3. Be a believer

You experience what you believe in. You only need to adjust your inner feelings, keep your self - esteem and confidence and above all, have Faith and true belief in your Creator - in Allah. As I said in the previous chapter, it is all in your mind; the power of your thoughts generates your sentiments upon which your reactions will depend. Every great action started with just an idea, a mere thought or an opinion that came into awareness to result in effective changes in people's lives. Our belief generates a tremendous power, a driving force that achieves great results and actualizes our visions. 38 If you anticipate abundance and prosperity, benefaction will follow , but if your thoughts are gloomy and pessimistic, evil will follow. Allah (~) says in this hadith qudsi: «I am as My servant thinks I am, and I am with him if he calls for Me ... » 39 Thoughts and beliefs are not merely things that we do; they are effective tools which, if properly applied and scrupulously nourished, can become our reality. The more we choose to have gracious, wholesome, constructive, and inspirational thoughts towards 38 Dyer, 1990. 39 Bukhari and Muslim. ourselves and others and towards every event that we encounter in our daily living, the more we will generate blissful reactions in our lives. Your wisdom resides within yourself: stop seeking answers elsewhere, purify your heart and soul, believe in yourself and your abilities and have total unconditional faith in your Creator; only then you will reach enlightenment and change your life for the better. Dr. Albert Ellis outlined an 'ABC' system to help people adjust their state of rnind: 40 A= Action B = Belief C = Consequential feeling We usually think that actions (or encountered events) are the only causative agents behind our feelings. For example, if I lost my job, this would lead to a feeling of low self-esteem: / am not good enough and I won't ever be successful in my life. This shows the importance of 'B' in the formula. If I believe in myself, I will have confidence, and I can change my consequential feelings 'C' in a positive direction: This is a new challenge, a given opportunity to learn and to further improve myself and reveal my hidden talents and gifts. Do not accept failure, it is only up to you to tum your failure into success by always trying one more time.41 It is not what happens that matters, but how you choose to respond to it. Learn from your experience and have total belief in your abilities and potential. I remember that during a Kindergarten interview with my friend's four-year-old daughter, the teacher asked her about an alphabet letter that she did not recognize. The little girl replied immediately: "You don't expect me to know everything, do you? Otherwise why should 40 Cited in Schnebly, 2000. 41 Dyer, 1990. I come to school in the first place?" Needless to say, the girl was immediately accepted in the school. To create change in our lives we have to start working on our sense of self-worth, inner spirituality and self-awareness. Allah teaches us this in the Qur' an: ., ~®" ... ~., (\ \ :~)I•.;_,....) { .. Verily, Allah will never change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves .. ) (Quran 13: 11) Remember, it is all up to you; no one else can hurt your feelings or make you feel sad. All you need to do to change your situation is to adjust your thoughts and beliefs; your attitudes and reactions will then be changed for the better. Learn a lesson from each failure, search for the message behind every problem. Believe that Allah wills only what is best for you and that the door to His Guidance and Mercy is always open. Visualize a perfect life and surroundings, and you will find yourself subconsciously working on that perfection once you believe in it. Remember that your thoughts are neither limited nor controllable by anyone except yourself; they are not restricted by time or place;42 they are not even subjected to material world reality. Did anyone in the early twentieth century imagine that a man would walk on the moon, that we would be able to see and speak directly to our friends living on the other side of the globe or that one could retrieve any desired information within seconds just by pushing a little button? Always remember Allah's promise, that He rewards good deeds by keeping evil and distress away, leading to a pleasant life. 42 Dyer, 1990. f .. Then whoever follows My Guidance shall neither go astray, nor fall into distress and misery) (Quran 20: 123) Conversely, He (~ ) warns: ~But whosoever turns away from My Reminder [i.e., neither believes in this Quran nor acts on its orders] verily, for him is a life of hardship) (Qur 'an 20: 124)