Convenience is all we've ever sought ever since the invention of the wheel. We are an intelligent species, solving everything that seems like a problem in our eyes. Even when the solution is a greater problem. With the emergence of companies Jumia and the like, you might not leave your seat to buy the smallest item. Even your nearest Duuka gives free delivery services. Life is good.
This is how we have come to define a good life. Without the slightest attention to our most vital needs, yet we live this way pleasurably until the doctor obliges us to insane unfamiliar routines. For most, it's a point in our lives where we already have a lot going on yet we can't ignore the doctor's advice equally. This in turn drives you to the extreme of working out so hard to solve that which your own hands brought unto you. Letting go of your favorite dishes to a diet that may never have taste to you in the name of whatever it is you're trying to solve.
It turns out to be true what they say, "prevention is better than cure". Many never start an exercise routine until they have gained hundreds of pounds in weight, and their diet goes unchecked until their blood sugar is too high to forego a workout or the nutritionist's weekly check. How devastating, and what a life! to live in the name of convenience and compromise the significance of activity.
However much there is a lot more information today available to us than any other time in history, most of us have only managed to feed on jargon and pointless topics in entertainment, on social media, and filtered news. We live in a day and age where the source of information is so wide open, without direction. You never start learning about one subject before a pop-up leads you to another. 100% zero focus. Every news that surfaces seems to excite us. Why wouldn't it if that's what the sources of it have been designed to do, raise our dopamine levels and keep us craving for more, look at what TIK TOK has done. 3 in 10 people I have talked to about TIKTOK have deliberately deleted it from their phones, and 2 have seen how addictive it is but are not ready to delete it. only 1 talked about how we can use it in our favor, yet we still fail. This information is not intended to criticize TIKTOK in any way, the company has had a significant impact to the users who have mastered the right way to use it.
The mind, just like the body needs regular exercises, opening up new memory systems and making it smarter at perceiving, analysing and retaining especially good useful information. With sanity, the limit to which our minds learn may almost not exist at all. Many YouTube videos are out there telling you how to memorize a deck of cards and it's benefits, they actually claim it's one good exercise for your memory...Not until you find the gem I am yet to share in this article ofcourse.
Finally, we have also lost the sense of presence. When was the last time you pulled out your earphones to listen to what's around you with complete attention, voluntarily. Well, I happened to realize how much beauty I was missing when I took a walk in a new place just the other day. For some reason your eyes tend to be blind to new things when your ears are preoccupied with some other attention consuming content. You may never be in the moment, take a calm breath, or attend to something with the most of focus. This has given birth to the deliberate remedy to the problem through activities like yoga, meditation and the like, done the lift up your spirit. Basically the focus is around your breath, but in fact your mind is still racing about thoughts therein, an extreme that isn't exactly purifying for the soul.
Others have come up with routines that favor regular breaks. For example, Between your work day, taking a deliberate five minute break without distraction and stretch a little has shown some usefulness. All these we should've learnt earlier from what I will be sharing below.
To make the message here clear, the balance between body, mind, and soul tends to be unstabble as we take each of these to the extreme because of our late realization. The obese is having workout times on the verge of dropping all the weight off in two weeks, the student is having a trans 48hr final revision just before his next exam, the elderly is trying as much as possible to be the best person they can be just before their death. And what happens to all of them. Burn out!. Yes. They just burn out and restart the cycle of extremes and burn out again, again and again. Just until the fainthearted give up. Even after creating a workable routine , many are unable to be consistent. This drives us back to our first question again...What can we do at least?
With a little experience in fitness, Education and spiritual journey, no doubt the benefits of maintaining the three in balance is very vital for every individual. However I have not seen a better balanced lifestyle than that of the traditional Muslim. If you're not a Muslim, take an extra minute to read this to the end. It should be as useful as you presumed when you started reading.
With regards to the least we can do, the Muslim may be the one nearest to this simplicity and balance in lifestyle.
Firstly, the body is required to perform certain obligated motions five times a day that include standing, bowing, prostration and simple brief squats as one rises. This is one comprehensive act involving the body, mind and soul as we shall see as we read on. This is the Muslim prayer, Salat, that is observed 5 times a day. An average Muslim prayer is about 5 minutes long. Just as much as your doctor is telling you for your deliberate stretch between work. Meaning if you don't know a gym, nor this doctor's advice, you might never get the benefit of this unless you're one who observes the salat at least.
As I mentioned this is comprehensive of the three, the mind, it's adaptability and learning capacity needs to be trained often to enable us to feed it more day by day. In the salat, we are required to recite portions of Quranic verses that are important for the validity of the prayer. The should be memorised anytime prior to the prayer. Millions of people around the world have memorized this book and most if not all have one common trait, they tend to be fast brilliant learners. This glorious book is memorized word for word, letter for letter, 604 pages. We have looked at the advantages of memorizing exercises(the cards deck). The choice is yours though. A deck of cards that are pointless, or wise words we can learn from and even better, memorized in a rythmic style.
Finally, your counsellor is advising you to pay more attention to your anxiousness occasionally, lean back, take a deep breath and try to stay calm for a minute or five. The Muslim has to do this at least 5 times daily. This is an obligation and requirement for his Sakat to be valid as well, how humbling and calming. To not appreciate these gems would be really unfair. Coz I a about to blow your mind. Now this is not the time to present details of every scientific fact here but recently, science discovered that prostration actually relieves stress. Additionally, more recently, during the COVID pandemic, doctors prescribed for their patients especially COVID victims the same prostration posture to clear their lungs and get over or prevent cardiorespiratory illnesses. Among other things we can learn from the Muslim is their meditation style .By actually watching, observing nature and reflecting about its creation, observing the skies for extended periods, charity among others. Emphasis in purifying the soul has however been put on charity in Islam. The choice is yours though, you can either close your eyes and try to think of nothing yet have your mind racing, Or you can keep them open and pay solo attention to your present moment and surroundings in meaningful reflection and actually being the hero of the needy to enhance your own soul purification.
To sum it up, without boycotting or being lazy about utilizing the different solutions and means we've invented to better life, this could be the least we can do to curb the extremes of maintaining the vital three, Mind, Body, and Soul...
Peace to you
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