ACCEPT LIFE AS IT IS

ENDURANCE - There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage - Seneca

The pleasures of life is short-lived, and more often than not, they are followed by sorrow. Life means responsibility, a journey wherein change is constant and difficulties are relentless in their onslaught.

You will not find a father, a wife, or a friend who is free from problems. Allah has willed for this world to be filled with two opposites: good and evil, righteousness and corruption, happiness and misery. Thus goodness, uprightness, and happiness are for Paradise; evil, corruption, and misery are for the Fire.

So live according to your reality without always envisioning the ideal life, one that is free from worry and toil. Accept life as it is and adapt accordingly to all circumstances. You will not find in this world such things as the flawless companion or the perfect situation, because flawlessness and perfection are qualities that are foreign to this life. It is necessary for us to make amends; to take what is easy and leave what is difficult; and very frequently, to overlook the faults and mistakes of others.

PATIENCE IS MOST FITTING

My Favourites - which needed a little imagination to look artistic with the blending of colours.

PRACTISE MAKES PERFECT - sandstitch on calico fabric

Those who meet hardship with a strong bearing and a patient countenance are in the minority. But we must consider this, though it may seem obvious: if you or I will not be patient, then what else is there for us to do? Do you have an alternative solution? Do you know of any provision that is better than patience?.

Those that achieve greatness have to surmount an ocean of difficulties and hardships before finally achieving success. Know that each time you escape a difficulty you will have to face another. Through this constant conflict, you must arm yourself with patience and a strong trust in ALLAH.

This is the way of the noble-minded: they face difficulties with firm resolution, and they wrestle hardship to the ground.

Therefore be patient and know that your patience is only through ALLAH. Have the patience of one who is confident of forthcoming ease, of one who knows that there will be a good ending, and of one who seek reward from his Lord, hoping, that by facing diffilcuties, he will find expiation for his sins. Have patience, no matter what the difficulty and no matter how dark the road ahead seems. For truly, with patience come victory, and with difficulty relief follows close behind.

After having read biographies of some successful people from the past, I became amazed at the amount of patience they displayed, in their ability to bear heavy burdens only to emerge as stronger human beings. Hardship fell upon their heads like a lashing of freezing rain and yet they were as firm as mountains. And then, after a short time had passed, they were rewarded for their patience with success..

THE BLESSING OF PAIN

BEAD-WORK - "NONYAS" are skillful with beads

Pain is not always a negative force and it is not something that you should always hate. At times a person benefits when he feels pain.

You might remember that, at times when you felt a lot of pain, you sincerely supplicated and remembered ALLAH. When he is studying, the student often feels the pangs of heavy burden, sometimes perhaps the burden of monotony, yet he eventually leaves this stage of life a scholar. He felt burdened with pain at the beginning but he shined at the end. The aches and pangs of passion, the poverty and the scorn of others, the frustration and anger at injustices - these all cause the poet to write flowing and captivating verses. This is because he himself feels pain in his heart, in his nerves, and in his blood, and as a result, he is able to infuse the same emotions, via his work, into the hearts of others. How many painful experiences did the best writers have to undergo, experience that inspired brilliant works, works that posterity continues to enjoy and benefit from today.

The student who lives the life of comfort and repose and who is not stung by hardships, or who has never been afflicted with calamity will be an improductive, lazy, and lethargic person.

Indeed, the poet who knows no pain and who has never tasted bitter disappointment will invariably produce heaps upon heaps of cheap words. This is because his words pour forth from his tongue and not from his feelings or emotion, and though he may comprehend what he has written, his heart and body have not lived the experience.

A FINE SUNDAY MORNING - 6TH DECEMBER 2009

MY LOVE - WORK!

Left: my mini work - on Voile

Right: Applique: Velvet on Calico

Left: On Linen: which gives a better outlook

REPEL BOREDOM WITH WORK

Destroy boredom by working.

Those who have nothing to do with their lives are the same people who spend most of their time spreading rumours and falsehood, mainly because their minds are devoid of beneficial thoughts....

When you find yourself to be idle, prepare for depression and despair, because idleness allows your mind to wander in the past, the present, and the future, with all of their difficulties. Therefore, my sincere advice to you is to perform fruitful acts instead of being idle, for idleness is a slow and veiled form of suicide.

When you apply this simple precept alone, you will have travelled at least fifty percent of the way towards happiness.