WHY YOU NEED MORE GRATITUDE
“Be grateful to Allah for whosoever is grateful is grateful for the good of his own soul.”
[Surah 31, Ayah 12]
Do you often feel surrounded by negativity?
Nowadays, we are bombarded by bad news daily. From pandemic to climate change, from poverty to famine in parts of the world, from wars in Muslim majority countries to refugees, from Islamophobia to attacks on Muslims in the west. And if you are too young to read or watch much news, then you surely must have noticed TV channels, media and billboards being cluttered with advertisements for children’s products that could help them feel “happier”.
Parents buy things like toys and clothes or do things like eating out and going on holiday to make children feel wonderful and happy, right? However, in reality, the only person who can make you truly HAPPY is you, yourself!!! That is because happiness is the inside job. You, as a Muslim, can attain true happiness by changing your mindset and your thinking to that of Gratitude – ALHAMDULILLAH!!!
Growing up, you will see great many changes around you. You will move to a new city and a new house, you will change schools or you will constantly find yourself leaving old friends behind and making new friends. Change is inevitable and with change comes good days and bad days. Life can be challenging even to young children; you will experience this more and more as you start getting older and older because you know have the responsibility of being accountable for your actions. And it is during these particularly challenging times, we as Muslims will have to hold on to the rope of Allah, our Creator through ALHAMDULILLAH.
Why GRATITUDE, you may ask? Sometimes it feels like nothing seems to be going right, doesn’t it? When you go through a phase of challenge, it becomes difficult to recognize the blessings in your life. Practicing gratitude, developing a habit of seeking a blessing and truly feel appreciative of all the blessings Allah has bestowed upon a person will help to fight through tough times. But being grateful has a very different meaning for Muslims because for us gratitude is also a means of worship. You earn ‘ajr’ or a reward by being TRULY grateful each and every day!!! Remember, these rewards are being recorded in your book of deeds. MashaAllah, Allahu Akbar!!!
How does one become a grateful person? How can you practice gratitude? Practicing gratitude isn’t just the lip service of saying “Alhamdulillah” and feeling appreciative when things are going well. Do you know what it really means to be grateful in Islam? It means to acknowledge what you have instead of focusing on what is missing in all situations. Look at the two glasses below and write down what you see
For some people, the glass is ‘half-full’ whereas for others it is ‘half-empty’. So, gratitude is a way of thinking- it is an attitude towards life.
For example, right now, you maybe struggling with school: feeling lonely, rejected, bullied or not coping with studies, homework, academic work; or a relationship with friends, teachers, siblings or parents. But chances are, right now, there are also so many areas in your life which are going well. These can be the simplest things that you take for granted daily. Let’s take a deep breath and ponder over it for a minute: there are good things happening all around you. You are healthy. Your parents love you. There is food on the table and you satisfy your hunger. You have a warm bed to sleep and a roof over your head. I know what you are thinking- ‘I have heard of these lines so many times from my parents already!’ right? The truth is, in any given moment, you maybe focusing on your problems a little too much in your head. Whereas, in reality, you have most of what you need and a lot of what you want- plenty of reasons to be GRATEFUL, ALHAMDULILLAH.
That’s the reason we wrote the book that will be launched in three days inshaAllah: GRATITUDE IS MY ATTITUDE, ALHAMDULILLAH, The 30-Day Gratitude Journal for Muslim children. And you just read the excerpt from it above.
This gratitude journal is suitable for children 9 years old and above. It can be enjoyed by mothers too as we have been field testing it with a group of volunteer mums who loved it for themselves mashaAllah.
It is a personal tool to seek happiness and contentment from within, to draw closer to Allah s.w.t and to invite positivity into your life daily. Children can use it to focus their attention to what they have in their life instead of focusing on what is missing. They can use it as a diary, to pause and reflect for a few minutes daily and truly be thankful to Allah s.w.t for all that they have.
This is not a typical 15-20 page Gratitude Journals you have seen flying on the internet. No this isn’t a set of worksheets that have been put together. In fact, a lot of research, studying, time and effort have been poured out to bring this to you and your children. Alhamdulillah we have really enjoyed putting this 80 page long colourful journal together. And we believe you will be amazed at the quality of content and design and your children will love it inshaAllah.
Do you want to sneak peek before you make up your mind if this is the right book for you? Follow us on Social Media and stay tuned for the early bird discount and competitions and giveaways. Do you want to grab your copy now?
