on the revolution within

Apologies for the dearth of new material in this blog. I was on a 12-day exploration of self and truth.

The first awakening i had was on a similar trip 2 years ago. So it was nice to see new flowers bloom. 

And it was a nice self-exploration. 'Umar said there are three things you could do to know a person:

- eat together

- sleep (i don't know any other way to make this sound less ambiguous)

- travel together

So the first step is to know your demons. Next step is to banish them away. But don't banish your demons the Malay Way.

Self-improvement and control of the self is a matter of hard work, discipline and perseverence. Promising yourself you'd read a page of the quran per day. Or praying jamaah 5 times a day. Or fasting every monday and thursday. Or asking people to do good and leave the bad. Or attending circles every week. Repeat.

Istiqamah (perseverence) is an easy word to say, but very difficult to achieve.

Forget about New Year's resolution. You get spirited in the beginning, and fizzle out by February.

My Every Day's resolution is: to become a better slave of Allah.