Saturday, 1 December 2012

perfecting myself / wie mich der perfektionismus einholte

As you may have noticed,I write alot.A LOT.And because I´m so selfish I mostly write about myself. So this is a text I found in a little booklet I have.I write stuff in this booklet now and then.Just when I feel like I need to.And I now it sounds superweird, but I also like to read my own texts. It is super interesting to see if you made progress in your life.I just rediscovered this text, which I wrote a few months ago after Ramadan.It is about perfectionism. I wrote it in German and will try to translate it, but I´ll at first publish the text in German , because I feel like I am waaaaaaay better in expressing my thoughts and feelings in German (as I´m logically used to it a lot more).

The text is very personal and gives quite a deep insight .It does take a lot of willpower to publish this for me,but I think it does express good what I mean and everyone struggles now and then with the burden of perfectionism.If you dont- you are probably waaaaaaay to confident and proud of yourself, and thats probably  the worst thing you can do for your life here and hereafter.






Berlin, 16.10.2012, at home    it´s nearly midnight...Ayse is writing :


Ich habe mein Leben aufgeteilt in Abteilungen.Wie ein Unternehmen führe ich mein Leben mit akribischer Sorgfalt und bin ständig am Abwägen und Perektionieren.Alles muss perfekt sein.Drunter geht es nicht mehr, denn meine Maxime scheint geworden zu das Beste zu machen.Nicht was mich zufriedenstellt oder gut ist, sondern das Beste.Ob mich das Perfekte dann glücklich macht?Nur selten, im Gegensatz zu dem Aufwand, den ich betreibe verschwindend gering.Die Rechnugen, die ich mache stimmen nicht mehr.Die Gleichung von Aufwand und Ertrag scheint immer schwerer auf die eine Seite zu kippen.Doch das Ärgerliche daran ist,dass ich genau wegen meiner Erwartung an mich überall das Beste herauszuholen,mich niemals in irgendeiner Disziplin zu Höchstleistungen emporschwingen kann.Selbst Dinge, die mir spielend einfach erschienen und mir Spaß machten, in denen ich schon bei meinen Standards auf höchstem Niveau stand und ohne großen Aufwand mit   Stolz (was für ein schreckliches aber süchtig machendes Gefühl) und Genugtuung meine eigenen Leistungen und Rekorde anderer mit dem lockeren Lächeln des gewissen Sieges noch übertrumpfte,sorgen nun in meinem Hirn für Rechnungen. Lohnt es sich?Was gewinne ich? Was verliere ich?Was ist das Risiko,das ich eingehe?

Abgesehen davon,dass ich sowieso durch die mir wahrscheinlich fehlende Reife und den Weitblick zum größten Teil falsche Rechnungen aufstelle und damit falsche Prioritäten setze,hat dieses Rechenfaible mich das gekostet,was mich und 
auch jeden anderen Menschen antreibt : Leidenschaft.

Die Passion, mit der ich die Dinge verfolgte war unglaublich.Die unglaublichen langen, hitzigen, etwas kindischen Debatten, die ich führte, waren keine Seltenheit.Im Rückblick entstanden gerade in solchen Debatten die brilliantesten Ideen und Verknüpfungen.Nun bin ich so kühl geworden.
Sicher, es hat mich auch vorangebracht.Meine Gebete sind nun endlich konstant.Ich faste Montags und Donnerstags.Formalitäten kriege ich schnell und einfach geregelt und mein Essverhalten ist nun besser.

Doch gleichzeitig ist mein Stresslevel unglaublich angestiegen, dabei streite ich prinzipiell nicht mehr.Vielmehr bürdet mir der Lebensstil aus allem eine hitzige Debatte IM Kopf zu machen eine unglaubliche Last auf.Früher fanden solche Diskussionen höchstens zwischen mir und Gegnern stat.Ich hatte immer eine klare Position.Das war zwar dumm aber auch unglaublich einfach und befriedigend.Nun sind Zerwürfnisse IN mir.Und nicht genug damit, dass immer alles zu einem Entweder-Oder mit Weltuntergangsszenario wird und mich geistig ausgelaugt und ermüdet zurücklässt.Nein - nun habe ich auch noch die lästige Eigenschaft entwickelt alle meine Taten, statt sie ruhen zu lassen, ständig zu reflektieren.Aus allen möglichen Perspektiven mit zig Hintergründen eine Entscheidung immer und immer wieder aufzurollen um sie bis in den letzten Winkel zu durchleuchten strengt unglaublich an und lässt immer wieder dieses dumpfe Gefühl zurück.Man denkt es hätte besser sein können oder vielleicht entpuppt es sich doch als falsch.Selbst in diesem Augenblick denke ich daran mit dem Schreiben aufzuhören,da ja auf der anderen Seite kein "Ertrag" steht.Als wäre es nicht der größte Ertrag sich Dinge von der Seele zu schreiben.
Warum denke ich so abstrakt?Vielleicht mangelt es mir einfach an konkreten Problemen.Habe ich wirklich keine Probleme...? .... Hmmmm. Nein. Selbst nach einer Weile Nachdenken fällt mir hier nichts ein.Andere würden hier wohl das Abitur anführen.Oder den Führerschein oder so was.Dadurch fühlt sich doch ein Mensch in meinem Alter unter Druck gesetzt.Von Schule,Freunden,Familie.....Ich hingegen fühle mich erniedrigt von meinen eigenen Ansprüchen an mich selbst.Und woher kommt jetzt wieder der Anspruch an mich so zu sein wie die Anderen?Gottverdammt wo zur Hölle habe ich dieses Denkmodell aufgeschnappt? Oder sehe ich lediglich Gespenster und analysiere meine nüchtern betrachtet vielleicht ganz normalen Gedankengänge zu genau? Ich habe keine Antwort auf diese Frage.Ich weiß nur, dass diese Anstrengungen in Bereichen, die Disziplin und Kontinuität erfordern hervorragend funktionieren.

Das Ärgerlichste ist, dass ich weiß, dass dieses Denkmodell von außen möglicherweise herangetragen aber auf keinen Fall implementiert wurde. Ich allein war die Person,die es adaptierte und mit meinen eigenen Erwartungen bestückte.Und weil ich hoffte so um einiges bessere Resultate zu erlangen, steckte ich meine ungeschriebenen Ziele (denn ich glaube insgeheim war mein Ziel immer das eigene Ziel noch zu übertreffen, also nach oben hin offen und dadurch unerfüllbar) im Übereifer unfassbar hoch und das in allen Aspekten meines Lebens.
Ich bin radikal und ich glaube noch immer an die Macht,die Heilkraft und Richtigkeit von Radikalität, doch das perfektionistische Ich mit dem ich ständig kämpfe scheint sich dagegen zu sträuben.So suchte ich mich radikal zu perfektionieren.Doch was ist der Reiz des Perfekten wenn er erzwungen ist?Ich verlor ehrliche Gefühle, nichts erregt mehr mein Gemüt. Durch das sture Abarbeiten meines Masterplans, bin ich kaum mehr in der Lage Freude an Etappensiegen darin zu empfinden.So zerreibe ich mich zwischen meinen eigenen Ansprüchen.



Well thats it basically. If you found it funny -shame on you it was a hard time for me.Luckily I dont feel like this any more.I dont know how, but I got rid of it !




So the next time when your brain is like : You could´ve done better! 







                                 
                                                                        Be like  .....






UUUUUUUHHHHM . Probably next time ok ? : D 



May peace be upon you <3

Monday, 19 November 2012

sadness in the mosque...nobody there?

Have you ever been to  the mosque during a normal day? Not at the weekend and not for the eveningprayer? Have you ever done that? No? Why ? And if you did : What has the situation been  , that you´ve been confronted with?
Did you see a mosque flourishing , full of life, filled with so much people , that it was nearly exploding?

During the last weeks I had some lessons in school being cancelled, so I had a little bit of free time.I could have learned a little bit in this time or chilled  with some friends or something completely different. I chose the last option and went to the mosque.

The mosque is to be honest in a distance of about a good 10 minutes.So its very close to my school,but I never even did spent a thought before on going there in my free time.I dont know why, probably because it was a lot more fun to hang out with my friends.Probably because that satisfied me enough and I did not look for alternatives.But somehow three weeks ago I went there.
I wasn´t expecting the mosque to be full, but I was expecting at least a few old people there.
When I arrived the mosque .... was c l o s e d.

OK .... I want to be fair. The mosque is quite a big, central one and in the area of the mosque live THOUSANDS of muslims.The mosque itself was opened, but the part for women was closed. I had to find someone to open it for me and finding someone was really hard.When I finally was inside the big , freezingly cold hall and I looked down and saw the carpet....I sat down. And I started crying.


I cried for a long time. It was one of the most intimate moments with ALLAH. I cried for myself and I cried for the ummah.People had chosen to leave the mosques and live their lifes in their private rooms.They had betrayed the mosques. And the worst thing about it was : I was one of those people.

Dont get me wrong.I go to the mosque now and then.Youll find me in some mosque at least two or three times a week.But I was never actively planning to go to the mosque.To stay there, to do something for the mosque...I was just rushing in, doing salah and rushing out.

And now I want to ask the ummah, in first place myself : Where have you been when salah-time arrived? Where have you been while the mosques were suffering from financial problems? What caused you to do your salah at home? ON YOUR OWN . ALONE ?
I want to ask everyone, especially the old ladies in retirement : Where have you been? Who told you to stay at home? Wasn´t the first thing to work for, the priority of priorities after worshipping ALLAH , the unity of the ummah ? So who told you, that you would do something for unity through sitting at home on you own
or with some friends, gossiping about other people? 

A mosque lives just as much as it is visited by the believers.

The mosque offers  the most beautiful place for you, your children, your family to pray, to learn, to network.It is the place of productivity and love. It is time for us to go back to our local mosques and turn them into the places , they deserve to be and used to be for hundreds and hundreds of years of muslim history : the center of a muslims life.





I now go to the mosque more often at uncomfortable times.Stand up and go ahead.Pray the next salah-time at your local mosque! You will be amazed <3

May peace be upon you <3 
 

Thursday, 13 September 2012

why is fasting never an option?

"Three...two...one...everybody on the dates ! Azan is calling ! Azan is calling! "

Oh lovely Ramadan!Why are you gone so fast every time? I love you ! I love you so much from the depth of my heart! The spiritual atmosphere in Ramadan is very special.So deep and  authentic.Life is so much more worthless in comparison to akhirah in my eyes during Ramadan. In Ramadan I can do EVERYTHING I want. During Ramadan I feel great and I get rid of bad habits.


So why is fasting never really an option for us in daily life? I mean, we are making dua all day every day, we pray 5 times a day (during Ramadan I did even 6 times a day . Tahajjud is sooo great , but I´m going to write a different post about that later). And all that is good and completely fine...but why do we never think of fasting during normal days? WHY ? It´s like a mega-event if we do it (or Ramadan obviously :D). Well, let me tell you a story...As I always do  : D

During Ramadan (by far the most intense one of my entire life, guess I´m just starting to mature and be aware of everything more finally) I felt so good.I felt not only connected , but even like BEST FRIENDS with a ton of respect and a little bit fear towards ALLAH (c.c.). His love fulfilled me and I felt completely detached from the world.I felt like the only thing I needed was ALLAH. And I felt like he was honestly the one and only that I really wanted. And I wanted him desperately.
My life seemed to be so perfect.Everything improved from the first day.The world was so nice to me, because I was nice to the world.Success seemed to be increased in every aspect of my little life. I felt no hate. I didn't feel any bad feelings at all. I felt just love.Pure love.Pure, crystal clear and innocent. People told me , that I would glow and spread so much love even without saying something.
Not only mental and spiritual it was a month of success, but also health wise. My health was like up to 3000% . OK , I´m guilty I admit I didnt exercise ( I still don't, but definitely should) but I lost a good amount of weight. I ate zero junk, but replaced it with delicious fresh vegetables, fruits and nuts.I ate less, but had like double or three times the energy.

My productivitylevel was up the sky. 

   

When I look back, what I have done everything I still don't know HOW I managed it, but everything was so easy...
I read so much.And let me tell you something.I´m a little bookworm, since I can remember myself.I loved to read thrillers and novels and trivial stuff like that, which is not really hard to read right?But the moment you start reading Islamic or even scientific books the whole issue becomes a little bit different right? Well, not for me anymore ! I didn't only quited reading trivial literature and replaced it with Islamic or scientific books, but also increased the amount I read + I started taking notes and using a highlighter i n my books! And people it works WONDERS ! So highlight in your books and take notes ! 



So I thought . What was the source of my energy and well being in this month ? And I came to the conclusion that it was two things:
1) Fasting (and that means also awareness of god and transience) 
2) The ability to do what I really WANT, because there is no shaytan I had to fight 

So since I don't have any influence on aspect Number 2 I decided to focus on number one.Fasting.
I decided that I wanted to have the same energy in my life for the whole year so I would fast.
And I did. I did Shevval and then a couple days more as  just good deeds.And it worked perfectly! With fasting I realised how much time and effort I actually spent on preparing and eating junk stuff, that was bad for me in every way just because I was bored. The moment you fast and you know you wont eat till sun goes down, you automatically stop wasting your time thinking about it! It saved me so much time !

But I was scared that it would become normal for me and just like my "eating-habit"  . I didn't want it to be effortless and super easygoing. I still wanted to have at least SOME struggle doing it.I wanted to make an effort,because my intention was to please ALLAH and not developing a new eating-culture. So I looked up  a few hadiths.And I found some , which say that our Prophet (s.a.v.) used to fast Mondays and Thursdays.As   someone said, that he could fast more, he replied that fasting his way is the best. So I did it. And it works perfectly. I recommend fasting to everyone and hope to practise this for hopefully the rest of my life... Insaallah  if Allah is willing .

May peace be upon you <3

Your fasting Ayse

Saturday, 1 September 2012

the problem with hijab

Ok people, lets face it.  I love wearing the hijab. And I love every each and one of my scarfs. But there is on thing that disturbs the harmonical relationship between me and my scarfs : Needles.

I HATE them.Everytime I buy a new scarf I´m super excited to wear it. And then ? BOOOOOOOOM . Explosion of hundreds of holes in my beautiful, expensive scarfs T.T
At first I thought its because my needles were basically too big, so that they left holes.And yes part of the problem was actually the size of them (my needles were HUGE) , so I bought finer ones.

But what happened? Exactly ! Exceptional of the size of the holes nothing changed.And because I become older, I started buying better quality scarfs.I actually own a few pure-silk scarfs and those are really sensitive.

But it became even worse.When this year those laser-scarfs popped up in hijab-fashion I was super amazed and had to get plenty of them. But some of them (especially the shimmery ones) are even more sensitive then silk ! 

No matter which kind of needle you use : There will be those fugly,nervewracking holes. 

AND I HATE THEM.


So I stopped using needles.   "Wha...wha... WAIT. YOU STOPPED USING NEEDLES?"

ummmm... yes :D

And I will tell you the ultimate solution to your problems with those shitty holes in your beautiful headscarfs.
The solution is : MAGNETS . Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! Genius right ? I know ! And thats why I want everyone to benefit from this.



You can buy magnets online everywhere.But they come in huge packs, which you will never use, because they never ever ever become dull. So you will need just one pair for the rest of your LIFE. Its so genius my God, why havent I switched earlier to magnets ?!





I sell them for 3€ per pair. Just email me :)

Tuesday, 21 August 2012

the hijab-fashion-community on instagram

Recently I discovered instagram for myself. Add me there I love it. I´m obsessively using it.One day instagrams server will crash because of my activities.Information-overload.... But thats not the topic today .

I took part in the fashion-community for hijabis which is taking over instagram these days.It´s really great.I cant tell why I feel like fashion is absolutely important to hijabis in our society.I´m probably completely wrong and fashion or just being clothed nicely is unimportant or even unislamic ( teach me better if you know), but I personally spend time and effort into my clothing.
There are people on instagram who name themselves "hijabstyle" ,"hijablife" or "fashionmodesty" and things like that. They usually have lots of followers and share your pictures if you hashtag them under you pictures.It works kind of like a shoutout.

I love to open my instagram and see beautifully dressed sisters from all over the world. Its so inspirational!
But heres what you were waiting for ... the critics.

I want to point out  which big kind of responsibility those people have. And here is the story..
As I started participating in the community I because of whatever reason started wearing long skirts and quitted weraing tight jeans.They are so comfortable and I feel like they look so much better. Obviously they also do great in covering everything up and helping you with keeping the spirit of hijab.Now I feel terrible when I go out with jeans. I always feel kind of half-naked with them.Like everyone would stare at my legs.

But now those big people like "hijablife" started sharing pictures of poeple in leggings with 7 inches high heels and tons of makeup on their face. I´m sorry but whats wrong with you? People who consider themselves as representative muslims have responsibilty for what they do. Because everything you do gives a message to the outter world.

The same goes for you, if you have a twitter/ tumblr/ whatsoever account where you clearly state that you are muslim.For the instagram-people who call themselves "hijablife" etc. the message is " HEY I´m a muslim , that supports hijab-wear.Here I share hijabconform fashion of people.You can be inspired by these looks."
And then, they just turn around and share bad looks, which are not hijabconform at all.

PEOPLE , GET YOUR PRIORITES STRAIGHT.
THINK ABOUT YOUR ACTIVITIES IN SOCIAL NEWTORKS, IF YOU CLAIM TO BE A  ROLEMODEL  FOR ISLAMIC LIFE !

Monday, 13 August 2012

The ultimate guide to holidays in Turkey ( Istanbul,Yalova,Izmit)

Whooooowww, guys it has been a while since I was here writing a blogpost. It feels completely weird after 2 month of abstinence :)But of course it had reasons. Obviously it was summer and I was gone in Turkey ( Soooo missing it there) and I had no internet there ( ok nearly none) . So I felt isolated from the civilisation.But after a few days it was ok. Actually I quite enjoyed being existent only for me and my creator.

I had amazing holidays in Turkey. I spent nearly 6 weeks in sunny and hot Turkey. At first I was in Izmit to see my fathers side of the family ( You now you just have to visit your relatives ) and it was fun ! In the last few years Turkey completely turned into a industrial, wealthy nation . The politicians over there seem to be working hard and you can see the difference ! At this point I want to thank Recep Tayip Erdogan and all the people in his party and everyone else who helped and helpes building up Turkey.

It has come to the point, where I can say , that lifestandards in Turkey are now not only equal ,but even higher in some points like healtcare compared to Germany.




We  did everything you do in holidays usually. And then ... we went to Istanbul !!!! For a week to go sightsseing. We saw everything you could see in Istanbul.It was mesmerizing.Istanbul is really a very special city.In Istanbul is EVERYTHING you could think of.And if you havent seen Istanbul you cant say, that you are welltravelled. Istanbul is a MUST for everyone.

So at first we saw the big isle of Istanbul, where the elite lived back in the old days. Its still a really elitess place but completely touristic now :)


 Does anyone know this singer ? Hes singing some spanish music,which is awsome.I asked for a CD, but the y had none.




     
 I just love this picture.Isnt it perfect ?

Then we visited other relatives in their garden outside of istanbul  :)



 So romantic what ?

After that we saw Kizkulesi :)
To be honest its quite oricey for Turkey-standards and theres really not much to see there.So if you dont want to go there crazily I would recommend you to not do it,because it´s also wuite complicated for a foreigner with all the different boats and private services to find the right spot to go in this MEGA-city .



And then Dolmabahce sarayi...



phew... that should be enough for the first. I will continue it the next days ;)

Saturday, 16 June 2012

Soccer and the society ...

I live in Germany and the Europe-Cup is taking place these days. I guess soccer is the new drug.


When I bought newspaper in the last weeks at least half of it was about soccer.The important and political things started at the pages 4 or 5. They tried to comprimize them and werent giving much information to have more space to write more about unimportant soccer and publish pictures of soccer-players in every position from 52648027233 million different angles.And that was the point where I started to realize: The whole thing has gone just toooooo far.Soccer has become the new opium for people.

I dont want to attack people or offend anyone,but at the times world-cup takes place it becomes EVEN MORE DISGUSTING.

I just want people to realize,that soccer is a HOBBY.And it should be left as a HOBBY. Of course it can help to forget about prejiduces and cross borders.But nowadays it has come to a completely perverted dimension.Nowadays people identify themselves with clubs and stuff.They argue about players and 

spent literally their whole day or even life thinking about 22 adult men (last year was womens worldcup in Germany and I´ve been at the first game) running after a ball.

I mean you just have to look at hooligans and what they do, to understand what I mean.People exeggarate.
And I also think,that soccer is probably on of the most overrated things in the world. People dont get,that it doesnt mean a shit in the world.And nobody cares,if it gives you probably the feeling of participating in something big and great,when it just doesnt mean a shit to the worlds situation in any way. The only thing you do, if you try to keep up always with soccer-business is wasting your time.People think they come to together and do something together to form a better unity in human population.But they dont.

In fact soccer divides us all even more.It´s the wrong way to unite.
To form national groups to let them compete against each other to have one be the winner and the rest are the losers is probably one of the worst ideas in human history. And nobody can tell me, that it´s not about nations and their pride when they even sing their national anthem before every game and every side tries to be louder then the others.I guess this is horrible for spain : P .

So calm down people and keep you priorities straight !

May peace be upon you <3