On The Power of Snoring — Ramadan 2024 Reflection 5

One of the invaluable experiences of itikaf is sharing personal spaces with people. People who you would normally not spend such time with. And this experience comes with its wonderful opportunities and challenges. You get to observe people in states when they themselves are unaware of. It’s like you learn a personal secret about people which they themselves do not know about, and one such secret is whether a person snores or not.

Starting through this, you might remember snoring as some unwanted noise which keeps other people awake when others are trying to sleep. But on further reflections, you realize there is more to that. And for me, reflecting through this provided other areas I have not thought about on snoring.

Snoring can very much be likened to getting married to a person, and getting something you do not like. Do you simply return the package? Throw it away or what? In marriage, you probably have very limited choices, but this is where the power of snoring comes into play. Would you be able to hold onto this person for this one area that probably makes you very very uncomfortable or unable to get a good sleep? Or would you be willing to invest in ways to help the other person grow and improve?

With itikaf, you probably have very little time to help the other person grow and improve, but this is where the power of snoring comes into play. You can use this opportunity to find other ways to get a good sleep. Do you try white noise, plan your sleep at a different time, or simply try something completely different from what you are used to. With limited options, the brain is usually very good at finding new ways to make things happen.

And through the experience of finding better ways to sleep, or just managing the situation, you come to a very big realization. You realize how you have probably taken for granted the ability to have a good sleep with nothing disturbing you. You cherish the ability to be able to simply fall asleep and enjoy something of quite. This realization makes you remember all the things you take for granted in your life.

And so, the question for you today is what are you taking for granted? Is it the ability to have a good night sleep, a family to call yours, a body people are not afraid of looking at, or simply the opportunity to be alive to read this. In whatever we have, we can indeed find gratitude. And that is one thing snoring has taught me. In everything you have, have gratitude and keep learning to improve.