From my Readings |Let your Heart be your Reflection| 01.12.2015

I have read this verse from the Quran not so long ago, and it really struck me, and it stayed with me.

How beautiful it is written,

how beautiful it means.

From my understanding, the verse stuck with me in the sense of allowing myself to be a color reflection from the colors of the Divine. And what are the colors of the Divine, I then asked myself? How many colors can I wear to be a mirror of the Divine?

But as I continued living, I would remember this verse at different encountering, and I would see different colors to put on, to reflect the act that comes from and within the Divine in us.

‎صِبْغَةَ اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَنْ أَحْسَنُ مِنَ اللَّهِ صِبْغَةً ۖ وَنَحْنُ لَهُ عَابِدُونَ [Al-Baqara : 138] (We take our) color from Divine (Allah), and who is better than Allah at coloring. We surrender to Him

We all face difficulties in our lives, and staying true to yourself is the best possible way to deal with everything you come across. Being true to yourself, is being true to your heart, and this is where the Divine in all of us reside. So be a reflection of God, surrender to your inner love, become you, the love that is within you.

The spirit within leads to joy, as it inspired me to see the love in everyone & the possibility of miracles that lie inherent in all things. The universe itself is the handwriting of God, as He constantly creates & re-creates the perfection that he is. Within that perfection I have my true being, and within my true being I am happy & at peace. [from the book: A Year of Miracles]

Become a Dervish, become free of everything and anything, surrender only to the color of Love, to the Divine, to the Divine in you, the reflection of everything else.

What does “Dervish” mean?

He is the heart of the world, because by means of his heart, the body attains to its true art.

If the heart is not there, how can the body speak? If the heart doesn’t seek, how can the body seek & search? The dervish that glows with the fire is the theater of the holy rays; and so the heart, not the body; is the theater of God.

All lesser hearts are like a body to the heart of the human being whose heart is complete, aligned with its original source. [from the book: the Rumi daybook]

Rumi, Serhat Atlığ

Photo by; Serhat Atlığ

A Mediterranean city dipped in Rose Water – Beirut – الى بيروت –

 

Where ever you are, in what ever circumstances you find your self, always strive to be a lover, a passionate lover. When love becomes your possession, you will will always be a lover – in the grave, at the resurrection, in paradise, forever. When you plant wheat, it will surely be wheat that grows; wheat will be in the storehouse, and wheat will be in the oven. “Rumi”

Beirut is dipped in Rose water, because their people are passionately in love with it. It is dipped in rose water, because where ever you go, you see people speaking passionately about it. Beirut speaks love in every corner, it is furnished with Rose water. It has witnessed miracles, surviving its continuous agonies; the people of Beirut know exactly how to keep healing it. They are lovers to it. And once you decide to visit Beirut, look into its history, but let its history power you with hope. It is joyous, no matter how upset it is, it maintains its joy, because of the love, the people of Beirut, pour into it. Because they are aware of every little wound, and they are aware that love is the answer, and with love, Beirut can survive all of it.

Free yourself 

“Ignorance is God’s prison. Knowing is God’s palace.” Rumi – it is always right to unlock the prison within ourself & start by asking life for help. Ask life to help you clear out the way for you, to show you what is good for you & what is confusing you, ask life to show you the way out of closed doors & into open doors, ask God to help you find your answers & not stay stuck around question marks, ask God to help you learn, acknowledge, free yourself, free your mind, free your soul. True love is free, so be free. Look for the palace within you, look for knowledge, look for comfort, look for ease, look for imagination, exploration, space, look for joy, for contribution, for unity, look for resemblance, for alike spirits, for positivity. Believe in the spirit within you, it all takes.   

What is your status?

It is an incredible feeling to go beyond yourself and realize that it takes more than a status to really tell if the person in front of you is a good soul or a poisoned soul. Poisoned only from the self at most times, but good always with the heart and inner intentions. It is not about religious belief, race or language that defines how good or compatible the person is, and it is not about genre, situations, or stereotype cultivation. But it is always about base intentions. The mind set in harmony with the heart. It is never about general judgment, it can never be about first impression, and it is not about generalization. People are different, and real people are hard to find. So most people are just simply imitations, and some are just trying to find their true souls, questioning; where do they fit in the most? And only few times, the pure pulls the pure, towards one person or another. Your heart speaks to you and when it does, it is truth. “Don’t let your thoughts cast a shadow over your heart” Rumi once said, because your thoughts are noise, only noise that was created by the other, and the other could have been poisoned and so now you have been poisoned too. Don’t generalize. You have never asked or truly tried to see behind that first impression you have received. That status. That same status that is only a label; a label that was possibly imprinted quickly, have you even ever looked at your status? How many people have similar statuses as you? How alike are you? How would you feel when you have been put in a closed circle and you go along those people who have that similar status? How much are they like you? How much of you are they? So don’t generalize. A status is only a label, to define you, but it can never be who you truly are. It is just armor. I don’t even know why we need that armor anymore in a world where it is so wide open to one another, and one status can never identify you as someone else who has the same status as you. Muslim, Arab, single with a Western Mind. What can this mean to you anyway? How could this mean one thing all the time? Do you know how many carry that very same status? But we don’t all like ice-cream, we don’t all enjoy dancing, we don’t all read Rumi, we don’t all speak 3 different languages, we don’t all fast Ramadan, we don’t all enjoy shisha, we don’t all agree about equal rights, and we sure don’t all love pizza!!! So why are we generalizing? Just because he is an Atheist, British, Married, Rock and Roll fan, why can he not have so much in common with me? What is a status today when the status itself does not represent itself anymore? How many Muslim act the very same way? Believe in the very same thing? Practice the very same way? How many Westernized Arabs think the same way? Enjoy the same thing? Agree on the same values? And how many rock and roll fans are Atheists? British? And how many Atheists are not open to learn about religions? Or no longer question the existence of God? Or practice values that were derived from religions? Again you might have started to generalize again, the questions here are not about the status, it is about different people with same status only because they had to be identified to the world, and what did we do? We decided to imprint that first impression, and what did that first impression do? It prevented us from really seeing the true soul of that person we have just met. So Voila, maybe it is time to stop criticizing before feeling annoyed being criticized.

Sunset in Tripoli

How to be generous to yourself today

Today, I don’t want to ask, I only want to listen. Today, I don’t want to question, I only want to be available to see answers. Today, I don’t want to be too busy, I want to be very present. Today, I don’t want to expect, I want to give without wanting anything in return. Today, I don’t want to sit still, I want to move where ever my soul is yearning. Today, I don’t want to react, but I want to act in the most positive way I find possible. Today, I want to feel life, count my blessings, I want to give, learn more about love & love unconditionally, I want to learn & teach, I want to walk with grace, I want to live my dreams, feel grateful & be generous, I want to be generous back to this life that gives & never asks for return, so I want to learn from it’s generosity as I learn to give. Whatever it is… bring it on 
  

Never give up on yourself. 

“Never give up on yourself.” #Rumi – even if you had to take the longest road, even if you had to take the steepest valley, even if the pain is unbearable, even if life becomes suffocating, even if the way is blocked… Do not give up on yourself but instead… Ask for expansion, ask for breaking your own self barriers, ask for graceful love, ask for patience, ask for strength, ask for the angels to surround you, ask for God to protect you & ask yourself to set your soul free. Close your eyes if you have to, try to keep your wisdom third eye open, close your ears if you have to, but try to keep listening internally… Try and try again and try again but never ever give up on the most beautiful & solid thing you have got… Yourself.

I want my own fairytale 

I am not like you, and I don’t want to be… We are not like them, and I don’t want us to be… They never ask, and I don’t want them to… I don’t care about right and wrong because there is no right or wrong, there is my story and there is our story and I want them different.. I want it to be my story, different and personal. I don’t think or want to think there can be better, because I have the best thing I can ever wish for right now, here in my life. I am blessed on a blessed friday, I am grateful to have myself, and to have you as light as you are in my life. So let it all be part of life’s ongoing miracle.

“Your job is to live your life in a way that makes sense to you, not to “them”. Rumi 

  

Do not let people shatter your true voice

When you know people are only noise… And you find a way to separate yourself from noise… Then be very careful when listening to your instincts & trust in them. Noise will only distract you unless you have certainty & clarity within you. So start within always, figure out what you feel, how you see things & then once very still & stable open the doors for the noise to interfere.

“Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.” #Rumi.  

 

Naturr versus Soul

#Nature… am not sure what to call you after I have truly met you. After I have fully connected to you. After I have fully built trust with you. Am not sure how to express my words to describe what I was capable to yet discover in you. Or how to express my ways of hearing you. Or how to express the images I see in you. I can only explain one thing clearly… That the humans Soul is very similar to you “to Nature”. Soul is just like you; only once truly discovered is highly valued & understood. That the soul also has a thousand colors, that soul also is a miracle, that the soul also is magnificent. That the soul also can be explored & found in a way that it can never be explained in words. So put me in the middle of nature & let my soul get lost in it until it is found again… found in a very new way.

“Do you know what you are? You are a manuscript oƒ a divine letter. You are a mirror reflecting a noble face. This universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you are already that.” #Rumi

  

Do not just do nothing & complain at the very same time. 

What happens when you save the earth make memory of the past & work your way for your future? 

“You sit here for days saying, This is strange business. You’re the strange business. You have the energy of the sun in you, but you keep knotting it up at the base of your spine. You’re some weird kind of gold that wants to stay melted in the furnace, so you won’t have to become coins.” Rumi