Lessons from Dale Carnegie's Book

A couple of days ago, I was browsing through this book

which is called,

"How to Stop…?" Of course, I read it in English, so it's

"How to Stop Worrying and Start Living," by Dale Carnegie.

A book that, I mean, I…

My admiration for Dale Carnegie's works was such that

I ordered it from the United States,

and it arrived a few days ago.

So, I was browsing through it and saw a story

I wanted to share with you. A very beautiful story about a British officer

بريطاني

He called it "The Secret of Serenity," meaning,

living in the Garden of God, so that's the title of the video.

"The Secret of Serenity from the Garden of God." He calls it "The Garden of Allah,"

not "The Garden of God."

So how did this British man learn to confront anxiety from

the Bedouins?

Well,

can a person learn the secret of serenity away from cities

and civilization, amid the harsh desert? That is the question.

In this book, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living,"

Dale Carnegie recounts the experience of the British officer and writer

Bodley,

who lived for seven years among the Bedouins in the Great Sahara

and learned from them a philosophy that changed his view of

anxiety and life. That is,

he talks about the advice that changed his life. After World War I,

Bodley felt greatly disappointed by what he saw of

political conflicts during the Paris Peace Conference.

During that period, he met the famous British figure Lawrence of Arabia,

who advised him to leave the army and go live with the Arabs in the desert with

the Bedouins. Bodley followed the advice and left behind

the bustle of civilization in Britain to live seven years among the Bedouins,

learning their customs and reflecting on their way of facing life's hardships.

The most important thing he learned from them was the meaning of one word,

which was “Maktub.” Of course, I also found the word “Maktub”

in Paulo Coelho's famous story,

“The Alchemist.” And Paulo

Coelho also has an entire book, a story, called “Maktub.”

Anyway,

the word “Maktub” exists in the Western consciousness of

Arab-Islamic civilization. Secondly, when

the storm struck the desert,

one day, a storm swept across the desert, and it

A hot sandstorm swept in and lasted three days.

It was a real disaster for the Bedouins at

that time, in those years, and large numbers of

livestock perished. Large numbers of the livestock that the Bedouins relied on for

their livelihood died.

Bodley expected to see people screaming and complaining

and blaming the circumstances, but he was surprised by their calmness and acceptance of what had happened.

He says they would simply say, “It is written:

It is God’s decree, and He does as He wills.” But the greater surprise was that they did not

surrender. They immediately set out to save what

remained of the herd and slaughtered some lambs to protect the

mothers, and they led the livestock toward water.

The tribal elder, the wise man, said,

“Praise be to God, we have not lost everything. We still have 40 percent

of the sheep, and we can start again.”

So let us reflect on this mindset. Rather than dwelling on what they lost,

they focused on what remained and what they could do

to save their future and start again.

Third, when the car broke down in the desert, he recounts

Bodley recounts another incident when the car he was riding in

with the Bedouins broke down in the desert, and it ran out of fuel.

He says that in such a situation, a person might get angry and shout and blame

others, but his companions did not do that, they were Bedouins.

They calmly said, "It is written," meaning, in his interpretation,

it was ordained by God Almighty.

Then they continued their journey on foot in the desert, and they were

singing.

They sang instead of wasting their energy on anger

and complaining. Here, Bodley learned an important lesson.

There is no use fighting a reality that cannot be changed, but we can

always choose how we deal with it.

We can cry, or we can smile and sing,

or be optimistic.

This was also something the Muslims and the Companions —may God be pleased with them— faced

after every war, such as Badr,

Uhud, the Battle of Uhud. They suffered a

major defeat, but they faced it with patience

They returned to work and put their trust in God, and they were confident that God

would grant them victory in the end, and indeed, God granted them victory, and Mecca was conquered a few years later.

That is, fourth, what did Bodley learn from this experience?

He discovered that calmly accepting what cannot be changed

frees a person from a great deal of anxiety and stress.

He expressed the effect of this philosophy on himself by saying

that this kind of acceptance gives the nerves a rest greater than that of

a thousand sedatives.

Of course, with all due respect to psychiatrists,

this is meant as a literary expression of the power of reassurance and not

a medical comparison, of course, because some cases may need it.

That is.

Fifth, what do we learn from this story? There is a big difference between

contentment and surrender. Surrender is when you say, “This is my fate,” then

stop working and making an effort. True contentment,

however, is when you say, “This is what happened. I accept it, but

I will do everything I can to improve what comes next,” and this

is in harmony with the concept of putting one’s trust in God in

Islam, which combines belief in God’s decree

and taking the necessary steps,

God Almighty said, "Whoever puts their trust in God, He will suffice them."

So contentment reassures the heart, and action opens

the doors of change before you. I hope that you… I mean, I

liked this story, and when I read it in this book, truly,

God willing, I'll share other stories with you.

Follow us on the Skool platform, the link is in the bio.

I've started posting new stories exclusively on Skool,

I mean,

as well as courses and summaries, many of them free.

So they're there, and I hope you'll follow us there. Take care.