Tarek Kareem Harris – S1E8 – Series Finale – The Wealth Of The Heart, Or True Self. Understanding The Strong Muslim Mind

			It's mental health with Dr. tk Harris Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem.
		

			In this final episode of understanding the Muslim mind, we will look at the duties and functions of
a strong heart or consciousness. First of all, the heart is very good at listening to the rest of
your mind. Your awareness receives information from the knifes and the intellect,
		

			your awareness, or your heart is actually quicker to act than either. With a strong heart, we can
behave in a way that is sensible and automatic, avoiding the temptations and emotion of the knifes
and directing the intellect towards good actions.
		

			Secondly,
		

			the heart is good at inspecting what's going on in your mind.
		

			It's like an inner eye with which you can look into yourself. You can use your awareness to take
note of what your thoughts or feelings are at any point.
		

			The technical word for this is metacognition, which really means thinking about thinking, most of us
do thinking automatically. How many of us step out of that and say, Okay, why did this thought
happen? And do I have to react to it? Should I be automatically responding to my emotions? Or can I
step aside from them.
		

			So adopting this neutral, non judgmental self observation is a very important tool for understanding
how you are and for getting insight into what makes you tick.
		

			The more you do it, the better you will know yourself.
		

			We'll talk more about this in the next series, which is more about intervention.
		

			Thirdly, the heart has a judging function, weighing up the wisest way forward.
		

			In matters where things are not clear, it is your heart, your consciousness, which has rules and
laws, which help us to make choices without having to re examine them every time. This way, we save
ourselves from looking to the knifes or to the intellect, when we face some familiar or difficult
issues and choices. In essence, this is called a clock or conduct. How do you conduct yourself, and
what kind of rules do you have, for how you go about your business, and how you deal with things
that happen? These things, if they're stored in your heart, in a good way, will make your life a lot
easier to live. And we will be looking at that in our next series.
		

			If you like the heart becomes a kind of automatic pilot. Once you figured out a way of doing
something, it's much easier to just live by your heart. Because it's a peaceful way of living, and
stops you from having to rethink everything all the time. The more you train your heart in good
routines, the better those good routines get settled in and become part of your personality.
		

			Fourth, the heart is the source of wisdom and purpose to life.
		

			What are wisdom and purpose? And are they important? Well, actually, they are the whole point of
mental wealth.
		

			It's our reason for being. The heart is the seat of our faith. It's the place where we can define
and refine our character. It is within your heart that you can find meaning and value in your own
existence.
		

			Your heart is the keeper and the definer of your purpose and meaning in life, and hamdulillah. God
has given you the freedom to choose what you want to believe in and to choose your purpose in life.
		

			As a Muslim, you have religious and material purposes and duties. We are here to do what Allah has
asked us. And beyond this, we are to choose our other purposes and goals wisely.
		

			There are both religious things, and a whole host of material purposes, and different roles that we
have in life towards the people who matter.
		

			If you forwarded this link to all of your contacts, it would cost you nothing. But imagine the
blessing you would get if even one person who you had sent the link to found some kind of salvation,
some kind of relief, some kind of solace from clarifying their mental health. Let us become
ambassadors for a religion that introduced so much of what is modern civilization to itself.
		

			Let's consider things which make your heart stronger.
		

			If your neighbor's grass looks greener,
		

			Maybe his grass is greener because he's fertilizing his land more.
		

			What is it that makes a person's heart stronger, and more importantly, what strengthens the heart?
What makes you a person who's more in command of yourself and of the world around you, without
needing to be bossy or forceful?
		

			Well, there are several things which we can look at. Firstly, having clear rules of conduct. We will
look at this in the next series as our first priority.
		

			Secondly, learning patience, managing the dilemmas and fights between the knifes and the intellect
in a graceful way.
		

			Thirdly, concentrate your attention on what is important. And let the rest be.
		

			Fourthly, reaching out to others, and being of service and help to them.
		

			We are fundamentally a hyper social species. And we thrive, both as individuals and as a community
when we give of ourselves to each other.
		

			Finally, remembering Allah and getting a perspective on your problems, reflecting on life, in case
we get ideas that we are too important.
		

			We are important to ourselves. But that does not mean we should take ourselves too seriously, or
expect that the world will collapse when something goes wrong in our life.
		

			Thank you so much for listening. Now that you've understood the basic structure of the Muslim mind,
our next series, we'll look at interventions. This time we'll step things up, and we'll start making
changes for people who need to make those changes. See you in the next series. What's alarm.