A Piece of Heaven in the Heart

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Allah, Bliss, Contentment, Faith, Happiness, Heart, Heaven, Paradise

Is there such a career as a ‘Happiness Provider’? Apparently there is. I read about this ‘happiness’ consultant who has studied ‘happiness’ for three years. Now, she holds her ‘happiness’ workshops in Dubai.

The concept is very interesting. I believe most of such coaching is useful to some degrees if followed correctly. How does it work? Mainly through a change in perspective. The coached person is taught to become better aware of good things in him and outside him, and he is shown how to appreciate nice things that he was oblivious to before. This changed attitude, inturn, causes him to experience many moments of joys & pleasures.

But are those things ‘happiness’? Can we survive solely on them – those sensual joys, those ephemeral pleasures, those borrowed enjoyments, those giddy laughters, those triumphs, those accolades…? As much as they enrich our lives, these fleeting episodes do not settle in the deepest core of the heart, nor satisfy the soul. What really is happiness then – the real thing?

It is usually described as a ‘state of well-being defined by contentment & inner peace’. The renowned specialist of the heart Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawzi (rahimuhullah) hits the perfect note when he describes:

“Truly in the heart there is a void that can not be removed except with the company of Allah.
And in it there is a sadness that can not be removed except with the happiness of knowing Allah and being true to Him.”                                                                                                                                                                                               [Al-Fawaid]

 All joys flow from this ultimate fountain of happiness – the acknowledgment & submission to Allah. And, without it, all those ‘happy’ moments are shallow, temporary or just a façade.

 This maybe the reason why the renowned icon of selfless love & charity, Mother Teresa did not find happiness during all those years of serving humanity. Her confessional letters describe the emptiness, the torture, the darkness that filled her core:

 “The smile is a mask…”

“Where is my Faith?  Even deep down right in there is nothing, but emptiness & darkness. My God, how painful is this unknown pain. I have no Faith. I dare not utter the words & thoughts that crowd in my heart & make me suffer untold agony.”     

“As for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear.”                                                                                                                                                                 [Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light]

 Only true belief & complete submission satiates the heart and quenches the soul. And once that happens, the happiness, the bliss, the tranquility that descends is known only to those who carry their paradise in their chests. One can only try to (enviously) imagine the delights that must fill their hearts when they describe their happiness:  

“If kings and the sons of kings knew what we had, they would try to take it from us by the sword!”  

 “There are times when the heart dances in joy.”

 “There are times when I say, ‘If the people of Heaven have anything like this, how truly sweet their lives!'”                                                                                                                                                                                      [Al-Fawaid]

May we get to taste this delight in our lives too.

Simple Pleasures of Ordinary Life

Tags

Bliss, Happiness, Joy, Ordinary Life, Pleasures

“It is pretty hard to tell what does bring happiness; poverty and wealth have both failed.”  Most will not disagree with the perceptiveness of these words of writer Kin Hubbard. So this leaves us to search for joy & bliss in those seemingly modest & sometimes, extremely ordinary things in life, which if realized & appreciated, illuminate our lives like trinket lights on a festive night.

To me the simple pleasures of our ordinary life are:

• Inhaling the earthy scent that emanates following the first shower of the season.
• Watching chirpy birds fluttering around your bird feeder.
• Sleeping on freshly spread crisp bed sheets at the end of a tiring day.
• When your D.I.Y home decorating job turns out as good as a professional’s.
• Reading your own personal diary, written passionately during the turbulent teenage years.
• Giving something in cash or kind to an underprivileged person.
•  Receiving a compliment from someone known to be very critical.
• The looks of a sparkling bathroom after an hour-long backbreaking scrub & wash.
• The relief from chaos and commotion that a sudden power failure brings on a cool moonlit night.
• The realization that somebody understands your point of view perfectly without you having to explain.
• Having a baby fall asleep in your arms.
• ‘Hearing the ocean’ from a conch shell.
• When the whiff of a particular smell takes you back to some memorable time from your past.
• When your ‘baked’ samosas taste just as good as fried ones!
• When, unexpectedly, less than 50 hair fall out on brushing as compared to the usual 100.
• Embracing the warmth of the sun upon emerging from the freezing environment of an air-conditioned building.
• Finally managing to complete reading a very erudite (but well known) classic.
• Managing to accomplish something no one thought you could accomplish.
• Walking on the beach at night with warm waves lapping at your feet, as you reflect on the complexities of life.
• Waking up from a drowsy sleep only to realize that it wasn’t your alarm and you can go back to blissful sleep for five more minutes!
• Finding a long lost gold bracelet, caught up in the sleeve lining of a dress you wore long time ago.
• When a really chatty friend rings you up just when you are down in the dumps or terribly bored.
• When your homemade Swiss roll manages to ‘roll’ perfectly without cracking.
• An unexpected cloudy spell in the middle of a sweltering sunny summer day.
• Waking up one morning to find new leaves sprouting from your ‘dying’ plant; you had given up hopes on.
• When you buy unnecessary stuff from a visibly improvised roadside vendor, in order to help him.
• Sitting snuggly with your close family and sharing jokes and stories over nuts and cappuccino, on a chilly winter night.
• When you turn out to be the only person in a group who knows the capital of some less known country.
• The confidence and pride you feel at the arrival of unexpected guests on the very day you had whipped up some very presentable goodies.
• Eating salad made from your homegrown vegetables, even though you are not a fan of salads!
• Having, at least, one person in your life who has a good sense of humor and who can make you laugh.
• The silent assurance that you are loved.
• The lightness you feel after meditating in complete privacy or sincerely praying to God about whatever was burdening your heart.
• Receiving a hand-made gift from someone and reflecting upon the creativity, care and time that the person put into it, just for you.
• Surprising a total stranger with a random act of kindness without any expectations in return.
• The gratefulness you feel when you compare yourself to those below you.
• When you are at peace with yourself at being content with life.
• Winning someone over by voluntarily accepting defeat.