Windows of opportunity

https://youtu.be/hGL9gB3jBzY Auto-generated transcript:In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. And peace and blessings be upon the honour of the Prophets and Messengers. Muhammad and the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his family and his companions. Peace and blessings be upon him. Amma Madhu, we've been talking about priorities, taking advantage of opportunities. We were talking about WIIFM, what's in for me. Now think about this. We are here in Maine, and we're staying in this beachside apartment. And as you can see here, there are beachside apartments all around the beach, all the way. We also know that early mornings are very special. We know that there is... special concentration of ozone in this early morning air blowing from the sea. And if you are doing any kind of aerobic exercise here, walking or riding or, you know, running or whatever, this is the best time and place to do that. We know that. Umm... Yeah. This is the best use of this time of the day. So we know all the... We know all about the benefits of all this. But see the number of houses that are here, right? All the way. And then see the number of people who are actually on the beach at this time. Okay? So, I can bet you that probably every single person who is in... who is in these houses, they know about the benefits of getting out in the morning, going for a nice walk, and... And today is Sunday incidentally, so it's not even a question of saying I have to go to work. Umm... They know the benefits of all this. But how many people are here? But how many people actually take advantage of that? How many people are saying that it's not enough knowing about the benefits? I want the benefits. And the way to get the benefits is to get out and walk. Right? Now, second truth. Let an hour pass. And today they are predicting temperatures in the morning. They are predicting temperatures in the 90s. So the sun comes out. The same beach is going to be not a very pleasant place to be in. It's going to be very hot. It's not a scrap of shade. And the absolutely beautiful experience that we are having here will not be there for anyone who comes later. So this opportunity, this door, is going to shut. Maybe in an hour, maybe in two hours from now. So the question is not only whether the opportunity exists. The question is to remember and understand that opportunities don't exist forever. They exist for a short time. And when the time is over, the opportunity is gone. No more opportunity. Now, people who realize that take advantage of the opportunity by going through that door of opportunity while it is still open. And those who do not do that, who don't have that foresight, will spend the rest of their life complaining about how the road is not going to be the same. And they will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. They will be the same. There was no opportunity which would be a lie or some other excuse about why they could not take advantage of the opportunity which still doesn't help. Because who are you trying to convince and who do you need to convince? Nobody. Nobody. Nobody needs to be convinced. And nobody frankly gives a damn. If you lose out in life, who do you think cares? Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody cares. Maybe your mama. No one else. Right? Who cares? So, the choice is yours. The choice is yours. What do you want to do with what has been given to you? Not moan and groan about it, but ask a simple question. What do you want to do about what has been given to you? As a person, I don't have to be convinced. I can't be convinced. I can't be convinced. As I'm walking here, I'm seeing there is a couple there and they have a chocolate lab. And they also have what looks like a professional photographer who is photographing them. And she seems to be doing a great job from the way she is completely crashing down and taking photos close to the earth, which is the right way to do that and so forth. So now here we have a question of, you know, somebody taking advantage of the opportunity. The person has a camera. There are people out there who want to be photographed. I don't think the Lord cares. But there's this lady. She's got a business. And she's taking advantage of this opportunity to do something for herself. Right. But this is what this is the point. The point is that the world is made up of people like this. The opportunity is there to be taken free. For anyone who wishes to take it. Now, whether you wish to take it or not, it's yours. Nobody forces you. But if you don't take it, then you also cannot complain that you didn't have the opportunity. That would be a lie. Because the opportunity was there. Everyone has the opportunity in a different way. Different way. The question to ask is, how can I take advantage of that opportunity? What's in it for me? Mayask Allah to give us the sense to understand this and to take advantage of opportunities. Many times, especially older people. When you talk to them and if you are one of these, please stop doing this immediately. They tell you what all the opportunities that they lost. Right. They will say, they will say, you know what? This place here. I've heard this many times. This place here. I used to live here. These were the money. These were the money. Those money. What is it? One. I used to say, I didn't take 10 acres of land for 5 lakhs. It's a lot of money. Today, those 10 acres are worth 10 billion. It's done, right? What are you saying? Keep your stupidity hidden. People say this. When I was in the city, when I was living here. This. And they will show you a place which is now center of town. And, you know, highly commercialized and developed. All this was rice fields. And somebody offered it to me for Rs 100,000 for 10 acres, and I thought it's very expensive. I didn't think it. And today this is worth a billion. So, my question is, you made a dumb decision. Ask yourself, what did you learn? Don't tell people about it. Why are you telling people? Who do you think cares to know what a big fool you were? just ask yourself am I still the same kind of fool am I still not able to see opportunity am I still turning down good opportunities that is the key question because if you are still turning down key opportunities then there is a problem but if you made a mistake once and you learnt from it say Alhamdulillah absolutely fantastic so ask yourself instead of sitting there and telling stories of all the dumb decisions that you took or failed to take ask yourself the question and say for each one of these what did I gain and then write a book about what to do with dumb decisions believe me it will sell because there are many people out there like you who do these things and learn nothing so it's not what happens to you but it's what you do with what happens to you which either makes it valuable or it's another wasted opportunity another wasted life and you and myself and you let us think about all this also and even more importantly in the context of the Akhira and say what was the opportunity that Allah gave me to earn for the Akhira what was the opportunity that Allah swt gave me to make Sadaqa Jariya to create ongoing charity for myself what opportunity was that? what opportunity did Allah give me to do something which would benefit me long after I'm dead and gone did I take advantage of that and even if you didn't even if you lost every single one of them as long as you're listening to this today you are alive it means two things one it means you are alive and two it means that you can choose to change that story anytime you wish I wish you all the best I hope you will change the story if that story needs changing