Episode 29 - Why Don't We Enjoy Blessings?
Years pass in our lives, during which we gather many reasons for happiness, but if we ask ourselves: Are we happy? The answer may come from the depths of our hearts: I'm not sure!
There are ambitions and aspirations that occupy your mind and have not yet been realized. They become the focus of your attention. As for the reasons for happiness that have gathered for you, they have faded in your perception, and their colors have dimmed, becoming like the unimportant static background in a picture that lacks the focus of the lens, which are these ambitions that have not yet been realized.
Just as iron rusts, the tools for tasting blessings embedded in our souls rust as well. Therefore, Allah the Almighty reminds us in many places of these blessings that have faded in our perception and no longer mean anything to us: {Have you not seen that Allah has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth and has bestowed upon you His favors, apparent and hidden?} [Luqman: 20].. {Allah is He who created the heavens and the earth and sent down from the sky water and brought forth thereby of the fruits a provision for you; and subjected to you the ships to run upon the sea by His command; and subjected to you the rivers; and subjected to you the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, and subjected to you the night and the day; and gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you count the favors of Allah, you could never enumerate them. Indeed, the human being is [prone to] injustice and [prone to] ingratitude.} [Ibrahim: 32-34], and many verses about hearing, sight, shelter, clothing, food, drink, fire, minerals, sleep, resurrection after it, spouses, children, and others.
Many verses, so that we do not neglect Allah's blessing and forget it. But even with this divine reminder, we may not enjoy these blessings. The discussion here is not about thinking about the problems of Muslims and feeling their pain, for this is required to the extent that it drives us to work positively to help and support them. And the discussion is not about making life difficult by the injustice of the oppressors who corrupt our lives and seek corruption on earth, for this difficulty is inevitable, and it should drive us to reform our situation with persistent work, and the individual who is angry at the oppressor in it and is pleased with Allah and seeks His help in combating this oppression..
But the discussion here is about the loss of the ability to taste blessings and feel Allah's favor upon us in them, and this is a disease that afflicts the soul regardless of concern for Muslims and the bitterness of the oppressors' corruption.
This disease is part of psychological phenomena known to mental health professionals as (Cognitive Distortion), i.e., cognitive distortion, and they call this phenomenon specifically: (Mental Filter), i.e., mental filtering, which is the individual's inability to notice the positive aspects of his life due to his preoccupation with a relatively minor annoyance, like someone who sees only a minor flaw in a beautiful, useful garment. This, my brothers, is an unhealthy phenomenon that needs treatment, but in reality, it may be present in most of us.
If one of us fails to taste Allah's blessings upon him and appreciate them as they should be, Allah may test him by taking away one of these blessings. The blessed one at that time is he who learns and is warned by the loss of this blessing that there are many things in his life that he still possesses, which warrant thanking Allah and deserve to make us happy. The trial comes to remove the rust from the tools of sensing blessings embedded in your nature and cleanse them, restoring the luster to life and giving it vibrant colors again, after it was a dull, monotonous background with no color! After the mental filter distracted you from it and diminished its value and spoiled its luster by longing for what has not yet been realized of ambitions.. The trial comes to teach man the art of tasting blessings!
Blessings were abundant with you, but your ability to taste them was weak, so you did not pay attention to them and be happy as you should. Blessings may decrease with the trial that deprives you of wealth or status or health or others, but if you are among those who are content and have a good opinion of Allah and contemplate His wisdom, you will notice with the trial the much that remains with you and feel ashamed before Allah that you did not appreciate His blessing upon you before, so you acquire the art of tasting blessings and be happy with them and find comfort. We ask Allah to make us among His servants who are granted well-being and are grateful..
The summary of this station:
Trial, even if it deprives you of some blessings, But you can turn it into a reason To taste the remaining blessings that have faded in your perception, And thank Allah for them.