I rarely get pimples. I am blessed in that sense Alhamdolillah. So a recent eruption left me cringing and depressed. I was conscious of it the whole time and trying various remedies, kept looking at it and willing it to reduce in size if not altogether disappear.
And as I looked at it for about the gazillionth (it seemed like!) time today I realized quite a lot of things. Sometimes realization just strikes you and leaves you with a deeper understanding of yourself.
The lessons:
1) It struck me how temporary things of this duniya (like clear skin!) are. If my entire happiness, my reason for existence was based on these temporary things then I would almost never be happy! If clear skin is what keeps me running then every time a pimple erupts-and well who can help it? I gotta have chocolate!- I shall go into a decline. However if my happiness, my serenity, my purpose in life came from something more ever lasting, some eternal, like hope of Jannah, then no matter what happens to my worldly possessions, nothing would make me sink into depression. So our fuel should not be worldly things but our connection with Allah, our willingness to submit to him, our satisfaction in doing good deeds, our Salah and fasts.
2) I also realized that this blemish on my skin was not as important or worrying as the blemishes on my soul. This pimple shall (inshaAllah!) disappear but the blemishes on my soul-what of those? Am I working to erase them as hard as I worked to get rid of this? This is temporary-what about those?
Every sin I commit, every wrong I do puts a blemish on my heart and soul. Repentance and prayer are the way to rid myself of them therefore I must be constantly engaged in either of the two to even hope of having a clean hear and a clear soul. The skin I can look at and see if the pimple is there or not, but what about the blemishes that are invisible? How much harder I have to work to eliminate the risk!
3) While I realized I need to cut down on oily food, chocolates etc., it also struck me that I need to list down all the things in my life currently that are probably causing an acne problem for my soul and heart!
An anti acne formulation is a list all of us must make for ourselves and note down everything we want to work on. Start working on it and cross out any item that you manage to kick. In fact what better time that Ramadan when Shaytan is in chains and the only thing to deal with is your Nafs-do not underestimate it though. It is a very powerful opponent!
So you may have something like this:
Distractions in Salah-KICK!
Music-Kicked faaaaaaarrrr awayyyyy!
And so on and so forth inshaAllah
4) I was conscious of my pimple the entire time! Whether I was hanging out with friends and family(who BTW were no help with their 'Oh look! You got a pimple!' Like hello.I own a mirror thank you very much), attending lectures, praying, sitting, eating, talking...you get the picture?
Now imagine this-if I were THIS conscious of Allah my entire life, if I felt him whether alone or with people, how much more easier would resisting temptations be?! SubhanAllah!
5) I am thankful that it was just one tiny pimple instead of an acne breakout, I am thankful I have rarely had to deal with this stuff compared with the many sisters who have had much worse issues with it, especially during teenage, I am thankful it was a pimple-can you even imagine the worse possibilities that could have occurred? I am thankful I have a nose that made it possible for me to even get a pimple there! Alhamdulillah!
Now this is not the first time I have had such thoughts but imagine how a little thing like a pimple can help you put your life in perspective again and make you realize!
So sisters start imagining that pimple on your face and realize the blessings of Allah and reflect :D
Peace!
And as I looked at it for about the gazillionth (it seemed like!) time today I realized quite a lot of things. Sometimes realization just strikes you and leaves you with a deeper understanding of yourself.
The lessons:
1) It struck me how temporary things of this duniya (like clear skin!) are. If my entire happiness, my reason for existence was based on these temporary things then I would almost never be happy! If clear skin is what keeps me running then every time a pimple erupts-and well who can help it? I gotta have chocolate!- I shall go into a decline. However if my happiness, my serenity, my purpose in life came from something more ever lasting, some eternal, like hope of Jannah, then no matter what happens to my worldly possessions, nothing would make me sink into depression. So our fuel should not be worldly things but our connection with Allah, our willingness to submit to him, our satisfaction in doing good deeds, our Salah and fasts.
2) I also realized that this blemish on my skin was not as important or worrying as the blemishes on my soul. This pimple shall (inshaAllah!) disappear but the blemishes on my soul-what of those? Am I working to erase them as hard as I worked to get rid of this? This is temporary-what about those?
Every sin I commit, every wrong I do puts a blemish on my heart and soul. Repentance and prayer are the way to rid myself of them therefore I must be constantly engaged in either of the two to even hope of having a clean hear and a clear soul. The skin I can look at and see if the pimple is there or not, but what about the blemishes that are invisible? How much harder I have to work to eliminate the risk!
3) While I realized I need to cut down on oily food, chocolates etc., it also struck me that I need to list down all the things in my life currently that are probably causing an acne problem for my soul and heart!
An anti acne formulation is a list all of us must make for ourselves and note down everything we want to work on. Start working on it and cross out any item that you manage to kick. In fact what better time that Ramadan when Shaytan is in chains and the only thing to deal with is your Nafs-do not underestimate it though. It is a very powerful opponent!
So you may have something like this:
Distractions in Salah-KICK!
Music-Kicked faaaaaaarrrr awayyyyy!
And so on and so forth inshaAllah
4) I was conscious of my pimple the entire time! Whether I was hanging out with friends and family(who BTW were no help with their 'Oh look! You got a pimple!' Like hello.I own a mirror thank you very much), attending lectures, praying, sitting, eating, talking...you get the picture?
Now imagine this-if I were THIS conscious of Allah my entire life, if I felt him whether alone or with people, how much more easier would resisting temptations be?! SubhanAllah!
5) I am thankful that it was just one tiny pimple instead of an acne breakout, I am thankful I have rarely had to deal with this stuff compared with the many sisters who have had much worse issues with it, especially during teenage, I am thankful it was a pimple-can you even imagine the worse possibilities that could have occurred? I am thankful I have a nose that made it possible for me to even get a pimple there! Alhamdulillah!
Now this is not the first time I have had such thoughts but imagine how a little thing like a pimple can help you put your life in perspective again and make you realize!
So sisters start imagining that pimple on your face and realize the blessings of Allah and reflect :D
Peace!
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