Mind
&
Heart

You know, it's not just the human body that can get sick.

There's not much point in having a healthy body if it doesn't make you feel happy and good about yourself,

and your mind with which you think,

and your heart with which you feel,

can both get sick and make your life miserable.

Now here's the strange thing about the mind and heart.

What makes them healthy is thinking and feeling more about other people than about yourself.

In taking care of other people you are really taking care of yourself.

If you only look at other people who have more than you have,

who have what you would like to have,

you end up being jealous of what you haven't got,

which is a bad feeling.

But if you look the other way, at all those people who have less than you,

those who wish they could have what you have,

you end up being grateful for what you have been given,

and that is a very good feeling.

In the same way, if you are greedy, that feeling of wanting more grows inside you

and you end up always wanting more and never feeling that you have enough,

never feeling satisfied.

And at the same time being greedy keeps people from being your friends,

as who wants to be friends with someone who wants everything for themselves?

So even though you may only be thinking of how you can please yourself,

that way of thinking actually makes you lonely and miserable.

How different from those who share what they have with those who have less.

The people that they share with love them for it,

and as friends they share what they have too, all thankful for what they have been given,

and trusting that God will provide a share for them if they only share what they have with those around them.

And that feels good.

We first learn to share with our families,

our brothers and sisters,

but can easily forget that until we are grown we need our parents to share what they have with us.

From the moment we are born,

when our mothers give the milk from their breasts to us,

our families share what they have with us,

to feed us and keep us warm and sheltered.

And this caring and sharing springs from the heart, and is known as Love.

But unless we can recognise the love we are given, it is hard for us to know how to feel it and give it.

So we always have to look for the ways we are given love,

because the giving and sharing of love is the greatest joy of all.

And the Messenger,

known as the most smiling and laughing of men,

was also known as the most loving and forgiving of men.

And that is because he lived out the Message that he left for us in the Qur'an,

which guides us to the way that is best for us,

keeping us healthy and happy.

And in that Message,

God the All-Merciful

is also known as the All-Loving.