LESSON OF THE DAY 464

Ayahs of the Day:
The order of God is coming; do not try to hasten it. Glory to God, exalted above their associations. God sends down angels with the spirit from the Divine order to any servant, at will: "Warn that there is no deity but Me; so be mindful of Me." [16: 1,2]

Hadith of the Day:
Whoever sees a Muslim's imperfection and then conceals it is like one who gives new life to a female infant buried in the desert. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Intimate knowledge of the Divine is gained by following the Sunna, intimate closeness is achieved by fulfilling the obligations, and intimate love is experienced by adorning oneself with the nawafil. [Abul Qasim Nasrabadi]

Guidance of the Day:
Become aware of your moods and don't allow yourself to be fooled by the low ones. Your own moods can be extremely deceptive. They can, and probably do, trick you into believing your life is far worse than it really is. When you're in a good mood, life looks great. You have perspective common sense, and wisdom. In good moods, things don't feel so hard, problems seem less formidable and easier to solve. When you're in a good mood relationships seem to flow and communication is easy. If you are criticized you take it in stride. On the contrary, when you're in a bad mood, life looks unbearable serious and difficult. You have very little perspective. You take things personally and often misinterpret those around you, as impute malignant motives into their actions.

Here's the catch: People don't realize their moods are always on the run. They think instead that their lives have suddenly become worse in the past day, or even the last hour. Such quick and drastic contrasts may seem absurd, even funny--but we're all like that. In low moods we lose our perspective and everything seems urgent. We completely forget that when we are in a good mood, everything seems so much better. We experience the identical circumstances. When we are low rather than blaming our mood as would be appropriate, we instead tend to feel that our whole life is wrong. It's almost as if we actually believe that our lives have fallen apart in the past hour or two.

The truth is, life is never as bad as it seems when you're in a low mood. Rather than staying stuck in a bad temper, convinced you are seeing life realistically, you can learn to question your judgment. remind yourself, "Of course I'm feeling defensive (or angry, frustrated, stressed, depressed); I'm in a bad mood. I always feel negative when I'm low." When you are in an ill mood, learn to pass it off as simply that: an unavoidable human condition that will pass with time, if you leave it alone. A low mood is not the time to analyze your life. To do so is emotional suicide. If you have a legitimate problem, it will still be there when your state of mind improves. The trick is to be grateful for our good moods and graceful in our low moods--not taking them too seriously. The next time you feel low, for whatever reason, remind yourself, "This too shall pass." It will. [Don't Sweat The Small Stuff]

Food for Thought:
Yesterday is a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.I never saw anyone as just as the world. As long as you pursue the world it will pursue you, but when you turn away from it and seek God, it will leave you alone and its glamor shall no longer fascinate you. [Al Hujwiri]