Energy

You know

people who have achieved great things often say that it was all down to hard work.

But of course that isn't true.

Hard work may well be necessary to achieve something,

but hard work alone is never enough.

Success takes a certain amount of talent,

a certain amount of understanding,

perhaps some inspiration,

and almost certainly a great deal of some kind of luck.

Even if the luck was

to have been given the talent in the first place.

But at the same time,

to be good at anything,

even if you have talent,

will almost certainly take some kind of hard work.

The amount of work we apply to things

is the one thing that we can change.

Hard work is the way that we improve ourselves.

With work, what is hard can become easy.

But the way that humans are made

means that before it is started

even a little bit of work

can seem too hard to want to begin.

Yet the way they are made also means

that once they have begun they feel better than before they started,

and can't understand why they didn't begin sooner.

But whatever the action,

whatever the work,

it is the same,

it just feels different

before and after starting it.

And that's because starting it takes energy,

and people all have some kind of laziness built in,

and laziness likes to keep a lid on energy.

That's why we need to keep our focus on the energy within us,

and remember what is needed to begin things.

Because always trying to make ourselves better

is part of that Way of Life we call the Deen,

always trying to do things in the best way possible

for the good of our souls and those around us.

But it is hard work

controlling the way we feel in order to do good,

keeping a tight rein on the animal inside us,

and the whispers of temptation in our minds.

Going from not caring to self-control and doing good

takes energy

in just the same way as beginning training for sports,

or studying for exams.

Now of course, work doesn't always have to be hard,

and even when it is it can be fun.

Many of the things that take the most effort are the things we find most enjoyable,

and we are told that in the Afterlife, those in paradise will not do nothing,

but will be busy with pleasures.

Making an effort is better for us,

and in the end is more enjoyable than doing nothing.