Life Updates

8:48pm Pacific Standard Time. Orange County, CA

It’s officially 8:49pm. It took me a minute to write the previous sentence. 8:50pm. Maybe I should ignore the numbers on the bottom right hand side of my laptop. 8:51pm. Arggh, it’s too tempting.

I should be working on my paper right now. I have a physiology lab 9:00am in the morning, which will last for about 3 hours. I have a break for 3 hours and then microbiology lab at 3:00pm. (My paper is for the micro lab.)

I have finals in a week and a half. I have three more papers to write for the micro lab and a quiz next week for the same micro lab. Hopefully, I managed to stress some of you out and you can imagine the painful agony of a once-upon-a-time college life. Unless, you are already in college. In that case, you are probably also going through the same. But, then, it’s also true that college is not the only time of life that is full of stresses. Just thinking about having my own house, paying bills, working hard, and getting older is already stressing me out as well. Maybe I should actually follow my own advice in my last post on Mindfulness.

Since I really really do NOT want to work on that paper, I will update the reader on what’s been going on in my life:

1. I started a new blog:) It’s called “Destination Orange County”. I had decided to post about my adventures at the different libraries/parks that I have been visiting in Orange County and figured that it would be better to have a separate blog for that.

2. I read an article about the prohibited and permitted items allowed into Gaza (not compiled by Gazans themselves) and that made me sad. I wish people everywhere had the freedom to choose what they wanted for themselves and their children. The article was by GazaMom.

3. I got in touch with a blogger named Johanna Hill, who blogs at The Mercurial Wife. She had offered to help makeover her readers’ blogs and I decided to email her. She responded today and that made me very happy. :))

4. This is my last quarter (hopefully..) and I will officially be a Bachelorette (Is that the word?) in Biology:)

5. Sister Umm Afraz had given me a favicon, which appeared next to my blog address. But, since I had been trying to make-over my blog, I lost it. Hopefully, I can get a new one.

Apparently, blogging has become a popular thing. I personally love reading about other people’s lives and business and such. It’s officially 9:26pm and I think I will go to sleep (so much for the paper).

There goes my thought, amongst the clouds.

I have been practicing a technique called ‘mindfulness’, which emphasizes the value of the present moment. “Be here now”, I keep telling myself because all I have is ‘now’. My past is full of pain, mistakes, and regrets as well as some happy and exciting times. However, I, just like many people, narrowly focus on the negatives and not the positives. The positives are conveniently camouflaged amongst the overbearing shadow of the negatives.

The past has trickled through our hands, like the sand on the beach.

The other extreme is the future. “What will I do after I graduate?” “I don’t think I will be able to get into optometry school” “What if my husband gets sick of me and leaves me?” (I have seriously thought about the last one).

The future is a tiny dot on the canvas. It will take shape and present itself once the time is right. It is impossible to know the future from where we stand, because, by definition, it is afar and not something we can achieve since we only live in the present.

All we are left with to change, alter, or improve is the present. Mindfulness tells us to watch our thoughts from a distance, silently and observantly, without judging or criticizing them, and make note of them. Then, just as the past trickles away from us, we let these thought float away.

One particular exercise that I learned was very helpful. Setting a timer for 5-10 minutes, find a comfortable place to sit and relax. Breathe slowly and deliberately. Notice the thoughts that come to your mind. Just  notice them. Do not judge or criticize them. Notice them come and then, envision a creative image, where you let them go. You could imagine that they are formed into the clouds and slowly float away, as I did. Or you could be more creative and come up with something else.

I used different kinds of imagery while picturing my thoughts leaving, but after a while, came up with the clouds floating away (since it is easier to imagine).

Here are some of the other ones I imagined:

-I am sitting on a tree, and I see my thoughts coming out of my head, becoming fruits on the tree and falling to the holes in the ground (conveniently dug up by beavers). The dirt fills the holes.

-I see my thoughts on a plain piece of paper, which I crumble and throw in the garbage. The garbage is taken away on a huge truck and dumped into a big hole somewhere, and covered with dirt.

This strategy empowers you in two ways. First, it acknowledges the fact that there is something that is possibly bothering you, yet you do not let it. Second, it forces you to let go of those thoughts without being critical. This exercise works wonders for me, but I still have a long way to go before I master it.

Depression in Islam

 

I recently saw a video on the Islamic perspective of depression by Shaykh (scholar) Sulaiman Moola.

One problem that I have with the perspective of many Shyookh (plural of Shaykh) is the failure to acknowledge the clinical aspect of depression. Most Shaykh will tell you that depression is the cause of sin and vice. However, from my personal experience, I would like to tell you that this is not true. Yes, the way you think and act will have an effect on your brain, but for many people it is much more complex than that. For some, it is not something they can ‘control’ since their brain chemistry can actually be working against them.

Depression can have serious ‘side effects’-the worst being suicide. It is important, therefore, to stop and think before judging someone who might be depressed. Often times, individuals come to decisions about committing  suicide because they feel no one cares or understands them. It is our responsibility as members of this community to not allow this to happen because depression and suicide affects more than just the individual that is suffering. It affects the family and peers of the individual as well.

Let’s ask Allah¹ to make it easy for us to cope with any problems that come our way and help us to get closer to Him. Ameen².

¹ Allah: God in Arabic

²  Ameen: Amen

For more information on depression, visit the following websites:

ULifeLine

Psychology Today

WebMD Slideshow

Here are the videos:

 

Islam in Korea

I visited a blog recently and found this video. I really enjoyed it and thought I would share it here:

Some important matters to note:

Imam=someone who leads in prayer. This particular imam in the video is also a Shaykh.

Shaykh= someone who is learned in Islamic matters, through schooling and training through an Islamic institution.

Allah= The One God, not just of the Muslim faith. If *you* believe in One God, then you believe in the existence of Allah. Surah Ikhlas (a chapter of the Koran) explains it:

“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only! 
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; 
He begetteth not nor is He begotten. 
And there is none like unto Him.”

Click here to go to a website that has the Koran in Korean.

Gardening in Huntington Beach

I went gardening today at Golden West College’s native garden. For more info on their garden, click here. If you want to volunteer, just show up on Tuesdays or Thursdays (or both days!) around 10am and just ask if there is anything that needs to be done. If you are like me, you will have found your new hideout zone (well, since I just told you, it’s probably not a ‘hideout’ anymore).

Enjoy these pictures!