cannot have the patience to calmly ask for her IC and not lay the 'guilt trip' on my hapless secretary?
But I guess , even though what I visualised did happen, except I was less shrill voiced since I was aware of my actions , my secretary responded by laughing at me and with me. I guess she knows about that soft spot inside ..who told her I wonder?

So , if I put it in another way:
Faith is that soft and tender spot inside of you that loves little babies , that cries when emotions are touched , that defends the weak, that fights injustice........don t you go mistaking faith for something that puts people down and saying mine is better than yours.....you don t have to say mine is better than your, if mine is better than yours: It will be as clear as the Sun in the Sky and Allah knows best ......

On change!

I was in Bintulu last weekend , giving a coaching -training session on Knowing the self, Tools for change and Leadership. You can see some of the points elicited directly from the participants who all seem to be scratching their heads in this game that they are playing, what I call Follow the Hidden Leader. The guy in the center is trying to figure out who is initiating the Resistence Movement ...which at that point in time was head scratching!

This coming weekend will be a session in Kota Bahru and then it is off to KL for my next coaching workshop which horror of horrors, starts with mid course exams ...which I am supposed to be studying for.

So really I am not supposed to be blogging....

BTW, I had some really bad emotional vibes yesterday , maybe because of my hectic schedule , maybe jitters over changing my career ...no matter..I finally decided to seriously use a tool I frequently teach in my training, Emotional Freedom Technique and voila...I have since recovered..Masha allah, I never realised how much negativity I can hold inside when I am being negative....
I will be holding a workshop to teach EFT on the 2nd of July,it will be in Bahasa Melayu ie after I come back from Koh Samui for my EFT cert. Actually I can already instruct without the cert but it does not feel right...

You can read more about it here:

EMOTIONAL FREEDOM TECHNIQUE WORKSHOP

By the way, this is my temporary website , before I get a professional to jazz it up for me

HOLISTIC LEADERS

The Golden girls

Guess which golden girls is me? I 'll give you a clue, this golden girl is wearing yellow/green/golden and is kneeling in the first row but not quite!






It has been 30 odd years since I last went to school. Met about 60 of my batch mates last Saturday. I was late , very late , almost missed them ......... all because I failed to note the times and assumed we would be partying all day and all night..a false assumption for half decade ladies

Well anyway here is something you can do to avoid clutter and chaos: My desk area is much clearer since I adopted some of the suggestions ...you would think it was common sense but guess what, common sense is NOT common!

Quoted from : Order from Chaos
Author : Liz Davenport

The Physical Environment

Preorganizing

Creating a Vacuum

A vacuum means some extra space in drawers, bookcases, filing cabinets, and closets. People stop filing when files become jam-packed. Then a pile begins to grow on your desk and before you know it you are buried in stacks of papers.

Vacuum-creating Rules :

• Don’t get bogged down. Box the old stuff and put it in a closet out of sight.
• Get these supplies: Storage containers and several plastic boxes with lids.
• Create these boxes: Label one “to-do now”, another “to-do later”, and a third “Archive”.
• Clearly label what you archive with a dark marker and write in big bold letters.
• Group like objects: Tax forms and legal documents, Memorabilia, Old Client Files
• Throw away 95% of the old stuff. It’s a fact that 95% of everything you saved over the past six months may be considered trash. Keep only legal papers and documents.

Start at the End, not at the Beginning

Start with the oldest stuff and work towards the most recent stuff on your desk. Be sure to go through the closet that is scariest to open, first. The last place to clear is your desk.

Closet

Take everything out, and identify stuff by category as you go.

Label boxes . Keep those extra office supplies on a more convenient shelf, or use a box labeled “scratch paper”. Decide whether to toss, recycle or keep. If you must keep, put it in its proper category and labeled box. The least used items must be kept out of sight. Create as much empty space as you can.

Bookcase(s)

Empty the bookshelf, identifying categories again as you go. Decide whether to trash or recycle items. Keep only the current phone directory and reference books.

Filing cabinet(s )

If you have a filing system where you are able to find things, don’t change it. Avoid using A-Z filing systems because if you do not remember the name of the file you will have a difficult time looking for it. Use a more general system.

Create Drawer Categories. Have major categories. You can have “Clients”, “Projects”, “Reference Material”, “Contracts”, for instance. Never use the category “Miscellaneous”.

Create larger categories within each drawer.

The rule of thumb is if a file does not have more than 20 pieces of paper in it, then the title is too specific. In “household” you can have a category “car stuff” which holds the insurance, repairs, registration and anything to do with the car. The most recent paper goes in front.

Don’t ask “How should I file this?” but “How will I use this?”

The receipts for bills we pay can be filed in 12 folders, one for each month from January to December. When you have paid the bill, whether it be for the phone, your credit card or gas, just drop the receipt in the month you paid for.

Color code

Clients can be red. Administration can be blue. Finances may be green. Just use colored markers to highlight the labels in color so you don’t have to go out and buy a dozen colored folders.

Don’t be surprised at the amount of trash you are generating as you follow this process.

Computer files

Computer files and paper systems are handled in the same manner. Use the folders in your computer as you would your physical filing cabinet.

As you create new files, save them according to your new system. Trash old files as you go. Label a folder as Archive, Clients, Household, and within each folder there should be more folders.

Boxes under/around the desk .

Again, 95% of the stuff under your desk is trash.

Desk drawers . Dump out the entire drawer then place the items you deem worthy back into the appropriate drawer. Remember to group like items.

Having a “personal” drawer is a big help. This is where the purse, hairbrush, and candy go.

Now take a look around your office and feel the freedom from distractions gently come upon you. You must be feeling lighter already. Celebrate your newfound feeling of physical and emotional lightness!

Step 1: The Cockpit Office

Setting up

• Anything used daily should be within hand’s reach.
• Anything used on a weekly basis should be within arm’s reach.
• Anything used monthly should be in the office.
• Anything used less often should not be there.

Be back in a second

That second actually takes us 20 minutes on average before we get back to our desks to work.

In a regular office, you interrupt yourself by “getting a cup of coffee, going to the restroom, or having a cigarette”. If you have a home office, you have even more time-wasting opportunities. “Water the plant, put in another load of laundry, walk the dog”

You may also forget why you stood up to go get something, (scissors, a letterhead, a stamp) in the first place. This is why we need to have all our essential tools within easy reach to avoid self-interruptions. The trick is you do not have to leave your chair to go get it.

Office Layout

In a study done to identify the most productive office environment the following four components were noted:

• A minimum space of 10 ft by 10 ft
• A door you can close
• A phone you can turn off
• A minimum of 30 square feet of open desk space (meaning desk space with no computer, phone or lamp on it)

The most effective desk configuration is a U. At the bottom of the U, place your computer. One side of the U is for project work or tasks that take about one hour or so to complete. The other side of the U is for those crisis/interruptions that take minutes to complete such as faxing a letter, filling up a form or opening the mail. If you cannot have a U configuration, an L is the second-best layout, with the computer at the junction of the two arms. The third best layout is two parallel desks. The least efficient layout is a straight line.

Open desk space

Keep mementos to a minimum. You need room to work. This is the reason we head for the kitchen or dining table when it is cleared after a meal so we can do our projects at home.

Interruptions versus Concentration

Suggestions to improve productivity:

• Close the door and mute the phone. Studies show that a project that would take an hour to complete if you are not interrupted takes about four hours to complete if you are.

• Create a fake door. Hang a “Do not disturb” sign across the entrance of your cubicle so coworkers will honor it.

• Forward your calls to someone else or unplug it. Use voice mail or answering machines.

• Do project work in a quieter space like a conference room, an empty office or at home.

• If your office allows you to wear headphones, play a CD or tape of waves to drown out surrounding noise and increase concentration.

Four “must-haves” for every Cockpit

• A desktop file
• An In box
• A To-Read box
• A To-File box

The desktop file contains current files used daily. These are projects your are working on at the moment, clients you are currently working with, references used daily, and repetitive tasks performed daily like fax and email. Current projects/clients, Frequently repeated tasks, directories you use everyday, and blank fax cover sheets should be in your desktop file.

The desktop file at home: (place near a huge trash can)

Categories

• Bills to pay
• Things to file
• Things to read
• Things to take to office
• One for each family member

The In Box

Everything new goes into the In Box. There are two In Box rules:

• Allot a minimum of one hour each day to deal with all the new information you receive.

Don’t forget the virtual inbox such as email, faxes, voice mail, cell phone messages, etc. also other items where you place newly received information like your purse, bag or the front passenger seat of your car.

Whether you are a morning person or a night person, the time to attack the In Box is when you are sharpest and most alert. Make it a routine time each day.

• Once you take something out of the In Box it should go someplace else. Every In Box must be emptied by the end of the day.

The To-Read Box

We seldom get around to reading everything we put aside to read. How do you purge? Take everything out of your To-Read box, select the three to five most important materials to read and put them back in the box, and throw the rest in the trash.

The higher a stack of In Box files and To Read files, the more guilt is piled on your self day after day. If you have more than three inches of files in these boxes, you will be overwhelmed by a stack of guilt you simply cannot bear to look at.

The To-File box

How often do you file? As soon as your To-File box becomes full.

The Rest of the Tools in your Cockpit

• An Enormous Wastebasket

If the stuff is not needed, throw it away. If it merits a category, file it there. If you have an answer to How Will I Use This? Then file it in the place it will most likely be used.

Note: Crumpled pieces of paper take up more space in a trashcan than flat pieces of paper.

• Pencil holder

One thing you need to learn to throw away: pens that don’t write anymore. We have a bad habit of sticking these pens back in the pencil holder.

• File Folders/hanging folders

Keep a fresh supply on hand so you can add categories as needed.

• Rolodex and Blank Cards

The most efficient system of keeping business cards and contact information is the 360-degree Rolodex. This way you can’t keep piling things on top like with a flat Rolodex. Just file the cards alphabetically, and if you don’t have 20 minutes to sort out your business cards, ask a friend or even a child to help you out.

• Paper versus Electronic Rolodexes

If your system catches a virus, electronic Rolodexes can be very risky. Paper is faster even if it is bulky. Always have a paper backup to your computerized mailing list, so it can be retyped when necessary.

Keep the most recent phone books, white pages, and yellow pages on a shelf near the phone. Keep the most recent copy of your organizational directory within easy reach as well.

• Note Cards/Thank-you notes

In the age of e-mail we find it more meaningful whenever we receive handwritten note cards that congratulate us or thank us. So keep a nice little file of your personal handwritten notes to look at when you’re feeling down, and also a nice supply of blank ones to write on and send out to people whose day you would like to brighten up. Your email message can be easily deleted, but a warm thank-you note will be kept for a longer time.

• Stamps of various denominations, a postage scale, and postage rates chart

If you do all your own mailing, this is an essential timesaver. You won’t have to waste time standing in line at the post office.

Customizing your Cockpit

If you keep borrowing an item, buy one of your own. If you keep getting up to get something to finish the job, bring it back to the cockpit and keep it there. If you always lose your scissors, buy more than one pair.

Stuff you may need in your cockpit:

• A comfortable chair
• Good lighting
• A clock
• Paper stand/holder for typing ease
• Business stationery and envelopes
• Special paper, mailing labels, colored paper, certificate paper, etc
• Return address labels
• Telephone
• Computer, fax, typewriter, printer, scanner, copier
• Replacement ink cartridges for the above
• Mouse pad, wrist rest, foot rest (tools for proper ergonomics)
• Floppy disks, Zip disks, Jaz disks, blank CDs
• Stapler and stapler remover
• Tape (regular, double-sided, masking, duct)
• Rubber bands
• Paper clips
• Correction fluid/tape
• Calculator
• Hole puncher
• Reference manuals
• Pen/pencil refills
• Scratch paper/sticky notes (in a drawer not on the desktop)
• Calendar

She wants to go for Haj!

The old lady who entered my room was stooping. She obviously has osteoporosis of the spine. She did not come for help with her health at all. She came to ask me if I could help her find some institution to care for her son of 20 who is mentally retarded as she wanted to perform her Haj. She has no one to turn to she says she and her son are the only members of the family left. I did not have the time to investigate further it being a rather busy morning and I gave my secretary the job of making inquiries.
As it turns out , the Social Welfare department does not have any provsions for temporary care and asked her to approach private institutions but does not have any referal number to give. Looks like I have to do some homework to find out more about such places.
I finally told her to ask around for someone she could hire to take care of her son and as a final offering I told her , if she could not go because of having to take care of her son, Allah understands and she is not obliged to go...but will that soothe her heart felt longing to perform the Haj?

And I went on to do this

You Are an Old Soul

You are an experienced soul who appreciates tradition. Mellow and wise, you like to be with others but also to be alone. Down to earth, you are sensible and impatient. A creature of habit, it takes you a while to warm up to new people. You hate injustice, and you're very protective of family and friends A bit demanding, you expect proper behavior from others. Extremely independent you don't mind living or being alone. But when you find love, you tend to want marriage right away. Souls you are most compatible with: Warrior Soul and Visionary Soul

What Kind of Soul Are You?

How quirky are you?

Found this on Mushtaq's blog and decided to try it myself

Your Quirk Factor: 54%

You're a pretty quirky person, but you're just normal enough to hide it. Congratulations - you've fooled other people into thinking you're just like them!

How Quirky Are You?

The Prophet's Birthday

Yesterday was the Prophet's birthday. Somebody sent me a powerpoint presentation on the Prophet which I have converted into a PDF document and you can view it

HERE

Blogging sins and other stuff

This is Ainnayya at 2 months. She had started consciously smiling since she was about 10 days old. She also coos and gurgles and had been doing that at a month old. Yes advanced milestones , read why in my posting












My coach Micheal Heah . This was at Eastin in Damansara












Dr Qasim giving his lessons at Hotel City Villa. I was chairing for the 3 days.He is wearing a traditional outfit that he had made for his son's wedding earlier this year. He bought his daughter in law a pen drive. It seems that pen drives are cheaper here than in Dehi








I have committed several blogging sins...one of which is not updating my entry and the other is not doing the blog rounds and leaving apropriate comments on other bloggers site! Is that not the least I could do , since for sure I am not much in the social scene in my physical self. I remember the good old days when we kids used to visit with Mum and Dad . We went to people's houses , we talked and socialised ..at least Mum and Dad did. Their friends came over very often too and sometimes they talked and talked until they found it hard to leave each other . Where did those days disappear to?

I suppose I can answer my own question here: We replaced it with home theater, shopping trips , and for me, meetings ( NGO) seminars workshops and extra work!

Yes indeed I was busy again, so busy that in the 9 days between last Sunday and the Friday before last I was at home only 2 nights and worked exactly 2 days. I slept in a hotel for 3 nights, at my sister in laws for 3 nights , at my sister's for one night.

I was in Chowkit, Low Yat, Damansara,Melawati ,Kelang and Selayang, KLIA ( yes, had to send off Hana) not to mention at Melaka Sentral to catch a bus and at the KL Sentral station as well as the Kelang and Seremban komuter stations. And, on Monday ie yesterday I managed to develope a slight fever. I was a bit alarmed since it did not come acompanied by a cold or sore throat but this morning my voice is slighlty hoarse so I can write it off as a mere cold!

Why on earth am I on this hectic schedule ? I can well ask myself this question. A grandma already with grown children should have retired nicely and be content with looking after my lovely home and garden , having tea with friends and doing the weekend charity work . I wish !

It is not so easy really. I do not think I would be happy retiring ...hey let me rethink this. maybe I would be happy.....

Well ok let me reflect then on the things that I did:

Chair a homeopathy meeting and host Dr Qasim from Delhi: I learned quite a bit during the 3 days,met some very wonderful people and believe I am now very enthusiastic over improving my homeopathy..must read more material medica....It gave me more remedies to work on and a fresh look at ones I already use a lot of.

Attend a 3 day coaching workshop and at the same time get to know my sister in laws family better . I even took my brother in law to see an extremely wonderful Tabib. He is one of my homeopathy students and a great healer , having spent 6 months in a cave in Cairo learning Muslim medicene from Arab teachers . A very exclusive school mind you, you have to be recommended by an Al Azhar principle..he was recommened by Sheik Tantawi. Being with Syed Mohsin as he did his zikr and massage was an experience not to be missed . The energy of the Asma ul Husna is influencing me until today! And we had a discussion on Keris!This was at Ampang behind jalan U Thant..yes there is a kampung there behind all the huge Embassy buildings.

The coaching workshop was another eye opener. I think my energy shifted and I am ready to be a better coach as well as correct a few built in faults I have . Sobering to realise how good you are yet how bad....

I had to send a tearful Hana to the airport. My son drove and she put her head on my lap in the car and cried almost all the way to the airport.

On Saturday I almost sent an SMS telling Raji I could not make it for the PSM meeting because I was too tired but half way through I remembered my purpose and dragged myself to the meeting at Melawati .

My sister had invited us to a steam boat dinner and I went with my daughter son in law and grand daughter after the meeting. My grand daughter was the center of attraction as usual. My niece who had returned from her studies in Japan for a holiday bought her a baju beruang with the word irresistable written in scarlet . Appropriate indeed!

The training I did in Kelang was good too. I was much more aware of my faults from having attended the coaching class and I also shared with them in a different way than before . The lessons I had internalised from the coaching had made the difference. Indeed it is a blessing to be training as a coach under the only ICF coach in Malaysia , ie Micheal Heah.

It is off to Ipoh this Friday night to be panel member and host a talk show and the next few weekend are just as busy and dizzying... and I have not even began to tell you about my grand daughter who I find is advanced in her milestones. I think it has something to do with the loving attention all of us gave Mum and foetus when my daughter was pregnant..You can read about it

HERE

The article is in Bahasa Melayu and if you cannot read Melayu then my reference articles are

HERE

So peace: Fellow bloggers I beg your indulgence and forgiveness and ask you for prayers that I may go through my life with serenity ....

Answer these questions !!

Are you a good problem solver?Yes
Can you concentrate for long periods of time?Yes
Are you perfectionistic?No
Do you persevere with your interests?Sometimes or maybe usually
Are you an avid reader? Yes
Do you have a vivid imagination?Yes
Do you enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles?No
Often connect seemingly unrelated ideas?Yes
Do you enjoy paradoxes?Yes
Do you set high standards for yourself?Yes
Do you have a good long-term memory?Yes
Are you deeply compassionate?I think so
Do you have persistent curiosity?Yes
Do you have an excellent sense of humor?Indeed
Are you a keen observer?Sometimes
Do you have a love of mathematics?No
Do you need periods of contemplation?Yes
Do you search for meaning in your life?Yes
Are you aware of things that others are not?Yes
Are you fascinated by words?Yes
Are you highly sensitive?Yes
Do you have strong moral convictions?Yes
Do you often feel out-of-sync with others?Yes oh yes
Are you perceptive or insightful?Yes
Do you often question rules or authority?Yes
Do you have organized collections?not very organised
Do you thrive on challenge?Yes or maybe not so..well maybe yes
Do you have extraordinary abilities and deficits?Deficits more likely
Do you learn new things rapidly?quite
Feel overwhelmed by many interests/abilities?Yes yes yes
Do you have a great deal of energy?When I am enthusiastic about something yes
Often take a stand against injustice?Yes
Do you feel driven by your creativity?Hmmmm
Love ideas and ardent discussion?Yes
Were you advanced developmentally in childhood?not particularly
Have unusual ideas or perceptions?Yes
Are you a complex person?Yes


Ok over to you Pycno , Dr Roza , Kenakalayan, Hana , Hilmi , Aiman , Jebat, Crimsonskye , New Mama, and Mama's baby Aimi , Bergen, And all others not mentioned sudilah kiranya to participate...

What does it all mean....I 'll tell you later...maybe....

Do we have one like him?

This is taken from a news article and I have been to his website

Here

I was actually going to snip this short since I know attention spans can be pretty short and time is also short for the blog rounds...and to borrow from an internet email *thought virus* going around: funny how half an hour watching a sitcom is too short but half an hour reading something is too long...not that it would take half an hour to read this.

His articles are worth reading and upon reading it I was wishing Mawi did more than just say "worrrl"!
Do we have an icon like him that can influence the masses make them shape up , repair their own stuff and stop grumbling over 30 cent and cancel their subscription to Astro etc etc as Bergen has suggested .
If nobody volunteers , I would like to except I am a tad too old, what with being a grandmother and do not know enough teenage jargon...and am not too sure my overly serious tone would sit well with the people...so still calling for volunteers ...who is gonna be the Malaysian Amr Khaled? We need one!

Amr Khaled

Cairo -- As he leaves a press conference in Egypt's swanky Intercontinental Hotel, the wildly popular Muslim preacher Amr Khaled is mobbed by a crush of admirers waving, giggling and snapping his picture with their cell phones and digital cameras. Unruffled and gracious, the 38-year-old Egyptian grasps hands and kisses cheeks like a movie star. "I'm honored," he murmurs. "Bless you, thank you." "He's so cultured and eloquent," says Egyptian university student Aya Mahmoud Samy, 18, as she gazes after him. "He speaks right to your heart and makes religion so easy to understand." "Everyone loves him," adds her 25-year-old sister Mona, an interior designer. "It's because he's moderate and his style is very modern." A charismatic charmer who moves his audiences to tears with stories about the life of the prophet Muhammad and God's merciful love, the young "tele-Islamist" with an engaging smile, smart mustache, chic suits and open-collar shirts markets a trendy, self-help Islam that has more in common with the likes of Dr. Phil or Billy Graham than Osama bin Laden. Although Khaled is a lay preacher and not a religious scholar, he uses his television shows -- broadcast on Iqra, a Saudi-owned religious satellite channel -- to speak out against terrorism and despair. He emphasizes instead the importance of personal piety, political reform, social activism and coexistence with the West. His sermons promote charity work and job creation as a means of fighting extremism and despair among Arab and Muslim youth. Already a super-celebrity across the Arab world, Khaled is gaining popularity among Muslims in Europe and the United States who tune into his "Life Makers" and "In the Steps of the Prophet" or listen to MP3 recordings of his lectures online at his Web site, www.amrkhaled.net. He has at various times joined forces with the British government in promoting outreach to moderate Muslim leaders following last July's terrorist attack s on the London subway system; with the United Nations and World Health Organization in campaigns against drug and alcohol abuse; and even with Nike to promote job creation in the Middle East -- all part of his campaign to trigger a faith-based renaissance throughout the Muslim world. Khaled's latest proposal is a conference to promote Muslim-Western understanding and tolerance. He wants to hold the event in Denmark, where cartoons lampooning Muhammad were published, igniting furious protests across the globe. He plans to follow up with a series of round-table discussions between Western and Arab youth across Europe and hopes to visit the United States for the first time this summer. "There are extremists everywhere, on both sides, Muslim and Danish," Khaled told the recent press conference, describing his new idea with the same energized inflections and passionate gestures that he uses on TV. "They're pushing us toward isolation. Let me ask you, young Muslims: Do you want to alienate the Muslim nation? What kind of world do you want 25 years from now? Do you want Muslims isolated from the world community, or do you want to coexist with each other?" As a moderate Muslim from Alexandria who grew up in a secular, upper-middle-class household, Khaled says he is proof that being religious does not have to mean being old-fashioned or fanatical. Although he is conservative on such matters as women's traditional dress and sexual abstinence before marriage, he favors a relaxed conversational style of preaching that uses the colloquial slang of Cairo youth. "I speak their language," he said. "For a long time no one spoke to the youth in this way." Criticized as a lightweight by some intellectuals and sheikhs, Khaled responds by citing his viewers' responses. Thousands have joined in his campaigns to collect clothes for the poor, boycott cigarettes and alcohol, plant trees in pollution-plagued Arab cities and write letters to record companies decrying the exploitation of women's bodies in music videos. Teenagers form clubs, wear T-shirts and carry key chains bearing slogans from his TV programs: "Together we make life" and "We are life makers not life takers." His DVDs, CDs and tapes are as popular as the albums of the hottest Arab pop stars and often are sold in the same stores. Khaled's success is not just a matter of style, but of ideology, said Mohammed Hammam, the former head of Iqra's youth programming and now a consultant on Khaled's "Life Makers" program. "The problem with Islamic TV shows was that they used to have sheikhs, 60 or 70 years old, speaking in a very monotonous way and sitting in a room with books on the shelves -- very cheap books, in fact -- handing down their wisdom to the audience," Hammam said in an interview. "This was the people's perception of Islam. Amr Khaled managed to create a new product. It's a concept he's building from nowhere. He's trying to pass his enthusiasm through people's souls in order to awaken them from this long spiritual death." "He makes us feel self-worth and see powers within us that we might have misused," said Miriam Nasr El Shenawi, a 22-year-old student at the American University in Cairo. "Instead of sitting bored in front of the TV, we can do something good for our society. And he makes you more in love with God. He makes you feel nothing's impossible -- that you can solve your problems with the right attitude." For Nashwa Awad, a 34-year-old Egyptian tour guide and working mother, Khaled's programs are attractive because his sermons defy the stereotype that Islam represses women. She likes his emphasis on the importance of women's leadership in the Arab world. Khaled tells his television audiences that Muslim culture produced great female poets, a woman founded the first hospital, and Islam gave women the right to their own money centuries before the West accepted that idea. "He's not strict, and Islam is really like that,"! Awad said. "Women in the Arab world face very great oppression and, unfortunately, this oppression is in the name of Islam, but Islam is innocent," Khaled said. "This injustice is due to old traditions and wrong ideas that wear the guise of Islam. Who says a woman cannot be a president of a state? Who says a woman cannot be a judge? Who? Who says not allowing women these rights are ideas or rules of Islam? Unfortunately, some traditional sheikhs defend this idea using flawed logic." Despite his studiously apolitical discourse, Khaled was forced to leave Egypt in 2002. He was attracting crowds in the tens of thousands at Cairo's mosques, and jittery Egyptian authorities, wary of his popularity and growing influence, told him he either had to stop preaching or leave. Khaled moved to the United Kingdom with his wife and young son Ali, but continued to beam his TV programs into Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. Rather than stifling him, the Egyptian ban helped Khaled's popularity soar. "The absence of Amr Khaled and other popular preachers and their forced exile was not a smart move on the part of the regime, which has a very strong vested interest in maintaining influential, moderate Islamic preachers," said Emad Shahin, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo. "The vacuum created by their absence is now leading to a state of polarization between the regime and the Islamists." The Egyptian government seems to be reconsidering its stance toward Khaled. Shortly after a string of terrorist attacks on Egyptian soil last year, he was allowed back into the country for the first time in three years. Since then, he has visited regularly and opened a new Cairo office for his British-based charity Right Start, though he still cannot preach in public. He says the West must be willing to listen to the majority of Muslims who, like him, are moderates, but who nevertheless feel oppressed and misunderstood. "Bin Laden is saying he is talking on behalf of Muslims," Khaled said. "Who asked him to talk on behalf of us? Nobody. But now I'm talking on behalf of millions. They asked me to carry their voice to the world. So please, please listen to these people. Right now the extremists are a minority, but if you don't do anything, they will be a majority."

Suggestions for bored office workers

This is from my help column. I had 2 messages from 2 different people about their disatisfaction over their jobs. One thought she was not getting a job according to her qualifications and another felt that she is in a safe job but that it was boring and she did not like to have a boss and to be bossed around. Interesting issues ! I will update this with my thoughts later but in the meantime I apologise to my non Malay speaking readers because I am pasting part of my answer here in Bahasa Melayu.

This is added on later as promised. On the issue of being unhappy in the workplace, there are a few issues that I can see here.
For one thing, when one is bored or feels unhappy it may mean that one is not using one's talents gifts and skills and , the job is not inline with one's personality.
Bosses , especially those emotionally stupid ones will suppress as much as they can the creativity of their staff and create yes men and yes women , robotic automatons who do not think but just follow orders.
Very few bosses actually empwer their staff and those who do will have happy staff who will feel much fulfilled since they are allowed to use their creativity. The company also ends up better for the creativity of the staff will make for innovations in the company.
As for the present day rat race dog eat dog situation present in most working environments, I really do not have anything to say , only that I hope no readers here are exposed to such working environments where the ones who suffer most are the ones who are the lowest in the hirarchy because the top guy will be under pressure to meet deadlines and he will thus ketok his managers who will ketok the engineers who will ketok the technicians who will then ketok the supervisors all the way down to the lowly operators who will have no one to ketok and may take it out on their children or spouse or get sick !
What if anything can one do about it short of taking off and becoming self employed which is another scary prospect for most people , or another alternative is to sit ( work ) sweetly at home and let somebody else bring in the bread!Mind you being the House Manager is not all too pleasant a job either although it has its extremely rewarding moments .

Having set up the scenario , what can one do about it if one is one of the beleagured office worker? Firstly I would just like to say that some of the greatest spiritual personalities worked in the most menial jobs, many of them were not very well known indeed except in some very special circles . A famous one is Saydina Ali may God be pleased with him. He worked as labourer if and when needed to earn just enough for him and his family. He may not have liked doing hard manual labour but I am sure he did whatever required to the best of his ablity to earn what his family needed. So the first thing I would point to is that work is honorable and fairly and justly earned money is blessed and a blessing to the one whose blood sweat and tears earned it . ( And I hope the people at home appreciate how hard it is to earn it)
Next, We may think we deserve better work but in order to get better work, one better get better skills or skills that are in demand because there is no point thinking you should be getting the salary of a degree holder when the course you took to get your degree is a superflous one that is not in demand or, is too common. Learning a new skill is never a waste of time . I had thought for example , if I had found myself jobless ( ie no demand for doctors cos there are too many around ..will it happen do you think?) that I could probably earn my living as a cook since I am sure I can cook up a feast oh so tasty...I could also probably earn my keep doing translations other stuff which are now merely hobbies. So the next point is learn as many skills and be as flexible and versatile as can be as well as be willing to see oneself in various jobs.
The next point is to take responsibility over decisions made and not put the blame on the boss, the environment your parents etc. A victim mentality means we cannot change things because the fault lies with others . On the other hand making an assessment of what we can do about it and owning that whatever situation we find ourselves in is our own doing means we can change what we are doing and the outcome would also change.
And last but not least is something that is so basic and simple but seldom done: Count our blessings and be grateful for what we have . So many others have no jobs or are in some ways in worse situations..I know it is a boring answer but there you go!
I remember one day as I was struggling into my husband's old black mercedes ( because my hands were full of bags , the newspaper, a file, my drinking water etc) well not extremely old, about 10 years old..and upon going in wrinkled up my nose at the stale smell of the car , what with somebody spilling something like juice in it a few days back..I saw a boy on a motorbike looking at me as I drove off....and I thought to myself , he probably thinks how wonderful to own a mercedes such as I was driving...and there I was grumbling it is too big , too smelly etc and etc...so I stopped for a moment to send a prayer ..Dear Lord, Ya Rabb, I thank you much for being able to afford this car ...and to be comfortably driving in it safe from the rain and safe from the hot sun , safe from clumsy motorists who drive into motobikers .

Ameen....

Ini adalah saranan saya bagi semua pekerja yang rasakan apa yang dia sedang lakukan adalah boring. Saya sendiri telah menghadapi perasaan yang sama dan nasihat yang saya berikan ini adalah langkah-langkah yang saya sendiri lalui untuk selesaikan masaalah saya.
1. Ambil tanggung jawab atas keadaan sekarang dan terima dia se-adanya sebab ramai lagi yang dalam situasi yang lebih teruk: Ini perlukan perubahan sikap dan perubahannya adalah kita redha ketetapan Allah keatas diri kita sekarang. Saya bincang perubahan sikap dengan lebih terperinci di bawah ini.

2. Amalkan doa
Allahuma inni a'uzubika minal hammi wal hazan
Ya Allah lindungi laa aku dari menyesalkan perkara yang lepas dan merisaukan perkara yang akan datang .

3. Kira semua nikmat Allah swt telah berikan kepada anda sekarang dan ucap syukur banyak banyak mudah mudahan dengan sikap syukur dan redha Allah swt akan memberikan lagi rezeki melimpah limpah

4.Di samping redha dan terima keadaan,kita pertingkatkan diri kita supaya boleh mengubah keadaan dan mendapat kerjaya yang lebih sesuai dengan naluri dan kecederungan kita sendiri.


Apa yang perlu berubah dalam diri anda?
Sikap tidak berpuas hati kepada sikap mensyukuri nikmat
Sikap merasakan diri terlalu tinggi untuk jawatan yang ada kepada sikap meningkatkan diri untuk meningkatkan mutu kerja..sebagai peringatan, kelayakkan atas kertas tidak sama dengan kemampuan yang ada pada kita.
Sikap membuang masa dengan rasa boring/kesihan diri /mengangis dan meratap kepada sikap menggunakan masa untuk berbuat perkara yang berguna.
Sikap menyalahkan keadaan dan juga menyalahkan majikan, ibu bapa dan lain lain kepada sikap bertanggung jawab atas segala yang berlaku pada diri sebagai rentetan dari keputusan dan juga pemikiran diri kita sendiri yang mampu di ubah, ie dari mentaliti mangsa kepada mentaliti pemerkasaan. Inilah ertinya * freedom of choice* yang Allah swt telah berikan kepada manusia dan inilah ertinya bahawa segala kebaikkan datang dari Allah dan segalah keburukkan adalah perbuatan kita sendir sama ada kita sedar atau kita tidak sedar. Dengan kita mengambil langkah pemerkasaan ini, kita tidak lagi merasakan bahawa kita terpaksa buat itu dan ini. Jika keputusan kita adalah untuk tidak mencari kerja lain maka itu keputusan kita yang kita perlu senangi dan buatlah sebaik yang boleh.

Akhirkata: Setiap pekerjaan yang mencari rezeki yang halal ada dalamnya keberkatan dan jika kita buat sebaik yang boleh dalam menjalankan amanah dalam kerja , sikap postif kita akan buka jalan kepada yang lebih cocok dan baik untuk kita.

The Prayer for the Forgetful

DOA PALING MUJARAB ( DOA { Tanbihul Ghafilun} RATAPAN HAMBA ALLAH BERDOSA)

Ya Allah , I did not care about you in my ease and comfort, Ya Allah I am careless in my responsibilities towards you ( which includes all my obligations to my fellow creatures)My problem Ya Allah is when I meet with you. The faults in my life's journal I dare not face Ya Allah. What more my Lord, if my deeds were shown to all of creation , surely it terrifies me and embarasses me until I know not where I will hide my face.Ya Allah , you are always providing for me and increasing my blessings but I have reciprocated with my misdeeds and wrong doings which are increasing daily. Ya Allah I seek protection from you to whom I surrender and I worship. Ya Allah I do not deserve your paradise but I plead with you with your generosity and compassion and your love that you may forgive me and take pity on me,and my parents my spouse, my siblings and my offspring. Ya Allah , Thee alone should I worship , Thee who constantly forgives thy creatures who turn to you in repentance.
Amin , and peace and blessings on the Prophet SAW

Ya Allah S.W.T. , Aku tidak menghiraukanmu ketika aku dalam kesenangan. Ya Allah, aku sentiasa lalai tanggungjawabku padamu Ya Allah. Kesusahan pada diriku semasa aku bertemu denganmu Ya Allah. Keburukan pada lembaran catatan amalanku tidak sanggup aku hadapinya Ya Allah. Ya Allah apatah lagi jika amalan aku ditayangkan kepada segala mahklukmu tentu menakutkan sekali Ya Allah, hingga aku tidak tahu dimana harus aku sembunyikan wajahku Ya Allah. Ya Allah, engkau sentiasa berbuat baik dan menambahkan nikmat padaku, tetapi aku membalasnya dengan kemungkaran dan dosa yang sentiasa bertambah setiap hari. Ya Allah, hanya padamu aku berlindung, aku berserah dan aku menyembah. Ya Allah ! Sesungguhnya tidak layak bagiku untuk mengharapkan syurgamu, akan tetapi aku mohon padamu dengan kemurahan dan kurniamu serta belas kasihanmu, Ya Allah agar engkau ampuni dosaku dan kasihani diriku, dosa ayah,ibu adik-adikku, anak-anak dan isteriku. Sesunguhnya, Ya Allah engkau tuhan yang patut aku sembah dan sentiasa memberi ampunan kepada makhluk yang sentiasa bertaubat.
Amin Ya Rabbil Alamin berkat Selawat Keagunggan kepada Rasullullah S.A.W. yang tercinta.

Hana oh Hana

When she was about 10 years old

Hana is the one with glasses , picture taken last year , before going for an anatomy practical

Yesterday my son came upstairs and announced Hana lost her ticket . It did not register for a second..then it dawned on me Oh ! her ticket to come back home? After some frantc calls to her she finally replied..she is in Manipal India ...and I managed to tell her to go to the ticket office and make a report and get a new ticket issued. This afternoon I was feeling really low and I did not have a clue why and then at 6 pm , a call on my handphone from Hana!
Maaaaa they can only issue a ticket 15 days from now..she had booked a flight on the 24th of Feb , which is day after tomorrow..I could hear the despair in her voice ...I knew she was probably very teary. She was at the ticket office at that time.
I may as well not go home...she only had a month's break...
Calm down dear..just use your credit card to buy a new ticket , we can sort out your lost ticket later , get a reimbursement or something...
With that she hung up and I proceeded to talk to a patient of mine who was relating that her endometriosis is almost gone..yes I know it is hard to believe , but I use homeopathy and a food supplement called TF ..and it has produced amazing results...She had been to see the Obgyn who confirmed there was only one tiny cyst of 2 cm left and she was symptom free!
So tonight I called Hana again to find out what was happening. The guy at the ticket office will do his best to get her on the same flight she had booked earlier or, book her on the next earlierst flight and in the meantime my daughter will make another search for her lost ticket. He must have taken pity on Hana for her great distress. I had been to India , Bombay specifically and I vouch for the kindness and caring of most of the Indians I met and hubby told me Manipal is the same, they are very caring there.
So each of us family members have an assignment tonight , solat Hajat for Hana's safe homecoming and if possible with the least hassle and cost.

Enjoying my diet!

Diet start:
1 hb Feb: start weight 69 kg, weight today 64.5 kg, my long lost chin is back

Yesterdays menu
Breakfast 2 boiled eggs, 1 breathru slice 1 teaspoon butter 200 cals

lunch , Herbalife shake, salad with no dressing, roasted ikan bilis ( anchovies) with cili sunflower seed and pumpkin seed roasted peanuts with some chilli powder for flavour and kick...1 and 1/2 oz 350 cals
dinner, brown rice half cup , 3 shrimps . we piece of fried fish , 1 cup saute'ed spinach 300 cals
Drinks green tea all day long 0 cals
1 cup coffee with 1 teasp brown sugar and 1 sudu besar evaporated milk 65 cals
1 kiwi fruit 50 cals
1 Chinese pear 50 cals
total calories about 1015
supplements spirulina , cell u lose and total control
exercise, aerobics with weights 30 mins

My moto Enjoy the diet : no hunger , no deprivation, no tiredness , no cravings , no boring menus

Living in the present moment

Some time ago , I wrote about being a healing presence and the difference between a wounding presence and a healing presence.

Today I 'd like to touch on another kind of presence, presence of mind.To be living in the present.

Does this mean not to study history or muse about our past deeds, no,but the past has gone,what's done is done We 're to learn from the past and we' re to use the lessons of the past in the present. As for the future, it is the present and what we do in the present that shapes the
future.

I was treating a lady who has a regular job as a clerk in a large company. She has a stable and steady job, she has a lovely family , a good husband and averagely nice children.

Yet , while still in her mid thirties, she had developed hypertension and had a gall bladder stone . She was also overweight, a common problem with people having a desk job that bored them to tears, a home and family that also bored them to tears and they found pleasure in eating!
What seems to me is that they practised the enthusiasm and living in the present, only as related to food!

Boredome with routine, boredom with a job that is done with drudgery only to earn a living which then carries and spills over when she reaches home, more work, housework , the kids cooking cleaning...and a repetition the next morning!

I had a question for her...does she pay attention to what she is doing or, does she live in the past, does she live in some niggling worry that occupies her mind, does she live in the If only land..if only I had a bigger house , I d be happy, if only I could have a handbag like that lady's..or for a man, if only I could have that gorgeous woman as my second wife.......(but it is not possible because I can barely afford my own family although they bore me).

I had one piece of suggestion for her...Live in the now and here. Pay attention to what you re doing, try to do it well, use your spare time to plan or to engage in something beautiful and creative, if you really do not have the time, then do your work in as good a manner as you can,
get a satisfaction from the work.

I can hear an objection from a houseproud overworked housewife who is clearing and cleaning and clearing and cleaning and finding it exasperating to cope with some energy guzzlers wh' re also waste producers and mess makers but otherwise almost totally unproductive and
uncontributive at home..they go by the names of hubby and kiddies...I cannot offer any answers here because my houseproud episodes are few and far between ;-)

What I could recommend is for you to be a healing presence to your own hurts, your own anger and frustrations. How to do this. For me it is to be aware of the emotion, not throw it to the background and trudge on being irritable all day.
I practise a self awareness that clues me in to my feelings and the reasons for them. And then, when I can spare five minutes, I spend the quiet moment breathing deeply, slowly and being aware of Allah's love and compassion. I concentrate on my heart centre, allow my feelings full
expression, shed a few tears if I need it...and I watch as my emotions get digested and changed into a spirtual nourishment that sustains and strengthens me till the next episode....for what are these irritations and troubles and hurts but God's training for our spiritual development.

As to being bored, I think being grateful and counting the blessings in one's life, savouring each passing moment and making the most of it will cure this boredom..

The Self Again

I am still reading about Stations or Levels or Patterns of the self.
It is becoming clearer to me now why in certain ways so called religious people put me off even though I could be called religious myself since I quite concientiously do my prayers and cover my aurat as well as discipline myself to stay within boundaries I set myself based on teachings of Prophet Muhammad.

I am sure all of us have heard stories about the Ustaz who had porn pictures in his handphone and other such tales.Actually I find this less reproachful than the religious person who when he/she opens his/her mouth , it is to slander somebody, to curse somebody , to criticize somebody , to say somebody is wrong or to praise and feel high and mighty about themselves. The reason that I say the Ustaz in question is less reproachful is because he only harms himself while the slanderer and curser send his/her negative venom far and wide.

Even so , they are better than those who rob and steal, lie and cheat, beat people up, kill people and generally do anything they feel like doing if they can get away with it without being themselves killed or otherwise hurt.

The "upright people" I mentioned above are in general in the second level of the accussing/blaming soul and the "bad" people are in the first level of the commanding soul.

I think we would like to believe if we find in ourselves characteristics of the second level that is is just a phase we are in , like when you are on a journey and it is a station you have to stop at for a while.

Mind you , it is important to be aware , even if we have moved on to a higher station that we still have the lower stations inside of us ready to pop itself out when we drop our guard.
Can you imagine not breathing? Dropping our guard is equivalent to not breathing and that means dying. Rumi the famour Sufi poet said forgetting his breath is dying. For the spiritually realised person, the breath is the key to rememberance which is , being on guard against the lower nafs that are within us and being in touch with God .

If you like to browse through books at newstands and small bookshops, chances are you would have come across a book called Tanbihul Ghafilun which means a Reminder for the Forgetful.
And if like a friend I know, you keep saying to yourself , oh dear I am soo forgetful, you might just pick it up and read and then find out it has nothing to do with helping you to be less forgetful or, if you are like my friend, absent minded.

The opposite of Rememberence is Forgetfullness yet how many of us are not merely not in a state of Rememberence but do not even know how to be in a state of Rememberence?
So now you may want to know, how do I get to a state of rememberence? Are the people I mentioned earlier never in a state of rememberence? If rememberence is about prayers , how about the Ustaz who keeps porn in his handphone and the righteous person who fasts and prays a lot more than the required . Are they in the foregetful category or do they remember?
Questions questions ....where does one find the answers?

Post script:
If you cannot wait for me to ev eventually get around to writing about rememberance you can go to Mushtaq's blog because he has written on rememberence..mind you , it is rather heavy stuff ....
Click on the word rememberence to get there.

Personal Coaching

Yesterday I had my first personal coaching session with Dr.Micheal Heah of Corporate Coach as part of my certfication course on my way to becoming a certified coach. I ha d been looking forward to it. I was thinking that to have someone listen to me talk about my life and my plans for 3 whole hours was an experience that was healing , affirming and motivating. I was not wrong indeed.
What is coaching you may ask. I do a lot of coaching in my work as a holistic doctor because I am interested in the wellbeing of the mind body and soul of the person I am treating. I have the thought that this person here in front of me should take responsibility over their lives and their health and I am here to help them do it . So I am a coach doctor already. THis is why I have decided to get certified in what I already do.
Here is a definition from Mike's website:

• Builds The Person in Total;

• Strengthens The Heart, Mind & Body;

• Focuses People To Their Agenda;

• Empowers People To Move Forward;

• Drives Them To Achieve Much MORE;

• Makes Them Accountable & Committed To Their Goals;

• Creates Abundance Of Joy & Fulfillment.

It is my experience that I listen to people with all of their concerns and I hardly get listened to if ever so this experience was a great one for me.Not being listened to is not quite acurate actually . I do have some wonderful friends like Alastair and my guide who do listen to my ramblings and put up with it , even giving suggestions some times!

Yesterday I and Mike defined some goals and I now have some homework to do.
The first one is to get familiar with all the requirements of my certificate course
The next one is to define what I do in a 20 second statement ..there is a story behind this. I had a dream once in which I had namecards which were blank. I knew the reason behind this. I actually did not know what I actually am. I still do not know but in terms of my profession, I do have to define it so people know what it is . We settled on holistic doctor and life coach but perhaps I could refine it some more.
The other homework I have is quite revealing about the block that I have. I have to meditate on how to view and thus interract with my colleagues and compatriots without writing them off as people I do not jive with because of the very different vibes I think I have. It may be true I do have different vibes but what is more true is that I can adjust my vibes. So I found out that I am judgemental on certain levels and that is telling.
The last assignment is to meditate on how to get off my high horse Mike says it is a kind of pride. He heard me use words like " I feel it is below my dignity to sell myself". He looked at me then with such a quiet humbleness , this high flyer of the corporate world, my personal coach and said " I sell myself all the time."
Nowadays I find that realisations that pierce the veils and break the blocks within come to me like a flash of light and this was one flash and I told myself get off your high horse right now!

As is usual with me when I get these insights that show me the way , I get excited enough to think that I would wake to a different world . And , I would usually get a bit disappointed to find my workspace still an unorganised mess and all the things I set out to do still undone but somehow things were a little different , and when my first patient walked in this morning, I saw how I now view myself as concerned over his mind body and soul and I found my coaching and investigative power questions a little sharper , my healing touches a little more healing and the joy I get from being of service a wee bit more exhilarating..oh yes..it gives me a high...
You see, the one who feels dull and uninspired while working really needs help!

I am now a coach trainee and although I certainly can already coach , it would be a great thing to get certified.

Suasana Life Coaching

From Ahmed Baki

The Hidden Rosarium 109 ~The Spirit of Sunnah~ We do love RasulAllah and we also love His Sunnah... But did we ever question how true we understand him and his practices known as Sunnah? In our Rosarium, I wanted to share with you, as far as I could remember, some words of our white haired sage Ahmed Hulusi about it which will drive us to the “spirit” of Sunnah and even makes us think that it is in fact “this spirit” that should be understood truly within this context. With his shining looks far beyond the time that we are living, our white haired sage was questioning our situation with these words. “Just think about it! Did Mohammed (peace be upon him) live in agreement with the wearing style (manner of dressing) and the hair and beard style of the community he was living in fourteen hundred years before our time; or, did he refuse to their wearing style and followed a totally different wearing style from them? We all know that Mohammed was coming from a pagan community and the people in that community worshipped many idols. There were even three hundred and sixty different idols inside the Qaba at that time and other than eight or ten khanif individuals among them people used to live as idol worshippers by worshipping those idols... Mohammed (pbuh) was also dressed in the same way as that pagan people, wore his turban, robe and other clothes just like others did in his tribe and he grew his beard just like them, and even he ate and drank the same way as others... Well, since he did so and wore turban, robe and he was clothed just like the people of his tribe before his Nubuwwa, did he make any change in his wearing style after the Risala has came to him? Or, just like before, did he continue to follow a wearing style in agreement with the wearing style of the community that he was in?.. He did not make any change in his wearing style after his Risala and just like before, he acted in harmony with the wearing style of the community that he was in, all along his life time... In that case, Mohammed has not brought a new rule about clothing as an issue, and as this subject had no importance, he has just fulfilled the Sunnah (customs) of pagans in his community. That is, in his era, Mohammed practiced the Sunnah about the wearing style that belongs to the pagan community he lived in... If RasulAllah, had not agreed with the wearing style of the community he lived in, in that period and if, for instance, he had chosen to wear short trousers or any other clothes by refusing the others’ manner of dressing, then that style which he preferred upon refusing others, would be the Sunnah that belonged to him. But instead, without refusing the pagan customs in that respect Mohammed acted in agreement with the rules accepted by others in his community. This means that, limiting yourself by the wearing style of fourteen hundred years ago would not be to fulfill the particular Sunnah of RasulAllah but rather to fulfill the Sunnah of pagans which was not rejected by Mohammed! And what comes out from that is: If you could understand and appreciate the “Spirit” of the Sunnah, you will see that concerning the issues that are not in conflict with the commands of the Koran, acting through the Sunnah (customs) of the community that you are living in, is the appropriate way to act on “Sunnah”. Furthermore, think about this! We call him “RasulAllah”, which means the “Rasul of Allah”—the one who articulates what he gets from within, Allah. The Sunnah of Rasul of Allah could only be the Sunnah of Allah. The statement that explains The Sunnah of Allah in the Koran is as follows: “You shall not find any alteration in the Sunnah of Allah.” And that never-changing Sunnah is the real Sunnah of RasulAllah. —Ahmed Baki Ahmed Baki, born in 1963, has written three books and many articles that have been published in different journals as well as in his columns on the internet. He also has translated seven books written by his spiritual teacher Ahmed Hulusi into English. All his works are available on the internet for free.
Leaving the God who has judgments like humans, for becoming a human with a view in the same way as Allah.

Lessons from sitcoms

On the rare occasions that I get home earlier than 6.30 pm, I sometimes indulge in watching the sitcoms. My favourite channel will be the Hallmark channel 10 on Astro. So yesterday I found myself stuck in front of the TV watching from the start to the finish Strong Medicene. I was struck at the messages behind the episodes and was left wondering who was behind the messages..but not for long..the direcor of the show is Whoopi Goldberg.

There is usually more than one story line and the first one was about a test tube baby delivery where the mum delivered twins, a boy and a girl except that one twin was white while both parents were African Americans.It turns out that the white baby was from an embryo not belonging to the parents and it was a mix up by the Lab. At this point I was wondering what if it was a Malay baby delivered by a Chinese mother..phew....! all the religious departments and half of Malaysians would get involved in the case for sure!

The other story line was just too interesting not to comment on.The wife of a Rabbi ..who looks very much like a *Salafi* imam brought his wife for shoulder pain.The wife was wearing a headscarf , long skirt , looking very much like the wife of the *Salafi* imam..and believe it or not the Rabi does not shake hands with women...( ring a bell somewhere?) The wife is a model Hasidic Jewish lady, she conducts classes, has a lot of her own children gets involved with all of her clan ( jamaah) ..and it turns out that ...she has become addicted to painkiller drugs, courtesy of the local GP a good family friend. She started taking them when recovering from a C section of her last delivery ...she believes she had to undergo a painful delivery because of some sins she was paying for..and found herself hooked because the good doctor kept supplying her with more. When confronted by Dr Delgado about her addiction and advised to go for detox both she and her Rabbi husband felt it would not go down well with the congregation since it would smear her image of the good mother , wife and upright righteous member of the Chosen people.The last scene showed her feeling very humiliated, in the treatment ward after finally giving in to Dr Delgado's convincing persuasions ..( Are you fit to be mother to your children while being a drug addict ...yes drug addict admit it..)..and her Rabbi husband finally giving in to the fact that his wife is only human , not some strong never wrong , never sinning paragon of virtue ..and he brought along her friends whom contrary to the couple's fears, came and gave their full support by placing their gentle comforting hands on her . And the look of sheer relief from her as well as the look of compassion on her friend's faces set me crying ..(aaaaargh .....those silly tears ...)

So , anything to be learnt from all this? I have some jewish friends from overseas and they tell me about how similar many of our customs are. Next, the part about denying weaknesses and trying to appear strong is something I frequently meet among * religious people*.
So what do you think...do you want paragons of virtue as role models ?
I think the present day role model is the one who will start a class by telling people of a mistake he/she made and how he/she saw the mistake for what it was..it is people who like Whoopi Goldberg have experienced the depth of despair of being sunk in a self destructive mode and managed to climb out of it to save others....