One day at a time.

I'm not in AA or anything, I just felt compelled to remind myself (and by extension, you) that it can be easy to overdo it sometimes when embarking on something new. This can lead to some not-so-awesome results. So far I haven't gone too crazy with this blogging thing even though I haven't missed a day yet. But that doesn't mean I need to go and put myself in traction trying new things. The exercise portion of this post will explain. So to everyone who may be thinking "If SHE can do it, I can too!" then you're right, but you might also not be able to do what I can't do. So take it easy, ok?

Sometimes the very first search result is the best.

Keep going to see my mom shout-out.
EXERCISE
So I don't know if you read the comments on this blog, but if you do, then you know that my mom has started her own little self-improvement regimen which is including some physical activity and now volunteering at a thrift store where she lives. She rocks.

Speaking of rocks though, she recently went a little overboard and did some brick landscaping in her yard (she has like, 3 green thumbs); spent hours cleaning out the dog kennels (they breed German Shorthairs for hunting); and walked to Walgreens which is about 2 miles from her house. This is a woman who has had surgeries on both hands and feet, a busted-up rotator cuff, and no idea what the word "limitations" means. I love her for her gumption but she does overdo it sometimes and was pretty darn sore last week as a result. I called her today and said "Take it easy buddy" and then what did I do? I foolishly tried to do this yoga routine at 11:20 p.m. (I suggest you skip the ad):

Now you can watch about 30 seconds of that and know where this is going. I was laughing at minute 07:30 and saying, "WHAT???!!" at 12:15. It would have been great to have some kind of description in the title like "This will kick your beehive" or "So you think you can yoga?" or something. I didn't do all the moves or even most of them, but my shoulders still hurt, my neck feels wonky, and I think I broke my knee (slight exaggeration).

Long story short, I need to move from lay-down-stretching yoga to standing-up-moving yoga more slowly and with some incremental steps. It's ok mom, you can go ahead and laugh at me now.

Health Tip of The Day: You are not Super Woman or you probably wouldn't be reading this blog. Neither am I. Let's slow it down together! Tomorrow? I borrow a walker with tennis balls on the back legs from my RA friend.

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ISLAM
Tonight was Midweek Halaqa day so I bombed down to Pleasantville (I shouldn't say "bombed" should I?) for some knowledge from Sh. Hatem. Boy did he deliver! We're still going through Al-Ubudiyyah: How to Be a True Slave of Allah and judging by how long his copy was face-down on the table today, we will be for a while. That's fine. It's all relevant.

He talked about how you can really only be free once you have become a complete slave of Allah. If you don't do that, you will ultimately be a slave to something(s) in this life: Your boss, your money, your spouse, your desires etc. As usual, he also found a way to segue this into being grateful to Allah for every single thing you have, without exception. Who knows—you might wake up blind tomorrow morning. It happens. He told us about a very successful and powerful member of his family who at age 30 was diagnosed with MS. Within months he was bedridden and slowly lost all of his faculties, just like that. Main takeaway which I have heard him say many times but it still bears even more repeating:

"If you don't feel entitled to anything, you will be grateful for everything and will never grieve over any loss." -Sh. Hatem al-Haj


He doesn't mean that you won't be sad if a loved one dies or you experience other loss. He means grieve in the debilitating sense. This is very important. We were given so many things without ever having to lift a finger—our sight, our intellect, our ability to attempt really hard yoga poses—how can we complain if our generous benefactor takes one of these freebies away? Enjoy what you still have and thank Him for it. 


***Disclaimer: If I ever sound preachy on this blog, I apologize. That tone is really meant for me. These reminders are to myself first and if I get nothing else from this project I hope to have a written  record of all of those moments from classes/lectures/conversations where I put my head down in humility upon hearing something. Tonight at class I had several such moments so there you go.