It’s still hard to believe that after three years, life is slowly returning to old days, including traveling. When I thought Sydney was more than enough this year, then another trip came only few months after that.
This time, it’s way of traveling that we have never been done before. Out of initial plan.
The past few weeks and months, I felt like dealing with the same old and new me while dealing with traveling thing. I am still the same old person who is very determined and detailed in planning, but certain part is totally unrecognizable.
I always know that I am good at waiting, although the reason might not be clear. Sometimes, I am questioning myself too what I have been waiting for. Just click buy and move on to the next thing. Why torture yourself for weeks instead? But still, I just chose to suffer.
When it comes to traveling, I feel like having this different tables inside my brain about few different itineraries with their own strengths and weaknesses. Funnily, these tables were not even fixed. After weeks of feeling certain that those choices were the only way to go, suddenly, I could restart from the beginning and resetting everything again to completely different plans. It was mostly a sudden new insight that came into my mind.
The old me would have started packing right after the visa was granted, mostly two or three months beforehand, but now, up to two weeks, my luggage was still sitting nicely on the cupboard. I wasn’t so sure what I was waiting for.
Previously, I was so sure a transit it’s fine as long as the time and price fit. Then, I found the airline rating was pretty bad. So, I considered another option. When I found one that had a good rating, I was still being hesitant once again. The greedy in me wanted more.
While waiting for this, I suddenly found the price that I had been looking for consistently for weeks. Then, when I was about to type the card number, I started thinking once again. This one fitted the time and price, but with a transit.
I ended up not with the lowest I could get, but it was the best indeed.
As the date of the departure is getting closer, my anxiety is slowly rising. Pre-pandemic travel gave me excitement, but the post ones are making me more cautious. I’ve been wondering why we adult has so many fears inside? Or is it just me?
Since the first time we traveled abroad as a family, we always stay in one city for 7 days. Enjoyed the city as slow as possible (although it was also a soft translation of not having enough to afford more). But this time, we would move to three different countries in 7 days. It’s scary. I didn’t plan to, but, as always, a travel twist made us taking such options.
Well, I wish nothing but hopefully we will survive this new season of traveling safe and sound. We never know if we don’t try. Right? Please, it is.
After having a summer trip in the east, off we go for another summer trip to the west.
The more I see, observe, and experience, I come to conclusion that everyone is alone.
This life is a solo trip that everyone takes alone. We indeed have companies along the way, but they just crossed paths with us during the trip.
When you travel alone, no wonder sometimes or many times, you’ll get confused. You feel like you don’t know where to go, no matter how detailed you make your plans. You’ll face countless periods when the trip doesn’t go according to your schedule.
This makes the phrase “Know thyself” hit right on the spot. Maybe this solo trip is all about the journey to know ourselves, to realize who we truly are, then live accordingly.
In my country, usually, the confusion starts when it’s time to choose universities after graduating from high school. I think it’s exactly the real solo trip begins after traveling safely with the family for the last 18 years. Maybe some of us begin earlier. But, in general, most of us start at 18.
It’s the beginning of the period of asking endless questions that we ask ourselves. But, based on my observations, not everyone bother to look for the answers.
I have been dealing with many 20s-something in a boot camp where I have volunteered since last year. I am pretty sad whenever I listen to the indifferent tone when they tell me about what they do in life.
I wish everyone understands how precious your 20-s something. It’s one of the most critical periods in one’s life; one should use well and live it to the fullest. This period is all about something you need and want to do yourself. Whatever it is.
The period when you can decide everything on your own, the period where you can go wrong without bearing too many consequences, the season of life you can learn as much as you can, from anyone, from anywhere.
I am not saying that life stops there. But, the next session in life would give you a different set of questions to deal with. For this thing, I have also seen enough examples of the consequences when one is not working on their own 20-s issue. The impact is more extensive than their own lives.
This is one of my biggest fears in raising my daughter.
I am afraid I’m not (or we’re not) raising her well enough to have enough curiosity to ask some crucial questions about herself and her life and the ability to find the answers herself.
I hope when her time comes to start her solo trip, she won’t merely survive. I want her to thrive.
I want her to have lots of courage to deal with real-life problems. I want her to keep going no matter how much and hard she falls. I want her to not only chase pleasure, but I wish her to pursue meaning. I want her to understand the giant bug that prevents her from achieving anything that she wants to accomplish is always inside. I want her to consult not only me or her father or whoever advisor she trusts, but most importantly, I want her to consult Her Creator for every decision she makes because He is the only One who can guide and protect her from any harm in life. After all, whatever she does, wherever she is, again, she is on her own. I want her to involve Her Creator in everything she does in life.
As an 8yo, she asks many questions, and I hope she will keep doing so. I am grateful we have Google now. But Google is there to give some insights. It answers our preliminary questions, but its job stops there. We can use that for the next step, but the honest answer to our most essential life questions will never be found in Google. We have to keep looking to find the best solution where we finally feel at peace.
Tears couldn’t help flowing whenever this thought struck. Guess I have said enough for now.
Wow, a few writings in a row for the past few days. Well done, you, keep going.
It’s the best time of the day where I have all the silence needed for me without interruption and distractions.
My set of personal morning routines have been running since two last Ramadan. The first two hours after waking up are dedicated for taking care things that matter the most for me. All the conversations inside the head, all the plan for the day, all the to do lists, they were organized at this time. When it feels hard inside, this is also the best time to ‘consult’, to ‘nag’, to be very demanding to the One who takes care all affairs. Problems won’t go right away, but, at least, you know you have filed the complaint.
My working hours start once adzan subuh heard. Breakfast, lunch boxes, early morning lessons, and many more.
After I am done with things in the kitchen, I’ll open my laptop and start exercising with Heather Robertson. Heather has been my daily exercise companion since 4 years ago. No day passed without meeting her on youtube, wherever I am, home or away.
Done with Heather, I proceed for dhuha prayer.
By 7.10 am, my kitchen is closed and cleaned, I get my morning endorphins and all most important personal routines done. Time to leave for school delivery.
This is what happens 7 days a week, most of the time. Except no lunch boxes preparation on weekend.
School delivery is done before 8 am. If it’s odd date, I will proceed with my morning walk. If it’s even date, where I send the little girl by car, it means cleaning up at home. Or, a proper nap time.
Morning walk is my most look forward routine. 6000 steps are the main goal. Usually, boulangerie or grocery becomes the main destination. If it’s not, then I just walk leisurely until it’s time to return by the public transportation. There would be time when I don’t feel like walking. Then, I’ll choose the longer bus route to go home for reading. I usually arrive at home around 10-10.30 am.
The little store that has been surviving for 6 years opens at 10 am and that when I start working part time from home.
The period between 10 am until school pick up is mostly about taking care my place.
Some cleaning, that’s for sure.
Some cooking, if there’s a pressure. Some pressure like the fridge is quite empty while the food storage boxes is full.
Some laundry, if it’s already the deadline. This is my least favorite chore of all.
Without cooking pressure or laundry deadline, then I will be taking some nap or doing some research for the on-going plans. Whenever I have plans that make me excited, my mind is rarely on the rest mode.
After midday, it’s time to prepare for school pick up . Afternoon spent more for taking care the little girl’s afternoon classes while replying customer chat, social media scrolling and being couch potato in between.
Dinner preparation usually starts at five.Here, dinner serves before 6 pm. I want my kitchen cleaned and closed before maghrib prayer. The little store is also closed by 6 pm. So, all works in a day are done by that time.
Above 6.30 pm is reading time for everyone until the last prayer of the day. By 8.30 pm, most of the time, the house is already in the dark mode.
Every two weeks, I have evening class every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday where I volunteer to be a moderator for online English speaking class discussion. It’s something that I really enjoy doing. For the last two batches, the founder asked me to teach some of the classes. Some of them were pretty good. I realize that I am doing better at listening than talking.
From others, it may look mundane, but for me it’s an ideal daily life that I look forward to each day. I love how each thing that I consider important in life has the their own time slot. The only one which I am struggling is to find a fixed slot for writing. I desperately want a dedicated time slot for writing but still find it’s hard to be committed, although I have tried several ways like turnin on the reminder, etc.
This one is finished after the early morning prayer and before the early morning shfit starts. It’s only doable when it’s weekend.
Despite of whatever excuse I have about writing regularly, this is a little struggle that keeps me sane along the way. So, maybe I’ll just be struggling then. It’s not a (good) life without a bit of struggle here and there, isn’t?
We were on the way to school last Monday when a song heard from the radio. After the few first seconds of the intro : “Is this time after time?”
“Exactly,”
Listened for a while then asked again : “Is this a remake?”
100 points to Gryffindor. Other than her strong memory, her ears are indeed one of the best part of her.
Couldn’t help taking my phone and recording this.
The video and the vocal might not be the best quality, but, I hope a session of carpool karaoke on the way to school with mommy becomes one of her strong core memories, as it is for me.
The period of so many drafts yet not even one could be published because it’s always stuck after few paragraphs.
It feels like too much distractions around since the last post. Or maybe, let’s point all the finger to the opposite direction. I take the blame for allowing myself being distracted too often in the past few weeks.
The conversation inside the head is still loud as usual, few important things are on the table which needed to be addressed, yet, couldn’t help silencing them with quick dopamine flow and try to avoid the real work.
I am actually writing this to distract myself from the nervousness of talking in front of audience in less than an hour. This is one of few important things I wrote above. Accepted the offer with the number, have prepared quite thoroughly, yet, talking is not the forte. But, it’s something that I want and need to do. It’s been a while since the last time I heard my heart beating so loudly while my hands are sweaty.
Whenever something is too overwhelming inside the head, the mind spells this casts :
Eid holiday is one of those periods where I always want it to end soon rather than last longer. The multiple house visits, the endless eating, and loud noises have always been overwhelming. I need nap time in between.
We’re having two Eids this year. I joined those who celebrated it on Friday. It was quite peaceful and nice actually. Did the prayer around the area then enjoyed riding around the empty and silent Jakarta to find one that I’ve been craving for along Ramadan :
After several attempts, found this proper Mie Ayam in one of co-working spaces in SCBD.
Before the Bakmie, we stopped by my mum and grandma’s graveyards and proceed to chocolaterie in Senopati for a gift for my aunt and my parents. Then we visited my aunt. Came home right before Dzuhur and we had a long nap. The best Eid day looked like this.
The Friday Eid crowd
The second day of Eid (or the first day for many), had a quick visit to three houses and managed to have proper nap time in my other aunt’s house. This year Eid wasn’t as loud as the previous years. So, it was quite tolerable actually, except, it was scorching hot. Right before Asr, we had already settled down in the carpet and bed at home.
The doctor huge family gathering usually takes place in Solo, but this year, it was in Malang. We chose to go by plane since the train ride was too long and tiring. Only stayed for one day in Malang.
The family gathering itself was quite pleasant compared to previous years ones. It was more relax, fun and less crowded.
I truly appreciate the people behind the event and who worked so hard to make this happen. It made all the unusually high Eid ticket fare, huge effort for a brief trip worth it.
They made a book about the root of the family from the first until the now the sixth generation. They made a name tag for each one of us. Different colors showed from which generation they’re from. I was just a bit sorry that the whole family had to put up with my daughter out of pitch voice for three times from Let it Go, The Sound of Music, and last one was duet with her father. Less skill yet highly confident, she is.
I kept the book as a souvenir and also a reminder about how short life is, the important one is the present. Everyone mostly will become a memory in three generations.
At first, I thought 27 hours there would be too short, it turned out it was more than enough. Experienced two services from one of the famous and highly hyped restaurants and a legendary one there, totally unimpressed by the service they provided.
But, we managed to visit one of the french patisseries which deserves two thumbs up during our morning walk. It’s well-run, well-designed and serious patisserie which opened at 7am and offers wide range of pastry and cake selection. We had three different choices and quite happy with everything we ordered.
Funny that we went far to Malang only to have sets of french pastry instead of nasi pecel. Didn’t find any single warung pecel open along the four kilometers of our morning walk. What even funnier was the patisserie flocked with the locals too.
One of the brainstorming accounts in social media stated this phenomena few weeks ago. These days, urbanization is no longer about people from small cities move to a big one but more of the behavior change and culture. They’re no longer move to the big city, but they adopt big city lifestyles in their hometown. Having breakfast with french pastry looks like one of them.
The taxi driver we met also confirmed the the same thing. Malang is no longer the city for retirement but since 2010, it’s the city for investment.
chocolate cake, Paris Brest, and something au fromage.
Well, that’ all for this year Eid. Alhamdulillah.
May we’ll be granted a chance to meet another one next year healthy and happy. Amin.
The end of Ramadan is here and as always it’s sad.
Time indeed flies when we’re having fun. This year, in spite all the feeling inside, the fasting has been fun.
It’s little girl third Ramadan since she started learning to fast. This time, she is doing it properly for the whole month. No more having ifthar in the middle of the day.
I love how she enjoys the fast. Enjoy means she is doing it effortlessly. Easy to wake up in the morning, no sahoor drama, doing her activities as usual, including the swimming training. She’s been so eager to assist her father while he cooked, helped me baking the cookies, making a simple refreshment for ifthar. We heard close to zero whining all through this Ramadan.
The early holiday helped. Considering Jakarta’s weather all through the month, staying inside is a better option while you fast.
She is the only one at home who managed to complete 100% tarawih and fasting altogether. Not many a 8-yo could do that. I love her perseverance and determination for doing that. May Allah keeps such spirit alive.
Amin.
At the end of this Ramadan, I am beyond grateful to finally have two huge concerns that have been around on my mind lifted. The uneasy feeling told on the previous post mostly about these two things.
This academic year, the little girl would have a new teacher in YPM due to the conflicting schedule of her previous teacher. The teacher had been sounding a name which I had totally no idea who it was. Googling and stalking didn’t help since the teacher had protected account.
The whole through Ramadan, I had been constantly asked for her to be with someone who will understand her. A teacher who would focus on her strengths instead of her weakness. Having a special need kid is getting harder when they’re older. People might not understand and just judge without having willingness to understand what’s the story behind. I found myself thinking to explain everything in advance. Having a teacher who wants to understand matters. Also about the schedule.
We really enjoyed having an early morning Saturday session with the previous teacher. Seven am piano lesson worked best with us. It didn’t disturb the school days. With the name the teacher gave, it might be impossible to have the same schedule since she has two kids. I have been quite uneasy about who her new teacher would be for many reasons.
Last Sunday the answer finally came. It was near ifthar when a text came from the previous teacher. She apologized that the new teacher turned out to be another name other than the one she had been briefing about.
Looking at the name on the screen, as if some huge stone was taken out of my chest.
The new teacher would be her last year theory teacher whom we’re already familar with, whom I have been known around through her social media posts which I am quite happy about. A psychologist who is also familiar with a special need kid, a kind one too judging from the whole year interaction on the last year theory class although it was fully online class. She was there when the little girl did this year final exam and she was kindly said the words encouragement to her. She has been teaching for six years and consistently appeared on the teacher’s concert.
I was even more grateful when I texted her to discuss the lesson schedule. She asked what our usual schedule looked like with previous teacher. Told her it was Saturday at 7am. Then she offered almost exactly the same time. Just few minutes latter.
That was one of the periods where it shows for the countless time there’s something bigger than this little creature who will take care all the affairs that has been worried about. Something that no human mind could afford to make it happen. It’s nothing but the work of The One who arranges everything to the smallest detail.
That Sunday was one of the highlights of this year Ramadan.
Another huge worry was also lifted yesterday. Been worrying about this matter for the past two weeks when I was accidentally found a huge loophole in one of the future plans. Think about it now, maybe the finding meant to help me to figure out how to deal with it within the timeframe instead of knowing when everything was too late. For the past two weeks, I’ve been doing everything within my ability about this. Spelling continous prayers to ask the help from the Most Powerful. The frustration and the tension for the past two weeks were too overwhelming sometimes.
Yesterday was the execution time. My dzikr had been too loud and desperate along the way. We were about asking something to beat the system. When the question finally asked, the officer excused herself to ask her superior and she came back in few minutes with a yes. The sound of my Alhamdulillah was quiet loud that time.
(You’ve endured well, my heart)
That was one of the periods when I was reminded once again how helpless we are as human, how little control we have and all those problems should be humbling us enough. With one twist, every good thing would be easily messed. With another, all the worry could be wiped right away.
Well, this would be the closing post for this Ramadan.
We did out last taraweh and now we’ll have our last sahoor. Alhamdulillah.
Doing the whole fasting month in good health, enjoying all the rituals are two of the greatest blessings this Ramadan brings.
May Allah receives all the worship and grant a chance to meet another Ramadan. Amiin.
It’s nothing big, just the uneasy feeling here and there, now and then, all through this month. Or maybe it started way before that.
It feels like nothing is going well. Little things that missed the point, curable but still doesn’t feel right. There’s always been something off for the past few 20 days of this Ramadan that cause continuous anxiety. Everything seems fine but nothing really works right.
The missing shoelaces. Bought new ones, problems with delivery. Took out the long kept tea pot from the cupboard, broke it right away while it hit the sink tap. Missed a crucial point of an important appointment and that makes the anxiety stays for days (until now). A blocked bank card due to forgotten PIN.
Being in this situation once again reminds me how little control we have for everything in life. No matter how meticulous the preparation and the plan, things still could turn out to be not as we expected.
Looking back all the pattern that has been going in my life, it usually relates to things that I plan doing for others but end up forgotten or changed mind due to insignificant reasons. Usually, if I have that intention then just cancel it for any reasons, life will take it exactly the same amount what I plan to give without my permission, in any ways possible.
In spite of the pain, I love that my warning always comes quick and brief. What becomes longer is my dialogue on the praying mat at the end of night. I keep auditing myself for everything. The only consolation that I could seek from. Especially when the last 10 days of Ramadan are here.
I have been wanting to write this for days. I am glad I finally did.
I want to say hoping everything would get better, but instead, I think I would ask for the strength to face whatever things coming. Amin.
So, we received this year Piano exam result yesterday.
Last year result set a high benchmark which was quite hard to beat. More than sure, it would be too good to be true to achieve the same result this year. But, we expect at least it won’t be too far from last year one.
It turned out to be not as good as we expected.
The poin jumped down by ten points. The awards shorten by many lines.
She cried hard and sobbing loudly after knowing the result. She said, “ I thought I did well!”. It was funny than sad actually watching her coping with this.
If that was the result we received for the first time, I think I would definitely dance joyfully. Few awards and goes to prize concert in June was quite big. To say it’s bad is quite ungrateful actually.
Comparison is a thief of joy indeeed, isn’t it?
But, evaluating the situations needed.
Last year exam done by recording exam due to pandemic. It wasn’t a usual practice. But, no other options. The exam should be recorded in one long video without stop then submitted the recording to the exam google drive. She did quite well for all the five pieces.
This year, the school slowly returns to normal exam but they still give options. Students can choose whether they want to do online (by zoom, not recording) or offline, face to face.
I didn’t have any hesitations about choosing between the two. Face to face is the only way to go. There’s no use going for another year of online exam. She needs to experience offline exam as soon as possible.
Last year, time for practice was available abundantly. School was still doing more online than offline. No morning rush to the school so we could do our morning practice leisurely.
This year, as school has fully returned to offline, five times a week, time for practice reduces significantly. Some of the days, we could only manage to get 10 minutes.
Since the beginning of the year, we started having afternoon practice knowing the morning one is not enough. But, I think morning is still the best time to practice. The morning energy is totally different with the afternoon.
Last year, we chose all the five pieces by ourselves. Those five pieces were highly enjoyable. The set of five songs played in order was exciting. The combination between the low and slow pieces taking turn between the fast paced and grand pieces were beautiful. Watching her playing the whole set was so entertaining.
This year, when the teacher suggested the exam pieces, that was quite surprising. All the pieces chosen were downgraded in terms of technical requirements and mostly not as enjoyable as last year ones. I once asked about this to the teacher . She said this grade required the students to start playing etude and they had to choose two pieces of etude and that was quite hard.
Okay, so we chose two safe and easy compulsory etudes for the exams. But, what was even more surprising, the teacher also chose equally safe and easy songs for the optional pieces. Three equally safe and easy songs. All has only one page consist of four rows. Simple notes and melody.
I was trying not to be too fussy, but I asked the little girl to ask her teacher to at least play one or two that would be more entertaining. We couldn’t do much about the boring etudes since they are compulsory but we can do something about the optional ones.
Among the three optional songs, two were finally changed to slightly difficult ones, although it’s as short as the intial choice. One song remained the same.
For the exam, whether it is recording, online via zoom, or offline face to face, they will only play three songs out of five. The jurors will choose the three songs that they will listen in recording, or the song to play for the online and offline.
We practiced the five pieces equally but it’s unavoidable to have preferences. Not really equally I think, I demand her to practice more the for the harder one, and she voluntarily practice more for the song she prefers more than the others. One etude is more preferable than the other one. Among three optional pieces, one song is also played better than the other two. Why better?Because she loved it, because the songs allowed her to love it. It is only three bars but allows different mood in playing it.
On the exam day, she got one etude which was less preferable one, the song she played the best, and another easy one that included from the beginning. I actually had no idea what happened inside, but she exited from the exam room with a happy face.
So be it then. After all, our control stopped at the efforts. Result is never ours to decide.
When we finally got the result, I was torn between disappointed and unsurprised. Among the three songs she played, she only got a single award for that one particular song that she played best. That’s it.
Let’s compare this year awads with last year.
She got awards for all three pieces she played last year along with the second place spot for her year while only got one single award for this year without knowing where she sits for this year. That one piece really saved our heart I think. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel if she missed everything.
Here’s when I thought the feeling towards the song should be taken into account when choosing a piece. I have been a piano teacher for 15 years and now exclusively teaching my daughter after we moved to London. During that 15 years, I joined five years of school competitions with my students.
Not all student could compete. Competition is not concert. As a teacher, I set personal requirements for those who can join the competition. I don’t want to waste months of time and energy, since competition is not compulsory.
Only one that really could spare time to work hard for the competition among any other their responsibilities, can bear long hours of practice, and enjoy being scolded regularly that are eligible to register. Why setting such requirements? Because, they will compete with such students from many other teachers. Without having those requirements fulfilled, they will lose even before they play on the stage.
Among five years where I joined the school competition, there was no single year my student came home empty hands. For my last year of teaching, two students enrolled, both came home with first winner prize.
Such result is actually start from a little thing called choosing the right piece. I could spend hours to sit and think about which piece should be played by each student according to their competition level by grade, according to their best strengths, judging how less known the song is. The less popular the better.
Back to the exam results above, it also confirmed the same thing. When it comes to performing, choosing the right song matters a lot. Winning a competition starts by choosing the right song to play.
Well, I rest my case here.
The real deal about dealing with disappointment is actually not the on theday when it happened, but on the days after we brought it to sleep. It would be the first one you think about after waking up in the morning. A year of hard work will keep flashing back on your mind, the countless rigorous practice sessions we had done, and many more.
But, is it all bad? Of course not. By getting the result, we are able to know what works and what don’t. Through this year results, we know being on the top couldn’t be achieved by doing bare minimum practice. Last but not least, this year result gives easier standard to achieve better next year compared to what last year done to this year.
With 99 last year, where should we go other than going down?
Guess I am done with my coping.
Writing always helps.
Breathe in, breathe out, let’s return to 90 bracket next year. Bismillah.
The worst thing is when it’s Ramadan and you’re not fasting.
I am not talking about judgement towards anything or anyone, but, when the period comes. In my case, physically and mentally, I feel so much uncomfortable when I don’t fast more than when I do.
The headache, the urge to lay down all day doing nothing, being exempted from any rituals like salah and tilawah, and no excitement towards ifthar. It’s funny that I feel more thirsty when I don’t fast more than when I do until I keep refilling my glass all day. My tummy keeps growling loudly all day as if it hasn’t being fed for days. These are quite frustrating actually.
I’ve been fasting regularly since 2003, so it’s been around 20 years already. My regular is the Monday-Thrusday sunnah one. It becomes the days that I look forward to in a week. When the period comes, I am always be quick to finish it until I could take the compulsory bathing few times in two days just because I want to resume all the rituals as soon as possible.
When I think more about this, I guess it’s not only about the fast or the salah itself. I think it’s more about how uncomfortable to live without any limits. Days without five times prayers feel longer and it’s totally not excited when you have nothing to look forward to. Weeks without Monday-Thursday fast are less appealing because there’s no break from regular eating.
As a moslem, I find that many of us tend to plan something according to prayer time. The remarks “after dzuhur”, “before maghrib” are quite common here. The more I thought about it, that five times prayers are actually daily discipline training. I tend to finish any works to do according to these prayers time.
Instead of burden, the five times prayers are actually ones who give rest between the busy schedule. Just like a piece of music, what makes meaning in a song is not only the notes which produce melodies, but also the silence from the rest sign.
It goes the same with fasting. That instant full tummy feeling right after small ifthar consists of a cup of hot tea, a piece of date, and a scoop of rice tell that we don’t need much to make us fulfilled.
The more I learn, the more I think it’s such a privilege to be a moslem. Both daily prayer and fasting included among five pillars of Islam are not by accident or randomly picked, but truly carefully design by the best Life Designer Himself.
Things that we see as something that we’re being asked to do (or restricted from) are actually everything that we exactly need to live well. It’s more liberating than restricting. It’s more make sense than we could’ve imagined.
(I could go on with zakat, it’s on the draft, but, it’s trickier to put the words about that than I thought).
This post is surprisingly the first instantly written and published one after a while. Then, a blessing in disguise of not fasting, eh?
Finished this writing on 7Q bus BLOK M-PGC. One that I have never tried before during my post school-delivery morning walk.
Have a nice day!
The bus stop in front of Brawijaya Hospital Duren Tiga, 9 Ramadan 1444H.
A Penny for My Pensieve 