Give it to the busy guy

So I am having a discussion with a brother and he wants me to take on some work. I tell him I am extremely busy at the present time. He responds by laying down this convincing principle:

"If you want something done, give it to someone who is busy."

Quite logical. The busy restless guy is busy precisely because he takes on work - he gets things done. The not so busy guy is comfortably asleep because work is not his forte.

Music and Me

For some reason, whenever I pass the sound of music, even the most mellowest of slow tunes, an urge to fight overcomes me. Strange. An urge to fight, of course, in an artistic sense.

You experience something similar? Feel a change in thinking when in the company of music?

Nephew

Alhamdulillah, my sister-in-law (brother's wife) gave birth today. The kid (yet to be named) is real well-behaved maa sha Allah. May Allah keep him so. I held him for around twenty minutes reciting Qur'an to him. The whole time he was looking attentively straight up at me. Funny, I thought babies don't see and hear until later on. I could be wrong?

Smile

So I am sparring and I get hit straight in the mouth with a nicely timed straight kick. The strike doesn't hurt but it is enough to knock my gum shield loose and provoke a thought: a litte harder, a little higher, a little faster, and it would be enough to knock a(nother) tooth out. God forbid. And so I vow, this winning smile I will show due gratefulness for and distribute unsparingly. And with that I pray: O Allah, make good my character just as you have made good my appearance.

Like the idea? Then why not you yourself start right now and leave a smiley face comment below? :-)>

Interfaith Dialogue

I attended an inter-faith discussion yesterday and realised just how difficult it is to communicate something as intrinsic as faith/belief in a humble tangible manner. I suppose practice makes perfect. The aim and guidelines (see below) I thought were super, although I might have fallen short of the mark on occasion.

Aim of the Dialogues: sharing understanding between people of different beliefs and spiritualities.

Guidelines for Good Dialogue:
- Not a debate it's a dialogue;
- Feel free to ask questions;
- Don't speak in an offensive manner;
- Don't compare ideals of your religion to the practises of other people;
- use "I" statements to identify yourself in your tradition;
- It's OK to say "I can't answer that question".

11, Getting it done: how to lead when you're not in charge

Title: Getting it done: how to lead when you're not in charge
Author: Roger Fisher and Alan Sharp
Publisher: HarperBusiness (May 1999)
Language: English
Pages: 240

There is no doubting that working in a team we get more done than working alone. This book is packed with tips on how we can work/collaborate better with others. The advice is based on a method of "lateral leadership", which consists of three steps: "The first step is to organise and sharpen your personal skills at getting things done by yourself. The second step is to understand clearly your strategic goal of an organised way of getting things done with others. The third step is learning some tactics of participatory leadership." The first two steps I kind of skim-read. Techniques pertaining to the third step I found particularly thought-provoking and useful; techniques related to asking, offering and doing things that "stimulate others to become skillful at working together".

In summary: another good book from the Harvard Negotiation team; well-structured and plenty of examples to demonstrate the advice.

In & Around Lisbon

Just got back from a week in Portugal. Good country. Nice helpful people. Nobody stares and everybody minds his/her own business. However, not much to see, except one breathtaking Masjid; big and beautiful, with a dome, minaret, open courtyard, facilities for women, classrooms, sports hall, the works, maa sha Allah. Worth checking out if you happen to be in Lisbon. Definitely better than praying in the nearby car park of the American embassy and being surrounded by angry men with machine guns, which happened to a friend of mine on his way from his hotel to meet me at the Masjid.