See Yourself
She rubs her eyes as she makes her way out of bed. Feeling the floor beneath her makes her feet tingle as she takes off her green satin eye mask. She opens the faucet to make wudhu and just when she thinks it’s warm enough, she puts both hands under the trickling tap, only to find it’s still ice cold. She waits, her mind now awakening to the idea of this new day. Her thoughts pull her into yesterday. The hopes, to-do’s, and problems she thought about the night before start to poke her mind as she washes her hands, face, arms, and feet for wudhu. Pausing outside her closet door, she decides whether to pray inside her cozy little cave or to pray in the den, with the Himalayan salt lamps’ glow. The latter pulls her in this time. Just before praying, she gives her mind a moment to relax and make an intention for Salah. She prays.
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By the final Salaam, she’s had to redirect her minds’ wandering thoughts over six times. This upsets her but she carries on to make istighfar and opens up to Surah Yaseen in her hand-held Qur’an. She feels seen and loved, seeing Allahs’ name throughout the silky pages, realizing the same Rabb referenced in this Divine Book is watching her now and is caring for her every need. Only He knows what lies ahead of her in this day, so why the haste, she wonders? This thought calms her as she closes her Qur’an, already excited to snuggle her warm daughter sleeping beside her bed.
The sun is beginning to rise as she waits and watches her for a moment. Her daughters’ rhythmic breathing beneath her floral nightgown reminds her of gentle ocean waves, coming to and fro. She feels her warmth lying side by side, holding her tiny hand without waking her soul. As she rests, she suddenly realizes she forgot to soak the oats the night before. With less care than when she first came in to cuddle, she rises from the floor and makes her way downstairs to the kitchen. The first creaky stair step reminds her to step slowly as she reduces her speed. Opening her pantry, she sees the jars, cans, and packages in need of neat rearrangement, but she overlooks the chaos to get to her box of oats. She stirs the milk and oats, thinking of her list of things to do in the day ahead, and simultaneously hoping certain problems would simply disappear. In ten minutes, the sky is no longer dark and the smell of bubbling oats with maple syrup is wafting through the air.
She hears the same creaky stair step again as her daughter walks downstairs, ready for her warm hug and a bowl of oats.
“Mama, you’re my flower,” she says with a tired, loving smile.
Writing Prompts // Reflection
Write about your day as if you are watching yourself going through it. Bring as much detail as you can into the ordinary moments of your day. What do you see, hear, notice? What thoughts go through your mind?
You can then try this exercise with your child. Notice them, fully. How are they going about their day or even a simple moment? Writing in this way can help you see their perspective and develop an internal bond with many external benefits such as syncing with them and infusing more empathy into the day.
