Reflections from "Your Best You"

Alhamdulillah, yesterday was the "Your Best You" event, a first-time for the College Park MWM... so it was very exciting and the event was just wonderful! It was divided into 4 different Workshop sessions: Role in MSA, Relationship with Allah, Leadership, and Role Post-Graduation. I just wanted to share with you some notes that I took (in the cute little notebooks they made for us =) ) throughout the beginning portion of the seminar (since a lot of it was interactive but still very beneficial!). Just as a side note, I remind myself before I remind anyone else.

For the Main Session with Dr. Fatimah Jackson (Professor at UMCP):

"The believer does not put down her right foot unless she knows where she is putting it."

6 Attributes of Positive People:

1. Be Quiet- at least once a day, take time to reflect. Peace is power to create positive things in life. Remember to speak softly and slowly (kindly and not harshly) because this attracts peace in others, savor energy and rhythm of your words.

2. Let Go- don't hold on to anything with your mind or your hands. Don't be afraid to let go of things that don't really matter. Always be open to meeting new people and exploring new ideas.

3. Let It Be- we are always going around trying to fix other people's lives and pointing out the right and wrong for them without ever really focusing on ourselves. Learn to accept people as you meet them and begin living your life instead of others'. Two key things that will help you be grateful to Allah: contentment and acceptance. Accept yourself and everything else will fall into place.

4. Listen In- use your intuition (your inner voice of wisdom). Many times, we ignore the inner voice and accept wrong ideas. Trust yourself. You can do it.

5. Wake Up- habits are programmed by our external conditioning and your behavior patterns develop. Strike out bad habits and replace them with virtues to better yourself as a person.

6. Know Yourself- behind the "I want" attitude in today's society, there are desires that made us need things we don't really need. Think about that Gucci bag or that designer shirt. Do you really need it? Happiness is a decision to bring out the personality in you and affirm that you are truly happy.

And a couple more gems to share with you:

-This is officially the COOLEST thing ever:
Did you know that the movements of your prayer (that Muslims pray 5 times a day) are actually very similar to the steps of many Yoga poses? And, just as Yoga does, prayer actually increases your blood flow, becomes a habit if not practiced often, and relaxes your inner self? How awesome is that!?

-Watch, feel, and manifest patience.

-Never believe anyone who tells you "you can never change." You can whoever it is that you want to be no matter what anyone says.

-And lastly, "If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." -Mark Twain =)

I hope you benefited from this knowledge as much as I did. Let's try to keep peaceful and maintain your inner Chi (not to sound weird or anything, haha) but just be happy with yourself!

Also, if you're in for something peaceful and just so very relaxing. I've been listening to it all evening and still can't get enough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne-On5zM8H8

I know, this has been a really long post, but I hope you learned something from it, Insha Allah.

Ma'Assalama,
Hena