Did you notice the ease? [94:5]

Here is today's reflection from the Quran:

In Sura Inshirah, Allah promises us: Truly with hardship comes ease! [Quran: 94:5]

The message of verse 5 of Chapter 94 is repeated again in verse 6 which says, Truly with hardship comes (more) ease!

The scholars tell us that these verses means that:

1) Whatever difficulties or troubles are encountered by men, Allah always provides a solution, a way out, a relief, a way to lead to ease and happiness, if we only follow His Path and show our Faith by patience and right action. The solution or relief does not merely come after the difficulty: it is provided right along with it.

And that the

2) Emphasis and repetition may imply that there is more ease than difficulty.

Such a beautiful and hopeful verse of the Quran!

While we often read that there is a silver lining in the clouds, that hard times eventually pass, this verse reminds us that there is relief and ease not after a trial or challenging time, but right along with it.

Truly with hardship comes ease.

When we are going through tough times and challenges, human beings experience tunnel vision: our focus and our attention narrows to zoom in on what is wrong, what is troubling us and what is not quite right.

It takes consciousness and intention to direct our attention to the ease that may still be present in our lives. If our knee is hurting, for example, we tend to focus only on the knee. we may not notice that the rest of our body is in fact, pain free and working well. And so we begin to lose perspective and begin to see our whole life in terms of the challenge or the difficulty. The challenge or difficulty appears to take over our entire life and there appears to be room for nothing else.

At times like this, it is useful to remember that no matter how bad things may seem at a given time, that although the wrong may be capturing our attention to a greater extent, that is not the entire story of our life.

Surviving challenges and thriving during difficult times requires that we expand our focus - that we begin to pay attention to the blessings that we still enjoy, to what is still going right in our lives, to the ease amongst the difficulty.

This does not mean that we minimize the challenge, ignore the pain or suppress our grief. Not at all. It means that we have a realistic perspective, that we continue to hold space for both the challenge and the ease and that we put the problem or the challenge in its place rather than allow it to take over our entire awareness.

That we continue to notice the ease amongst the hardship.

People who have been through some really tough times often get this. They report that during the toughest and most challenging times, what they became present to was the love, support and kindness of friends and family, of how some things seem to magically work out even while a major part of their life appeared to be falling apart.

So people who survive and thrive during life's challenges get that Truly with hardship comes ease. And they continue to notice and be grateful for the ease even while they mourn the hardship.

This verse is a beautiful reminder that whatever difficulties or troubles we encounter, there is still more ease than hardship in our lives. That we can choose to direct our attention to what is working well at the same time as the troubles that surround us.

Doing this as a regular practice can enhance our confidence to deal with problems as they seem more limited and time bound rather than global and all-pervasive. It also reminds us that we have resources to deal with the situation at hand.