|| nibbles and scribbles : finding your home among sisters

Seek and you shall find.

A fortnight ago, I had the pleasure of attending the 2nd Being Me sisters-only conference held in Putrajaya International Convention Centre. My first time to an Islamic conference and I have to say, I'm lucky despite purchasing the (sold-out) ticket last minute and had that last minute ticket bought by someone else just a day before the event, I managed to get a new ticket on the day of the event itself. Alhamdulillah.

Among the speakers for the event were Aizuddin Othman, Prof Dr. Muhaya, Br. Yusha Evans, Sis. Zohra Sarwari, Sis. Tasneem Ghauri, Prof. Dr. Zaleha. Sh. Alaa ElSayed including spoken word performance by bloggers Sis. Yasmin Zaini and Sis. Mubina Shafqat Ali. Sheikh Tawfique Chowdhury was also supposed to join us but his wife was in labor that very morning, so he couldn't make it.

Basically, Being Me - Muslimah Empowered, is a conference organised by women for women and is also the first women's conference in Malaysia by Mercy Mission to address the daily lives and challenges facing the Muslim women today. Yeah, the introduction taken from the booklet for the event >.<

Just to share some knowledge I've gained (or some notes I scribbled) during the conference (you know, cos Twitter only has a limit of 140 characters, so blog it is).

The most valuable part of the day is the last 5 minutes before you go to sleep, because that should be the time that you reflect on yourself, what happened during the day and what are you going to do about it the next day.

To have a good partner, you need to learn to forgive. Those who are not able to forgive themselves will not be able to forgive others.

The 2 most important days in a man's life is the day you were born and the day you discover why you were born.

Whatever you do, you get back.

The 4 stages in a man's life :
1) athletic - the stage where we often worry about how we look
2) warrior - the go-getter stage, always fighting to be the best (stressful stage)
3) wisdom/adventurer - the best stage, where we're physically tired, but spiritually enlightened
4) enlightenment - there's only Allah in our heart and we detach ourselves from whatever outcome. At this stage, we're independent of the opinion of others. Nice.

Remedy to suppress anger :
1) Accept others for what they are
2) Correct your mind, not other people

There's a session by Prof Dr Muhaya on 'Garment for One Another'. Silly me to be thinking that the talk was about how to dress appropriately as a muslimah. Turned out it's about spouses being the perfect complement for each other, providing comfort, protection, cover and support. Just like our garments. The title is so cool like that, kan?
So there's 2 types of garments :
Out-in : They appear as any other normal couple, but deep down, they are not happy (mediocre living)
In-out : To live inside out, more focused on developing themselves to achieve the state of being perfect garments for each other.

If you're busy looking at others, you'll never look at yourself.

75% of sickness comes from the mind.

Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy
(this leads to the law of expectation)

Prof Dr Muhaya suggested a book entitled 'Biology of Belief'. I scribbled 'LOOK OUT FOR THIS BOOK!' in my notes, so ....

Until you are in Allah's zone, you will never find peace and happiness.

To have inner peace for you to get a good garment, you need to be able to :
1) be inspired
2) forgive
3) abundance
4) spiritual connection with Allah

Difference between motivation and inspiration?
Motivation - To have a motive for your action and in return, you get rewarded.
Inspiration - Finding meaning in everything that you do.
Nice.

Successful people make choices, committed people do whatever it takes.

Children within the year of :
0-7 -> sponge mode; absorb everything they see
7-14 -> role-modelling after who/what they see

Put children in good environment, like stem cells.

BE EXPENSIVE, BE EXCLUSIVE

Point to remember, sisters :
How do we dress? Are we with Allah all the time?

For every 1 patient a doctor treats, 17000 angels (malaikat) pray for you.

Cancers are made out from people who worry a lot.

3 types of aura :
spiritual - with Allah
emotional - love, kindness, joy, generosity
physical

Seretonin - hormone for happiness. Nice.

Those who show do not have, those who know do not know.
Reflect on this.

Forgiveness strengthens you, Anger weakens you.

2 thieves in life :
1) fear of tomorrow
2) regret of the past

Untuk mencari redha Allah, you need to :
1) be specific - to have a good career, a good muslimah
2) be focused - on your dakwah Islamiah
3) have unwavering faith - keyakinan yang tak putus-putus
4) have deepness of gratitude - choose your thoughts

Istiqamah of being good :
1) niat
2) good friends
3) good journal - finding knowledge non-stop

"If he's really serious, he'll ask your Dad"
That's a good one.

A woman is half of an ummah, and she gives birth to the other half of the ummah.
So, she is the whole of an ummah.

So, that's about it. Honestly, I never would have thought that I would be able to convince myself to attend one of these conferences, at least not yet. But you know, life has its points and its turnings, and I am forever thankful for this nudge to this direction. Weird thing is, I realize that the more I learn, out of nowhere, friends (and even strangers) came and share knowledge and experiences and guidance. Masha Allah, He who listens and knows all things (Quran 2: 256)

Okay, this entry is getting pretty lengthy now so I'll just include some photos that I managed to capture during the event.