So..
If I have ever entrusted you with my thoughts...
Know...
that I have laid bare my soul..
For my thoughts are my soul's clothes..
And I undressed...
cause you're so close.
When I move on... there are those who will wash my corpse...
thinking they have seen me the most
No...
Only those...
That i have shared my unfiltered thoughts
can truly claim to have seen my soul
A lesson is an event (something or someone) that you learn from - thereby becoming more knowledgeable and wiser from it.
A trap is an event (something or someone) that holds you down against your will... keeps you fixated, unable to move away from it, grow from it or separate yourself from it.
For an event in the past to truly be a lesson, you must understand the following about it:
An event in the past becomes a trap when:
A classical example of a trap which looks like a lesson is as follows:
You fall in love with someone... head over heels... show 100% loyalty and submit yourself totally in love... then... the person betrays you... rubs your face in the mud and dumps you in a hard way... it hurts... it burns... it is unbearable... you become ill... unable to eat... unable to function... then... you "learn your lesson".. and you promise never to totally fall in love "like this" again... so that you don't get hurt like this again... You wont easily trust people again... and you won't allow yourself to be this hurt again...
TRAP!
What should have been a lesson has now become a trap... you are now unable to love freely anymore.. unable to view other potential lovers without tainting them with your experience... they are all potential cheats... deceits... instead of potential lovers. You have trapped yourself in the past and not given yourself an opportunity to love again... breath again... you did nothing wrong in the previous relationship... for loving with all your heart isn't a mistake... it's a virtue... being hurt is a part of the love experience (see love and pain)... you cant have the sweet with no sour (thanks K'nan) .... its incomplete...
Perhaps you will love again... in such a way that all previous experiences will be obliterated and seem insignificant...
Any experience in the past, that you dictate your future character based on it, is a trap... And the worst traps are those that present themselves as lessons. You think you grow from them... but you are imprisoned by them.
Every moment is new and every moment requires a new analysis... No moment should "carry the burden of another" and you shouldn't place the burden created by some on the innocent others...
So live each moment... appreciate every moment... and give each moment its due.. its worth... and that is 100% of you.
A man spends months, years filling a glass vessel with mud... drinking its contents and considering himself nourished by mud...
After a while... he starts to feel sick.. he thinks its due to what he is consuming... and then he feels and knows that there must be something else more nourishing than this...
Then... he hears about water being much better to drink than mud... he is convinced by this... then... he starts to search for water...
He looks around him... searching for water... but... only sees muddy water everywhere.... for all those who searched for water around him never gave up the mud for water... they just added water to their mud... given that this is all he sees around him, he decides that this muddy water is water... then... he starts to drink... initially, it makes him feel much better than drinking mud... it nourishes... but... it is still muddy water... and every now and then, he feels as though he is still drinking something muddy...
Then... after a while... by chance (or divine guidance), he visits an ocean and sees clear water... dazzled, he decides to cast his vessel fully in the water... letting the water wash all the contents of the vessel... at the ocean's pace... every time he attempts to remove the vessel from the water to drink... he finds traces of mud... until... he leaves the vessel ...and submits it totally to the ocean...
After an appointed time... he could no longer see the glass vessel... all he saw was water... waves flowing and storms brewing... still water... the vessel is no more... then... he starts to drink (directly?) from the ocean.. sweet water... nourishing... never ending...
Then... he looks around... looking for himself... but all he sees is water... no hands, no feet, no drinker, no vessel... just.... water...
Allah has created every [living] creature from water
"I am from water" Prophetic narration
Alas, In the body, there is a piece of flesh; If it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt... Alas, it is the heart... Hadith
Except he who comes to God with a sound heart... Quran
The heart has two dimensions to it... both complementary. The physical dimension and the spiritual dimension.
As for the physical dimension: Healthy food in proportion, Regular exercise and regular fasting will make it healthy.
As for the spiritual dimension, it is a house of emotions - so powerful that it can affect the heart physically if not taken care of. Emotions are 100% linked to thoughts. Think good, feel good (and vice versa). "I am as my servant thinks I am" (Hadith Qudsi) or a more literal translation of the divine narration is "I am in the thought of my servant"
Most of us don't realise the power of thoughts - and the power of good thinking... The most common poison we plant in ourselves or the most common form of self-harm are bad opinions of others. Or bad thoughts of others.
If only we realise the reality of a bad opinion... or a bad thought... A bad opinion or a bad thought can be likened to a rotten fruit with worms and maggots coming out of it... its smell is so putrid that it can be smelt from miles away... it looks so disgusting that the mere sight of it is enough to induce vomiting. And the mere thought of consuming it, is enough to make one sick!
Now, here is the catch... whenever you have a bad thought/opinion of another person, the bad thought lives in you... yes YOU! It grows in you and it is nourished by you... It is not transferred to the other person except through physical actions that grow from this thought. The proportion of the thought to the action is usually a 90 - 10 one... Now, if I were to ask you to hold the fruit described above in your hands for a few minutes, you would angrily reject the very proposition of such a request... yet, you gladly plant, host, welcome, grow and nurture bad opinions of others on a regular basis... thinking that these opinions reach the person you are thinking of...
This is the most common form of self-harm... What is worse is when the opinion you have is based on one moment (or a few moments) in the person's life... A very small proportion of the person's overall life... What if the person has reformed themselves... what if the moment is one of the worst moments in the person's life... would you love to be defined by your worst moments?
It is better to have a good opinion of a bad person than to have a bad opinion of a good person... And most importantly, don't disfigure your face to spite your enemies... don't destroy your heart in order to pay someone back for what they did to you...Your heart is the most precious thing you have - do not destroy it with bad opinions or bad thoughts of others...
Similarly, a good opinion is like a good fruit... with an amazingly nourishing and satiating taste that one never gets tired of. Its fragrance is so nice, it radiates beyond its house and can be smelt from miles away... It beautifies its host and everything that surrounds it... It is so precious a fruit, most kings would fight wars over it.. if only they knew its worth...
So, why is it so hard to replace bad opinions with good ones... why not "make 70 excuses for your brother" (Hadith). Why not "love for the other what you would love for yourself" (Hadith) and most importantly, why self-harm by insisting on planting something so rancid and putrid in your heart...?
Luckily, the choice is yours... and it is never too late to plant well... or uproot bad plants... Every thought or opinion dictates your emotion... and your emotion dictates your health, well-being and eventually your life... So, give yourself a break, take hold of your thoughts... plant well so that you will harvest well and live (love) well.
Layer 1: The peel / skin:
This is the most visible part of the orange...
It is the part that draws people towards the orange or repels people from approaching the orange
It protects the whole orange... without it, the orange rots in no time...
Its benefits are numerous... can never be underestimated... but how many people buy oranges due to the skin of the orange? How many will be satisfied with just the orange skin... those who are only interested in spices might be.. but those who want to taste something special will dig further - beyond the skin... beyond the peel... into the next layer... Only those who patiently peel the orange attain the next level with satisfaction...
Layer 2: The flesh / The pulp:
This is the flesh... the pulp, where the taste of eating an orange lies... no matter how much you might like the skin, its taste is incomparable to that of the actual flesh/pulp of the orange... it nourishes... Anyone who has tasted this will only refer to this as "orange" and will simply refer to the peel as either orange peel or just peel... this is the inner dimension of the orange that the skin spends its whole life preserving... For those who have only tasted the orange peel, they would be gazing in denial at those who are eating the actual pulp and would be surprised at the ecstasy and delight seen on the faces of those consuming the pulp...
However, no matter how much the enjoyment of the orange pulp is, those who limit themselves to this will never be able to make new oranges, new tastes and will only remain on the taste and nourishment level of the orange... never to get to the innermost core of all oranges...
Level 3: The innermost core... the seed...
Those interested in this are those who are not deluded by taste - because they know that the taste of an orange doesn't determine the types of oranges that grow from the seed. They know that seeds cannot be eaten, they can only be planted in fertile lands to grow into amazing orange trees... they know that a million oranges can come from one seed... regardless of the taste of the orange... when those at this level tell others that the orange pulp and the peel they are consuming comes from a single seed, they call them idiots and superstitious people... for ignorance of a thing is the most common reason for its opposition. Most seeds are identical in shape... but the fruits that emanate from them are varied... The seed doesn't carry out the tasks of the peel... neither does it nourish like the pulp... but both the pulp and the peel owe their existence to it...
Islam has a peel, pulp and seed... Islam, Iman and Ihsan. Shariah, Tariqah and Haqiqah. All inseparable and all to be observed in their rights...
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