Restful Greetings

A common Muslim greeting is Asalaam Wa'alaikum - this means (loosely translated), May God's Peace be upon you. In this greeting we ask for peace for the person we greet. In my life, peace sometimes finds itself being synonymous with rest, because for me, being rested is being at peace (I'm very lucky in that way, because of where I live).

However, I find that relaxing sometimes is hard. Let me put that statement into context. I am finishing off the fourth and final year of Dental school. This means that my last final exam was in early April, which has resulted in me doing almost nothing for the past 2 months (at least in the evenings), so what have I done with my time??? ... nothing! I have sat around, doing very little, playing video games, watching anime, watching the occasional movie / TV show (gasp), hanging out with friends, and generally catching up on sleep and rest. So why didn't I feel rested???

This week I was given the fantastic opportunity to sing at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto Ontario. During this week from Monday to Friday I spent roughly 6 or 7 hours a day singing and a few more hours practicing... daily. Yet, right now I feel more rested, more satisfied and fulfilled than I have felt in almost a year. Why?

A fellow chorister stated it very well during one of our discussion sessions when she said that the feeling of peace sometimes comes not from doing nothing... but from doing what you love. It's perfect, and it's true. When I write about God, I feel at peace, when I use my mind, I feel at peace, when I exercise my body and am active, I feel at peace. Peace abounds in so many things we can do, but choose not to. Why? From my personal experience at least, it's because I felt that I was due for a break, for rest. I didn't realize that the best way for me to rest, was to work harder doing things that I love. Now here comes the tricky part, I'm inherently lazy as well, this means that I have to actually push myself to do things, even things that I love. If I let my mind go on auto-pilot I'll find myself lying in bed instead of reading that novel I really want to finish or writing that blog I want to get around to. This means (for me at least) that searching for peace must be an active process. Though we all want peace, though we all want only the best for ourselves and others - it is something we must work towards. Peace cannot generate itself, because human nature (again, generalizing my own personal experience) will not automatically result in the positive result we would all like to believe it brings about.

Peace is a blessing that we all wish for, but true, inner peace can only come about through effort, love and ... well, there is an element of luck in there as well.

It is 4 am, I am extremely tired... but right now, I, Rahim Shivji, am very well rested.

Khuda Hafiz