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Morning Routine: “Miracle Mornings”

Facebook WhatsApp Twitter LinkedIn Email Print Oh, the power of a great morning. It’s a serious game changer! I intend to give you all something that I desperately wish someone gave me twenty years ago when I had my first child. This is my best kept morning secret to all the mamas out there who just do not have enough time in their day or are drowning in stress and responsibility. Struggling with Time Management Managing time is something I struggled with years a while back. I was always complaining I didn’t have enough time to do this and that. I always thought there was no possible way and that I could never get enough done or enough rest. Then, I attended a class in my local mosque where I learned a better way my life and my time. It truly changed my life. No, it wasn’t some crazy time management course, it was a peek into how Islam views time and excuses. Some women are really struggling to break bad habits or make sweeping changes in their life. They might be telling themselves, “I just can’t do it. This is who I am, and I can’t change that”. Take me for example, I used to be a night person. I swore and swore that I could never be anything else. Then, I learned that the messenger, Rahsool SAWS, did not like this attitude from people. He actually became upset from it. He taught us to change we actually only need two things: Sincere intention and dua We can find proof in the Quran and way of Rahsool SAWS. The Quran says: ‘And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. As soon as the thought of engaging in a bad habit hits your mind, seek refuge from Shaytaan with Allah’ (Qur’an, 2:186) Sahih Muslim (2655) says: “Verily, the hearts of all the sons of Adam are between the two fingers out of the fingers of the Compassionate Lord as one heart. He turns that to any (direction) He likes. Then Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said: 0 Allah, the Turner of the hearts, turn our hearts to Thine obedience.” Why make the change? What is the purpose of life? Ibadah (worshiping Allah SWA) It is the primary purpose that we are alive. If we can’t manage what we do within each day, we definitely can’t get ibadah right. Allah SWA says: “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” [Qur’an: Chapter 51, Verse 56] We will be asked what we did with our time. Ibn Mas’ud narrated that the Prophet said: “The feet of the son of Adam shall not move from before his Lord on the Day of Judgement, until he is asked about five things: about his life and what he did with it, about his youth and what he wore it out in, about his wealth and how he earned it and spent it upon, and what he did with what he knew.“ [Jami at-Tirmidhi] Miracle Mornings Change Lives I wouldn’t share my miracle morning routine with such enthusiasm if I didn’t feel it would entirely change your life and your family’s life. But what is a “miracle morning” and when do they happen exactly? Miracle mornings started for me, when I built y morning routine and choice of time to do it, around an Islamic principle that there is barakah in the time in the last 3rd of the night or the time right after Fair. Allah answers our du’a best in this time. Al Bukhari and Muslim say: “Our Lord descends every night, during the last third of it, to the skies of this world and asks, ‘Who is making du’a to Me, so that I can respond to him? Who is asking Me, so that I can give to him? Who is asking for My forgiveness, so that I can forgive him?” “The most burdensome prayers for the hypocrites are the Isha and Fajr prayers. If they knew what there is in them, they would come even if they had to crawl.” (Muslim 651). Al Tirmidhi says: ‘Amr ibn ‘Abash reported that the Prophet, peace, and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “The closest any worshipper is to His Lord is during the last part of the night, so if you can be amongst those who remember Allah at that time then do so.” Blind Faith? I know we learn these things, but is it actually true??? What? Question Islam? Questions Allah? It’s not that. Let’s just say that in reality, we tend to not really become firm believers in something, until we have experienced the benefit of something before our own eyes. That’s when we become real believers. That’s what I did. I got up and tried so I could see it for myself. Let’s just say the results made me a die-hard believer. It changed my life, it’s that simple. It even did it in more ways than one. I also found that if anything in life becomes great stress or a burden, then this time window of time is the space for seeking solutions After that, in moments of high stress and strain, I didn’t kill myself looking for help anywhere but with Allah first in this time. Benefits of the Miracle Morning Routine This routine has: Given me a positive mood and reduced my stress immensely. Shortened any task I have to do by half. Allowed me to be a more responsive wife, mother, daughter, worker, and friend. What do I do during my Miracle Morning Routine? I’m a bit of a health nut. I’ve been doing many of the things that I will mention below for years. I mean WAY before this new WAVE of plant-based mayhem (which I also like by the way as it is good for our health). My routine goes

Mindful Muslimah January 18, 2019

Parenting

8 Simple ways to get ANY toddler to eat veggies and superfoods

Getting kids to eat healthier We’ve all been there…veggies flying across the room, tantrums, fists pounding the table and screaming that could make us want to lose our minds. Let’s not forget about the messes, oh the messes that incur from one small request. What could cause such a gut wrenching reaction from a toddler you ask? You guessed it, the dreaded vegetable. Why is it that some toddlers just find vegetables so revolting. Are they really that bad? We know that they really need to eat them but how can we get them to actually do it? Here are 7 tips to get your toddler to ACTUALLY eat their veggies: 1.Hide them…you heard me Yes, we all want them to eat them on their own, and they will, but sometimes it doesn’t always happen that way at first. This is a trick I have used for over a decade! Just the other day I was explaining the trick to my eldest daughter, who now has children of her own. She was amazed as I revealed all of the health foods I have been putting into her favorites all of these years. She is now a believer in the method herself. She also is a really healthy eater as an adult. You see, the thing is, what kids can’t see, they can’t scream about. It’s just that simple. I have a couple regular recipes you can use to get kids to eat all kinds of things, including superfoods you would probably never even eat yourself. I get that we want all of our kids to just LOVE veggies on their own, but sometimes it requires some creative innovation at the start. Click the links below for the recipes: ·Superfood Ice pops I’ve never seen a child turn down an ice pop, have you? This one is as vibrant in color as you like and doesn’t have traces of “good for you” at all. It just tastes delicious. You’ll be amazed at what is inside! (Click Here for Recipe) Lucious hidden veggie mac & cheese If your child loves creamy, fatty tasting foods, or just pasta in general, this one is for you. My toddler adores it and I can’t tell you how often I’m getting veggies into her diet. See recipe 2. Reshape them You’d be amazed at how much just changing the shape of a food can do for you. Look at the bento boxes from Japan. Who wouldn’t love to eat foods shaped into beautiful are or their favorite characters? I know, I know, that’s a fair amount of work. Well it depends on how much effort you want to put in. If you are artsy and have the time here is your time to shine. You’ll be that mom that sends her kids incredibly crafted lunches to school. But if you have less time on your hands, cutting fruits and veggies into the shapes of hearts and other recognizable shapes and arranging them in a colorful pattern is easy and effortless. It still gets the job done. You’ll be amazed at what your kids will eat if it’s in a cool shape that they like or arranged creatively. 3. Limit their other options from a young age I think one big mistake parents make is not realizing how important it is to train our kids palettes and habits from birth. What do I mean? Well, it’s like this, if you eat burgers and fries and chocolate on a regular what do you think you are going to crave? You guess it! You see our body ends up getting used to certain things the more we do them (built in habit) and tends to reject the things that it is not used to. Plus, our taste buds are more sensitive at birth, and we need to build up a tolerance to bitter foods by repeated exposure. Especially if they are in competition with foods around them like high fatty goodness or a tempting sugary snacks. Expose them to a wide array of fruits and veggies from a young age, and regularly. Limit high fat or sugar foods and you will see them grow some personal favorites in the foods you would rather them eat. 4. Understand how a certain vegetable tastes and tone it down Every parent who understands the benefits of greens would love their kids to eat them, but how. We can’t just shove bunch of kale or collard greens in their mouth, especially considering how bitter they are. Eating them in their raw form, even cooked, could be hard for little eaters who have highly sensitive tastebuds naturally. Adding green vegetables into their diet little by little (in the case that they don’t throw out anything they detect is green) or even combining them with other foods that seem more inviting could be the trick. Actually, adding any vegetable, in small quantities, mixed with other foods, makes it more likely that your child will eat it. I always thinly slice or chopped vegetables and add them to soups my kids already love, wrap them in puff pastry or samosa filling so it is less visible. They can’t as easily detect what gets lost in things they already love. They also are more distracted and pay less attention. My kids have eaten tons of veggies this way. 5. Start at a young age Like anything else in life habits of all kinds begin at a young age. Wether it’s not cleaning up after yourself, using foul language or procrastinating or poor eating habits, if a habit goes unchecked it can lead to the same horrible habit into adulthood. I began feeding my kids a wealth of fruits and vegetables from a very young age. I don’t mean from a prepackaged bottle, I mean if you want kids to hate veggies that could be the way. I picked fresh ones, in season, and steamed or boiled and mashed them. I cut them up very small

Mindful Muslimah October 2, 2018