Tarek Kareem Harris – S7E14. The Reinvention Series Finale – A way forward, without the self-blame or guilt – Intention

			Assalamualaikum as we reach the end of this reinvention series, I want to end off with something fun
and interesting. And something that also sets us up. Well, for the next series.
		

			We'll talk about intention.
		

			The English language has a saying, which is the road to * is paved with good intention.
		

			And what that saying is that, I guess many people intend to do good things, but somehow, if they
don't put them into action, then they'll end up in *.
		

			How does Islam view the matter?
		

			You could say, actually, Islam views the matter. Exactly. oppositely. In fact, in Islam, the road to
Heaven is paved with good intentions, provided that those intentions were genuine and sincere. So
for those of us who have an intention to do something good, and it's genuine, and we're about to do
it, but for some reason or another, we're not able to get around to it or something interrupts us,
we're told that we are given the blessings for having done something good, even if we haven't done
it.
		

			And the opposite doesn't apply in that if we intend to do something bad.
		

			We don't get punished for it, until we actually go through with it. So notice, swaddlers is one of
the signs of the mercy of Allah. But that also connects deeply to the concept of intention and why
it is so important in Islam, and why there's this apparent difference or departure from, I guess,
Western ways of thinking, why intention is so central. And what are the points? I guess what's
relevant now? It happens to be the end of Ramadan. And we could explore why is it that we end
Ramadan clients with good intentions, or we started off with good intentions, but somehow we didn't
keep up with all of them. We end Ramadan with good intentions, but somehow we don't keep up with the
		

			intentions. Once Ramadan is over, we come we become strangers to the mosque, or we don't pray around
as much. And we tend to lambaste ourselves and be hard on ourselves. Because we're somehow
inadequate veiling, what gets in the way, what are we doing wrong?
		

			Well, there's some good news here, which is
		

			different to what you'll normally receive, I guess, from some of the more sort of hardline speakers
on the topic. Firstly, I'd say that Ramadan exists in order to refresh us. So it's quite normal,
that we decay a little bit after Amazon in our habits or intentions. In fact, if we didn't, then we
would have no read from them.
		

			And remember what Allah says, you know, his favorite activities giving he knows full well, that you
will let go for,
		

			for lack of not for lack of good intentions, but just because some things get in the way. And for
some reason, one thing slips and you're not quite as together as you were in rooms on when it comes
to the practice of Dean. What is that all there is? Certainly not look, the tendency to decay in any
habit is seen throughout humanity. And one need not become obsessed by it. The way to correctly see
it is as a natural process, which could do with some re energizing from time to time. And you can re
energize yourself in two ways as the rod and the stick methods, right, the sorry, the carrot and the
stick, so to speak, the carrot is the one that pulls you and invites you to better things in the
		

			stick is the fear of punishment. You can scare yourself into doing some things of Deen, if you like,
but that doesn't really tend to last and probably doesn't help to create the kind of peaceful
intention and graceful conduct. It's much better to sort of invite yourself to be more productive.
And imagine what our profits allow, some would ask you to do would he be trying to scare you into
doing things? No. He'd set an example and he probably let you do exactly what came to you so that
you felt it was your decision.
		

			But this is where the power of intention comes in. And why I think a lot of us are not quite taught
properly. Why intention is so important. We're taught Yes, you must state your intention. For
example, when you're setting out to do will do, you may need to make an intention that I'm making
Whoo. However,
		

			how come it doesn't echo as much as it should. Because really, if you put effort into the intention
to really understand it, to really feeling it,
		

			then you
		

			You might do better when it comes to actually doing the act. You're not just paying lip service to
saying some words. It's not all magic, you know, it's not just Voodoo and saying some words suddenly
makes it all okay? No, you have to feel the intention.
		

			So let's look at it, to intend to do something, it's to undertake to do something, or to be a
certain way.
		

			And intentions are better if we enrich them. And we take the process slowly.
		

			So look at it this way. You need to practice your intention when you're, for example, practicing,
doing
		

			intention for Hulu, imagine preparing food mentally, and saying, I'm going to clean myself, I'm
going to do with you for the sake of Allah, and say, Bismillah and imagine yourself becoming
purified, slowly relaxed, imagine yourself going through the motions of Voodoo.
		

			And feel that because if you arrive at starting with you having done that, I guarantee you, the
experience will be far more fulfilling, far deeper and far more resonant with your soul and your
sense of well being than just rushing into the widow corner. And quickly, you know, rattling out a
window without really thinking about what you're doing it for.
		

			And if you want to practice this intention, idea, more in your life, Islam already has a way, it is
saying Bismillah. So try this for the next half hour, whatever you're about to do, say Bismillah
before you do it, whatever you're conscious you're about to do now I'm about to
		

			stand up Bismillah I'm about to go over there. Miss Miller. I'm about to sit down. I'm about to
breathe in, I'm about to breathe out. I'm about to eat, I'm about to sleep, say it Bismillah
Bismillah. You know why? Because this brings you into contact with the nature of your intention and
how they connect to your actions. You're taking the name of Allah before saying before doing
anything. And you're imagining that, okay, I'm about to breathe in. Now that I've taken the name of
Allah, when I'm about to breathe in, I'm going to do it.
		

			As if knowing that Allah is with me right now.
		

			I'm going to head towards my mother and say a Salaam Alaikum to her, but I'm going to say Bismillah
as I head towards a why, because I want to do it. Knowing that Allah is with me now.
		

			I'm going to sit down and eat. But I'm going to do it by saying Bismillah first before I even head
towards the table. Why? Because I want to feel it as if Allah is with me. When you do that,
		

			you begin to realize that virtually everything that happens, can be invested with a sense of your
spiritual life. And it can be matched with your sense of purpose, with awareness that you're trying
to seek a sense of joy of productivity of being helpful, of showing your better qualities of keeping
your cool.
		

			Look, we have so many things to achieve from day to day, it's very difficult to be good across the
board, right? So whatever you've done in Ramadan,
		

			forgive yourself and ask for forgiveness from Allah, fully expecting and hoping that he will forgive
you if you've fallen short.
		

			That's how he wants you to see yourself. And that's how he wants you to treat yourself and do so
mindfully do it. Knowing that you're human, and it's natural, to fall short.
		

			We can improve our chances of doing things well, if we focus on our intentions. And we're a bit more
peaceful with the way we treat ourselves. If you're always going to set out to do things and be
perfect, knowing that you're going to fall short of it, or being surprised when you fall short of it
and then lambasted yourself that is not going to improve you.
		

			So perhaps at the end of this period of reinvention, we have to think about re intention, how do we
examine our intentions, so that we are more likely to just improve over time rather than expect to
be perfect, fail, and then be hard on ourselves and go through the same old cycle of decay and
		

			shaky achievement.
		

			Allah knows very well what we intend to do if we really want to do it and we are blessed. The moment
we intend to do it sincerely.
		

			My intention is to understand that my Salah will be imperfect, but my intention is to bear my
discomfort well and just carry on because I could not have predicted the mistakes are making Salah.
I couldn't have predicted that I would lose my concentration. I will still just carry on and I'll do
it slowly and gracefully. And I will hope that Allah forgives me for where I fall short because that
is what he's looking for.
		

			He doesn't look for perfection,
		

			his favorite activity is to forgive. So relax. Making mistakes is a root in, not a root out.
		

			And we would not need them down if we could keep up with everything good all year round.
		

			So as we end have tried to keep your momentum buoyant, every single day, sitting out now is a fresh
chance to keep yourself heading in a good direction. You might need to write things down as we
talked about in earlier sessions, you might need to refresh your o'clock your ways of being you
might need to examine your actions and reflect on them. Don't expect to be 100% across the board,
okay? It need not depend on your motivation either. You just undertaking to do a few things every
day. If you schedule them in, that might be even better. If you set alarms on your phone that okay
today or tomorrow or tomorrow night, I'm going to do the reflection. Oh, and then Thursday, I worry
		

			a lot of Thursday, seven o'clock, will be my worry time we you mentioned we talked about worry time
in an earlier session.
		

			Whatever you're going through, be at peace, because that's how allowed like it to be. Don't be
doubly hard on yourself because you've done something wrong.
		

			So we reached the end of this reinvention series. Really, it's a beginning.
		

			These are only little bits and pieces of the teachings or learnings that I've come across that I'm
sharing with you both as a scientist and as a Muslim, trying to marry the medical with the
religious. And it's only a small part of the various things I write and create for the people of
faith.
		

			You will find much more detail in my books and so on. And thank you so much if you've bought the
books, or if you've donated to the Mental Health Access mission, all the money goes towards helping
people who can't afford it or who don't have access to mental health. To achieve that. To get the
books or donate. Remember, Amazon is nearly over, click the link in my bio or below here if this is
on YouTube.
		

			And then just go and embrace the world with a last name Bismillah Bismillah and find your confidence
renewed. Do not find yourself unable to forgive yourself or concern with punishments. No. You have
been refreshed as much as you tried. You set out this thumbs down to try to refresh yourself and
accept how far you've got. Embrace it.
		

			And keep your head up and your chin up. Because that's how Allah wishes you to treat yourself.
		

			See you next session amin