The blessed month of Ramadan is the best time to reflect on one’s daily habits and behaviour patterns and make positive intentions to transforming all negative habits to positive ones.
Habits form when we repeatedly carry out a behaviour. Negative habits form when the repeated behaviours are caused by a deep feeling of “I’m not good enough, so what’s the point!”
We all feel disappointment with ourselves at some point in our lives and can easily succumb to acting out our disappointment in ways that adversely affect our overall health, wellbeing, the quality of our relationship with others, and the quality of our relationship and connection with Allah.
The first step is always to admit that some of your habits are not serving you. Common negative habits are:
- Sleeping late, therefore sometimes missing out on Fajr salah.
- Sitting or lying down too much therefore not giving your body the physical exercise and movement it needs for optimal function.
- Eating too much or not enough or eating excessive amounts of sugar and processed foods, therefore disrupting your body’s nutritional balance which then creates disease in the body and directly impacts mental and emotional health.
- Consuming online content that are dark or negative or a constant stream of “bad news” or horrific images, therefore causing disruption in your emotional regulation and evoking aggression or deep sadness or a feeling of hopelessness.
- Poor posture, slouched shoulders and forward-drooping neck, due to repetitive gaming or texting, therefore compromising on effective breathing which leads to fatigue and muscle stiffness, even pain.
One of the best strategies is to become really honest with yourself and come clean about your thoughts and feelings in relation to your physical, emotional, mental, financial, and spiritual health.
The following questions can prompt you to find your honest truth. You could do this exercise by journaling by yourself, or in the form of a conversation with a trusted friend or family member or even a professional counsellor.
Reflective questions to identify what really matters to you:
- What incidents come to mind where you felt really down but then Allah showed you a way to bounce back? What lessons came out of those incidents?
- Who are the people in your life (dead or alive) who inspire you to be a better Muslim? What about their habits and behaviours inspire or motivate you?
- Who are the people in your life who negatively impact your connection with Allah? What about their habits and behaviours put you off?
- Who are the people you are struggling to forgive? Why? How long do you want to feel this burden?
- Who are the people you need to seek forgiveness from? What’s stopping you?
- What can you do starting today to bring more quality in your relationship with Allah?
- What can you do starting today to bring a positive change to your physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual health?
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