Ramadan Transformation

Assalamualaikum. :)

I'm listening to this guy's podcast now from http://www.quranforbusypeople.com/18/

Mamoon Yusaf is an Arabic Teacher and Quran Coach, Founder of QuranForBusyPeople at www.quranforbusypeople.com. After working as Islamic Society President and Students’ Union Communications Officer of Manchester University in 2004/05, he took to a serious study of NLP Leadership & Coaching techniques. He holds a BA (Hons) in Arabic & Politics from SOAS, University of London. He currently resides in Barcelona, coaching people online to understand, contextualise and memorize the Holy Quran 
(Source: http://productivemuslim.com/improve-quran-recitation/#ixzz53g870vE0)

To know more about him, you can check out his website http://mamoonyusaf.com/about/

DISCLAIMER: Please research about this dude on your own. It's very important to "background check" the speakers you listen to so that their teachings are validated, i.e. they have some forms of qualifications or credentials. And always, always refer to other sources of information (my rule is at least 3) to confirm that their teachings are valid and based on thorough and deep research about the topic (and not just them rambling what they think, without facts to back up what they say - even some qualified speakers may fall into that trap).


In this series, he focuses on transforming the self through psychological "inside-out paradigm shift". The following are my notes:


1. Thought and Feelings are best friends (inseparable)

They come together, and you can't have feelings without the power of thoughts. Therefore, when you say "You make me sad", it really is not true. The truth is "My thoughts make me sad."


2. Nafs and Ruh

Nafs is the lower level of self - what you want to fight [jihad]
Ruh is the higher level of self - what you want to achieve [level of the Prophets]


Criteria to know if you are acting from nafs:

When you use your imagination to create an illusion of separation between thought from feelings.
E.g. "This work is making me feel stressed." 

That illusion (the space between the thoughts and the feelings) is nafs. When you remove that illusion, you will know that you're not acting on your nafs.
E.g. "My stressful thoughts is making me feel stressed."


3. Self correction

Automatically checking yourself - "Am I coming from ego (nafs)?"

Inside/Out - Feelings comes from thoughts of the moment (towards Allah swt)

vs 

Outside/In - Feelings comes from external factors* (towards ego)

*External factors refer to the circumstances of your situation or because of other people.


Nafs Trap #1 - "Allah will only love me when I do..."

It is the illusion that Allah is not with you right now. You are already so deeply close and connected with Allah swt. All you need to do is stop pretending you're not. Allah is closer to you than your jugular vein.

It's an illusion that you're not already good enough. Allah is the One who gives you feelings from the power of thought. It is how you direct those feelings - towards your ego (external factors) or towards Allah?


Nafs Trap #2 - "I'll only be happy when..."

Achievement of this worldly things does not bring happiness. Happiness comes from thought.
"Allah is not with me right now, but when I do these things (memorize Al-Quran, learn Arabic language, be a good parent, etc.), then Allah will be with me and love me."

Happiness is only one thought away. Sadness is only one thought away. You have the ability to abuse your thoughts pretending that you need to achieve something to be happy (even if happiness to you means being closely connected with Allah).

What immensely rich people and absolutely poor people have in common is that both of them know that money does not bring you happiness.


Nafs Trap #3 - "My experiences are created by external factors."

Everything you're seeing is created by your power of thought. Your experience of the circumstances are being generated by your mind. 100% of what you're feeling and experiencing is from your thought.

Thought is a divine gift that Allah swt gave you to navigate yourself in this world.

The fact of thought itself is underestimated thing in the world. We think that other people or the circumstances around us create our experiences in life, but that's falsehood. The truth is that our thoughts create our experiences in life. The moment we underestimate the power of thought, we overestimate the power of external factors.

Allah creates our whole experience of life for us through the power of thought.


4. Fearlessness