TS - Experience

Son! Offering advice is simple; the problem is its acceptance, for it is bitter in the palates of those who follow their vain desires.

This is so because forbidden acts are captivating to hearts. Accepting advice is particularly difficult on a student going through the motions in his course whilst being lost in vanity and the wonders of the world.

He labors under the impression that the abstract knowledge he possesses will be his redemption and salvation, and that he is not in need of action.

...

This person, trapped in delusion, is unaware that studying knowledge without putting it into action makes the case against him stronger.

...

Son! Do not be bankrupt in deeds and empty of its seeds – spiritual excellences.

Rest assured that abstract knowledge cannot be held with the hand. For example, a man is in the wilderness.

He has ten lethal swords together with other weapons and he is brave and bellicose.

A huge and ferocious lion attacks him. Now what is your opinion? Do you think that his weapons will ward off the danger without him using them and putting them into action?

Of course the weapons cannot ward off the danger without being wielded and put into motion.

Similarly, if a person reads and learns a hundred masaa’il but does not practically apply them the masaa’il will not benefit him. Their benefit is in applying them practically.

If you study for a hundred years and collect a thousand kitaabs, still you will not be qualified for the mercy of Allah unless you
practice.

@temursolief

We all have certain experiences we’ve never had but still have a theoretical idea about—don’t we?

But sometimes, when we finally experience them in real life, we discover that the gap between the reality and our expectations is so vast, it makes the Grand Canyon seem modest :))

I bet you guess why this happens. We tend to be perfectionists, fantasizing about what could be like.

But when it does not meet our lofty expectations, it suddenly feels like a complete disappointment.

Yet, if we step back for a moment, we might question whether the source of this disappointment really lies in our perfectionism or in the experiences themselves.

Is it the event that falls short, or is it our unwavering conviction that reality must conform to our fantasies?

We often operate as though our anticipations are not just hopes—but promises.

We don’t merely imagine a good outcome; we quietly convince ourselves we’re owed it.

And when that sense of entitlement isn’t met, reality becomes the culprit in our eyes.

But maybe the very premise that our internal visions should dictate external outcomes is fundamentally flawed.

From this perspective, disappointment isn’t just a feeling; it’s an alarm that we’ve been clinging too tightly to the notion that our private mental imagery must manifest exactly in the real world.

This, in turn, reflects a deeper human tendency: we refuse to embrace the essential unpredictability of lived experience.

If we could relinquish the need for absolute alignment between “what we want” and “what we get,” we might discover that the richness of life lies precisely in those unplanned divergences.

@temursolief #thoughtsFromDestroyedCircadianRythm

Today one of my teenage students asked me an interesting question:

"Would you consider me as a groom candidate if you had a daughter?"

Startled by the absolute unexpectedness of the question, I replied with a question:

"Would you consider a guy like you as a right groom for your own daughter?"

There was some silence, of course.

But he is a funny intelligent guy as far as I know :)

Anyways, the rest is history.

But the real question is

Do you ask yourself this question?

If yes, how often?

Don't you think "accept me as who I am" is a woke mentality and hinders growth?

Don't you think giving precedes taking?

Think about it.

@temursolief #breakingMyFast

I can't control everything, but some, including how I behave.

The rules I'm living with:

- Shut up most of the time
- Smile when necessary
- Keep your posture up
- Protect your dignity
- Never beg
- Expect nothing

@temursolief #stepsandmiles

✅

Some subs here already know that I write letters to myself.

Sometimes in Uzbek, sometimes in English. I have shared few of their Uzbek version before.

It may sound somehow crazy because the audience of your writing is you, if you're not sharing it publicly.

Even when you share it in public, you're talking to yourself through the combination of squiggles.

Why would you write to yourself when you can speak?

I can't remember when I started writing, but first I did it for a sole purpose of recording my memories.

Then I found that writing helps to talk to my inner self, making a space for self-discovery or at least thinking.

When you speak, the number of words produced is around 180. When you just think, it is blazingly fast, at around 3000 or 4000 words, the science says.

But when you write, the word output is around 100, when you type, and 40-50 when you write by hand.

What's the matter with the words?

The less words, the more focus on each thought, the less distractions (fillers, etc).

Writing is slow thinking, but it is deep thinking. It is easier to analyze different thoughts and process them when writing rather than speaking or just thinking.

Writing also prevents your emotions from coloring your thoughts, which is an absolute necessity if you're going through an emotionally hard time.

Last year I attended a mentorship training of Azizbek aka Rahimov, and there too the importance of writing, specifically a reflection and mistakes made during the day, was highlighted and we were required to complete it everyday.

In the CELTA course too, after each teaching practice, we were supposed to write a reflection. One of our written assignments was also reflection-based writing.

This shows how important writing is.

Talking about writing letters to oneself, we are smarter than we know sometimes.

We mostly know the answers, but we just pretend that we don't or are unaware that we do.

Talking to self helps with that.

OK, let's set that knowledge thing aside. At least, it helps us to become more honest with ourselves.

For instance, how many lies are we telling to ourselves everyday? Why?

If a man has courage to dare to answer these questions in front of himself, living with self can become much easier and so can self-acceptance.

Most importantly, staying with yourself will definitely become more interesting. At least, that's one of the things I have found after writing to myself for a very long period of time.

Is there any structure to write to self? Nope. Go creative. Bring what you want to discuss with yourself to the table. And then just write. The page is yours.

One day your diary will become a book, later a good companion from the past in your elderly years.

@temursolief — #writing

“It is a most wonderful comfort to sit alone beneath a lamp, book spread before you, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.”

—Yoshida Kenko

@temursolief