Naima B. Robert – Best Of Times or Worst of Times You Get to Decide!
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Miss Miller, assalamu alaikum.
This is your sister Naima b Robert here.
And this series is all about helping you
to make the most of the opportunities
that are being offered to us
in this period of social distancing
and isolation,
due to the coronavirus pandemic. If this is
your first time watching then you I'm sure
you may be,
maybe a bit shocked to hear me talking
about this
worldwide
situation as an opportunity
but bear with me.
I'm of the belief that
we always have a choice as to how
we respond to anything that life throws at
us,
and that Allah
has decreed
circumstances
for us in order to test us. And
he has given us free will
in order to give us the opportunity
to either
be broken by a situation or allow it
to make us into a better version of
ourselves.
So in the spirit
of that outlook,
I would like to offer you today,
my
take on how to make
this period
of social distancing and isolation and pretty much
lockdown
the highlight of your year.
Sounds crazy. Right?
I'm sure for many of us, we're thinking
that the coronavirus
pandemic will be
sort of the low point of 2020,
will be our worst memory of 2020, will
be the disaster,
that shaped our perception of this year.
And I am in no way
minimizing
the
the the horror
of what,
you know, 1,000 and 100 of 1000, millions
are going through.
No way minimizing that.
But my focus is not on the things
that we can't control.
And I advise you also to not focus
on the things that are outside of your
control, but to focus instead on the things
that are
squarely
within your circle of concern
and that are under your control. And the
first and most powerful thing that is under
your control is your response.
In any situation, you have a choice as
to how you respond. And so
if you are practicing social distancing, if you
are in isolation, either self imposed isolation or
in quarantine or quarantine, or just in general
lockdown
waiting for this storm to pass, then I
want to invite you to consider these 5
tips to make this period
of hibernation, if you like,
the highlight of your 2020.
So let's kick it off.
Let us look at the benefits of having
more downtime.
Many of us are living lives or were
living lives that were helter skelter,
where we were on the go 247.
And if we weren't
on the go, then we were mentally on
the go.
We live in a world where we are
surrounded by distractions
pulling us this way and that way and
this way and that way all the time.
We are never
out of the office. We are never offline.
We are never unreachable.
In fact, being unreachable is probably one of
the things that scares our generation. The most
is not having wifi, not having internet access.
And so having this downtime
where we have internet access,
but
we have,
an opportunity
to spend more time at home,
to spend more time with our loved ones,
to
slow things down,
and to really take stock of what matters
and what we want to build with ourselves
and within ourselves and with our families.
I feel that this period
can be a time of nurturing,
of growth,
of self reflection,
of cleansing.
Whether we're looking at our spiritual cleansing
or our intellectual
growth or building memories with our children,
let's make the most of this downtime.
So this calls for a complete reframe because
a lot of people are dreading this downtime.
They can't imagine a life where we can't
freely go wherever we want. We can't go
to restaurants. We can't go to concerts. We
can't, you know,
have people around.
Or we can't, you know, go go here,
go there, and, you know, where our movements
are restricted.
People are freaking out about this. People are
freaking out about the children being home from
school. Okay.
And the prospect of having your children home
for the next few months is freaking some
people out.
And I'm inviting you to do a complete
reframe
and really see this opportunity
for the gift that it really is. Now
is a chance. If you never felt able
to before, now is the chance to change
up your routine.
Now is the chance to change
the way that you operate as a family,
the way that you pass your time, the
way you spend your time, what you speak
about,
what you do together as a family, how
much time you spend together as a family.
Now is a time for you to make
some decisions about
what kind of family unit you want to
be, what kind of atmosphere you want to
create in your home?
How can we make our homes
a pleasant place to be? An enjoyable place
to be? How can we start to enjoy
each other more?
How can we start to enjoy our own
company? How can we start to enjoy the
company of our children? And if your spouse
is home from work, how can you start
to enjoy his company?
How can we,
how can we set this up
so that, you know, it sounds crazy now,
but imagine
if in a year's time,
in 5 years time, 10 years time, your
children look back
to the coronavirus
outbreak and the
isolation and the lockdown
and just have the fondest memories
of time with their family, of bonding, of
laughter,
of really deep discussions
of communal prayer,
of preparing for Ramadan
as a family unit.
And if that is their dominant
memory
from this whole
period,
imagine how amazing that would be.
Well, the best thing is that you have
the power to make that happen for them.
And this is not withstanding
people who may have, you know, ill members
of their family or families that lose
members of their family,
you know, to the virus.
Of course, our prayers are with you
and our duas are with you and our
sympathies are with you. And we pray that
you too are able to reframe
this period
and
just allow yourself to see the good in
this particular period of time. So
the first, reason why this could what first
way you can make this the highlight of
2020
is to really reframe and take advantage of
this downtime that has been imposed on us
by the lockdowns and travel bans, etcetera.
The second thing is to really
take advantage of
the reminders that we are getting
about death and about the value of life.
A lot of the time
we are oblivious and we live our lives
in a state of forgetfulness.
Just thinking it is assuming,
taking every day for granted.
But we are in a time now where
there are people dying. There are people falling
ill. The rate of infection is high.
That should be a reminder for us
and be a cause for us returning to
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
becoming more mindful,
becoming more aware
of the fragility of our lives, but not
just the fragility, but the value of them.
The value of every day, the value of
everyone in your family, the value of every
gift that you've been given,
you are in
a perfect place right now to truly
appreciate what you have.
So that is the second way that you
can make this time
so impactful. The,
the most
well, the most powerful part of your 2020.
The third way is to really appreciate more
time with your family. And I know I've
mentioned this earlier,
but
you know,
make the most of it. Make the most
of this time with your family. Make the
most of this time with your children. I
think as mothers, we often are guilty of
sort of wishing each stage away, you know?
Because every stage has its difficulties and it
has its joys, but a lot of the
time we focus on the difficulties and we're
hoping for the children to get to the
next stage so that, you know, we get
a bit of ease.
But I would really say, sis, as a
mom,
have your routines, have your structures,
but now is the time to really love
those children.
Show them you love them. Tell them you
love them.
Make sure that they feel safe and secure.
And I have addressed,
you know, strategies for
looking after your children's mental state in another
video.
But for now
to make this period the highlight of your
2020,
Just start to
enjoy this time with your family. Make the
most of it. Like I said, be more
demonstrative with your love.
You know, laugh more, have fun more, do
more things together, get them to help you
more. You
know, come together to decide what your meals
are gonna be for the week and give
everybody a part to play. You know, order
some games in, if you don't have games
in your house and order some board games
in, you know. Now might be the time
that you get a Kindle
or you sign up to, you know, Audible.
So you can listen to audio books together.
Now might be a time when you start
reading together as a family
or drawing or doing art together as a
family.
We're just chilling,
just chilling.
Now could be that time
and that could open the way to so
many new memories for your children and for
you.
That it could be something that you truly
do look back on and say, wow that
was actually a really amazing time.
And then the 5th
the the 4th,
way that this period could be the highlight
of your 2020
is if you take the opportunities
for more service.
Now is not the time to be selfish.
Now is not the time to be self
centered. Now is not the time to be
thinking me, me, me and mine. Now is
the time when we are joined by a
human
crisis
to start
choosing service.
And that means you we've been given opportunities
for more service.
That means thinking about other people. That means,
you know, shopping mindfully.
That means consuming mindfully.
That means, you know, taking care of, you
know, what we have in our homes and
what we don't.
It also looks like, you know, volunteering where
you can,
whether it's on a helpline,
whether it is in a Facebook group,
you know, keeping in touch with family members,
keeping in touch with others, you know, just
offering
yourself
as
a resource. You know, it could be the
time when you start offering some of your,
some of your skills,
online.
It could be a time when you set
up spaces online where young people or mothers
or women or families can come together and
congregate online.
It could be a time when you decide
that you're going to start sharing good news,
when you're going to start sharing positivity, when
you are going to be the change that
you want to see within your circle, within
your community.
This is an amazing time for us to
really show up for our families and our
communities. So don't waste that inshallah.
And then the 5th
the 5th
way that this could be the highlight of
your 2020
is if you allow
this period
to lead to more clarity for you.
More clarity about what you want,
because
a lot of things have been taken away
from us. Don't have access to them anymore.
So
who do you want to be?
What do you truly want to do?
What do you want to achieve with yourself,
with your family, with your, your, your mission
in life? What is it that you want
to do?
Take this time for some real
for some self reflection,
for some personal development, for some, you know,
asking Allah to guide you to the next
stage for you. Because
for sure, as everything,
this too shall pass. And
so my hope for you is that you
emerge from this season
as a better version of yourself.
And if you do
take on these strategies and, you know, take
some of the advice that I've shared in
my other videos,
that will be the case.
And that is totally within your control.
And so let's focus our energies on what
we can change and what we have control
over rather than focusing our energies on things
that we have no control over whatsoever
and make Dua'a that Allah protects us and
everyone from
this scourge and allows us to emerge from
this whole situation and this whole test
more faithful,
stronger,
more united than ever before.
If you enjoyed this video and you found
it beneficial, please do share it. Like it,
comment on it, subscribe to this channel
and stay tuned for more videos.
I pray that Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala protects
us all.
And I hope that
I see you in the next video.