Sleep Issues

Some tips I came across regarding sleeping better. Since I am having huge issues with sleep these days, here I am sharing these tips I learned in this video.

Not everyone needs 8.0 hours of sleep.

There's an epidemic of sleep deprivation going on. If you have trouble concentrating and feel sleepy all the time, that's a good sign you might be getting less sleep than you need.

1. Stop all caffeine consumption. Not even first thing in the morning. It has a long half-life, but it stays in your body. And even if you go to bed early, you will have trouble getting back to sleep if you happen to get up at sometime. 
2. You need to workout every day. 
3. No big meals before bed time. If you want a big dinner, have it 2-3 hours before bed time. Your last meal should be small. 
4. Avoid getting stressed before bed time. Stop thinking about things that mess you up. Don't think about things that you needed to do but couldn't. Just don't do the things that raise your blood pressue. 
5. Meditate before bedtime. Control your thoughts. Remember Allah. Most of us don't have control over what your brains do. But we can do murakba. 
6. Get rid of your alarm clock. If an alarm clock is waking you up, you're sleep deprived. If you wanna sleep better, you need to sleep longer. 
7. Avoid screen time before bed time. This is a tough one. 

US

Everybody asks me how do I like it here. Well, what can I say? It's really beautiful. I posed some pictures of my house on facebook, and people did see that it's beautiful. Raleigh is rates is one of the most beautiful places in US, so you can see where I am coming from.

The weather is always good. So far, I have only seen the end of summer and the beginning of fall here, and I am loving it. The nights, and the mornings, have began to get colder. It rains often. It's just the right kind of whether here. Just the right amount of romantic, just the right amount of practical, just the right amount of enthralling, and just the right amount of convenient. I have started taking late night strolls in the cold nights now. Winds are great at that time. Soft winds are great in morning too, specially after a hearty breakfast and a cold shower.

But do I like it here? Well, like you know, I like the whether. I like the beauty. I like the liberty of living alone. The freedom of being a student, on scholarship. I love that part. I like that people are so professional here, everybody's on time, everything's clean. Everything's managed seemingly well. I like that here.

But the culture didn't appeal to me much. This is the same culture which, because of its freedom, and it's open values pulled me in so much when I went to LUMS, so much so that it transformed me for good. Then I started studying it. And I studies it more and more, I discovered the not-so-great dimensions of it. And now, it's the real thing. Here I am in America, experiencing first hand what was simulated by desi Americans at LUMS. To be honest, there haven't been any shocks per se. The amount of blogs I read about American lifestyle, the amount of movies/tv shows I had watched in the earlier days, it's just like that. Most people say real life is never like what's it shown on tv, specially for the observer who doesn't belong to that culture. Well, I would say to those people, their exposure to this medium of expression hasn't been diverse enough, or hasn't been completed with other medium, such as books, blogs, comedians. Though I do agree news have a way distorting reality to a spicy fiction. Anyway, in short, there were no shocks. It's the same I had experienced in LUMS. It's the same I experienced while hanging out among the upper-middle class in Karachi, Karachi being the 7th largest city of the world, the influence of the greatest super on its culture being very dominant.

So there were no surprises, but there were many things that I didn't like over my own country, that I liked being done in my country's way more than I like them here. The way my mindset has changed over last two-three years leaves me with ideas and beliefs, that my friends have started seeing me as a mystic person. Though I would say that's not true, because my opinions always have arguments behind them, they have stories behind them, contemplation behind them, and might I say, study behind them. And it is this mindset that makes me see these things, and feel against them, the same way I felt against them when I was back home. So being an anomaly is not a news for me. I am used to it in that sense.

So what are those things? It's the same everybody's talking about... yada yada yada. Distant lives. People not knowing their neighbours though living there for so many years. There is story about that one too! Commercialism, materialism, no direction in lives. No meaning, no purpose. Or shallow purposes. Here I see, really good rats, strong rats, fast rats, healthy rats, who run like Jaguars, but why? because they're in a rat race. To what? I don't know! They don't know either. It makes them 'happy' they say. Staying distracted, engaged, makes them 'happy' they say. Okay.

Some things that I would like to talk about is the way Pakistans act and think when they come here. That's very very interesting, and well, I am gonna dedicate a whole post to it :D

AND. I am gonna dedicate a whole post to the few stories I have had so far since I have come here. I will only put up the interesting ones, and a few boring ones too, Heck it's my blog!

TODO

Assalam O Alykum brothers and sisters!

So what I did have to write about is the stories from my four months, then the stories in between, then the trip to Zambia, where every single minute was so full of awareness that I it just filled my head. It was indeed rewinding. Very helpful, very thought-provoking; it gave me perspective. Loads of it.

Then I waited two days, and then I had my flight for US. And then, here I am, in US.

And this is my first post from US. Tada!

So before I began to write about my journey etc, I just wanted to post on the blog, for myself, that it still remains to write about:

- Stories from the 4-months (I guess these will randomly pop-up in the middle of other posts as anecdotes)
- Journey - mindset, reasoning, experience, learning of the Zambia trip (I think the same about this too)

So, that completes the TODO list, for now, for this blog. See you laters!

Raleigh

The place that I am going to.

Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" and often is described as "a park with a city in it." Raleigh was rated a few years ago as the best city to live in the USA. It's crime, pollution and noise-free! With a population of more than 320,000, Raleigh may be a city, but it lives like a small town, with shaded pedestrian streets, more than 153 park sites, historic cobblestone streets with period lighting and sidewalk cafes. One of the trendiest new parts of town, the warehouse district, is home to several restaurants

http://clubs.ncsu.edu/maitri/newstudents.php

Back, Not

So you all. This is just a quick post to let us all know I am back form Zambia. And now, that is, tomorrow night, I leave for US inshAllah. So see you from there :)

Remember me in your prayers!

I will share me experiences from Zambia and everywhere, probably after settling in US, before that I am too busyyy. 

Khuda Hafiz!

Friend

A friend of mine, not very old, but very close one, came to see me Wednesday morning. Right after morning salaat, I have his text saying saad milo (Saad, let's meet) and I say yeah sure, the time was decided, 6 am. Well, I hadn't slept the entire night, so I was Very sleepy, and tired. And cranky. And I hoped he would go soon. But we talked for Three hours. He left around. Anyway. The talk was... okay. Not hear to heart, per se. He said many things. Basically it was a scold I needed. On all the things I was doing wrong. Basically, he was telling me to get my shit together. He said many, almost all, things right. Except a few. Here's a recalled-from-my-kind-of-memory except from the conversation:

Him: What have you done in the last 2 years? You have wasted your life. No progress. Nothing. You haven't got a place. You haven't got a car. You haven't got a promotion. You just wasted time. If you would have a car right now tumhara style he alag hota (You would have been awesome!) tumhain koi tensionen nahin hotin (You'd be in peace) ....

There are very very few friends in life, who will muster the courage to come to you, and say to your face this kind of things. The kind of things you need to hear, and the people who are already telling them, you totally ignore. So he has the perception to see it, the honesty to know it, the courage to say it, and the importance to be listened to. The scold went on for 3 hours... well not exactly. It was we both talking mostly. It would have been 0.75 - 1 hour probably, and he highlighted many mistakes I was making. I thank him for those things.

Later that day, I go to masjid. And there, one of my friends is giving a small small talk, just 4 or 5 people sitting. Motivating them. That these times are tricky times, and if we don't sacrifice our own plans, walk individually to people and invite them to live their lives in line with values etc, then these things will get worse and start to affect us. Well, something along those lines. But he said something, the tableeghi people often say kamyabi maal, mulk, banglay, gari digri main main nahin hai, kamyabi tou poray k poray deen main hai

And that kinda introduces a conflict, a contradiction. No? So me being a Muslim, think of what does the most authentic sources have to say on this?

Quran (13:2): "Verily, in the remembrance of Allah swt do hearts find rest."

Case dismissed.

Last 4 months

These days I am in hurry, all the time. Why? Good question. First, some really really really good news. I got Fulbright scholarship, Alhamdulillah! I got admission into North Carolina State University, I am going there for MS in Computer Science. I will specialize in Network Security and/or Discrete Mathematics inshAllah. Yes my Visa has arrived, and I am leaving inshAllah on August 13, right after Eid. If you have any tips for packing etc, or any advice at All, I need it.

Before that, in the last ten days of Ramadan, I am sitting in ehtakaf (I don't know how it's said in English, in Urdu it's said ehtakaf main bethna so that's what I have translated :). I am going to Zambia, Africa for Ehtakaf. Why? Because Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad and Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed are going there, and I got an opportunity to spend time with them, and I took the opportunity.

'But but, why the hurry Saad?' you might say. Well, that's because I had resigned from work in February 2013. I had gone on tableegh for 4 months. And boy, what an experience it was! It was Wonderuful! It changed me. Though I am still more or less the same still :P but yes, the travelling experience was awesommme!

I have so many stories from there. So many. But the truth is, not one of them is inspirational. And quite a few might be biased too. Either way, point is, I have some stories, which are otherwise innocent incidents. But the way I went through them, the way I experienced them, they seem majestic! As if the God Himself was communication to me! That Look, let me show, I am the God, the Almighty, and I do everything! I run the entire show!

Calling it an Enlightening experience would be an apt description. It didn't make me more knowledgable per se, but it gave me more realizations. Realization that how much I need to learn!

As you can tell from the tone of the passage, I am writing this done in a hurry too. I will be over it. Perhaps the next few posts will be like this. Till I finally settle? I don't know.

I am leaving on Saturday for Africa, and then for United Stated on August 13.

I will also inshallah make a post on my entire Fulbright journey and how smooth it was :)