Naima B. Robert – A Sisters Ramadan Season 3 Episode 2 6 Essential Relationships Relationship yourself
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And welcome to a Sisters Ramadan.
I'm your sister Naima b Robert and as
always, I am honored that you are joining
me
today. Now as I've mentioned before, I am
on a mission.
I'm on a mission to remind every single
one of you to cherish and nurture your
loved ones while you still can.
None of us is guaranteed tomorrow so let's
not act as if we are. So the
central question of this year's show is this,
how can we as Muslims, as Muslim women
use this Ramadan to improve
our relationships?
Our relationships with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala with
ourselves and with our loved ones and those
around us in this blessed month and beyond.
In today's show, we will be looking at
your relationship
with your self.
If you've ever made Hajj or Umrah,
then you will know what it's like to
be just one
from amongst
100,
1000,
tens of 1000, sometimes 100 of 1000 of
pilgrims,
all in Ihram,
all going to the same places,
all making the same askar,
all treading the same path.
So many people,
so many souls,
so many individual duas, so many
individual situations, every one of them coming from
a different country, from a different family, from
a different nation.
And sometimes in those moments,
we can wonder
how significant are we really?
Are we not just 1 of 1,000,000,000 on
this planet, Just a human being like everybody
else?
And in a sense we are,
we are one of many.
But in that moment
when you raise your hands
and you make
the dua from your heart, whatever it is
that you've been carrying, whatever you went there
to the to the Kaaba to pray about
and you raise your hands and you make
that dua,
you know for a fact
that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala hears you
and hears the dua of every
single pilgrim and every single person
in this whole world.
The 100, the 1,000, the tens of 1,000,
100 of 1,000, the millions who raise their
hands to pray to him.
And so while on the one hand, yes,
we are insignificant
human beings the same as everybody else, we
are also
deeply significant and unique.
Every one of you was created unique
with your own characteristics, your own personality, your
own strengths, your own weaknesses and your own
path in life.
Now my question to you is,
when you look in the mirror
and you see the woman looking back at
you,
every single one of you was created unique
with your own skills, your own talents, your
own characteristics, your personality,
your strengths and your weaknesses.
And this is how Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
has designed
every single one of us,
unique and special in our own way.
Now let's reflect on that because
what we know from our Dean is that
everything that we have
as individual people is an Amana.
So
we've been blessed with a heart, a mind,
a body and a soul. And these
are trusted to us by Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala.
We will be questioned
about
how we live this life and how we
treated
this amana that is our mind, body and
soul.
And the reality is,
you you yourself,
you are the only being that accompanies you
until your end. You're the only person that
accompanies you until the end.
So
let's just dig a bit deeper
and see what it actually means
to cherish and nurture and develop
a relationship with yourself.
Let's look at the mind firstly.
As muslims,
the way that we respect ourselves and the
way that we develop and nurture a relationship
with ourselves and our minds
is to seek knowledge,
to maintain our pure Islamic belief system, our
aqeeda.
To be constantly
learning and improving.
We also have a body which is an
amana, is a gift from Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala. And a part of nurturing our relationship
with ourselves is looking after this amana. So
that looks like
eating healthfully,
maintaining our health and making sure that we
look after ourselves,
keeping a good appearance.
The sunnah teaches thus teaches this to us
in so many different ways.
Another thing that we need to be looking
at as well is exercising and staying active
and having a healthy lifestyle.
This is an investment in ourselves that pays
dividends throughout the rest of our days.
In addition to our mind and our body,
we also have a soul
and it is upon us to nurture our
souls with regular Ibadah,
Istighfar,
self reflection and correction
and self care and acceptance.
And in this way, we build a relationship
with ourselves and nurture a relationship with ourselves
which will inshallah allow us to show up
so much stronger for all our other relationships
in our lives.
Now, when it comes to Ramadan,
Ramadan again
is an amazing opportunity
to nurture your relationship with yourself, sis.
I'm gonna offer you 10 strategies specifically
for nurturing and developing your relationship with yourself
because this is a perfect time
to take stock and renew your intention when
it comes to how you treat yourself.
How you commit to looking after yourself
and honoring this amenah that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala has given us. So when it comes
to our mind, I would like to invite
you to choose a book this month. Choose
a book or a course to study.
In terms of maintaining our belief and our
aqidah,
take some time to just examine the un
Islamic influences around
you and actively unplug.
In terms of learning and improving,
take stock of where you're at and set
yourself some targets. Some realistic,
but exciting targets for your own learning and
your own improvement.
When it comes to your body, let's look
at eating healthfully.
Let's be mindful of what we're eating for
suhoor and iftar.
Every morsel of healthy food that you put
into your body with the intention
of looking after the amana
is a better for you. So let's do
it. In terms of maintaining our health,
take some time to detox from other things
that may be harming your health. Whatever it
is that you may have in terms of
addictions,
cigarettes, anything like that, let's take time now
to detox from those things.
In terms of looking after your appearance, sis,
take stock.
Have you been letting yourself go? Are there
small ways in which you could be taking
better care of yourself?
And, although exercise is really a priority in
Ramadan,
take this opportunity
still to stay active even if it's just
for 15 minutes a day.
Now, of course, Ramadan is centered around our
Ibadah, centered around the akhira. So in terms
of your soul,
Ramadan is an absolute
godsend because with the regular Ibadah, inshaAllah, you
will be polishing your soul and making sure
that you
maintain that connection.
When it comes to Istighfar,
make the most of every prayer, every du'a,
every qiyam
to seek Allah's forgiveness.
In terms of self correction and reflection,
set aside time each day to reflect on
the day's activities,
your own attitude,
your perspective,
and take yourself to account before you are
taken to account.
Take steps to rectify any shortcomings.
And when it comes to self care and
acceptance, you know what I'm going to say.
Be kind to yourself, sis and make the
decision to be your own best friend, your
own cheerleader
this
And now it's over to you.
Your task, as last time, is to take
some time to think about how you can
nurture your relationship with yourself
through your Ibadah this Ramadan.
Remember our 4 key steps.
Renewing your intention,
slowing down,
taking yourself to account, and pressing the reset
button.
I hope that you could take some time
out, get your handbook and just do a
little bit of journaling in order to be
able to work through how you were going
to actually
put these steps into action for yourself.
JazakAllah Khayram for joining me for this episode
of A Sister's Ramadan.
I pray that it was beneficial to you.
If you got anything from it, alhamdulillah.
I pray that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala accepts
all our efforts this Ramadan.
And, if you would love to share what
you've taken from this episode, please do tag
us on social media at imanchannel@naimabrobert
and make sure you use hashtag sistersramadhan.
See you in the next episode where we
will be discussing,
guess what? Your relationship with your spouse.