One quality that the truly great people of the world have in common is patience. It seems that Allah tempts and tests His anointed with sufferings in order to build up pragmatic play this quality in them as a sort of inoculation in preparation for the vicissitudes of their missions in life. In the Qur’an, Allah tells us what He describes in Sura Yusuf as “the best of all stories”. The equivalent in the Bible is the story of Joseph. This narrative is loaded with many qualities and lessons essential to authentic and lasting success; In this essay I will focus on one thing: PATIENCE.
In verse 18 of this sura, Jacob responds to the news of his son Joseph’s death: “They have stained his shirt with false blood (I) Patience is most appropriate: against what you claim, it is Allah (alone) whose help is sought can.
Here Jacob looks at his children with a stained shirt and tells him that his beloved child was devoured by a wolf, even though he knew from the start that they were up to no good. How would you have reacted if you were in Jacob’s place? Jacob chose to be patient with grace. Indeed, it is true that “patience is not how long one waits, but how one behaves while waiting.”
The curse of humanity is that patience is the only scarce commodity in our lives. Allah knows us well and said it in Surah Al-Ma’arij verse 19: “Verily man (the unbeliever) was created very impatient;” Why do we worry and make fear our trademark even if Allah us in Sura Baqara, verse 155, says unequivocally: “And We will certainly try you with something of fear and hunger and loss of wealth and life and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient: What is the cause of the tragedy that is occurring in is happening daily in the waters of the Mediterranean Sea these days, than the impatience of the people? and it is the same lack of patience that spurs on greed and hostility that causes man’s cruelty to his fellow man: the immigrants are impatient, so they pounce on the greedy traffickers whose impatience in acquiring material wealth has cost them thousands of lives jeopardizes and then the European hosts, in their impatience with those seeking their comfortable shores, fail to take adequate measures to prevent the tragedy of wasting young lives.
Show me a person impatient and impulsive and I’ll show you one well on the way to drowning safely in the turbulent waves of this fallen world. Look at the history of every great person, from Jesus to Muhammad and Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama, and you’ll see a tinge of patience. In fact, the saying is true: “Patience may hurt you, but it’s still a virtue.”
Zinedine Zidane is one of the greatest players to have ever played football; he lost his cool over a fool and then his exit from the game wasn’t cool at all. Beware of the Agent Provocateurs’ traps.
As I write these thoughts, a topic that is important to me is being worked on. It’s taken some time now, but just when I thought it was going to materialize today; I get a text message that the whole process has stalled again. My first reaction was anger and the urge to yell at those responsible for this process; but on second thought I wondered: Is Allah trying to teach me more lessons in patience? I will endeavor to remain patient while I take concerted, pragmatic steps to resolve this issue. I’m not the most patient in town, but I know my weaknesses and try to develop that quality of being really great.
And how can we now discuss patience without remembering the icon of this virtue, Prophet Job, of whom Allah said in Surah Anbiyaa verses 83-84: And [mention] Job when he called out to his Lord: “Verily ‘Adversity has touched me, and you are the most merciful of the merciful.’ So We answered him and removed what afflicted him of adversity. And We gave him his family and the like with them as a mercy from Us and as a reminder to the worshipers [of Allah ].
3 components to play your game
There are five components to playing the game:
1. There must be a purpose for it!
Before you can start you need to know what you are playing for. Use the insights from this chapter to explain why you’re playing this game. Whether it’s finding true love, creating perfect health, or developing financial prosperity and stability…you know what you want. Yogi Berra once said, “You can’t get where you want to go if you don’t know where you’re going!” Your Big One will keep you motivated and focused, especially during times when things seem fuzzy and unclear . Having a strong, short, and clear goal will keep you powerful, direct, and clear on achieving that goal.
If at any point you start questioning your big one, or if you’re not on the right track, here’s a quick pick-me-up to get you back in the game:
- Ask yourself the powerful question, “Why am I doing this and what will I gain from it?” Remind yourself what’s really in it for you!
- listen to the answer. If you sit back and listen, you’ll find the answers will flow to you. Write them down until you’re all written out!
- Question your answers and again ask why. Look at everything you have written and at each point ask why am I doing this and why do I want this?
- Check in with your heart. The truth does not exist in your head, but in your heart. Your heart is your connection to divine insight. Your affirmation is a “feeling” of knowing, a “feeling” that yes, that’s right!
The survey is an important step in this process, and it’s likely that you’ll have many opportunities to ask questions and reassess over the course of 90 days. If you get stuck, consider asking two or three trusted friends to act as a sounding board.
Once you have your big one, write it down with the words: “The purpose of my game is to ___________ [gain financial freedom, have an energetic and vibrant body, find the man/woman of my dreams, save the planet save… ]” It’s up to you to fill in the blank!
2. It has to be fun!
Ask anyone who’s ever been on a strict diet if they’ve been able to keep the weight off forever. Not! Restrictive or regimented approaches to changing your life may work for a while, but they are not recommended here. Anything not fun will dissipate before you can reach your goal. The whole point of turning The Big One into a game is that you enjoy playing it. Make it fun, engaging, interesting and adventurous! Make it something that inspires you with good feelings, that increases your feel-good hormones, and that makes you want more of them in your life!
You know the expression, “It’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you play the game that counts.” This is SO TRUE when you’re playing the game to get the big one. You have to be willing to live it, be in it, enjoy it… and pursue it from a state of joy.
If this becomes a chore, you’ll be back where you started and it will be difficult to maintain your commitment. Do you think a climber would be interested in taking such big risks if he or she didn’t enjoy the journey to the top of the mountain? If a climber starts at the bottom and thinks, oh man, I could fall, starve, freeze to death, get lost in an avalanche and die… but I’ll be damned if I can’t get to the top of that stupid mountain… There wouldn’t be much point in climbing make.
The top is the goal, but the journey to the top is where the meat and the joy of the experience lie. That’s why people bother to do it in the first place: it’s the sheer aliveness of living in the moment, the kick they get from being there and doing it. The focus is not on the future or the past, but on: Yahoo! I’m climbing a mountain! That is fun! As the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Robert M. Pirsig once so aptly put it: “Living for future purpose is skin deep. It is the sides of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
If you don’t have fun, you quickly lose interest and the upcoming tasks seem tiresome and stressful. It’s human nature to give up both the game and your involvement in it once it starts dragging you down. Find out what fun means to you and include it. Make sure you enjoy the climb and don’t miss out by waiting to enjoy yourself only when you reach the top of the mountain.
If your game is about abundance, think of FUN things that will help make making money enjoyable. When it comes to romance, make it sexy and feel the swoon. When it comes to health, choose an exercise you enjoy, a trainer that makes you laugh, or a running buddy that is fun to run with. For example, a participant in a 90 Day Game started her own business when she turned 60.
At first it seemed like an arduous task, and it created a desire for early retirement. She wasn’t having fun…yet! The fun started when she called her game Loving Being 60. One author was struggling to finish a book until she named her game Native American-style Loving-Writing-A-Book-Woman. Another person felt stuck with counseling appointments until he turned the game into “Have a great time speaking thrice a week”!
3. You must be inspired!
Without inspiration you will just go through the motions. That’s why it’s important that you choose an inspiring game. For 90 days you will live and breathe your game: you want your game to be something that inspires you to wake up in the morning! Inspiration is meant to flow through your veins like the blood of life, giving you strength and passion to keep going even when things seem to be going in a different direction.
Inspiration will motivate you to keep going, especially when unexpected challenges arise. Purpose, fun and inspiration will propel you in this direction when it matters most.
It’s so important to focus on what you gain, not what you lose! No one wants to lose anything, be it weight, money, debt, etc. Therefore, expressing the loss in negative ways—like losing weight, getting out of debt, ex-shot, quitting my job, moving out of this house—is not recommended. Make your game truly inspirational with a positive spin such as: Achieve Financial Freedom…Looks like a million bucks…Find my true love…Start a fabulous new job…In a spacious, clean , organized life live living environment.
When you come from a place where you have fun, it’s so much easier to effortlessly attract what you want, and this is especially true during the 90-day process. When you do something that is fun and inspiring, with a strong purpose behind it, excitement bubbles up in you. ทางเข้า pragmatic play And those feelings of excitement at being free to create and play help you manifest your new reality. Just look at the kids playing in the park – they get totally lost in it and enjoy it to the fullest without even thinking about it. Your game can be as simple and joyful as child’s play.
All you have to think about is: What inspires you about your game? Ask yourself the questions: What will my life be like when I finish this game? Where will it take me? What do I see for my future now? What new possibilities in my life will arise from the successful completion of my game?”
Write the answers on the same piece of paper you used with your Big One and the game name you started with in Step 2. How to define the inspiration behind your game. It now becomes a vision, an articulation of the essence of things to come, that can guide you through these 90 days!
