How to make the best out of adversity

Hi Guys,

Today I wanted to use some material from the Motivational Conversation Class (MCC) I've been running recently. I usually give this class to try and hit two birds with one stone:

-To improve their communication abilities with interesting and exciting themes
-To help inspire them to make the most out of life

I also find this class is good for teachers because how can an unmotivated and uninspired teacher without any confidence inspire, motivate and instill confidence in their students?

Have you ever heard the phrase "test your metal"? Or perhaps "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger"? These are all common phrases and we use them to motivate ourselves and others to try their best and to let failure be a teacher rather than an enemy. But for many Muslim teachers they may be surprised to find out that in Islamic terminology this process can be summed up in a single word "Fitnah".

Fitnah is commonly thought of in the Indonesian language as meaning "slander" to make an unfounded and detrimental claim about somebody's character or activities. In Arabic however it is more commonly used to describe a trial, test or tribulation. An example is when I was in the car one day with my friend from Jordan, there was a beautiful lady jogging by with a voluptuous body and my friend turned away his gaze an said "Astaghfirlah (may god forgive me) that is a real fitnah (trial or test) for me!"

The root word of fitnah comes from the process of refining metals to remove dross. Imagine an red hot metal getting banged by a hammer, two things can happen here 1. The metal could break or 2. The metal could get stronger. In life then fitnah, trials, tribulations, tests and adversity can indeed defeat us or make us stronger.

In the Quran it says that God never gives a person more tribulation than they can handle, so that means it is our own attitude and effort that will make us break or grow stronger.

"No situation is either bad or good, it is just how we perceive it that makes it bad or good."

 OG Mandino wrote a great mantra (for NLP) in his book The World's Greatest salesman:

“I will persist until I succeed. I was not delivered into this world into defeat, nor does failure course through my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion, and I refuse to talk, walk, and to sleep with the sheep. I will persist until I succeed.” 

Try reading that to yourself every morning and see if that doesn't change your perspective a little bit! ^_^

I'd like to leave you with an inspiring story to remember during hard times, or testing times.

This story is of a man called Pat Flynn. He said losing his job was the best thing that happened to him, it was only once he was in that darkness that he could see the stars of opportunity. Please read his story at: http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/my-first-online-business/



From being happy about a raise to 600jt a year, after loosing his job it only took him a couple of years before he started grossing 600jt a month. That's what you can do with the right attitude, drive and a winning spirit.

Until next time guys, let's change some lives! ^_^

-Hugh