Tick Tock, goes the clock

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read, originally uploaded by Rabujee.

Its that time of year again for us girls here at Symph-Discord AND for all Muslims around the world to celebrate =).

The phones have been ringing off the hook with Ramadan greetings, in fact I just had a 10 minute conversation, complete with the formal hellos and informal jokes, without even recognizing who I was talking to! (Sorry lady, if it makes you feel better, I thoroughly enjoyed our talk). But you know what? It doesn't matter! Stranger, friend, whoever you are, Happy Ramadan to you and yours!

And if you're not a Muslim and don't celebrate, well happy Ramadan to you too. Find a Muslim and have an "Iftar" (opening of the fast) with them, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

If you're wondering what the heck this Ram-a-dan thing is, then take a few minutes to read these great posts from a year ago. Yes, last year!!! I can't believe time has flown by so fast.

So in my preparation for this blessed month, I'd been thinking on the best strategy to tackle it and get the most out of it (as is everyone else I'm sure), when I had a good conversation with a wise friend from among these here bloggers. She gave me really good advice which, come to think of it, can be extended to just about anything in life!

Because a lot of Muslims set goals at the beginning of the month, I also go through this exercise each year. One of my goals, always always always, is to finish reading the Quran once from cover-to-cover during the month. (The Quran is 30 chapters). WELLLLLLLL, I'm going to be honest here, I have never gotten to completing that goal. EVER.

Sad as it is, its the truth because even though I take out extra time from my hectic life ESPECIALLY for that, I only get half-way through or 3/4's or somewhere in between.

Like CA mentioned in her recent post, the Quran is written in Arabic and it is highly recommended to be read that way if the reader is able. If not, then its his/her duty to try and learn the recitation in the best way possible. My native tongue is Urdu and as you probably noticed, I can read and write English too, thankuverymuch.

Arabic? Nada, zilch, zerooooo. Other than a few common words with Urdu, I can't really understand or form sentences enough to get what I recite. (I can read it fluently though which is lucky for me because there's no better feeling than to be able to read it in its true original words).

Luckily the Quran is translated in many languages so that's what I like to do, read the Arabic, along with the translation. THIS slows me down and at the end of the month I feel like a loser for not having completed my goal.

BUT, here's the thing, as someone said to me...FORGET THE NUMBERS!! Forget the 30 WHOLE chapters, forget how many verses you've done, forget the QUANTITY of what you read/do. Its all about the quality and the understanding and the meaning you EXTRACT from what you're reading. So there, my friends I can now set a new goal.

Which is.... hopefully hopefully hopefully to try to understand as much of what I can get through this month but never forget the bottom line: am I reading just to read? Or am I reading to grasp?

You know what else this makes me think? Excess. Get. Rid. of. IT!

We ALL have so many NUMBERS in our lives, too much of something but is it really beneficial to us?

Too many facebook friends (that you never talk to face to face, in this case maybe you SHOULD talk to them face to face, makes the world a friendlier place).

Too many distractions (texting, IM'ing, emailing).

Too much FOOD that isn't really good for you (fast food, junk food).

You get the point, right? Then there's just one thing left to say: What's the thing none of us can ever have too much of?

Time.

Yes, we're running out of time... With family. With friends. With ourselves. Running out of time to do good things.

So yea, keep the quality in your life, and don't worry about the quantity.

One of my coworkers told me today shes made the decision to go part-time because shes running out of time with her 3 year old daughter whose growing up way too fast. She doesn't want to miss out on all the cuteness and memories and bonding, so shes making this bold move which could effect her career, but its the more satisfactory decision in the long run. I was extremely happy for her.

Anyhoo I gotta go get started on my goal, don't you?

Disclaimer: I am in NO way endorsing procrastination or mediocrity. These will be harmful to you so try at your own risk.