There is a talk on how to stay healthy and happy at work. The slides notes are HERE.
Stay healthy and happy at your work? For me, it is kind of subjective. It is all back to intention (why). Nothing else matters.
According to Prophet Muhammad SAW hadith as reported by Umar ibn al-Khattab:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, deeds are only with intentions. Verily, every person will have only what they intended. Whoever emigrated to Allah and his messenger, his emigration is for Allah and his messenger. Whoever emigrated to get something in the world or to marry a woman, his emigration is for that to which he emigrated.”
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 54, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1907
Grade: Muttafaqun Alayhi (authenticity agreed upon) according to Al-Bukhari and Muslim
عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِنَّمَا الْأَعْمَالُ بِالنِّيَّةِ وَإِنَّمَا لِامْرِئٍ مَا نَوَى فَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَمَنْ كَانَتْ هِجْرَتُهُ لِدُنْيَا يُصِيبُهَا أَوْ امْرَأَةٍ يَتَزَوَّجُهَا فَهِجْرَتُهُ إِلَى مَا هَاجَرَ إِلَيْهِ
54 صحيح البخاري كتاب الإيمان باب ما جاء إن الأعمال بالنية والحسبة ولكل امرئ ما نوى
1907 صحيح مسلم
This month engagement emphasises on the theme “sustainability”. For me, to be sustainable is to be true to oneself in reference being an ‘Abd.
I showed my pouch to some of my colleagues. They are quite amazed that I have a time to sew a pouch. I told them that I only take few hours to complete one pouch. Dr Narina and Dr Norah asked me if I make the pouch for sale. Err… nope. It is not for sale.
Why am I having this new hobby? I need to use my fingers to enhance (or at least maintain) my fine motor skills. I know that I am not getting any younger. I find myself having muscle strain on my hand/fingers whenever I use my laptop/mouse or handphone longer than I should with no intermittent break. This is not good. So, I need to strengthen my fine motor skills. I don’t want to do some exercise per se without seeing any tangible product/result. What is the best way to unwind and at the same time, I can get tangible result? Other than gardening, it is sewing. Back to basic.
As I am already in my “4 series” age, to put a thread in a needle is challenging but I try my best to keep myself occupied with non-academic work-related stuff. I know that some might perceive this as counter-productive, but what a heck. I need to keep my life in balance. I need to relax and unwind, doing something “productive”. 😀
So, now I have two polka dot pouches. Identical. One is slightly bigger size. For the small pouch, I use 8inch zipper and for the bigger pouch I use 10inch zipper. It does make a bit difference. I don’t know what I will put inside the bigger pouch. Perhaps I will use it to put my mouse and laptop charger.
[Psstt… this is hand-sewn so to make it A4 size might take longer than few hours]
I had a chance using skype to evaluate remote supervision students from afar with my three colleagues from School of Education: Dr Norah, Dr Narina and Dr Husna. A new thing for me. Normally, I use to have face-to-face proposal defense or viva but today, it is different. Yup. Teleconference style of viva.
It is not easy. It depends on internet connection. But, this will be an in-thing now and in the future. So, I need to get used to it. Kudos to Graduate School staff who set up the skype thingy and oversaw the overall process of evaluation.
