Listening to Sad Songs to Make You Feel Better

When you're feeling absolutely horrible, and all you want to do is cry (whether you like to admit it or not, it's ok we're all human, tears are most definitely natural) what do you do? Do you cheer yourself up by listening to a good song and dancing around the house? Or do you listen to sad music and make yourself even more sad than you already were, because you want to cry some more and get all the pent up emotion that's inside of you out? Or maybe you like to cry and laugh at the same time, who knows! Everyone is different!

Well, if you're the latter, don't worry you're not alone, I'm like that too. When I'm sad, and I listen to sad music, until I get all the sad emotion out of me. I'm actually pretty good at keeping my emotions under control. But like so many things in this lovely world of ours, I have my limit. My emotional span is not unlimited unfortunately, and neither is yours. Eventually, we have to physically let out what were feeling. Our spiritual is tied and married to our physical in that weird way, sobhanAllah. Whether you skip, dance, run, scream, bang, kick, jump, whatever. All your actions are your emotions, your internal bubbling up and rising to your external, your surface! When your mad, there's always something that shows it. Usually a person's eyes are the best give away to their emotions!

It's pretty insane actually. They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and I actually totally believe that. If everyone was just so awesome at covering up how they truly feel on the inside, we should all be Emmy Award winning actors/actresses. But anyway, getting back to the point...

So here are some things I do to let out my sad emotions. I take my iPod, put in both earphones and blast some of the saddest music I have! I used to have a playlist actually titled "Sad Songs" haha, but I got rid of it after thinking it was pretty pessimistic, that's just me though. So yea I try not blast the music too much so that I don't kill my ears, but just enough that I don't hear anything else around me. After that I go somewhere I know that I'm alone, and I let it all out! I'm not really ashamed of it. Embarrassed, yes but I figured there may be other people out there who may be looking for some common ground on this particular subject. And I have no problem at all at it being at my expense.

Ocean Hope

Don't be afraid to let out your emotions when your alone. It may seem cowardly to others, but who cares what the may say or "think." In the end we're all alike because I bet you that they do the same. They're just scared to death of someone finding out that they take a similar course of action when they're feeling so sad. But that's okay, everyone's different, and everyone deals in their own way.

In the end, let your emotions out, and don't be ashamed, you need to be honest with yourself, and when it comes to self-truth, nothing and no one should really stand in your way. Go out for a run ( I do that a lot too) scream into a pillow, do the dishes aggressively (but be careful not to hurt yourself! lol), etc. I actually do all those now that I think about it. So anyway, be proud of being human, be proud of feeling the world around you!

Skin Care 101

Well let me start out by saying this, I am NOT a licensed dermatologist. Any advice or statements I make in this post will just be me and my own experiences and knowledge that I've gathered over my own search for the infamous flawless skin!

So you know how you're always here these great success stories, ranging from Proactive, to Neutrogena, to Clean and Clear, to some not so popular herbal remedy, or some dermatologist prescribed medicine only. Why so many success stories from such a wide variety of brands? Well let's just state the obvious to get it out of the way,  everyone's skin is different!

Figure out what skin type you are - If you're only starting out, or even if you've been searching for years! I'm sure it can't hurt to go to a dermatologist (a professional who went to MEDICAL SCHOOL to understand the mysterious ways that your skin and body work) and ask for help from them as to what exact skin type you are. There's normal, oily, dry, combination (oily in areas and dry in other areas). There's even some more specifics like exactly what number you are, whether you get redness, white heads, black heads, flaky etc. If you are in search for good and healthy skin, find out your skin type!! 

Not every product will work for every person! - Just because Proactive worked for your best friend may not necessarily mean it worked for you. There are so many factors that go into reasons as to why your skin is the way it is. The food you eat, family history, even where you live on the planet!! Say for example you've got a girl living in Florida with combination skin. So-and-so product works great for her! However her pen pal who lives in Iceland also has combination skin, only so-and-so product makes her skin flaky and super dry. The environment that you live in plays a role in how your skin behaves as well! Leading to my next point!

Where you are in the world - So when the seasons change, do you notice that your skin acts differently? Depending on where you live in the world this could be a yes, no, or kind of question. Sooo, I live in New Jersey. Now New Jersey is infamous for being able to fit all four seasons into one week. it could feel like the middle of winter one day, and two days later it could be the hottest day of the year. (Ok so maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but it totally feels that way sometimes!). Moving on! Different climate and temperature affects your skin as well. Cold weather makes your skin dry, and this goes for almost all skin types, so you're most likely to use a product that which may keep your skin nice and soft to prevent it from being dry, because during the winter, you skin is more prone to get dry! And the opposite for the summer. The summer is hot, and your skin is more prone to get oily, so you may use a product that strips your skin of some of the amount of oil that you may have needed during the winter.

Your nutritional diet - Now don't freak out, I'm not telling you that you have to give up your favorite chocolate that you will surely die without (at least that's how I feel when someone tells me chocolate is bad for me lol). However there are some foods that are known to make you breakout. Unfortunately chocolate is one of them. I don't believe that a person needs to completely cut chocolate out of their diet to prevent breakouts, however less is more. Plus either way you shouldn't be eating too much chocolate throughout your day for multiple health reasons, not just your skin.

How clean you are - I'm not saying that anyone is dirty here, but really how clean you are is important. Unfortunately our beautiful Earth isn't what she used to be. There are so many pollutants floating around in that air. And all you germaphobes can chill because there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. EXCEPT! Stay clean. I don't mean hand sanitizer every two seconds, and fifteen showers a day! Just stay clean. This one you're on your own, there isn't any dosage I or anyone else can give you here. Showers, washing your face, not keeping your make up on all day and such, that varies from individual to individual. But just to let you know, in my own opinion, the less make up throughout the day the better. Make up clogs up your pores, however like everyone else, I do love my make up. But just don't be too shocked when you find that you're not breaking out as much because you started to wear simple concealer instead  of concealer, foundation, AND powder! Like you, your skin needs to breathe!

Experiment! - If you've been searching for your perfect skin product for a while now, you know exactly what I mean. However for our lovely little newbies, welcome to the world of skin care!! Where there are billions of products to choose from that all claim to do the same thing, clear your acne! It's up to you to find the one that best suites you. Sometimes it's as easy as picking out your fave top at Macy's, others it's like searching for a needle in a haystack. BUT DON'T FRET!! You will find it, isA. Again, I recommend going to a dermatologist. They may recommend a brand name product for you, again they're TRAINED PROFESSIONALS so they do know what they're talking about. You don't have to go for the super expensive stuff. If you find that it works for you, than power to you! There are also less expensive products that I've heard just as many success stories as I have the expensive lines of skin care. I know that searching for your product sounds so tiresome! But trust me, in the end it is so worth it! Beautiful skin, and your new found self-confidence are most definitely worth it. Just be smart in how you spend your money.

Ok well that's my 2 cents (more like a full dollar actually, I sure do know how to rant!) for they day! I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope it helped some of you out. Let me just say it one more time, I am NOT  a professional when it comes to skin care, DERMATOLOGISTS are your # 1's, so definitely make an effort to go see one, it couldn't possibly hurt. Anywhos Jazak Allahu Khair everyone for  reading, see you all soon isA!

How to be a Productive Muslim

Well first off, let's start with what a "Productive Muslim" really is. In my own opinion, a Productive Muslim is a Muslim, who chooses and tries their best to always be in action, and not just any action, but action that pleases Allah of course! Want to know how to become a Productive Muslim, check these awesome YouTube videos out, and also subscribe to ProductiveMuslim (yes, I know the name is just so....WOW!).

Mashallah, these videos are great motivators, and they are not pressuring at all. Their Friday Naseeha's are amazing as well mashAllah. You'd think they'd run out of stuff to talk about in terms of productivity, but that just shows you the beauty of Islam, it can never be limited!

They give you a break down, step-by-step of what you can do for a more fulfilling, Islamic, life that will inshAllah bring you closer to our Creator. Here's one of my faves, it's a cartoon but this is actually what I wish to achieve some day, inshAllah!

My Advice To Anyone Who Will Listen

Ok, so here it is straight out. Don't keep things bottled up. 

You are an important person, no matter who you are, and you have a right as a human being to have your opinion and voice heard! 

If you keep your emotions bottled up then you'll explode and create a huge fire which is insanely hard to put out . I'm speaking from experience by the way. 

When something is bothering you, just say it, right then and there! But don't burst out in angry emotions. Take a breath, decide on what you're going to say, and then calmly and in the nicest way possible say it. 

Yes, you should be nice no matter how terribly that person has treated you or made you feel, just so you are better than them in the eyes of Allah. 

The cliche is: fighting fire with fire only gives you a bigger flame, causing more damage, and more for you to clean up.

Emotions are very powerful, they can build you up and tear you down in a bout a second's time, be careful with how you decide to express them, or not express them. 

May Allah be with you in your time of stress and give you more happiness.

Thanks for reading!

It's a No Brainer!

Asalam Ailaykoum W Rahmet Allah W Barakato

I absolutely love to find lectures on things that I have been long pondering for. Since Islam is a religion of not only faith, but logic, science, and proof! I am always eager to find preachers, sheikhs, etc, who are able to explain certain topics that just leave me utterly clueless. I am taking a currently taking AP Biology, and we have begun to study evolution. Now reading about evolution, and Darwin, and all the evidence through fossils, and stratums that scientists have come upon to claim their theory of evolution to be true. I'll be honest,  I was a little befuddled. I mean, these guys sounded pretty legit, their logic of well if this organism has so and so genetics, and this organism has the same so and so genetics than they must be cousins of some sort, and have the same grandparents, or great great grandparents or something like that. You know what I mean.

Anyway, I decided to do some investigating as to what Islam thought of evolution. One of my most favorite things about Islam, is that everything has a logical explanation for it. Yusha Evans, who is a convert whose story requires a post all on its own mashallah, said that the biggest sin in Christianity, is that you ask too many questions. That when he himself had asked questions concerning the legitimacy of the Christian religion, he told him, religion is not about proof, it is about faith beyond what comprehension. So I guess in other words, you have to believe in it, just not understand it. I'm not trying to beat down on the Christian religion or anything of course, I'm just reiterating something I've seen/heard. Anyway, watch the video of Yusuf Estes. For those of you who are searching for proof of religion or proof of God, I think you may find your answer here. But who knows, everyone is different and therefore not everyone sees things in the same way.

So take care, Salamz!

 

This is only part 1, click on the the video to get the rest of the parts!