State Of Gratitude

By Rana Yassin

As human beings, we all face ups and downs in our lives. This is the nature and reality of this earthly world, and I insist on calling it so, because it is imperfect in the sense that we face day-to-day hardships.

When we are facing bad moods, we feel that nothing is perfect in our lives. We hate everything around us. It can go as far as having us hate ourselves and criticizing ourselves for every action we do. At this stage, one may even reach a state psychologists may define as ‘depression’.

The internet is full of information as to how we can deal with such issues. People often stumble upon many articles while surfing the web, some examples include: ‘The Best 10 Ways To Boost Your Self-Esteem’, ‘Things That You Must Consider In Order To Avoid Depression’, ‘Tips To Keep You Positive’ and numerous others.

I tried most of them, to an extent that I had their repetitive tips memorized. Every time I would read a new article, I was almost able to predict the tips or steps they ask us to do.

Until one time, when I asked myself why I don’t look at my religion, Islam, and see, how as Muslims we are supposed to deal with these issues. It is indeed astonishing how some Muslims have this calmness in their faces. You can realize it from the way they speak, move, and react. I searched until I got the answer; it was something I assure you you would never find in any of those articles that you might stumble upon on the internet.

It is something that not only boosts your self-esteem, but also strengthens your relationship with your Lord. It is in that state when you feel that you are not only happy with that you have, but you are also satisfied with it and grateful about it.

How you get to this point is something people from all faiths can apply. This is the beauty of what I discovered – it isn’t restricted to my own religion only!

So here is the trick...

Try to do this as frequent as possible, every time you get the feeling that something is going wrong and you are not feeling happy about your life:

1. Visit a calm place where nobody can disturb you.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Breathe deeply.
4. Say with every breath you take, in and out, THANK GOD.

With every word you say, remember what God granted you:

THANK GOD, for being alive.

THANK GOD, for granting me a house.

THANK GOD, for granting me a family.

THANK GOD, for granting me education.

THANK GOD, for granting me a brain………

And the list goes on till you reach the tiniest stuff that you were granted in your life. This includes everything, even the things that you are not satisfied with. When applying this method, you will ultimately get to be satisfied with them.

THANK GOD, for granting me this tough experience, because it will make me a better person in the future.

THANK GOD, for making me sick, because I will appreciate the meaning of having a healthy body.

In conclusion, I am not saying here that all these articles are not useful and we should not try these tips. On the contrary, we should, and they are very helpful! But let’s make them special, and add to them this spiritual ingredient that will make the taste much sweeter. They heal our hearts much faster.