After weeks of fasting, it is time to usher in celebrations and gatherings.
Late Shaikh Khalfan al Esry used to call this 'period' the graduation. The days of fasting has been a test of will each day. And by evening the day gives an opportunity to practice gratitude.
In the past people told us about stories of people suffering to appreciate what we have, but now we can see it on news and social media with our own eyes the reality.
We realise the best gift to give someone is peace.
We hear and read about affirmations and the importance of practicing it. So imagine the impact of wishing everyone you meet ‘Salam’ peace be upon you.
Words are powerful and while we teach children not to swear how often do we encourage them to say positive words. They may not be cool in the eyes of the youngsters but positive words have huge impact on our brain and then obviously our thoughts.
The sensitive ones are often told not to take literal sense of the words and churn out emotions. But then if we don’t mean it why say it?
Through this month we had conversations with people requesting them to reflect with us their memories of Ramadhan.
What was beautiful was that our interviewees touched upon the core value of being close to the Almighty. But another factor was the togetherness of family. They had fond memories of childhood, parents, siblings, eating together, cooking, sharing and even having food outdoors with all the neighbours.
The togetherness challenged the loneliness, the prayers consoled the mind and fasting healed the body.
This year we enjoyed pleasant weather, in addition to nourishing the body and the mind.
According to Healthline, fasting may have potential for health benefits including weight loss, improved blood sugar control, heart health, brain function and cancer prevention. This is of course to be coupled with nutritious diet and healthy lifestyle.
The question now is how much of these benefits will we be able to carry onto rest of the months. People practiced patience, kindness and generosity. The days were paced differently. Now the food take is going to be different and caffeine as well other habits might come back. Is it not amazing how discipline makes wonders.
The stimulants make us react differently even before we think of responding.
Like the birds on the wall play taking short flights that look like display of happiness, just like how everyone’s getting ready for the big day to celebrate the conclusion of a month of fasting until the moon makes the appearance for the people to sight it.
Up in the sky, the sun has just finished an adventure of being eclipsed. For Oman the total solar eclipse was around 7.40 pm on April 8 and totality to start at 8.38 pm and to conclude at 12.48 am on April 9. So much happened and because it was night time nothing was visible for us. It is a great point to reflect on.
Darkness can be of ignorance or it can be physical, but we might never know the complete truth or what part we are missing out on. Yet we base our truth on partial facts and this ought to make us to be cautious before we jump to conclusions.
We do not have to go far to know about being judged, we just have to think about how we feel when we are bring judged. It can be so strong that we might detest going into a crowd. But for the next few days everyone is going to be wearing their best.
May they feel their best and let the level of confidence linger around and let there be food for everyone.
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