No pain no gain

Auto-generated transcript:My brothers and sisters, this is a follow-up on my previous khatira, that happiness is a choice. Happiness, you don't become happy because of the possessions you have or the circumstances you find yourself in or because of what somebody else does for you or does not do for you and so on. Happiness is not a factor of external things that happen to you in life and definitely not of any material possessions. Happiness is a choice. You become happy when you want to become happy. And that's a very powerful and very empowering thought to keep in mind because you will find people in the best of situations who are constantly complaining. I have a friend of mine who, I even joke with him, but that's his life. He's had the best of jobs. He's risen to the maximum height possible in his career. He has wealth. He has properties. He has, you know, all kinds of stuff. But anytime you talk to him, you always say, yeah, you know, this is a but, yeah, but. I mean, this but is the root cause. The but is the biggest and the most clear symptom of this disease of ingratitude, of being ungrateful to Allah. Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest Quest and in that he had all his experiments and so on and so forth. And his whole life's work, so it was, you know, God knows, a few thousand experiments maybe. And one day there was a fire in the night. It was a huge fire, completely uncontrollable. And Thomas Edison's son says that the minute I discovered and I realized there was a fire, I went looking for my dad. I thought he must be going completely crazy because that's his whole life's work. And it's just, you know, going up in flames and nothing can be done to stop it. And he said, I saw him standing there with his hands clasped behind his back, watching this fire. So he said, I went to him, I said, Dad, are you okay? Is it, you know, this terrible thing has happened? He said, go call your mom, tell her she'll never see a fire this big again. Now imagine, this is the attitude of the man. His whole life's work is going up in flames before his eyes. And he tells his son, go call your mom because she's never going to see a fire like this again in her life. So the son says to his father, he said, he says, that's okay. But I mean, you know, this is your whole life's work. I mean, what do you have to say about that? He said, look, how many people get a chance to have all their mistakes wiped out and to start afresh? Yes. How many people get a chance to have all their mistakes wiped away, wiped off and to start afresh? Now, the same thing. It is a fire. All your life's work, all your experiments, everything is going up in flames. The question is, do you go into despair? Do you commit suicide? Do you say my life is over? Or do you say this is a fresh beginning? Who makes that choice? It's as simple as that. Who makes that choice? And the answer is very simple. You know, I don't need to tell you the answer, right? But do we make that choice? This is our challenge. Allah SWT did not promise us ease. Allah SWT promised us growth. And growth comes with pain. No pain. No gain. Growth comes with pain. The question is, how do you see that? I used to do Aikido at one point in time when I was in Bangalore. And we were sparring in the dojo. My partner and I using Bokken, which is wooden swords. Basically wooden sticks, slightly shaped like the, like the katana, the Japanese samurai sword. But obviously they have no sharp edges and so on. So my partner, obviously we are all friends. So he was, you know, sparring with me. So he's attacking me and I'm blocking and so on. Our sensei, Julius Abe, he came up to us and he said, you know what? The best, the best partner, your dearest and closest friend, is the one who, when he's sparring with you, fights you like, as if he's your worst enemy. Right? He's your best friend. He's the one who in the dojo, when he's sparring with you, he fights you as if you are his worst enemy. So I said, he said, he said, he said, I know what you're saying. But, you know, could you explain that a bit more? So he said, what do you want to happen if your partner actually meets an enemy out in the world? Do you want him to win or you want him to die? I said, of course I want him to win. He said, then fight him like his worst enemy. Because only when you put your life and soul into that fight, is that friend of yours, he's going to learn how to survive that. But instead of that, if you just, you know, the moment he touches you, you fall down to make him feel good. He's learning nothing. He's building nothing. So obviously, you will not deliver a killing stroke. But at the same time, you will fight him to the best of your ability because you love him. Because he's your friend. You will not give him an easy time. You will give him a hard time. You will point out his mistakes. You will push back. Everyone else around him might say, oh, wow, fantastic, great job. But you will say, yeah, that's a great job. However, but, and this time the but is a good but. You could have done better because I know you. This is not your standard. Alhamdulillah, you know, this has happened to me. And I'm blessed. You know, one of the, these two guys, Umair and Azhar, my right hand and my left hand, and depending on who I love the most at that point, they become the right hand, the other one becomes the left hand. But the best thing I like about them is that they will not allow me to do anything which does not come up to the standard that, Alhamdulillah, we have learned to live, to live, to live, to set for ourselves. I was just, I've just finished doing my intro video for my consulting business. And Azhar made me do that video, I don't know, maybe seven, eight times. The same thing. But he says, no, it's not good enough. Not good enough. Too fast, too slow, do this, do that. And I am thrilled when this happens. I'm thrilled when this happens. I'm thrilled when Umair tells me that this particular lecture, the quality of the sound or the, you know, what you have said, the way you said it or what not, should be done again. I am very happy when this happens. Because when somebody is pushing back and somebody is telling, pointing out a mistake, never take it negatively. This is a wonderful thing. This is, imagine you are in the dojo. You are in, the boxing ring and you are with your boxing partner, you are with your Aikido partner and you, you, you know, you think of it any way you want. And this person is, this person loves you, this person wants you to succeed and therefore, he is giving you a hard time. Because he is building your muscle for you. You build muscles by working against resistance. By lifting heavy weights. Not by lifting, fountain pens. That's also a way technically, right? But that doesn't help you. You, you, you build muscle strength by working against resistance. By lifting heavy weights. Now when you lift heavy weights, what is the first thing that happens? It pains. The whole body becomes stiff. But no, you push through that pain. You push through that pain. I walk five miles a day. I walk five miles a day. I walk five miles a day. And believe me, it's not easy. It is not easy. Especially when you come to the halfway point. When I come to 6,000 steps or 7,000 steps, I still have to do another 3,000 or 4,000. Because I do over 10,000, 11,000 steps. So, you know, now believe me, it's very easy to say, well, you know, where the hell did we get these numbers from? And, you know, were people counting steps before step counters were there? And I can make any, any number of excuses. But the fact is, I have not done my 10,000 steps for today. And if that is the case, then I am harming myself. I say no. Sometimes I'm very tired. Sometimes I even have, you know, I feel sort of constricted in my chest. Alhamdulillah, my heart is absolutely fine. There's no problem with that. And I know all of this is just, you know, the body playing games. I say, no, I will complete those 10,000 steps, even if it kills me. It doesn't kill me. It actually makes me stronger. But you have to do it. It will be boring. It will be, you know, so find something to do. So what I do is, I listen to all my podcasts when I do these walks. I usually walk alone. I don't walk with anybody. If I walk with somebody, I walk with someone who can keep his mouth shut. So just the companionship is, alhamdulillah, nice. If it's there, if it's not there, that's fine. I mean, I don't need it. I listen to my podcasts. So I get my education. And I am, you know, also getting my physical effort and physical strength. It is how you choose to see what comes at you.