Simple Living Dissected

Assalamualaikum wbt and peace be upon you,
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Today is Sunday and the exams are over hehe. So, I'm literally a free spirit today. My big sis however opts to go to school for her extra classes coz she's preparing for her SPM exams to determine whether she would go to university or not. She's toiling hard coz my parents don't send us for tuitions. We have never attended any tuitions in our lives unlike other Asian kids. And for that we are really really thankful coz my friends hardly have time to breathe in between classes. My parents weren't always like this. They were ambitious too previously. Like, my big sis had to attend piano, ballet and mental arithmetics since she was a toddler. Then lil sis had to attend ballet too. We also had to go for swimming classes, Islamic schools in the afternoon etc. By the age of 30, my mom had bought us all a property each, savings accounts and whatnots. But after my mom quit her job and later baby bro died, my parents especially my mom has changed the most. Now we are embracing the simple living principles and I simply love it. My parents now don't even push us to go to university if we don't want to. As long as we have a certain skill that we can use to make a living, that's fine already. Like my sis, my parents say she can go to uni if she excels and get a scholarship, or she can go to work and later go to uni when she has saved enough money, or she can get married and have a beautiful simple life with her husband and children, and let her husband worry about the money and whatnot.
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I've always searched for this topic to complement as well as a comparison for my writing. From what I read, I discovered that people usually take up simple living after they are hit by something, maybe financially, spiritually, physically etc which triggers their longing to go back to basics, to their almost natural state when they came into this world, as a free spirit, to have an uncluttered life so as to ultimately achieve the uncluttered mind. And this is reflected in their actions by uncluttering their homes, getting rid of their unwanted possessions, the harmful relationship, by minimizing their needs and wants and going back as closely to nature as possible.
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So today, I'd like to dissect this way of life and lay it on the table to better understand how it works. But this is not going to be easy. You know, I usually just write on and straight away push the publish key, so, it might not be all correct, so bear with me.
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1. To live simply is to live clean. Meaning you should clean up your house, your liability, your thoughts and actions, for you to ultimately become a free spirit.
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2. To live simply does not mean you should live poorly. You are actually so rich in love and emotions and happiness and satisfaction that you are living your life like the richest person on earth, without any worries.
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3. To live simply is to live healthy. You should not smoke, drink or get involved with substance abuse, vice activities, or eat bad stuffs or eat excessively. To live healthy you must sleep early and wake up early, eat moderately and simply, exercise or work hard until you sweat, and you must not get into trouble with anyone. If you do and they are toxic, just get away from them as soon as possible and forgive everyone before you go to sleep every night.
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4. To live simply is to live freely. Like I said, to be a free spirit you must not get yourself stuck with debts, loans or commitments which you don't need. Like our family, we don't even have a life insurance coz my mom said, we should take care of our body and live clean, but if we are ill, we'll find natural cure. However,  if it's time for us to go, then be it. Everybody else before us does, and so is my baby bro, so why are we so afraid to go. We should believe that God who has created us love us and would not wrong us, so we can go peacefully.
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5. To live simply is to live naturally. I think nature is the most beautiful thing in this world, second to none, so it's best to live with the best, coz God has created the best for us to use. If you are ill, use medications that God has created and prepared for you, not what humans have invented.
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6. To live simply is to live beautifully. You must not create or get involved with ugly situations, relationships, bad character people, bad habits, bad thoughts, pessimistic friends, etc. In Islam, we are not allowed to do bad things. We are also not allowed to talk about other people's bad behaviour. We must also choose our friends carefully. Like our Prophet Muhammad saw said, "If you befriend a perfume seller, the smell of the perfume will rub on to you, but if you befriend a metal or iron smith( I'm not sure what the exact word is), the bad smell of burnt iron will linger on you".
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7. To live simply is to live purposely. You must have a purpose in this life. For me, I want to live my life my way, without compromising  my religion.
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8. To live simply is to live in the now. My mom said, Ibn al-Jawzi (if I'm not mistaken) said, we live on this earth for only three days, that is yesterday, which will become a source of repentance for us now (which is today) and tomorrow, which is uncertain (and the reason why we behave today so as to be better tomorrow). Well, it's something like that actually (sorry if my wording isn't correct). So basically, Ibn Jawzi said, we are living in the now, which is actually just between two days (yesterday and tomorrow). Isn't it such a short period of time to live. So why ruin it.
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9.  To live simply is to live peacefully. You must have a peaceful home, peaceful neighbours, peaceful thoughts and just lead a peaceful life.
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10. To live simply is to live happily. Have you ever met a happy person? I think it's really rare to find one. My mom always tells us to live happily. To smile and be happy. Even if you are not happy, when you smile, your brain will get the signal and send it to your heart, and you will feel happy in your heart.That's why in Islam, our Prophet said, smile coz it's a form of charity (sadaqah). Coz the poor don't have money or property to give charity, so what can they give? So the prophet told us to smile, coz when you smile, the person who sees you smile will react the same and feel happy, and you will feel happy to (so it's a two way charity, to others and to yourself). Isn't it a happy situation when a person receives a charity and the person who give also feels happy to. But the prophet said, The hand which gives is better than the hand which receives. So give smile.
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That's all. I've achieved my goal to list down/ dissect the simple living way of life up to 10. That's all guys. Let's have a simple life. (I'm off to upstairs to hang out with my lil sis and her friends Syamira and Maisarah. They are doing a make-over session in her room now, and asking me how to pose like a model ppfft).
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Love and peace
Daniel Zaydi
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Exams oh Exams

Assalamualaikum wbt and peace be upon you,
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It's exam week guys!!
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1. My big sis is feeling the heat after she purposely skipped her chemistry classes and failed it becoz she hated the teacher last year. Just now she complained to my mom that she doesn't have any Form 4 books to refer to. So my mom told her to check out some chemistry teachers' blogs on the internet, as well as some youtube videos.  But of course it's too late already. How can you remember all those periodic tables or whatnots in one night. This is a lesson to me.
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2. I think life as an adult is soo complicated, don't you think. This afternoon, my mom's friend came to visit and I was around coz I came home early from school. I heard my mom said, she prefers us to become teachers and not follow in her footsteps as lawyer, newscaster and whatnot. Well, I'm not so sure about being a teacher. It's not that bad but emmmm!I don't think it's exciting enough for me.......i dunno.
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5. I think I will never ever complicate my life when I grow up. My mom always tells me not to complicate my life by doing or not doing these things:
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i) Don't ever take a bank loan or any loan whatsoever.
ii) Don't ever have expensive taste and wants coz my mom says you can buy things but you can never buy happiness and peace of mind. My mom said these two are actually acquired by not wanting things, and by being satisfied with what you have.
iii) always pray jamaah prayers and connect with your brothers in Islam and with God of course.
iv)always be grateful of what you have
v) don't ever compare yourself with others
vi) always think you are beautiful and have beautiful thoughts
vii) don't ever waste your time coz my mom said time is the most mysterious element, a creature created by God to assist or destroy humans, depending on what that human choose to undertake in this world.
viii) don't ever be lazy to be and do good
ix) don't ever be rude
x) always help others, coz by helping others, you will find happiness in yourself.
xi) always love and never hate.
xii) always repent coz humans make mistakes all the time.
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Well, that's all for now. I'll update the list from time to time and I hope you'll benefit from this too.
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Love and peace
Daniel Zaydi.


  
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March Updates

Assalamualaikum wbt and peace be upon you,
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Hi, I know I haven't written anything in March so far. So tonight I'll just do a quick update so that y'all will know that I'm still alive and kickin'.
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1. I have been dropped from the Hockey team becoz I'm left handed. The coach said unless I got myself a hockey stick which is made for lefties like me, he couldn't let me on the team (and the school won't supply these equipment for lefties). It's fine with me. I'm not too serious into hockey.However, I do miss the pre practice gatherings where all of us, regardless of Forms would sit together and share stories and made fun of each other. Now I'm left with no games for this school year becoz players for the other games have already been selected.Boringggg.
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2.It's exam time and I couldn't do my maths. My mom told me to memorize all the formulas but I didn't. Tomorrow I've got Art and Religious Study. No prob coz I excel in both.
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3. School hols are around the corner and my parents will go to Mekah to perform the Umrah. We will be sent to my dad's hometown coz my parents don't trust us staying alone at home. What a boring way to kill my holiday.
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4. My mom doesn't teach al-Quran anymore. The students who begged her to teach them actually did it becoz their parents didn't want to wait for their turn at the musolla. Little did they know that my mom was the one who initiated the class. Mom got quite angry with them coz they came and didn't come as they like. And one day, one of them said, "Ustazah, hurry up and be quick coz we want to do our homework". My mom asked them, "Why didn't you do your homework in the evening before you came here. Who told you to say this?" and the boy said"my dad". My mom simply closed the book and told them to go (since they wanted to be quick), and she told them that it isn't good akhlak to say what they said". We were having dinner at that time. My mom usually had to postpone her dinner becoz of these children, and I think their parents are very rude to teach their kids to tell off my mom like that. My mom said she's not angry with the little kids but with the parents who actually took advantage of other people's kindness. 
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5. I heard some noises next door yesterday. Maybe the new owner will move in. The house next door has been vacant for quite some time and it's on sale for more than half a million ringgit. Last night, my mom said I sleep walked to her room and when she accompanied me back to my room, she heard nail scratches on the window panes. People say the house next door is haunted. (We've heard so many sounds from there before baby bro died (but my dad didn't so he didn't believe us until after baby bro's death) that my parents had to seek the help of religious people after his death to pray at our home. Maybe the people have disturbed the ghosts. I really hope not though. I don't ever want what happened to us to happen again.I hope to write on this one day but it's really hard and sad coz it involves the memory of baby bro.
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6. Sabah, one of the states in Malaysia has been hit by armed intruders. And 6 or 7 of our policemen were killed during the shootout. I've written before that our government is so worked up on international affairs that they don't know what's going on under their noses. They would act on hindsight and risk the lives of the citizens. I think one day the illegal Indonesians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Chinese, Indians, Egyptians, Thais, Africans, South Americans, Singaporeans, Cambodians, Myanmars and whatnots will do us more harm than good. But as usual, the government would not listen to our complaints. I'm really fed up with these people who throw rubbish, who are not hygienic, who rob and kill, and rape, who's involved in vice activities, and make a lot of noises everywhere. I can't even go to KL on my own coz these people have invaded KL and would rob us if we wander on our own. I think the government will pay a very high price during the coming general elections coz they have been carrying around excess baggage who don't perform for the people.
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Well, that's all for now. I'm out of ideas already.
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Love and peace
Daniel Zaydi
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