Never lose hope

Dalia Mogahed gave a talk at RIS this morning on the political situation in the middle east -- on the wars and daily tragedies that are tearing the region apart today.

At the end of the talk, she told us to never lose hope.

And reminded us of the story of Musa 'alaihi salaam.

When he and his people reached the shoreline, they stood facing the Red Sea as Pharaoh's army approached imminently from behind.  The situation was hopeless -- by secular standards.

But then, God told him to strike his stick and He parted the sea.  And they were saved.

God didn't need Musa to strike his stick.  He could have parted the sea on His own without any action from Musa.

But He told Musa to strike his stick.

And there's something to learn from that too.

We must never lose hope in God's help and His mercy.

Our job is only to do our part and be witnesses to God's miracle.

Be a gift

At the Reviving the Islamic Spirit Knowledge Retreat this year, a sister from Quebec asked Dr. Tariq Ramadan what Muslims should do when they live in a community that is increasingly hostile to them and the practice of their religion.

She's joined others in opposition to Quebec's proposed values charter.  Meanwhile, her friends who wear the hijab have difficulty finding jobs and are faced with increasing animosity and abuse on the streets.

She asked, at what point do you just leave?

His response...

When they try to portray you as a threat, be a gift.
Stay.  And be a gift.

Prayer for a partner

In the story of Musa 'alayhi salam, after Allah tells him to go to Pharaoh, Musa makes the famous prayer:

قَالَ رَبِّ اشْرَحْلِى صَدْرِى

[Musa] said: My Lord, expand for me my breast [with assurance]

وَ يَسِّرْلِى أَمْرِى

And ease for me my task

وَ احْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِى

And untie the knot from my tongue

يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِى

That they may understand my speech

Surah Taha : 25-28

Right after this, though, he makes a prayer, that's not so well known.  He asks Allah to appoint a minister from his family, his brother, Haroun.  And this is what Musa asks Allah for in this partner:

اشْدُدْ بِهِ أَزْرِى

Increase through him my strength

وَ أَشْرِكْهُ فِى أَمْرِى

And let him share my task

كَىْ نُسَبِّحَكَ كَثِيرًا

That we may exalt You much

وَ نَشْكُرَكَ كَثِيرًا

And remember You much

Surah Taha : 31-34

What a beautiful description of a partner and the purpose that they aim to achieve together.

Human development and tawakkul

In human development, we progress from dependence to independence.  We're born as creatures completely dependent on others for our care and basic nourishment and protection.  As we grow up, we learn to do things on our own and we become more independent.

For some, the development stops here.  They learn to do things on their own and as much as possible they want to do things on their own.  They don't want to have to rely or depend on anyone.  They want to do it themselves.

But there's a level beyond independence.  None of us is perfect and we all have different strengths and weaknesses.  If we can work with others and let their strengths compensate for our weaknesses, we can create a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts.  That's interdependence.

I used to think that the progression ended there.

And then, I realized that there's another step beyond relying on others.

It's tawakkul -- where we depend on God.

I remember reading about Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and how he had a habit of praying an hour every day.  And then when his day was going to be particularly busy and challenging, he would pray even longer.  He knew he needed God's help even more that day.

I'm also learning myself, ever so slowly, that everything comes from God.  He is the Cause of causes.  And if He chooses to grant you something, no one can prevent it from reaching you.  And if He chooses to withhold it from you, there's no way you can get it.

So you make your effort, but the result is up to Him.  So if you don't get what you were striving for, you don't need to beat yourself up about it.  It's not all in your hands.  You don't have control over everything.  You just need to keep trying.

Perhaps His withholding of the thing you wish for is good for you.  Perhaps it's part of a lesson that you will not be able to learn any other way.  Perhaps it's His way of protecting you.  Certainly, He has a good plan in everything.

And when you realize this, somehow life gets a lot less stressful.  You don't put so much pressure on yourself because it's not all up to you.  You learn to accept whatever situation you're in because you know that a higher power and a better planner has put you here.

Now, stepping back and thinking about all this, the truth is, from the beginning, we were completely dependent on God anyways.  So tawakkul, is not so much a new step, but a realization of our original condition.

I got to thinking that's basically what we're doing in being Muslims -- in submitting to God -- we're just being true to ourselves.

Because whether we like it or not, we are servants of God.  We were created as such.  And when we realize that and act accordingly, we're just aligning ourselves with our inner, original nature.

It reminds me of the first line of the Girl Guide promise... "I promise, to be true to myself..."

We've always had a hard time explaining that to the girls.  And now I know it has a deeper meaning than we ever thought.

Service for the Soul

It's a truth I've known for a long time.  That the giver is the greatest beneficiary of the gift.  That volunteering and helping people out really helps us more than anyone else. 

These past few months, being away from my little community, I've come to see that truth with a new clarity.

I need to work.  I need to serve.  To be useful.  To push a wheelchair down the street and have coffee with my neighbour.  I need to pack meals and give them to the guys in the square that wait for us every Friday.  I need to shop for groceries and cook and serve and share a meal with the volunteers and guests who join us for our monthly lunch. 

The service isn't for them.  It's for me.  I need it.  Like my lungs need air and my stomach needs food.  My soul needs service.

Chivalry

The definition of chivalry (تَعْرَيفُ الفُتُوَة) by Habib Ali Al-Jifri:

هِيَ قُوَّةٌ مُتَبَصِّرَةٌ كَامِنَةٌ

It is a Strength, possessing Insight, which is Internalized,

تَنْفَعِلُ لِنُصْرَةِ الحَقِّ

which Reacts in order to give Victory to Truth.

الْإِخْلَاصُ مَقَْصِدُهَا و الأخْلَاقُ مُرْشِدَهَا

Sincerity it its Goal, Good Character is its Guide

 و الرَّحْمَةُ بَاطِنُهَا و التَّغْيِيرُ ظَاهِرُهَا

Mercy is its Inward, and Bringing about Change is its Outward.

فَكُلّ مَا لَا تَجْتَمِعُ فيه هذه المُوَاصَفَاتِ فَلَيْسَ بِالْفُتُوَة

And everything which doesn't combine all of these attributes is not considered Chivalry.

هي قوَّةٌ تَكُونُ في الجَسَدِ و تَكُونُ في النَّفْسِ

So it is a Power that exists in the Body and in the Self

 و تَكُونُ في الْعَقْلِ و تَكُونُ في الرُّوحِ 

and in the Mind and in the Spirit.

Hijab - a recognition of holiness

Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad has a very interesting answer to the question "What is 'Hijab' and how should it affect us on an inner and outer level?"

Here it is:

Hijab is an ancient and, actually profound institution.  Sometimes we assume that it's just about the surface and doesn't affect what is within.  But of course what we do to our outward does have an impact on what we're like within, just as our inward state will be frequently discernible in terms of our body language, our behaviour, the kind of adab we have with others.  So it is necessarily a profound institution.

What it is in its essence is a kind of cautious celebration.  Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'aala has created the world as an expression of His Beauty and His Goodness and He has placed the greatest and most miraculous concentration of beauty in His creation in the beauty of women.

And every culture has always known that.  The artists and the poets have always celebrated that as the most extraordinary manifestation of beauty, of jamal, in Allah's creation.

Of course that is to be celebrated, but it's also the case that, in the Semitic tradition in particular, that not everybody has the right to gaze upon particularly intense concentrations of holiness.

So, in the ancient temple of sayyidina Sulaiman, in Jerusalem, The Holy of Holies was always covered by a veil.  Similarly in the Catholic church, the sacrament will often be in a little tabarnacle, that is covered by a veil.  And similarly, in the context of Islam, you could also say that the ka'abah is also veiled.  The kiswah, the shroud of the kaabah, is in a sense the hijab of the most spectacular symbol of the Divine Absoluteness and Eternity that exists in this world.

So the hijab really is not a sign that something is unworthy or impure or dangerous.  Rather it's an expression of the presence of holiness. 

And that generally is the way in which Muslims have responded to the miracle of beauty. 

So it's a way, as it were, of emphasizing the otherness, the apartness. 

So, for instance, the word for women in Arabic is hareem but the word for the sanctuary in Mecca is the haram.  It's a particular concept of an enclosure in which the sacred is manifested and displayed.

That's something hard for us to understand in our civilization because beauty is the thing that is the least understood and is most commercialized.  So the face of the woman, even though nobody knows that this is the manifestation of the Divine Creative Power is a signpost, not an end to itself, is used and commercialized on the front cover of every magazine and every TV show.  Because people still have that dim sense that here is something transcendent.  In the beauty of women there is a sign of transcendence.  Even the most dead-hearted atheist still is inspired by that.

Of course what they don't have is a way of setting that off and of sanctifying it and demonstrating that it has to be in its due context.  We wouldn't feel right if the kaabah was unveiled.  Certain sacred things are set around with barriers and liminal zones.

And so it is with the miracle of female beauty.  That in the context of Islam our way of expressing reverence for it is to set it apart, to treat it with dignity to surround it... with actually quite severe regulations about deportment, modesty, self-effacement that are not there to deny her, but to acknowledge the sometimes unruly power that the disclosure of beauty in the public space can bring out.

Ya Nafsu (O My Soul)

Should you not gain your wants, my soul, then be not grieved;
But hasten to that banquet which your Lord’s bequeathed.

And when a thing for which you ask is slow to come,
Then know that often through delay are gifts received.

Find solace in privation and respect its due,
For only by contentment is the heart relieved.

And know that when the trials of life have rendered you
Despairing of all hope, and of all joy bereaved, 

Then shake yourself and rouse yourself from heedlessness,
And make pure hope a meadow that you never leave.

Your Maker’s gifts take subtle and uncounted forms.
How fine the fabric of the world His hands have weaved.

The journey done, they came to the water of life,
And all the caravan drank deep, their thirst relieved.

Far be it from the host to leave them thirsty there,
His spring pours forth all generosity received.

My Lord, my trust in all Your purposes is strong,
That trust is now my shield; I’m safe, and undeceived.

All those who hope for grace from You will feel Your rain;
Too generous are You to leave my branch unleaved.

May blessings rest upon the loved one, Muhammad,
Who’s been my means to high degrees since I believed.

He is my fortress and my handhold, so my soul,
Hold fast, and travel to a joy still unconceived.

By Shaykh Ali bin Husayn al-Habshi, 

translated by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad 

Finding God... at Work

Transcribed from a short talk by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad:

Often, Muslims working in a contemporary, fast-moving, turbo-capitalistic-world workplace, feel guilty and uncertain and think that perhaps they're selling out.

In fact, ours is not a worldly religion, but a religion that teaches us to be at ease in the world. 

And our founder, the Holy Prophet, salla Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam, was in the world. 

He was not a monk or a nun.  He was part of his society.  He fully participated in the political and economical and social and marital life of his culture. 

He was an economic actor.

So when we look at issues like this, we find that we're able to go right back to the fountain head of the religion to see what he, himself, had to say about issues that are very contemporary, but in fact are part of the timeless language of human ethics. 

This is about issues that are eternal -- issues of charity, issues of empathy, issues of justice.  This is not a new innovation.

What I want to do, is consider a hadith -- a well know saying of the Holy Prophet, salla Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam.  It's narrated by Jabir bin Abdullah and it's in the collection of Al Bukhari, so it's rigorously authenticated.  And he says, sallaAllahu 'alaihi wa sallam,

Rahima Allahu imra'an
sahla al-bay'ee
sahla ash-shiraa'ee
sahla al-qadaa'ee
sahla al-iqtidaa'ee

It's one of those pithy, syncopated, rhyming statements that we often find in the hadith. 

What it means is,

May God have mercy upon a person
who is easy in his buying,
and in his selling,
and in his taking of money in a loan,
and in his reclaiming of money that is owed to him.

Not a very elegant English translation, I'm afraid.  Even if you don't know Arabic, you'll know how zippy is the original.

And it's a prayer from the Prophet, that God should have mercy on these people.

This may come as some kind of culture-shock, because we tend to assume nowadays--Muslims, like everybody else -- that religion, spirituality, personal transformation, the "Hotline to God", are things that happen in a beautiful sacred place, a little quiet backwater, perhaps a retreat centre, perhaps a place we go to on Friday or Saturday or Sunday, and the real world is out there, where we accumulate all kinds of bad vibes, which we then purge at a place of worship.

Sometimes we treat a place of worship as a kind of spa, where we go to decontaminate.

That's a very unhealthy way of looking at what we do 5 or 6 days a week.

The Muslim vision is that of a totality. 

Everything is to be incorporated into the Fundamental Human Project, which has to be, for Islam, as for all other religions, turning away from the self, towards the other -- the Other with the big 'O' and also the other with the little 'o'. 

Turning away from our lower selfishness toward something that, in some strange but convincing way persuades us that it is what we really are, underneath.

The fundamental turning, which the Qur'an calls Tawbah, which we translate as repentance, means turning, turning away, and turning away from sin to righteousness, which is another way of expressing turning away from the rubbish within, to what is beautiful that God has placed within the soul.

So, when the Holy Prophet salla Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam, is speaking about economic matters, and matters of business ethics, this doesn't surprise us because everywhere belongs to God.  And everywhere is a place where God is to be celebrated -- even the computer terminal in the estate agent or wherever it is that you work.  Muslims are invited to find a way of sanctifying every moment of those experiences.

Imam Al Ghazali, one of the great ethical thinkers of Islam used to say that humanity basically exists in three categories:

Rajulun shaghalathu dunyaahu 'an ukhraahu, fa huwa min al halikeen

Category number one is the person whose worldly concerns distract him from his otherworldy concerns, and he is of the lost.

Wa rajulun shaghalthu ukhraahu 'an dunyaahu, fa huwa inshaAllah min al faa-izeen

And a man who is distracted by his otherworldly concerns from his worldly concerns and he is, God willing, one of the successful

wa rajulun a'aanat-hu ukhraahu 'ala dunyaahu wa dunyaahu 'alaa ukhraahu fa huwa min al muqarrabeen

And a man whose worldly concerns help him in his otherworldly concerns and he is of those brought near to God.

So we move close to God, not by skirting the realities of the world but rather going through them.  And that takes some doing.  Particularly in the modern world, where it is fair to say that the average contemporary workplace is not primarily geared up for fostering the spiritual life of its employees.

But in any case, whether we're Muslims or not, if we have any interest in what we call spirituality, it's something we're going to want to think carefully about.

---end of transcript---

So it's not about choosing this world or the next, it's about using this world for the next.

The ant on the carpet

Imagine an ant walking across a carpet.  As he walks, he crosses over fissures and crevices and climbs up and over bumps and mounds of seemingly random colors.  He can't understand what purpose this veritable obstacle course could serve.

Of course, the ant has a very limited perspective.  And if he could see the bigger picture, he would see clearly that the terrain he's walking across is actually a part of the beautiful pattern on a Persian carpet.

As we live our lives, we also have a very limited perspective.  We face obstacles and disappointments and plans change and things often don't go the way we wish they would.

Looking back, though, we can often see that whatever happened was exactly what we needed.

We just didn't know it at the time.

And ultimately, we know that although we might not see it, God always has a beautiful plan for us and things happen exactly as He intends it in His infinite Wisdom and Mercy.

From a Rumi poem related by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad in a lecture about relying on God.

Helping classmates

I've been in Indonesia for a few weeks now, visiting family.  One of the things I've noticed here is the strength of social networks.  Like my dad's cohort from university (they're going to have their 40th reunion this year) -- I see how they take care of each other.

One of their classmates has suffered from schizophrenia for years, and they've taken it upon themselves to take care of him.  They collect money and send it to him every week.  My dad gives him assignments to keep him busy.  He let him live in his office for some time (my dad's the dean at a university here, so his office is fairly spacious).  When this classmate went away to Thailand, upon his return, my dad's other classmates asked my dad if he could keep his passport to prevent him from wandering around the world when he's not well.  He willingly gave it to my dad and then my dad gave it back to him after some time.

Another classmate suffered from Parkinsons, so the class collected money to put his children through university.

Often, when someone has a problem, we look for a program or agency to take care of them.

What if we just did it ourselves?

Different ways of dishing advice

A) You are deficient, you need to do this.

B) You have this incredible potential, just imagine if you tried doing this.  Wanna try it?

I think we all know which one is going to work better...

Changing the condition of a people

On how small actions can have a huge impact...

We recite to you from the news of Moses and Pharaoh in truth for a people who believe.  Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector among them, slaughtering their [newborn] sons and keeping their females alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters. (Qur'an 28:3-4)

This is the story of a people who were subjected to the oppression of one of the worst oppressors who had ever lived.  Fir'aun divided the Bani Israil, he suppressed a group of them, slaughtered their sons and enslaved their women.  It's hard to imagine a more oppressed community than the
Bani Israil at this time.

And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors.  And establish them in the land and show Pharaoh and [his minister] Haman and their soldiers through them that which they had feared. (Qur'an 28:5-6)

But Allah wanted to change the situation.  He wanted to grant them bounty and power on Earth and make them leaders of humanity.

Given their conditions under Fir'aun's rule, what sort of change would be required to take this community from being the most oppressed people to to being leaders of humanity?  It must be something extraordinary.  So what did Allah do next?

And We inspired to the mother of Moses, "Suckle him; but when you fear for him, cast him into the river and do not fear and do not grieve. Indeed, We will return him to you and will make him [one] of the messengers."  (Qur'an 28:7)

The first step that Allah takes to to reveal to Musa 'alaihi salaam's mother to nurse him and throw him in the river if she is afraid for him -- such a seemingly insignificant step in relation to the huge task ahead...

We should never belittle our roles in the process of change.  The entire process may take a long time -- generations in the case of the Bani Israil.  Allah's promise to them was not fulfilled until the time of Sulaiman 'alaihi salam.  But indeed Allah's promise was fulfilled.

Our position now is not worse than the position of the Bani Israil.  And as we have seen Him change their condition, we have confidence that He will change ours.  How and when and by who is up to Him, not up to us.  Our job is to submit to Him and do our jobs in whatever position He has placed us in.  And just as we learn from the example of the mother of Musa 'alaihi salaam, we should never belittle our role in the process of change.

What you do has an impact on who you are

Dr. Abdal Hakim Jackson was really trying to drive this point home at the RIS Knowledge Retreat in 2011.

We often think of who we are -- our personalities and character traits -- as the source from which our actions emanate.  A generous person will give generously.  A patient person will remain calm in the face of distress.  A courageous person will stand up for what is right even at the risk of personal harm.  And people with less than desirable personality traits will do less than desirable actions.

Sometimes we use this reasoning as an excuse for our behaviour.  "Well, I'm just not a patient/brave/(insert any other quality in here) person," we say.  As if our personalities are carved in stone and there's nothing we can do about it.

The thing is, it works the other way around too.

Even if you're not born a generous person, if you keep giving and giving and giving (even if you don't feel like it), these actions will have an effect on your heart.  And over time, you find yourself wanting to give.  You've made yourself into a generous person.

Fake it until you make it...as they say.

So it's not a one-way street.  Just as our inner character traits affect and manifest themselves in the actions of our limbs, the actions of our limbs affect and manifest themselves in our inner character traits.

Not to judge

When facilitating group discussions or a setting up a good working environment, we often talk about a 'safe space' -- a place where people don't get hurt and aren't afraid to get hurt.  One of the ground rules of a 'safe space' is that we're not supposed to judge.

I've always had trouble understanding this one.  What does it mean not to judge?  Don't our minds make judgments automatically all the time?  Is it possible to stop these thought processes and just accept information without interpreting it, linking it with other things and thereby judging it?  Is it really possible not to judge?

At first, I thought that maybe the issue isn't so much in the thoughts but in the actions that result from those thoughts.  It's hard to control our thoughts.  We have a much better handle on actions.

Perhaps not judging really means not letting our thoughts cause us to say things or do things that make people feel hurt -- i.e. things that make people feel less or smaller or wrong or unworthy.  The actions may be very subtle and almost subconscious -- a scoffing, rolling eyes, subtle turning away, a dismissive tone, a condescending attitude.  Maybe it's not so much that we shouldn't judge but that the way we act or the words we say should not make people feel judged.  We should not make people feel hurt or belittled.

Yes, that's true.  We need to make sure we don't hurt people with our actions.

Then, I realized that we can take it a step further than that.  Yes, we can control our thought processes too.  Yes, we can suspend judgment.

It's a matter of consciousness.  And patience.  And humility.

Because to judge inevitably requires making assumptions.  You have evidence of A and then you make assumptions (based on experience or logic) that links A to B.  And you keep making links.  Until you come to the conclusion that a spelling mistake or two or three means that the writer is incompetent or lazy or doesn't care.  Ouch.

That's judging.

And it doesn't have to happen that way.  Sure, there's a spelling mistake.  But it could be there for any number of reasons.  And not judging means that you don't close off possibilities.  And you don't insist on coming to a conclusion. 

Yes, there's a spelling mistake.  But you don't really know why there's a spelling mistake.

This is consciousness.  To know that you don't know.  And to know that there are many possible, perfectly fine explanations behind any piece of evidence.

So you don't close doors.  You leave them open and let more of the story come to you. 

This is where the patience comes in.

It can be uncomfortable not knowing.  Because you realize that you're not in control.  You don't know. 

It takes some humility to accept that.

Ultimately, though, the truth is you really don't know much.  There's a whole life story behind that email.  And you can't possibly know and make conclusions on it based on the placement or misplacement of a single letter.

And if you can just wait and let more of the story come to you, the opportunities and insights and new perspectives and gifts that come through that open door can change your life.

Throwing 90s

There's a really interesting game that you can play to demonstrate strategies in conflict resolution.

In the game, the two parties represent two different oil-producing countries.  In each round of the game, the two countries can choose to set the price of their oil at either $30/barrel, $60/barrel or $90/barrel.

If the two countries set their prices at different levels, the one that sets their prices lower will sell much, much more oil.

If the two countries set their oil prices at the same level, they'll have equal profits.

Clearly, in the long term, it's in everyone's best interest to sell oil at $90/barrel all the time.

The two countries, however, do not communicate with each other.  They set their oil prices independently.  All they can do is look at the past history of oil prices from previous rounds and then use that to decide the price for this round.

So, how does a country maximize profits?

And when a country sets the price of oil at a certain level one round, what message does it send to the other country for the next round?

What happens if you set prices at $90/barrel one round and the other country sets it at $60?  What if the other country set their price to $30?

What would you do the next round?

And then the next?

Is there a simple formula or strategy that will result in the best outcome?

Is there a way to set prices in a way that builds trust between the two countries so that we can get to the optimal outcome?

It turns out there is.

This challenge was posed to a bunch of computer programmers, who came up with different strategies and the one that won turned out to be a surprisingly simple line of code.

Basically, whatever price the other country put up in the last round, that's the price that we choose for this round.  It's tit for tat, a strategy of reciprocation.

Originally this was the strategy that resulted in maximum profits in every game.

And then, someone came up with a strategy that worked even better.

This one said:

Whatever price the other country put up in the last round, that's the price that we choose for this round.  Once in a while, though, throw a 90.

So back to conflict resolution and human relations.  In general, it makes sense to reciprocate the actions of the people you're dealing with.  That's what the first line of code tells you to do.

It's even better, though, if once in a while, you not only reciprocate, but you do something unexpectedly good.  Throw a 90.

It's interesting that this strategy that holds the most potential for mutual gain, is also the most vulnerable position for the one offering it.

Learning, planning, doing

I've noticed that my work can basically be divided into three areas: learning, planning and doing.

Sometimes, I need to read books, watch videos, do some research, so that I know how to do something.

Other times, I need to plan what I'm going to do.  Before I start writing, I need to think about what I'm going to write.  Make an outline, plan it out, brainstorm, make a list, etc.

Then there's the actual work.  Where I'm writing the piece that's going to get sent out or published or posted. 

While all three components are essential, the actual writing of the piece is the hardest.  That's where all the stakes are.  That's the part that makes the impact.  It's where the risk for failure (or success) lies.

There's always a temptation to spend more time on the learning and planning.  They're safe.  And they're also essential.

The problem is that time is finite.  When I'm learning through reading a book or a report or watching a video, I'm not writing.  When I'm writing about what I'm planning to do and how I want to organize my day, I'm not writing the piece that's going to go out.

Yes, they're all important.  But the learning and planning don't amount to anything unless i actually do something as a result.

Misplaced attachment to metrics

I do this thing called 750 words.  You go on the website and you write.  And every day that you write 750 words, you get some points.  And an X shows up on your scorecard like a strike in bowling.  Every day you write anything at all, you get 1 point.  It shows up like a spare on your score card.  When you get strikes on several days in a row, you get badges.

Well, today, I logged in and I was disappointed to see that I only got a spare for yesterday's writing.  I expected to see a strike because I distinctly remember passing the 750 word mark in my writing yesterday.  Maybe I closed my computer before those last few words were saved or something.  I don't know.

Then I realized is that it doesn't even really matter.  I did the writing.  That's the important part.  I got to process some thoughts.  My mind feels a little less cluttered.  I got a little bit more clarity on a big project. 

Whether or not I get a strike or a spare or whatever the number of points or badges I get for writing is not the point. 

What's interesting is that because this metric is so much more visible and concrete than the clarity and progress I made through writing, my heart actually sank a little when I saw the spare instead of the strike, which I expected. 

It's very silly, actually.  Because the part that really matters is done.  The writing is there.  And I've already extracted the benefit of it. 

Yet, as evidenced by that heart sinking, I see that I've put far more importance to this metric than it deserves.