Essential Ramadan Prep (Part 3/4): Awakened Thankfulness

Assalaamu'alaykum,

No one likes to think of themselves as ungrateful.

For it’s an ugly word and an even uglier state to fall into. 

But, let's be honest, how often do we pause and assess whether our words and actions reflect a grateful heart?

If we examine our human design, research suggests that we’re hard-wired to notice and remember the negatives in people and situations. 

Meaning, that we can acknowledge the good in people and things, but if something negative occurs, we often overlook all the positives in that moment and focus solely on the negative.

Recently, a client shared an incident involving an argument with her spouse.

She felt offended by his words and in that moment, her focus narrowed entirely on the insult. 

All the years of goodness she’d received from him and the value she’d grown to love and appreciate in him, vanished from her mind. 

All that occupied her thoughts was, “How dare he do this to me?!” 

What followed were intense arguments and an escalated situation that blew out of proportion, leading to much regret afterwards.

After the event, she walked away feeling bruised, ashamed and filled with remorse.     

Looking back, she recognised that if she’d exercised enough self-control to view the situation through a lens of gratitude, she would’ve approached her husband in a more balanced and composed manner, achieving three benefits:

• The barakah of Allah SWT
• A more emotionally regulated state
• Better outcomes

Embracing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the most powerful perspective enhancers inherent within us. 

This is one of the many reasons why we dedicate an entire session each month to nurturing the power of gratitude in my Breaking Barriers coaching group.

During each of these sessions, we explore various aspects of life and delve into the layers of gratitude, extracting its full meaning to enrich our hearts and perspectives, cultivating a profound sense of appreciation for Allah's blessings. 

In reality, unless we regularly train our minds to maintain a grateful perspective daily, ingratitude becomes an easy state to fall into.

Perhaps this is why Allah repeatedly reminds us in the Quran of the rewards for those who are grateful and warns us of the grave consequences of being ungrateful (14:7).

Sadly, this week, I lost another beloved relative of mine…

"To Allah belongs what He takes and what He gives, and everything has a limited period (in this world) …" ~ Bukhari

It was another stark reminder that life is incredibly fragile and uncertain.

Our time with others is not guaranteed.

Our time to show Allah that we are grateful servants is limited. 

In preparation for Ramadan, we can use this time to nurture grateful hearts, to appreciate our loved ones and elevate our thoughts and perspectives by using gratitude to help us focus on what’s important.

And more importantly, to help us present ourselves in the best way in front of our Rabb (Lord), who describes Himself as Ash-Shakoor - The Most Appreciative One.  

P.S. If you want to work on shifting your perspectives and aligning your efforts with your highest spiritual values and aspirations, click HERE to schedule a 1:1 discovery call with me to explore your current challenges and discuss personalised strategies to help you bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to be. 

P.P.S. We’re busy behind the scenes putting together our third round of The Travellers (open to all). Register your interest HERE to be the first to know once we go live!