Tag: prayer

Health, Islam, Life, Love

Create What You Love – Huffington Post opinion piece

Raidah Shah Idil

1350860_hand-in-handI really liked this article on Huffington Post – Create What You Love: 4 Steps To Improve Your Life.

The four principles Susanna Bair wrote about are:

Use love to build a beautiful and healthy body.

Use love to create the work you enjoy.

Use love to develop the relationship you want.

Use love to build a better world.

I know that starting off my day with my morning prayer (fajr) helps to remind me of what matters in life. All five daily prayers help to ground me. The key is to take my time, and not rush through them. I can measure how centered I feel in my life depending on how present I am with Allah in my prayer.

Going for a walk or doing my yoga stretches helps me feel a limber and relaxed. I do a lot of sitting down when I study or write, and that puts a lot of stress on my lower back. Moving around helps to clear my head and release any built-up tension in my back or shoulders. It’s amazing what a short 15-20 minute walk/yoga session can do.

It’s a blessing to be able to study and work with what I love (counselling and writing, respectively). I’m looking forward to completing my Diploma of Counselling over the next few months, and joining the workforce once I get enough volunteer experience. As for my writing…stay tuned for my next article 🙂

Spending quality time with friends and family is a constant source of joy, validation and support for me. I don’t have any pets, but I have three plants: Lily, Violet, and Lucky Bamboo. I water them regularly, and talk to them on occasion. I’ve heard that talking to plants actually helps them grow! I suspect it’s working lol.

 

 

 

Life

Rain, floods and natural disasters

Raidah Shah Idil

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My husband and I have been watching the news and we were really shocked to see how a few days of heavy rain in Sydney meant flooding in Queensland, and in another news segment, there were really bad bush fires elsewhere in Australia! I pray that everyone in these affected areas stays safe, heeds the emergency warnings, and that relief for them comes soon.

We had our own brush with flooding a few days ago. My husband travels to different work sites as part of his job as an acoustics engineer. A few days ago, I followed him as he drove to the Hunter Valley to do some measurements – our plan was to stay overnight, and for him to continue working the following day at a nearby town. A phone call from one of his clients derailed our plans – a river in that town had burst its banks, and the roads were closed. So we ended up driving back after he completed his first job near the Hunter Valley.

This goes to show that work plans really take a back seat when natural disasters take centre stage :p The rain is continuing to pour in Sydney. Here’s hoping the floods will abate in Queensland, and that people will stay safe and resume their normal lives soon.