On the 7 shirts that I have and the pants to go with them

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. (Kahlil Gibran)

My heart can never have enough.

I mean, there's always the latest gadgets launched, the newer, funner games released, the more comfortable shoes, the warmer jackets, the clearer and bigger media screens, the bigger engined cars, the better looking pair of jeans, the wider and further zooming lens and so many other things that I need to have. If my heart could have his way, my room would've been filled with new things every week, some I may need, more, I do not.

Sadly, and quite to my relief, my financial flow would not allow this to happen. Sad, but I'm alright with that. I mean, surely it would be nice to be able to afford a new laptop when the current one hangs every 15 minutes, and its 'Enter' key dangles around threatening to rob me off my 'enter'ing rights every time I hit it with enthusiasm, or to go to Japan and New York and Istanbul to see the great cities, or to have an SLR camera to finally start following the trend or at least to have a fancy robot alarm clock to wake you up with cheer in the morning that I've wanted for 2 years now!!
http://www.thegreenhead.com/2008/09/temper-tantrum-throwing-alarm-clock.php

But it has come to my realization that I can be absolutely happy without having those things. In fact, I'd probably be happier if I decided to stop thinking about them and direct the energy to my mastication muscles to eat a bar of chocolate instead.

Frankly, I must say that during these years as a medical student on a scholarship, I have been richer than I have ever been throughout my entire life! Not rich enough to be able to afford a swanky new Mac Book Pro or the amusingly overrated IPad or to go to New Zealand or Tokyo for a 2 week trip; but I have enough to never have to go hungry, to be able to drive around in my beloved shared car, to be able to call people without having to constantly glance at the screen to see how long I've been on the line, to have 7 shirts which I could rotate and match with different pants to not appear to wear the same things to work every week, to drink good coffee at Gloria Jean's on a weekly basis and to do so many things. So many things, all at the expense of my own money.

It's a common thing to see in Facebook statuses nowadays, but I don't think I can ever remind myself of this enough.

That the fact that I am here, able to post this entry on a personal laptop, in a house (lets leave the issue of who's paying rent for this particular house aside), safe and sound, with a block of Black Forest chocolate on my side, breathing and beating in health, means that I am much more fortunate than many millions of others in this world.

And the fact that you, dear readers, are able to read this post on whatever it may be, a computer at the Uni, or your laptop or your mobile phone also means the same thing.

That God has granted us so much more in terms of facility and wealth than a lot more of the world's population.

I may not have everything that my heart desire, but I've never not have enough. And it makes life easier when I think of things that way.

So with this in mind, I'd like to thank God for firstly the faith he has granted me, for the Prophet and the message he brought to the world, for the health that I've lived in for 22 years, for my family, my brothers and sisters, for friendships, new, old, forgotten and everlasting, for mentors and teachers, for people I have met and have learned from, for knowledge and the capacity to understand, for opportunities in life, for successes and failures I have lived through, for good memories, for mistakes I have made, for clear and blue skies after a tiring day at hospital, for beautiful fishes, cute pandas and fluttering butterflies, for music and poetry and how good they are at expressing my feelings , and the list goes on. Owh and I almost forgot, for you!  dear reader who spends time reading my posts!!

Try as I might, I'll never be able to count all the favours that God has given me. It's not just my personal opinion, but wisdom from the Divine.

And if you were to count Allah's favors, you would not be able to number them; most surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. [Sūrah al-Nahl: 18]

Just loving it

Azfar

p.s.:

For those book lovers out there and those who read all the time, a nice quote for you:

Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing (To Kill a Mocking Bird, Harper Lee)