Basically what you realize that you're not in control, no matter how much think
you in control, you're not in control. At the end of the day it can all be over man.
Wow this is so deep in fact it's so deep that I'm thinking, probably the
maturer crowd are truly gonna appreciate what he actually said, because there's
only when you've gone through certain things in your life and you truly
realize that: Hang on a minute, flipping heck, I've got no control whatsoever.
Now before I get into it, let me break this down for you yeah.
We live in a society and we have lifestyles that gives us a false sense of control.
What do I mean? We get to control when our package arrives,
how quickly we get our food, the timing of
our Uber, when we want to watch certain movies and listen to certain musics
Musics? Music... even when we want certain physical pleasures from illicit sites
you know what I'm saying, dirty disgusting boy
so after all of this we're lulled into a
false sense of control. We believe that majority of the things in our life,
we can control. In fact we've become used to and dependent upon this control.
But the fact of the matter is, there's many more things that we can not control.
I mean let's just take the basic stuff like our birth, our race, where we were
born and when/where we're gonna die. I mean even something that we rely on
like our brain, tends to become compromised as we become older.
And of course we get to the integral things like our sickness/health we can't control:
Tomorrow we can get cancer- Allah forbid, or something can go
wrong and that's it... the trajectory and the path of your life has now taken a turn.
Heartbreak, divorce, separations, it's all well and good when both of you are
together but when things go wrong, you realize- I can't control how the other person feels.
Addictions: this could be something as trivial as sugar and fast
food, to smoking and even Class A drugs. And of course the ultimate- Death
It could be a death of a friend, it could be a death of a loved one (of a parent),
when these sorts of things happen guys... your life has now changed.
So I'll ask the question once more- Do we actually have control?
And the thing is because we're so convinced that we do,
when these things happen, it is such a shock to our system
that it just can't cope. And because we've been taught to deal with
pain through numbing it. Yeah, even our entire medical system, when you go:
-"Yeah, I've got this problem" -"Yeah just take some painkillers"
-"Yeah I'm really going through something" -"Yeah just take some anti-depressants"
So we apply that same logic, we'll start going to intoxicants or we'll start
drowning ourselves in movies and music, hoping that it will lessen the pain, when in
reality it's just delaying it, it piles up the pain because now you have to deal
with the guilt as well. Of course it can lead to confusion, depression and even suicide.
And I guess that's one of the logics behind the Shahadah.
What is the Shahadah? You are submitting yourself to Allah. You are
giving control to somebody who is well-endowed to, not abusing that
control I guess. And guys remember whatever hardships happen, as long as you
have tried the best to resolve it from your side:
It could be revising as hard as you can for the exam, it could be preparing for a
job interview as best as you can or trying to save your marriage as best
as you can... and then if these things don't work then realize 110 percent it
is from Allah and leave the control and trust in Allah. Because whenever
something like this happens our mind and Shaitaan conspire and they get us to
think all sorts of things, but you need to think one thing: Do you trust Allah?
(Therefore) Trust in the process, trust in what Allah has decided for you, for it is good.
It is good for you! And that leads me on to the second Kevin Hart quote:
"You know when God talks you gotta listen"
Yes indeed, he has created us so he knows us more. And if he says that your purpose is to
worship Him, and contentment only lies in his remembrance, then realize that that
is the only way. Don't get me wrong you can try the other ways, but eventually
you're just gonna reach a dead end.
Think of it like this example. there's a maze,
that he, Allah has created. He has given you the map- the Qur'an,
and he has given you a guide- the prophet.
If you follow the map and the guide, you will be out of the maze in no time,
in everlasting bliss and joy. However if you
start deciding to take shortcuts through the bush, you're gonna end up lost and
you're gonna end up hurt and of course you're gonna be there for a very long time.
Now of course in our life when we're disobeying Allah it seems plain sailing
at first, we're all happy and we're like- yeah I'm enjoying myself, yeah it's brilliant mate...
but eventually the joy will run out, and that's when the issues happen.
When the one who's given control, takes the control and you experience a death in
the family or addictions or a toxic relationship and you experience
heartbreak then these systems will fail you.
You know the systems I'm talking about? Those of Individualism, Materialism,
chasing the trivial desires of life. Boy, these things are not gonna help.
"I swear life is funny, because some of the craziest things that happen to you,
end up being the things that you needed most"
Yes yes yes Kevin. Pain is our greatest teacher.
Yeah now, boy, I cannot emphasize this enough:
Good times make us lazy- let's face it they don't
really teach us much because we're happy yeah we're in bliss.
It's only when pain comes, we're like hang on a minute let me reassess what's
going on now (You know what I'm saying)
Now don't get me wrong, when you're going through something,
hearing this line is it's not the best thing in the world,
but after you've gone through the initial phase of that pain,
which is the most difficult yeah, after you've overcome that then you start
realizing and softening to the possibility that you know what...
this is actually good for me you know
"In this case I honestly feel like God basically told me to sit down"
Yes everyone is going through something,
you heard me everyone watching, even delivering the video but the thing
that makes us different is how we are handling that. The successful people use
pain as a driving force, they thrive in it, they grow in it and because of that,
they succeed. But on the other hand, you've got people that will just lock their door,
just stick music on, just ice cream and
just revel in their own misery which again piles on guilt,
it just delays you dealing with the problem. You're gonna have to deal with the problem.
"You know you moving too fast and you doing too much sometimes you can't see
the things you're meant to see"
Yes yes, our routines are so jam-packed guys that we fail to
reflect on our experiences of the day. And because of that, we're unable to
learn from it. Without reflecting, the routines can
really suck the life out of your life. Take time to take a stock of what you've
done in the day, your direction, your long-term goals because sometimes we can
become too comfortable and before we know it...
tragedy comes and boy, we've only got a couple of months left.
Of course it does help if you're around the unfortunate,
the poor because they will help you realize how rich and how
fortunate you really are. When you survive your hardship yeah,
your wings have become more stronger, especially if you're able to deal with that stuff on your own.
A bird that's able to ride on his own as the strongest wings.
And I get it you know everyone's busy with their own problems,
yeah I'm gonna be real guys,
you're gonna have to deal with your own problems.
"But after my accident I see things definitely,
I see life from a whole new perspective, my appreciation for life is through the roof"
Everyone's got something: "Oh, my dad was like this,
my mom was like this, I went through this, I went through that..."
Yeah we get that everyone's got problems but you can't rely on your past
you've gotta rely on who you are now and what is in your control, take control of
what you are able to take control of and leave the rest to Allah
Do your best, then Allah will do the rest. We try and flip it we make a dua
"Ya Allah please give me an A grade, please I beg you I'll do anything"
but the guy hasn't revised and it's exam day tomorrow like are you crazy?
"So don't take today for granted,
coz tomorrows not promised.
More importantly I'm thankful for God"
Alright guys hope you guys benefit from a few,
thoughts from the truly inspirational reflections of Kevin Hart who,
let's face it we don't really know him for this side
but it was truly a breath of fresh air and I hope you guys benefited as well.
Let's leave it there don't forget
to buss your Syndeed apparel. Man I love these guys yeah look,
I look good let's face it yeah, I don't normally look good but I look good today,
so yeah definitely check those guys out
and until next time
Asalaamu alaikum