Thursday, October 25, 2012
External Motivation Doesn’t Work
[Taken from the Simple Dollar]
Quite often, I’ve written about how my family has been a tremendous motivation for me.
My infant son was there at the moment I decided to get my financial house in order.
My daughter was there at the moment I decided to commit full-time to my writing.
My wife and children serve as a constant reminder of the things I want to change in my life.
The thing is, my family isn’t enough by themselves to provide adequate motivation for change in my life. They certainly help, don’t get me wrong, and they can often convince me to make a better choice in a given moment.
Lasting change, though, has to come from inside. If I’m not internally committed to doing something different, then it won’t happen.
I often look at motivation for change as being a lot like having a big rock at the top of a hill. My family might be enough to push that rock over the top and get it rolling down the hill, but the momentum of that rock comes from inside of me. It’s made up of my own desire for change.
If that’s the case, how do you make change happen in your life? I can’t comment on what motivates others, but I can certainly tell you what pushes me to make changes.
First, you’ve got to really tap into the problem. It isn’t enough to say that you want to lose weight or that you want to build up financial independence. You’ve got to understand why you’re not achieving those things right now and you’ve got to understand the dangers of staying on the current path.
The way to do that, at least through me, is studying the issues. If I stay on my current path, what will happen to me in a few years? What will my life look like if I don’t commit to change? Is that a future I want? Is that devastating future really worth the small pleasures of staying on the path I’m on?
Next, you’ve got to understand what the correct solution is. There are so many recipes out there for improving your wealth or losing weight or getting in shape. What’s the right one for your situation? Often, this involves digging into the core principles to see what is actually tried and true and really works for people.
Fad diets? No. “Millionaire by thirty” investment schemes? No. Spend the time to really understand what works.
Once you understand the solution, do everything you can to minimize the resistance to that solution. Throw out the food that doesn’t match what you should be eating. Pull money out of your checking account so it’s not so easily available for spending.
Then – and this is the most important part for me – put constant reminders everywhere of the reason you’re doing this. Put copies of your overdraft statement in your wallet. Put pictures of yourself at your fattest on the fridge. Put pictures of your heart exam on your candy stash. Put your student loan statement around your credit cards.
Your willpower makes all the difference, but you can take action to make the bar as low as possible. In the end, it’s up to you.
Quite often, I’ve written about how my family has been a tremendous motivation for me.
My infant son was there at the moment I decided to get my financial house in order.
My daughter was there at the moment I decided to commit full-time to my writing.
My wife and children serve as a constant reminder of the things I want to change in my life.
The thing is, my family isn’t enough by themselves to provide adequate motivation for change in my life. They certainly help, don’t get me wrong, and they can often convince me to make a better choice in a given moment.
Lasting change, though, has to come from inside. If I’m not internally committed to doing something different, then it won’t happen.
I often look at motivation for change as being a lot like having a big rock at the top of a hill. My family might be enough to push that rock over the top and get it rolling down the hill, but the momentum of that rock comes from inside of me. It’s made up of my own desire for change.
If that’s the case, how do you make change happen in your life? I can’t comment on what motivates others, but I can certainly tell you what pushes me to make changes.
First, you’ve got to really tap into the problem. It isn’t enough to say that you want to lose weight or that you want to build up financial independence. You’ve got to understand why you’re not achieving those things right now and you’ve got to understand the dangers of staying on the current path.
The way to do that, at least through me, is studying the issues. If I stay on my current path, what will happen to me in a few years? What will my life look like if I don’t commit to change? Is that a future I want? Is that devastating future really worth the small pleasures of staying on the path I’m on?
Next, you’ve got to understand what the correct solution is. There are so many recipes out there for improving your wealth or losing weight or getting in shape. What’s the right one for your situation? Often, this involves digging into the core principles to see what is actually tried and true and really works for people.
Fad diets? No. “Millionaire by thirty” investment schemes? No. Spend the time to really understand what works.
Once you understand the solution, do everything you can to minimize the resistance to that solution. Throw out the food that doesn’t match what you should be eating. Pull money out of your checking account so it’s not so easily available for spending.
Then – and this is the most important part for me – put constant reminders everywhere of the reason you’re doing this. Put copies of your overdraft statement in your wallet. Put pictures of yourself at your fattest on the fridge. Put pictures of your heart exam on your candy stash. Put your student loan statement around your credit cards.
Your willpower makes all the difference, but you can take action to make the bar as low as possible. In the end, it’s up to you.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
What’s the Reason?
[Taken from Simple Dollar]
As I mentioned several days ago, my uncle passed away. On Friday, I attended his funeral, where one of my uncle’s old friends spoke very eloquently.
After the service, I spoke to that friend of my uncle for a few moments. I thanked him for the words he had spoken and we reflected together for a bit. He left me with a brief statement that’s been floating in my mind for a while now: “Everyone and everything comes into your life for a reason.”
Why do you do the things you do? Why do you have the things that you have? Why do you spend time with the people that you spend time with? What are these things really bringing into your life?
If you can’t truly describe how those things bring a net positive into your life – or, in some cases, how your involvement is bringing about a net positive – then why are those things in your life?
It’s a good question to ask about everything in your life.
Usually, people apply it to the big things in their lives. Why do they have the job that they have? Why do they have the close relationships that they have?
I find it equally powerful to ask such questions about the little things. Why do I make the purchases that I make? Why do I have the professional acquaintances that I have? Why am I going to this particular social event?
Is there a real reason for any of these things?
When you start to ask real questions like this, you become something like a paleontologist, brushing away the unimportant things to reveal the true state of things buried underneath.
You start to reveal your true relationships – the ones that bring value for you and for the other person – and discard the ones that do not.
You start to use your money for purchases that are actually useful for you, and put aside the money that you might waste on purchases that aren’t useful.
It’s such a simple question. What’s the reason? The better your answer, the better off you are.
Spend some time today to think about that question. Think about the big things in your life and ask yourself what the reason is that you have it in your life. Then look at some of the smaller things with the same question in mind. Realize that not having a good answer to the question is a useful thing, because it tells you that you might want to consider some different choices in your life.
As I mentioned several days ago, my uncle passed away. On Friday, I attended his funeral, where one of my uncle’s old friends spoke very eloquently.
After the service, I spoke to that friend of my uncle for a few moments. I thanked him for the words he had spoken and we reflected together for a bit. He left me with a brief statement that’s been floating in my mind for a while now: “Everyone and everything comes into your life for a reason.”
Why do you do the things you do? Why do you have the things that you have? Why do you spend time with the people that you spend time with? What are these things really bringing into your life?
If you can’t truly describe how those things bring a net positive into your life – or, in some cases, how your involvement is bringing about a net positive – then why are those things in your life?
It’s a good question to ask about everything in your life.
Usually, people apply it to the big things in their lives. Why do they have the job that they have? Why do they have the close relationships that they have?
I find it equally powerful to ask such questions about the little things. Why do I make the purchases that I make? Why do I have the professional acquaintances that I have? Why am I going to this particular social event?
Is there a real reason for any of these things?
When you start to ask real questions like this, you become something like a paleontologist, brushing away the unimportant things to reveal the true state of things buried underneath.
You start to reveal your true relationships – the ones that bring value for you and for the other person – and discard the ones that do not.
You start to use your money for purchases that are actually useful for you, and put aside the money that you might waste on purchases that aren’t useful.
It’s such a simple question. What’s the reason? The better your answer, the better off you are.
Spend some time today to think about that question. Think about the big things in your life and ask yourself what the reason is that you have it in your life. Then look at some of the smaller things with the same question in mind. Realize that not having a good answer to the question is a useful thing, because it tells you that you might want to consider some different choices in your life.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Being Under Satan's Yoke
By : Anonymous
(This article is a little abstract in nature but it illustrates the points quite well )
Satan called a worldwide convention In his opening address to his evil servants, he said,
"We can't keep the Muslims from going to Mosque. We can't keep them from reading the Quran and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience with Allah. If they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to the mosques, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Allah.
This is what I want you to do, servants. Distract them from gaining hold of their creator and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his servants.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 - 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Islamic music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah."
"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and emotional offering of free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy!! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!
It was quite a convention. And the evil servants went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there.
I guess the question is: has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge! Friends, this message was sent to me by someone who cares and thought I could share it with you. Please take heed of the message it brings:
B - Being
U - Under
S - Satan's
Y - Yoke
Did you find this whole thing 'funny'? Then please read on the 'funnier' part...
It's Funny how simple it is for people to trash Allah(swt) and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the zionist controlled or other media reports say, but question about the sayings of the Qur'an.
Funny how we get glued on to the TV screens to hear all the details of the Lewinsky testimony but feel drowsy while khutba's are being read in the mosques.
Funny how we strive for being in the front rows of a concert but are contended to be in the last rows during the Friday prayers.
Funny how someone can say "I believe in Allah" but still follow Satan.
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Allah(swt), people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Islam is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Funny how someone can be so fired up for Islam on Friday, but be an invisible Muslim the rest of the week.
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not sent it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what Allah thinks of me.
Funny how Muslims are confident of their entry into heaven even though they don't tend to believe, think, say, or do anything the Qur'an says.
Are you still amused?
(This article is a little abstract in nature but it illustrates the points quite well )
Satan called a worldwide convention In his opening address to his evil servants, he said,
"We can't keep the Muslims from going to Mosque. We can't keep them from reading the Quran and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship experience with Allah. If they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken.
So let them go to the mosques, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that relationship with Allah.
This is what I want you to do, servants. Distract them from gaining hold of their creator and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"
"How shall we do this?" shouted his servants.
"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow. Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 - 7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their home will offer no escape from the pressures of work!"
"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-Islamic music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah."
"Fill the coffee table with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogues, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and emotional offering of free products, services, and false hopes. Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines so the husbands will believe that external beauty is what's important, and they'll become dissatisfied with their wives. Ha! That will fragment those families quickly!"
"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted, and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead.
Keep them busy, busy, busy!! And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."
"Go ahead, let them be involved in soul winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause. It will work! It will work!
It was quite a convention. And the evil servants went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and to rush here and there.
I guess the question is: has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge! Friends, this message was sent to me by someone who cares and thought I could share it with you. Please take heed of the message it brings:
B - Being
U - Under
S - Satan's
Y - Yoke
Did you find this whole thing 'funny'? Then please read on the 'funnier' part...
It's Funny how simple it is for people to trash Allah(swt) and then wonder why the world's going to hell.
Funny how we believe what the zionist controlled or other media reports say, but question about the sayings of the Qur'an.
Funny how we get glued on to the TV screens to hear all the details of the Lewinsky testimony but feel drowsy while khutba's are being read in the mosques.
Funny how we strive for being in the front rows of a concert but are contended to be in the last rows during the Friday prayers.
Funny how someone can say "I believe in Allah" but still follow Satan.
Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Allah(swt), people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the public discussion of Islam is suppressed in the school and workplace.
Funny how someone can be so fired up for Islam on Friday, but be an invisible Muslim the rest of the week.
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you will not sent it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to them.
Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me than what Allah thinks of me.
Funny how Muslims are confident of their entry into heaven even though they don't tend to believe, think, say, or do anything the Qur'an says.
Are you still amused?
Saturday, October 6, 2012
3 Pieces of Advice for the One who Pray
KNOW THAT ALLAH PAYS ATTENTION TO YOUR PRAYER
“Allah (SWT) faces the servant during prayer as long as he does not turn away.” “… If he turns away, Allah (SWT) turns away from him.” (Abu Dawud)
‘Turn away’ means:
1) Turning away in heart, which means getting distracted and thinking of other things, and
2) Turning away with sight, looking up or left and right.
KNOW THAT ALLAH RESPONDS TO YOUR PRAYER
“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you” (Qur’an, 40:60)
Quoted in Muslim: Allah (SWT) has said: “I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant, into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says, “[All] praise is [due] to Allah , Lord of the worlds,” Allah says, “My servant has praised Me.” (more..)
DON’T LIE IN YOUR PRAYER
We start our prayer by saying Allahu Akbar which means Allah is greater than. We say it multiple times in the prayer.
Question: Allah is greater than what?
Answer: Allah is greater than anything else
Within the prayer nothing is more important than Allah - no Dunya, no job, no money, no other thought, nothing.
If we say Allhu Akbar and then start thinking about something else then we are essentially lying in the prayer. We uttered Allahu Akbar but we did not mean it.
Allah (SWT) will then ask an angel to draw a curtain between Him & the person who came to meet with him but is now busy thinking about something else but Him.
“Allah (SWT) faces the servant during prayer as long as he does not turn away.” “… If he turns away, Allah (SWT) turns away from him.” (Abu Dawud)
‘Turn away’ means:
1) Turning away in heart, which means getting distracted and thinking of other things, and
2) Turning away with sight, looking up or left and right.
KNOW THAT ALLAH RESPONDS TO YOUR PRAYER
“And your Lord says, ‘Call upon Me; I will respond to you” (Qur’an, 40:60)
Quoted in Muslim: Allah (SWT) has said: “I have divided the prayer between Myself and My servant, into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. When the servant says, “[All] praise is [due] to Allah , Lord of the worlds,” Allah says, “My servant has praised Me.” (more..)
DON’T LIE IN YOUR PRAYER
We start our prayer by saying Allahu Akbar which means Allah is greater than. We say it multiple times in the prayer.
Question: Allah is greater than what?
Answer: Allah is greater than anything else
Within the prayer nothing is more important than Allah - no Dunya, no job, no money, no other thought, nothing.
If we say Allhu Akbar and then start thinking about something else then we are essentially lying in the prayer. We uttered Allahu Akbar but we did not mean it.
Allah (SWT) will then ask an angel to draw a curtain between Him & the person who came to meet with him but is now busy thinking about something else but Him.
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