Recipe for Happy Parents
10 minute recipe to find true happiness!
Finding God’s inspiration… Where will we find this thing called inspiration?
They make it seem like a special thing, given only to special people, or artists…etc.
However inspiration is always there, given to everyone, all the time.
Inspiration = every thought and feeling is created by God… it is ALL inspiration.
His nur is always showering on us… The issue is: are WE open to receiving His nur or not?
Are WE in tune with our heart… or is there too much static… too much distraction… too much clutter in our heart and around us…
What is the purpose of this inspiration?: to find God… this is why we are being created in the first place!
The purpose of our life is to get to know our Creator: as God says in the Quran “I have not created invisible beings and mankind but to worship me”…
The MOST important thing here is what does the word “worship” mean: ibadah, to know who we are, why we are here, and who is the Creator… why does He create me…
Every soul is programmed to ask these questions… so our entire life, one way or another, sometimes more strongly, sometimes less… we do seek answers; we do search for our purpose… trying to find meaning. We may not even be aware consciously we are searching for this…
Nothing in life can EVER make sense or make us HAPPY if we do not pursue this journey…
Yet, interestingly, EVERYTHING in life will make sense and become a source of happiness if we look at life from this paradigm: the Quranic paradigm…. Explaining to us who we are and why we are here.
Very simple formula = if a laptop is made to be a laptop, it will suffer if it is used for something else. Yet it will thrive, if it is used to its full capacity…
So living a God-conscious life is the ONLY way to happiness… finding inner peace… bringing all our emotional unrest to tranquility…
This journey of understanding our purpose, going through inner transformation AND bringing this to our daily life will also help us to find our God-given potential and talents that are waiting to be cultivated and nourished… we will discover our calling.
We won’t discover our calling thinking what could please us;
We won’t discover our calling worrying how many ‘likes’ we have so as to feel good about ourselves;
We won’t discover our calling watching endless hours of hypnotizing TV that adds absolutely nothing to our humanity but to the contrary leaves us empty inside, dragging us into depression hour by hour;
We won’t discover our calling obsessing about how we look;
We won’t discover our calling trying to please people whose criteria of good and bad are completely skewed;
We won’t discover our calling forgetting about the transience of this life and forgetting about our final destination, with our Creator;
We won’t discover our calling overnight either…
We WILL discover our calling by calling on God… by asking for guidance… by putting our trust in Him… by making every intention to learn and be transformed… and then by walking the walk…
We MUST undo the fast-food culture we got so accustomed to; because it is sweet to the ego…
We MUST notice great things happen with work, effort, sweat, and in time…
As this baby coming into life, after 9 long months of waiting and working and preparing… and a painful yet amazingly rewarding birth…
Just like that… yes just like that, we too must intend, work, and give birth to a new self.
We MUST let God’s inspiration guide us…
We MUST make the conscious choice not to take on other guides…
This means making our life revolve around learning and improving each day.
This means giving our self to the guidance of the four main teachers: the Qur’an, the message and examples of the prophets, the signs around us/the universe, and our conscience…
Then, and only then, we can expect to slowly learn what it means to serve, to live for others… as we get to know our Creator through contemplation, we will also naturally grow to love His creation: other people and the universe… and we will want to serve in His name; and not for the sake of our ego… serve other people and serve to protect the planet… not because He needs our help, but we need to help others so we grow… we are the ones in need of serving…
The good news is this gradual process which I described as painful in some ways is simultaneously so amazingly easy and rewarding.
Each tiny step, each tiny effort has its ease and reward wrapped within it.
As God says in the Quran: “within every hardship, there is ease.”
He says “within” not “after.”
The reward is not only in the afterlife… it starts here & now!
As we get to know our Lord a tiny bit – for instance, as we contemplate the verse “He is with you wherever you are” (Quran, 57:4) – we immediately find solace from our loneliness and insecurity… As we get to know Him more and more, imagine how our heart expands and lights up; with His nur…
May we insallah always be open to receiving His nur… be open to understand and be transformed by His inspirations… May we help each other, inspire each other by NOT blocking His nur and reflect it onto others…
God help us… Answer our prayers… as You respond to the call of every caller… Us, being here today, is a prayer… We want to know You as you should be known… We want to worship You as you should be worshipped… Fill our hearts with Your love… amin.
Dr. Eren Tatari
