1a] How to be successful in life

1a]
In this way a person may forget about the things that are making him
worried and distressed, and he may become happy and more energetic.
This is another means that believers and others have in common, but
the believer is distinguished by his faith, sincerity and hope of
reward when he occupies himself with that knowledge which he is
learning or teaching, or with the good deeds that he is doing.
The work with which he occupies himself should be something that he
likes and enjoys, for that is more likely to produce the desired
results. And Allaah knows best.
4 – Another thing that may ward off worry and anxiety is focusing all
one's thoughts of the present day, and not worrying about the futureor
grieving about the past. Hence the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) sought refuge with Allaahfrom worry and regret,
from regret for things in the past which one cannot put right or
change, and worry which may come because of fearfor the future. So one
should focus only on the present day, and focus one's efforts on
getting things right today. For if aperson is focused on that, this
means that he will dothings properly and forgetabout worry and regret.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said a
du'aa' ortaught a du'aa' to his ummah, as well as urging them to seek
the help of Allaah and hope for His bounty, he was also urging them to
strive to attain the thing they werepraying for through their own
efforts and to forget about the thing which they were praying would be
warded off from them. Because du'aa' (supplication) must be
accompanied by action. Soa person must strive to attain that which
will benefit him in worldly and spiritual terms, and ask his Lord to
make his efforts successful, and he should seek His help in that, as
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "Strive
for that which will benefit you and seek the help of Allaah, and do
not be helpless. If anything (bad) happens to you, do not say, 'If
only I had done such-and-such, then such-and-such would have
happened.' Rather you should say, 'Qaddara Allaah wa ma sha'a fa'ala
(Allaah decrees, and what He wills He does),' for (thewords) 'If only'
open the door to the Shaytaan." (Narrated by Muslim). The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) connected the matter of
striving to achieve good things with the matter of seeking the help of
Allaah and not giving in to feelings of helplessness which are a
harmful kind of laziness, and with the matter of accepting things in
the past which are over and done with, and acknowledging that the will
and decree of Allaah will inevitably come to pass. He described
matters as being of two types:
1 – Matters which a person may strive to achieve or to achieve
whatever he can of them, or to ward them off or alleviate them. In
such cases a person must striveand make the effort, and also seek the
help of Allaah.
2 – Matters where such is not possible, so he must have peace of mind,
accept them and submit to Allaah's will.
Undoubtedly paying attention to this principle will bring happiness
and relieve worry and distress.
5 – One of the greatest means of feeling content and relaxed and of
acquiring peace of mind isto remember Allaah a great deal (dhikr).
That has a great effect in bringing contentment andpeace of mind, and
relieving worry and distress. Allaah says:
"verily, in the remembrance of Allaah dohearts find rest"
[al-Ra'd 13:28]
Remembering Allaah (dhikr) has a great effect in achieving this aim
because it has a special influence and because of the hope that it
brings of reward.
6 – Another of the means of bringing happiness andrelieving worry and
distress is striving to eliminate the things that cause worry and to
achieve the things that bring happiness. That maybe done by forgetting
about bad things in the past which cannot be changed, and realizing
that dwelling on them is awaste of time. So a personmust strive to
stop himself from thinking of that, and also strive to stop himself
from feeling anxious about the future and the things that he may
imagine of poverty, fear and other bad things that he thinks may
happen to him in the future. He should realize that the future is
something unknown, he cannot know what good or bad things are going
tohappen to him. That is in the hand of the Almighty, the Most Wise,
and all that His slaves can do is tostrive to attain the good things
and to ward off thebad things. A person should realize that if he
diverts his thoughts from worrying about his future and puts his trust
in his Lord to take care of his situation, and puts his mind at rest
concerning that, if he does that, then his heart will be at peace and
his situation will improve and he will be relieved of worry and
anxiety.