You should study what makes you defensive. The topic you avoid, the joke that irritates you, the question that feels insulting, the feedback you instantly reject. Defensiveness is usually the guard dog sitting in front of a weakness you have not trained yourself to face.
Stop worrying about how it will happen. Just know that it will. The right doors will open, the right people will enter, and the right opportunities will find you. Stay patient, stay open and let things unfold in Allah's timing.
@artfuIchaos Most people who use their upbringing as a permanent excuse are not unaware. They just decided the comfort of staying the same outweighs the discomfort of changing
We've normalised ghaflah. Scrolling while eating, music while cleaning, taking our phones into the toilet, podcasts while walking. No silence, no slowness, no space for the soul. Then we wonder why we feel heavy, demotivated and disconnected from our Lord. The heart cannot breathe when drowned in constant noise.
I heard a therapist say, “Your feelings are always valid, your behavior is not.” She explained by saying feel what you feel BUT you need to be accountable for what you do as a result of those feelings.
Ibn al-Qayyim said:
"If you knew the true value of yourself, you would never allow yourself to be humiliated by committing sins. When Iblīs refused to bow to your father 'Adam, he refused to bow to you, so why have you become his friend and left us?
normalize going back to Allah, no matter how many times you fall, how many heartbreaks and disappointments, Allah swt is the most peaceful place we can always return to
Zina takes everything from you. It is one of a few sins the Quran calls pure filth. Zina is a chain reaction, it starts with a glance, then a smile, a message, a meeting until one day your heart has already crossed the line and the body simply follows. That's why Allah didn't say don't commit zina, Allah says do not go even near it. Because the paths leading to Zina are as destructive as Zina itself.
my therapist advised, "learn to calm your own storm instead of venting to others. it may feel therapeutic to let it all out, but you reinforce negative thoughts. it’s no one’s job but yours to pull yourself out of your problems. journal, meditate, exercise,and release." felt that