LESSON OF THE DAY 467

Ayahs of the Day:
And God created horses, and mules, and donkeys, for you to ride, and for adornment; and God creates what you don't know. The aim of the path is up to God; but there is the deviant from it, though God would surely have guided you all, were that the Divine will. [16: 8,9]

Hadith of the Day:
When Allah wills to take a servant (up to Himself) at some place, He creates a reason for the servant to go there. [Bukhari]

Wise Quote of the Day:
Never rely on another's piety until you have seen how they carry themselves in anger. [Omar radi Allah anhu]

Guidance of the Day:
For many people, one of the most frustrating aspects of life is not being able to understand other people's behavior. We see them as "guilty" instead of "innocent." It's tempting to focus on people's seemingly irrational behavior--their comments, actions, mean-spirited acts, selfish behavior--and get extremely frustrated. If we focus on behavior too much, it can seem like other people are making us miserable.

It's true that other people do weird things (who doesn't?), but we are the one's getting upset, so we are the one's who need to change. It doesn't mean accepting, ignoring, or advocating violence or any deviant behavior, but trying to be less bothered by the actions of people. Seeing the innocence is a powerful tool for transformation that means when someone is acting in a way that we don't like, the best strategy for dealing with that person is to distance ourselves from the behavior; to "look beyond it," so that we can see the innocence in where the behavior is coming from. Very often, this slight shift in our thinking immediately puts us into a state of compassion.

Underneath even the most annoying behavior is a frustrated person who is crying out for compassion. The next time (and hopefully from now on), when someone acts in a strange way, look for the innocence in his/her behavior. If you're compassionate, it won't be hard to see. When you see the innocence, the same things that have frustrated you no longer do. And, when you're not frustrated by the actions of others, it's a lot easier to stay focused on the beauty of life. [Don't Sweat The Small Stuff]

Food for Thought:
The measure of your life will not be in what you accumulate, but in what you give away.