Sunday Service: Practicing Gratitude in Hard Times

Allah does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear come from the Holy Quran Surah Al Baqarah 2286. What does that even mean? How does it apply to you and to your life? If it even does it all? That’s what we’ll figure out today. Welcome to the Sunday service. We are talking about gratitude, something that I think that we all know that we ought to be grateful. And I think that when we’re reminded of that, than we think, yep, I’m going to start a gratitude practice. And I just, I’ll just speak for myself that I have the best of intentions, to think about what I’m grateful for consistently. But unless I have some kind of a mechanism in place to do it, then I forget about it. And what has helped me immensely with that is journaling. And when I consistently journal, I go through different prompts. And gratitude is always one of those things, I don’t want it to be like goal setting where I know how important goal setting actually is. I never do it. And that was for a vast a massive portion of my life was intellectually understanding how important goal setting is, but then never actually doing it. And certainly recurring theme, it’s something which is extremely human. And it’s, I mean, there’s fewer things more human than that, of knowing this is very beneficial to me. And doing it would make my life so much better. And I feel so great when I do it. And it’s working perfectly. So I’m going to go ahead and stop doing it up to a very human of me, potentially very human of you. So talking about gratitude, but more importantly, gratitude. In adversity, it’s a lot easier. It’s fairly easy to be grateful when things are going our way. When we’re just worried and we’re flowing, and we’re getting all the bounces and everything is working. That’s easy, still tough to do. But it’s really hard to be grateful when things are not going our way. When we’re sick, when loved ones are sick, when we’re broke. When bad things happen, which happen all the time. That’s life, dealing with suffering, pain and badness, badness, self dealing with having gratitude and adversity. And so I wanted to go to the to the Quran for this because I think that there’s so much wisdom and so much to be learned, and so much that can benefit everyone. So in the Quran, concept of gratitude is expressed through the term, Shakur, S H. UK our Shakur apologize for my prince pronunciation, that it is considered gratitude to be a fundamental fundamental aspect of the believers relationship with Allah or God, and is closely tied to the acknowledgement of the blessings and favors that Allah God bestows upon the believers. The Quran emphasizes the importance of gratitude, Shakur, Shakur, and encourages believers to be thankful for all of the blessings that they receive seen as a way to increase contentment and foster a positive outlook in life. So I think that that is a definition or thought approach to gratitude that can all certainly agree with it’s a way to increase our level of contentment and have a positive outlook. Those are things that I work so hard to have, and to do. And one of the things that’s important about that is, it takes work. I don’t think that these things come natural, least they don’t come natural to me that they’re so positive. So believers are encouraged to be thankful to a lot to God for the numerous blessings that they receive, whether they’re actual tangible, or they’re intangible. I met for me, I think that I’m probably way more grateful for the intangible things, for the gifts that God actually did give me more so than something that I bought. So expressing gratitude, expressing gratitude is seen as a way of recognizing and appreciating benevolence of the Creator. Now, gratitude, adversity, this is a trickier thing. And the Quran certainly acknowledges that life is filled with adversity and challenges and tests. But even in the hardest times, believers are encouraged to maintain that attitude of gratitude, and the ability to be thankful in adversity is considered a sign of faith and resilience. This is a made You’re and really important theme, which is known as S, A, B, R or suburb. It’s literally endurance, perseverance, and persistence. So what a wonderful word that is one of the two parts of the faith. It teaches us to remain spiritually steadfast and to keep doing good. personally and for everyone, especially when we are facing hard times, when we life throws curveballs, our way bad things happen, unwanted things happen. It’s the patients in the face of adversity and pain and suffering. That’s what it’s all about. The Crown suggests that expressing gratitude leads to an increase in blessings. So the more grateful we are, the more blessings we’re going to receive. in Surat, Ibrahim 14, seven, it’s mentioned, if you’re grateful, I will surely increase your favor. But if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe. So gratitude is seen as a form of worship in Islam. Recognizing and being thankful for the blessings bestowed upon us by Allah is considered a way of fulfilling one’s duty to worship and serve the Creator. God is believed to have a positive impact on our well being focusing on positive aspects of life. And being grateful, we’re encouraged that then leads to a greater sense of contentment, and humility. And it fosters a really positive perspective or outlook on things. Think about how important that is. I think that that is one of it’s a massive differentiator between between people, you know, plenty of people and soda, why that are just negative, where things never quite right. It’s like the Princess and the Pea. It’s like, gosh, this little thing, this tiny little thing, I can’t even feel it anymore, but I know it’s there. And it’s just, it just wrecks my day. And we also know people who are positive, we have a charge, right. And I don’t know if it’s an electron, but it’s a positive or negative charge. You don’t want to see me do math on the fly, you certainly do not want to see me do science on the fly, either. So anyway, you’ve you get the idea. Well, gratitude towards Allah is emphasized the crown also encourages believers to express gratitude to other human beings. So not just to be grateful to God, but to be grateful for those in our lives, those we come across act of kindness and support and being generous to others, that should be celebrated. You should call it out, you should acknowledge it, and we should most definitely appreciate it. It’s overall the Koran encourages believers to develop a mindset of gratitude, recognizing the importance of be thankful for both the obvious and the subtle blessings that we receive. It’s a transformative attitude that can just deepen our, our spiritual experience our connection to the Creator, and make us happier people. You know, how you look at something makes all the difference. And if you’re able to take a positive outlook and view in the face of terrible things, wow. What a wonderful skill ability. That that is. And I think that it truly is, I think that the practice of gratitude is a muscle. It’s a skill, like any other, you might be wired more to the positive than you are the negative or vice versa. But I think like so many things, like so many other abilities and skills, they can be learned, strengthened, nurtured, fostered all of those things. And if we don’t exercise them or use them, they will atrophy we will forget how to do them, we we can certainly lose them. So being grateful, having a positive outlook, and a positive perspective on things. Nothing guarantees anything but that’s going to lead to a more contented life. Allah teaches that if we are grateful he will increase his favor upon us. This is a powerful reminder of the transformative nature of gratitude as we express thanks. We believe in the promise of Allah and witnessed the abundance of his blessings in our lives. So that’s nothing but a positive thing. Every act of gratitude is thought of as an act of worship as well. In surah, all Bukhara Allah calls us to remember him and to be grateful. By recognizing and appreciating the blessings in our lives we fulfill our duty of worship. Let our gratitude be a means to strengthen our connection with Allah

Gotta reminds us that gratitude leads to an increase in favor. It’s not just a promise, it’s a profound truth. So the more we cultivate gratitude, we not only move closer to God to allow but also we experience a positive increase, or rather, so many positive effects on our on our lives again, gets us closer to contentment, it gives us that healthy positive perspective and attitude and outlook good or bad. So, so important to again, not only express it towards God, but also to our fellow humans. So that one of the one of the main ideas is that it’s important to remember that God is not going to burden you or give you anything that you can’t handle. So the language specifically says that Allah does not burn his soul beyond its capacity. So it has given you challenges knowing that you can handle it. And even in challenges, expressing gratitude, or the strength that God has given to you is a really important thing. It’s through difficulties. That’s when our faith is tested. It’s easy to be a believer when things are going awesome. Just like it’s easy to be grateful when things are going awesome. But how do we hold up when things are not going great? That is, that’s the test that is severe, some super. Well, it’s true that the more grateful we are, the more blessings they’ll receive that we will receive. It’s also believed that being ungrateful, will lead to punishment. In Surah e Rahim 14 seven says that tells us that if you are grateful, I will surely increase your favor. But if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe. So Nan said the Mohammed said, wonders of the believers affairs. For him, there is good in all his affairs, and this is so only for the believer, when something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful and that is good for him. And when something displeasing happens to him, he is enduring suburb, and that is good for him. Mom, it is reported to have said, no one had ever been given anything better than supper. So the ability to tour to endure to persist in the face of badness, harshness, negativity, is one of the greatest gifts that has been given. I find, I mean, I find that that’s so powerful, and I couldn’t agree more. The face of terrible chaos, of pain and suffering, are we still able to have a healthy, positive perspective on our lives? It reminds me of the saying, Keep a stiff upper lip, the idea. You can trace all the way back to ancient Greece, the Spartans, who are some of the most disciplined and sacrificing people, you think about the Stoics, the idea that we have no control over what happens to us, but absolute control over how we think, feel and respond to it. And that’s something that I work really hard to put to work in my life. Marcus Aurelius wrote, If you’re distressed by an external thing, it is not this thing which disturbs you, but your own judgement about it. And it is in your power to wipe out to wipe out that judgment. Now. There you go. Shakespeare talked about in Hamlet, there’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. So. Nothing is either good or bad. Inherently. It’s just what it is. Death. It’s not good or bad. Sometimes it’s a release. Sometimes it’s the worst thing in the world. Divorce. It’s not a good thing or bad thing. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Sometimes it’s a bad thing. What it is, is the meaning that we ascribe to it, the judgment that we put on it, a word is not good or bad. It’s the context that we give it. That’s what makes it so there’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so it’s not easy to be grateful in good times. It’s really hard to be grateful in bad times to keep things in perspective. It’s so hard for me. It’s hard for everybody. That’s something I work hard at I keep try to keep in front of me as much as I can. So how do you do it? How do we actually do it? The attitude of gratitude and other platitudes are in fact vapid and pretty cheesy. That’s what you think of them, then that’s what they’ll be. Or you can lean into it. Lean right into it recognize that gratitude is a superpower. It’s one of the most timeless practices of the human experience and of human existence. I’ve just been talking about the holy book, The Qur’an, and how important these teachings are in Islam. And that’s practiced by billions of people on planet Earth. So, such an impactful thing, but how do you actually do it? How do you actually do it? I think that I talked about at the beginning and a little bit how I forget to do it, I know how important it is, and to do it, and I feel great about it, but then I stopped doing it, because that’s just a feature of humanity. So I think that the more we can make things, a habit that will lead, improve our chances of actually following through on it and making it real in our lives. So I think about creating a habit with an acronym Duff, so d, U. F. It’s desire, understanding, and then fit. So the desire piece is pretty easy. Do you want to do it? Do you want to practice gratitude? Yes. Do I understand how do I understand how to practice gratitude really quickly? I think that a really common practice, and one that I do is to think about three things that I am grateful for. And I do that every morning. Or at least Monday through Friday, when I’m writing, I write down three things that I’m grateful for. So you can write down one thing, you could write down 10 things. Just make it so it fits. So you can actually do it. So desire. Do I know how to do it, you can think about it. I think that writing the act of writing is one of is another superpower, which is such sounds kind of silly, but we’re thinking about what we’re thinking about. And thinking like gratitude is a perishable skill, and a skill that we can improve and strengthen and get better at. So I encourage you to write it down, write down three things that you’re grateful for. Even if it’s I’m grateful for I’m healthy, I’m grateful that I’m awake and alive. I’m grateful for my kids, or my mom or my dad, or I’m grateful for these delicious pancakes I just ate, it doesn’t matter. Just that you’re doing it. That’s what matters. And then fit. So it’s desire, it’s understanding, and then it’s fit. So a lot of the wisdom around forming habits talks about look for things you’re already doing. And then figure out how you how this new habit can piggyback or fit in to this routine. So a habit is I wake up every morning. I have a habit of doing that. And I’ve been doing that for 45 years. Have I ever just slept through an entire day? I don’t think so. That’s an interesting conversation to have potentially down the road. But I wake up every day. And then I have my routine. So what do I do? I have coffee, I shower, I go to the bathroom, I get dressed, I get the kids ready, I exercise I stretch. So I’m brushing my teeth. Where does that fit? So for you, maybe you can figure it out, when you open up your computer or you actually sit down to start your day, that that’s when you do it. Okay. I like I love the idea of a masterpiece day. I wish I could attribute it to the person who taught me about it. But the idea is simply that what does a perfect day look like for you? What does the perfect day look like? Now, we have a lot more control over the beginning of our days and the ads, because we’re normally at home. Okay, things are quieter at 6am and 8pm or 6pm, whatever, you get the idea. And that’s where you can really build in things you want to stick. If you try to create a habit at 11 o’clock or two o’clock. I think that that’s going to be a lot harder. Because you’re right in the thick of it stuffs coming your way. You’re getting emails, you’re getting messages, you get phone calls, stuff, there’s just more stuff, there’s chaos. But if you can create a masterpiece day and then book end, that’s where I would that’s where I would fit gratitude in either in the morning or in the evening. I think that if you can get a journal. I think that writing and journaling is one of the most important things that we can do. creates better thinking. So get a journal that you really like. Like get good that you really liked that you’d like to keep that you like to look at that you’d like to pick up you’d like to touch you like turn the pages. Make it your favorite color or your favorite patterns or favorite material, whatever.

Don’t overthink it. Get one that you actually like the one to take around with you get a pen or pencil that you really like or that you’re or that really like writing with, you know, for me, I figured out that I really like and write with the cheapest possible pencils, so or pens rather. And so I just I, I hold on to these things until the ink runs out something that I’m strangely proud of. So get a pen that you like to write with could be a fancy pen doesn’t you know, who cares what I think? Get a super fancy pen if that’s what you like, get a cool pen. Get something with Darth Vader on it, Boba Fett or the Teletubbies, whatever you’re into. So, so much value. If you don’t have a copy of the lifeblood, daily journal, I encourage you to get your copy of the life blood daily journal, you can do that right on the homepage of life blood dot live is where you can find that we sell them on Amazon so you could find it there as well. Anyway. So will it work for you? Will practicing gratitude make your life better? Will it change your perspective? Will it lead to greater satisfaction and contentment? I think that it will. Why not try? Take it like you mean a lot does not burden a soul beyond that it can bear powerful, powerful as always, do your part. Doing your best

george grombacher 16:00
So if I want my iPhone, and my Tesla and my Bitcoin to work, we need to get the metal out of the ground.

Pierre Leveille 16:07
Absolutely. Without it, we cannot do it.

george grombacher 16:13
Why? Why is there a Why has production been going down.

Pierre Leveille 16:21
Because the large mines that are producing most of the copper in the world, the grades are going down slowly they’re going there, they’re arriving near the end of life. So and of life of mines in general means less production. And in the past, at least 15 years, the exploration expenditure for copper were pretty low, because the price of copper was low. And when the price is low, companies are tending to not invest more so much in exploration, which is what we see today. It’s it’s, it’s not the way to look at it. Because nobody 15 years ago was able to predict that there would be a so massive shortage, or it’s so massive demand coming. But in the past five years, or let’s say since the since 10 years, we have seen that more and more coming. And then the by the time you react start exploring and there’s more money than then ever that is putting in put it in expression at the moment for copper at least. And what we see is that the it takes time, it could take up to 2025 years between the time you find a deposit that it gets in production. So but but the year the time is counted. So it’s it’s very important to so you will see company reopening old mines, what it will push also, which is not bad, it will force to two, it will force to find a it will force to find ways of recalibrating customer, you know the metals, that will be more and more important.

george grombacher 18:07
So finding, okay, so for lack of a better term recycling metals that are just sitting around somewhere extremely important. Yeah. And then going and going back to historic minds that maybe for lack of technology, or just lack of will or reasons, but maybe now because there’s such a demand, there’s an appetite to go back to those.

Pierre Leveille 18:33
Yes, but there will be a lot of failures into that for many reasons. But the ones that will be in that will resume mining it’s just going to be a short term temporary solution. No it’s it’s not going to be you need to find deposit that will that will operate 50 years you know at least it’s 25 to 50 years at least and an old mind that you do in production in general it’s less than 10 years.

george grombacher 19:03
Got it. Oh there we go. Up here. People are ready for your difference making tip What do you have for them

Pierre Leveille 19:14
You mean an investment or

george grombacher 19:17
whatever you’re into, you’ve got so much life experience with raising a family and doing business all over the world and having your kids go to school in Africa so a tip on copper or whatever you’re into.

Pierre Leveille 19:34
But there’s two things I like to see and I was telling my children many times and I always said you know don’t focus on what will bring you specifically money don’t think of Getting Rich. Think of doing what you what you like, what you feel your your your your your, you know you have been born to do so use your most you skills, do what you like, do what you wet well, and good things will happen to you. And I can see them grow in their life. And I can tell you that this is what happens. And sometimes you have setback like I had recently. But if we do things properly, if we do things that we like, and we liked that project, we were very passionate about that project, not only me, all my team, and if we do things properly, if we do things correctly, good things will happen. And we will probably get the project back had to go forward or we will find another big project that will be the launch of a new era. So that’s my most important tip in life. Do what you like, do it with your best scale and do it well and good things will happen.

george grombacher 20:49
Pierre Leveille 21:03
Thank you. I was happy to be with you to today.

george grombacher 21:06
Damn, tell us the websites and where where people can connect and find you.

Pierre Leveille 21:13
The it’s Deep South resources.com. So pretty simple.

george grombacher 21:18
Perfect. Well, if you enjoyed this as much as I did show up here your appreciation and share today’s show with a friend who also appreciate good ideas, go to deep south resources, calm and learn all about what they’re working on and track their progress.

Pierre Leveille 21:32
Thanks. Thanks, have a nice day.

george grombacher 21:36
And until next time, keep fighting the good fight. We’re all in this together.