The Fast World
Let’s acknowledge the fact that the world in general, is moving very fast, leaving us overwhelmed and we are constantly in that circle of struggling to keep up. Busy has become our default, and overwhelm has become the norm. Such that when we find ourselves in a moment when we are not busy, we find it difficult to just sit quietly and reflect, to us that free moment triggers us to open our phones and start scrolling.
Our modern lifestyle has opened doors to stress, its hard to feel anything even when we pray. We’ve become numb to things around us. Most of us even lose our connection with Allah (Our ultimate source of peace). Subhanallah! Don’t get it twisted I’m not saying its wrong to strive, but there’s a big difference between striving with purpose and drowning in the ocean of overwhelm.
Our Hasty Nature
We have this misconception of time and space, and as humans, we are prone to haste. And in our hasty nature, we find ourselves praying against ourselves and for things that are not beneficial for us. And Allah perfectly describes this hasty nature of ours in the Qur’an:
And man supplicates for evil as he supplicates for good, and man is ever hasty.[Qur’an 17:11]
We just love to rush into everything in fear of missing out. and so often we think we have to be constantly “plugged in”, or we’ll miss out. But it’s actually when we allow ourselves to retreat, get quiet, and have new experiences that we actually hear the whispers calling us to our next level.
Let’s Slow Down
Being slow calm and composed is a blessing from Allah. Blessing Comes when we slow down, reflect and just put a pause. Being busy and in haste often leads to Mistakes that has to be redone. Slow is necessary! Stress, fear, and anxiety have a purpose in our lives, it helps us to know our limit. But when it begins to interfere with our well-being now that’s where the problem is. That’s when it begins to disconnect you from your creator, and from your environment. You begin to get angry for no valid reason, having doubts about things and being absent-minded. Come on! It’s time to slow down!
Benefits Of Slow
- Improves the ability to think.
- Reduces the feeling of stress and overwhelm.
- Improves your personal effectiveness.
- Reduces the likelihood of mistakes.
- Boosts the quality of your work
- Improves the relationships you have with others and your environment.
- Gives you more energy and better health.
- Slow builds your resilience and helps you recover quickly.
- With slow, you exercise patience, acceptance, and gratitude.
We really need to allow things to sink in, and fully digest them.
How To Slow
- Night Prayer: Allow yourself to settle in the silence of the night and converse with Allah. Take time to fall in love with Allah.
- Breathe: Learning to control breathing (through exercises like deep breathing) will help your body take in more oxygen, which helps to relieve anxiety, slow heart rate and stabilize blood pressure. It helps you to engage with your thinking.
- Be Present: If you need joy, then you need to be present in the moment.
- Stop Multitasking: Learn to do one thing at a time, ask yourself and refocus.
- Travel and Explore: Take a trip within your own city, or just walk around to clear your head.
- Switch off, Unplug and Relax.
I truly hope you find this beneficial. I’ve been offline the last few months handling some affairs, but also lots of time sitting in silent reflection, exploring new places, gaining new skills, immersing in nature, and reconnecting to the SOUL of my work and purpose. It was truly divine to just “BE” for a while, and the experience totally recharged my battery, connected me to new “soul – friends” and stimulated amazing new ideas to serve our community. And for that, I’m grateful.
Sometimes you have to retreat, in order to bloom. Take time to relax, unplug from the busy world and regain your focus. Thank you for dropping by, looking forward to receiving your feedback in the comment box, show me some love too by sharing with your loved ones. We need to SLOW Down and take back our power.
