Rumi's wisdom ... on a Sunday morning

"Blessed is one who sees his weakness, 

and blessed is one who, 

when he sees a flaw in someone else, 

takes responsibility for it.

Because, half of any person is wrong and weak

and off the path.

HALF! The other half is dancing and swimming 

and flying in Invisible Joy.

You have ten open sores on your head.

Put what salve you have on yourself.

Point out to everyone the dis-ease you are.

That's part of getting well!

Don't try to be famous

until your face is completely washed of all fear. 

Try to avoid distracting thoughts.

Thoughts are like wild donkeys

in the thicket of human existence."

   ~ Rumi

Why Things Happen

pre-dawn darkness

It's now 5.27am. A baby has suddenly started crying from one of the flats downstairs. Two minutes later, it stopped.

I was just thinking the parents are probably both working and would probably not be up for another hour to go to work. Ooops spoke too soon, baby is at it again.  Poor thing. I can feel its desire to be comforted/soothed. Wonder what babies see/experience.

Y'day while at the shops,  i saw a difficult scene. An under 10 child was being difficult in the supermarket. He was with his grandparent, the typical setup in SG these days. Both parents working. The grandparent seemed annoyed as he was trying to control the child but kid wasn't behaving at all. Instead pushing the boundaries of disobedience. I made a mental note that bringing up children was not easy and just because we see examples of well behaved kids does not mean all kids can be trained. I had been thinking discipline was the answer but I think a lot more factors go into moulding a child today.

let it slide...

the ability, of that which does not matter, to let it slide.
Let it slide.

We let things become such that they matter; unable to see its full run when it's all just part of the process.

let things be, let them slide.

Where the mind is without fear

    

     Where the mind is without fear 

   And the head is held high

Where knowledge is free

   Where the world has not been broken

up into fragments by narrow domestic walls

   Where the words come out from

the depth of the truth

   Where tireless striving stretches

its arms towards perfection

    Where the clear stream of reason

has not lost its way into 

   the dreary desert sand of dead habit

Where the mind is led forward by thee

   into overwhelming thought and action

Into that heaven of freedom

   my father, let my country awake!

~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

Giving and Receiving...comes from the Almighty

"Whenever Allah gives a blessing to a servant,

and then takes it back from him, 

and the servant patiently endures his loss - 

then He rewards him with a blessing 

which is better than the one which He took back."

- Hazrat Umar ibn Abdul-Aziz, may Allah be well-pleased with him.

Pic taken in San Francisco, California

Blue Mountains Australia

I have so many memories and images of the Blue Mountains both in Print form and in my heart that this just reminded me of my time there. Ahh bliss.... one of the instantaneous places I felt connected to. I could live out there. People always wonder how a city girl from Singapore could resonate so well with a mountain place like the Blue Mountains. But, c'est la. 

"Comfort Zone"

Isn't this the sweetest thing? :)

Timely Reminder

‎"You must convince your heart that whatever Allah has decreed is most appropriate and most beneficial for you."
~ Imam al-Ghazali

Zanzibar, East Africa, 2008

Dua of the Prophet

A lovely afternoon over here watching the rain spill wholesomely on the earth. Yet it's light enough to want to go out in it and be soaked :)

Equatorial musings ~