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Gems of Seclusion | Daily Reminders
In this time of seclusion, we must accept the fact that through isolation, there is growth. Through nothingness, there can be plenty. We must use this time away from people to learn about ourselves and adopt different mindsets. Ust. Lobna Mulla reflects on the potential of growth and provides some practical ideas we can do to change our mindset to bear this time of seclusion.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Bismillah wa salatu wa salam ala rasulullah. Assalamualaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I pray that all of you are doing well inshallah during this time. I was watching a few days ago a show about planet Earth and I came across an amazing fact that really inspired me to reflect deeply about our time of staying at home. Some people feel isolated, the social distancing, really this time of seclusion. What was amazing while I watched this episode, it was about the Sahara Desert. And the host said that the Saharan Desert, its sands feeds the ocean. And that blew my mind. So the ocean has lots of its own nutrients and minerals, but there's one element that it does not have, it cannot produce on its own and that is iron. And when the winds carry the sands from the Saharan Desert, it goes into the ocean and that iron is what's able to feed the phytoplankton, which feeds some of the largest mammals on Earth. Think about that for a second. The sands from the desert feeds the ocean. Now, here's another fun fact. Sand from the Saharan Desert also gets blown across the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the Amazon Forest. So the largest nonpolar desert in the world, which is the Saharan Desert, feeds the largest tropical forest in the world, which is the Amazon Forest. So what's the correlation between the two? Phosphorus is an important element for growth in the Amazon Forest that gets lost with excessive rain. It's literally drains through the soil and gets lost. Yet the exact amount of phosphorus that's lost from the Amazon Forest due to the excessive rains is replenished by phosphorus that is blown all the way from the Saharan Desert
and lands in the Amazon Forest. And I thought that was so amazing. Why? What is the correlation? Why am I talking about science here? Because in the desert, we think of it as, you know, extremely hot. It's about 115 degrees Fahrenheit in its hottest times and even hotter. There are many parts of the desert where people can't even live there, but of course, there's many species of insects and there's animals, certain animals that are adapted to live there. And when you see some footage of the Saharan Desert, you just see miles and miles and miles of empty land, you know, just sand dunes upon sand dunes and just areas of open land with seemingly nothing in it. 3.5 million square miles to be exact of the Saharan Desert. Yet there is something in it. Not only is their life, you know, teeming with insects and animals and special plants, very special to the Saharan Desert, but its elements. There's elements and there's nutrients that feed the most prolific areas of the entire world, the ocean and the forest. That made me reflect upon our time of quarantine. We feel like we're secluded, we're isolated, we're taken away from people. Yet with a shift in our mindset, we can reflect and think what does Allah SWT want from us during this time? You know, we've heard people mention that this is a time for us to grow. And one of the ways I think we can allow ourselves to grow is just to accept this fact that through isolation, there is growth, that through nothingness, there can be plenty. So yes, we are feeling bored. We are feeling isolated. It gets frustrating at times. Every day is a new day. I would definitely say take it day by day. But when we understand this opportunity that we have through this time of discomfort,
much discomfort, that we can learn new things about Allah SWT. We can learn new things about our relationships. We can learn new things about ourself that can only happen through this time, away from people, away from our daily routine. Another thing that made me reflect is, you know, when a seedling or when a seed is placed into the darkness of the earth, it's completely covered by soil. And as a matter of fact, if you really want that seed to grow, sometimes you have to put mulch on top of it. Basically a collection of soil and dead leaves and other decomposing items that will give nutrients to that seed. It's completely covered. You would think how can that seed grow? Yet it is in the depth of the earth, away from the sunlight, that that seed is able to develop into what it's supposed to be. Be that a flower or a tree that gives fruit even, or a plant that gives vegetables, so on and so forth. So I look at this time as us being placed in this separation from our daily routine and from our loved ones, that it is a time for us to grow and to develop. And it may take several weeks for us to experience this understanding that we're supposed to gain. And it may even be that later, after life goes back to normal, which we're not sure when that's going to happen, maybe then we're going to look back and say, these are some of the things that I've gained. These are some of the things that I've learned. So how can we use this time of isolation to grow and to develop? First, let's adopt this mindset that it is through seclusion that we can grow and to be able to accept some of the levels of discomfort, of boredom, of having to care for others that are expressing their boredom on a routine basis, of perhaps feeling that isolation very greatly because we live alone. So let's accept that for a moment and think, what is it that I'm supposed to learn here? And of course, it's not going to magically come.
It will take time. But just having this mindset, hopefully will allow us to bear this time a little bit more gracefully and a little bit more patiently, inshallah. The second thing that we can remember is that growth sometimes comes after much discomfort, you know, whether that be boredom or fear or worry or, you know, scares in terms of our health or our loved ones. Remembering that that discomfort can lead greatly to the growth. So to be able to embrace it. So just as I mentioned that periods of growth can really come with a lot of discomfort. It doesn't mean that we have to suffer. So the third thing that we should think about is ways to deal with this isolation, ways of dealing with this seclusion. Another thing that I thought was so special is learning the power of smiling. We know that Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasalam encouraged us to smile and even said that smiling in the face of a brother or sister is charity. Why is that? Studies have shown that smiling not only makes the smiler feel happier, but it automatically makes the one who's looking at the smiling face also happy and not only that smiling is contagious. So when you smile even though you're not feeling very happy at the moment, you may cause the other person to smile and that in turn will kind of reinforce a happy feeling. So let's remember to do that. What if we're living alone? What if we're not, you know, what if we're with the same two people or three people at home and there's only so much smiling you could do? I encourage you to make video calls, do FaceTime, do Zoom, whatever the method that allows you to see another human face live would really be a great way. Sometimes maybe we're not feeling like dressing up for a video call or maybe you know, we have to clean up behind us. I say forget about all of that as long as you look decent just make a live call with somebody. It allows you to see their face. You're able to feel like you're connected as much as humanly possible and inshallah that can bring about some good feelings.
Another thing that we can do is to make sure that we break up our day when we are starting to feel stressed out or we're starting to feel overwhelmed. It's a good opportunity to maybe use our salah, use prayer as a way of refreshing our energy and refreshing our intention inshallah to do our best in this situation. Another good thing that we can do is maybe change your clothes. We have this joke that we're seeing online of, you know, changing from one set of pajamas to the other but just being able to change your clothes, you know, brush your teeth, do something to kind of freshen yourself up and we know of course, wudu does the same and that's why we should use that opportunity, wudu, salah, changing our clothes to freshen us up. Go outside for a walk if possible or just stick your head out the window if you can. Just change your situation so that you can hopefully regain some of that energy. Another good thing to do is perhaps find ways in which you can help people. There are people that are isolated in nursing homes. Find ones in your area and call them and say, are you taking letters? Can we send cards? Are there any special occasions that are coming up? And being able to spread cheer to those people who don't have access to being able to go outside either, bringing them cheer would also help you feel better too. And another thing we can do, especially for those people who are very busy, whether it's with work or caring for young children or caring for our elders or caring for a large household, perhaps we can just renew our intention every day. May Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala accept from me. May Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala accept from me the work that I'm doing, being able to stay patient, asking Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala for that reward. Just that action will not only hopefully give you that reward from Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala, but also just have a reset kind of button in your brain so that you can kind of shift gears because the day is long, the days repeat, days turn into weeks, weeks may definitely turn into months. So just having, you know, a moment, a place in the home, a phrase that can just remind you, you know what?
I'm doing this for the sake of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala. I'm going to be patient. I'm going to try to refresh my energy, my intentions, so that I can be better for myself and better for other people. And finally, we can take this opportunity to learn. Being able to maybe expose ourselves more to Quran, whether that be listening to Quran or reading it or, you know, watching videos about Tafsir of Quran or reading books, whatever it is that we can do to expose ourselves to the words of Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala would be very helpful to us spiritually. It would make us feel better physically as well. And insha'Allah, we can discover new gems in the Quran that are just waiting to be discovered insha'Allah by the will of Allah. So hopefully without burdening ourselves, that we have to be hyper productive and we have to be doing all those things, but just allowing ourselves to experience this separation, this change in our routine, this isolation, so to speak, this seclusion, allowing ourselves to grow from it in the best way possible. So perhaps just as the hot and desolate desert sands feed not only the ocean, but also the forest, perhaps this time of isolation and seclusion will feed our soul and our spirituality. May Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala grant us the patience and the wisdom to be gained from this time. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.
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