How you speak to yourself in your mind and your heart matters.
Believing in yourself is a very important concept for us as Muslims. In fact, when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam first was given the Qur'an and Jibreel arrived in the mountain of Nur
and in the cave of Hira and Iqra bismi Rabbika allathee khalaq was revealed to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam recite in the name of your Lord who created all things. The Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam was worried. He was stressed. He wasn't sure if he can fulfill this great task. And he came to his wife Khadijah radiAllahu anha and told her what happened. And she began to
remind him of the importance of believing in himself and that he can fulfill this message. She said, inna Allah la yasooka abada. Our Lord will never put any harm upon you because you're
a good person. You do this and this and this. You feed the poor. You bring peace between warring factions. You're a good man. Ya Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Being able to
inspire within yourself. Ask Allah for assistance as Musa Alaihi Salam. When Allah spoke to him on the Mount of Tur-i-Sainat and Allah said to him, I am your Lord. Go to Pharaoh. The first dua Musa
makes is qala Rabbish rahli sadri. Oh Allah open my heart. Meaning allow me to believe in myself. Put in myself self-confidence. Because how you speak to yourself, what you say to yourself
really matters. What you say to yourself when other people are around you really matters. It gives you the ability to have a greater self-esteem, self-confidence, to carry yourself
in a more positive way, to be able to face challenges and be able to cross through them. That you recognize that no one is to be feared more than Allah. No one is to be loved more than
Allah. And that whatever happens will happen with the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. So three things that become really important as you speak to yourself in your mind. Have you ever
had that moment where you know you might have had an argument with someone and after the argument's done and they left, you say to yourself, you know I should have said. And then it comes to you what you should have. If I had said that it would have you know put an end to it. SubhanAllah that inner
dialogue of hyper correction where you correct that what you're going to do in the future. So it's almost as if you say well if this ever happens again, this argument happens again,
I know what I'm going to say. I know how to respond. That's a very important learning technique and learning tool for you to use in your life. So when you make a mistake inside yourself,
have that very first important step of correcting your behavior. Hyper correction that say hey I know I did this but I shouldn't do it and I'm gonna not do this again. That you make a promise
within your heart that this isn't something that I'm going to do. In fact Allah gives us the example of Prophet Ibrahim in the Quran when his father says come and worship these idols with us.
He looked up into the heavens and he said no I don't want to do this. I'm not feeling well dad.
I'm not going to go out with you. He avoided the mistake of that shirk and he stayed home. Right? So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala you know he thought of how to avoid it. He talked himself through it.
It's important for you to talk to yourself after a mistake to help you recover from it. Number two from the important things about your inner dialogue is believe you can. If in your heart you
say I can then you have a chance at achieving it. You might not achieve it but if you already have decided if you've already said inside yourself I can't do this then there's no reason to even try.
The reason is because if you've already defeated yourself that thing is going to defeat you. You have to always approach things with an I can attitude. And number three is to have a growth
mindset that whatever stumbles, whatever mistakes, whatever sins, whatever rights and wrongs that I've done all of it is a part of the story of my life and I'm growing as a result of it. That
whatever I did as a mistake I'm going to correct it and I'm going to grow because of it. And if I didn't you know learn how to do it in the first time, the second time, the third time, even if
it's a hundred times I will eventually get there. How you speak to yourself matters and how you speak to yourself negatively matters. So if you say hey nobody's gonna find out I'm just gonna do
it nobody can see me I'm gonna take it. If you speak to yourself negatively it's what encourages you to do the wrong. Try to restrict that negative discussion. Hearing that discussion is not simply
the shaitan but it is in fact the inclination and the desire of your soul to do haram. And Allah
warns us in the Quran, inna nafs, your inside, la ammaratun bissoot. It can push you towards doing bad things if you don't counter it and if you don't speak against it and if you don't say
a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim Allahumma a'inna ala anfusina. Oh Allah help us against the inner desire, the inner discussions, the inner dialogue that we have with ourselves.
Help me against myself oh Allah that I can stay away from what is haram. Repeat that dua with me
Allahumma a'inna ala anfusina. Oh Allah help us against ourselves. Allahumma ameen.
