Ahmed Abdallah Buyenga's podcast

Listen... (Pause 2 seconds) It is a strange... phenomenon. We go to the doctor, right? We check our blood pressure. We check our cholesterol. We get on the treadmill... to see if our physical heart, is pumping the way it should. And if the doctor says... "Hey. Your heart is failing." What do we do? We panic. We change our diet. We take the pills. We do... whatever it takes. But honestly? (Pause 1.5 seconds) There is a different kind of heart failure happening right now. And nobody... is panicking. We are walking around. Breathing. Talking. Working. Scrolling. Laughing. Physically? We are alive. Our pulses are normal. But spiritually? A lot of us... our hearts... are asleep. Peh. Let that... sink in. A sleeping heart. What does that look like? It looks like having everything you ever wanted... but still feeling completely empty inside. It looks like being surrounded by a hundred people... but feeling, entirely alone. Look at how we live. Every day, we lay out a massive sufrah for the body. We feed it the best food. We feed it status. We feed it money. We feed it validation... and temporary highs. The sufrah of this world is completely full. But the soul? The soul is starving. And when you starve the soul... the heart goes into hibernation mode. It falls asleep... just to survive the starvation. Part 2: The Noise and the Numbness How did we get here? It doesn’t happen overnight. It is not a sudden crash. It is... a slow fade. It starts, with the noise. We live in a world that is obsessed... with noise. We are terrified of silence. The moment you are alone with your own thoughts... what do you do? You reach for your phone. You turn on the music. You open an app. Why? Because if it gets too quiet... the sleeping heart, might stir. And if it stirs... it might ask you questions, you do not want to answer. Questions like... "What am I doing with my life?" "What is my actual purpose?" "Why... am I so anxious all the time?" And you know what the craziest part is? When your heart is asleep... it doesn’t stop feeling. It just stops feeling... peace. Instead... it replaces peace, with panic. Part 3: The Illusion of Control Which brings me back... to the simplest truth. If you have the time to worry... you have the time, to pray. Listen to me. When the heart is asleep... the mind goes into overdrive. You worry. You worry. You worry... and then, you worry some more. You stress about things that haven't even happened yet. You create entire tragedies in your head about tomorrow... while entirely missing, the blessing of today. Why? Because a sleeping heart... has forgotten who is actually in control. Your mind says, "I have to figure this out. I have to fix it. I have to control the outcome." But that... is an illusion. You don’t even control your next heartbeat. Let alone the economy. Or the future. Or what other people think of you. Worrying... is a dead end. It is a rocking chair. It gives you something to do... but it gets you absolutely nowhere. It drains your energy. It kills your sleep. And it leaves you exactly where you started... just more exhausted. But prayer? (Pause 2 seconds) Prayer... is the ultimate release of control. Prayer is looking up and saying... "I can't. But I know... You can." Prayer is taking the heavy backpack of anxiety you’ve been carrying all day... and finally, putting it down. Part 4: The Awakening So how do we wake it up? How do we resuscitate... a sleeping heart? How do we prepare a sufrah for the soul? You don't need a massive, life-altering tragedy to wake you up. Please. Don't wait for the storm to hit... to realize you need an anchor. You wake it up... with a whisper. You wake it up... by choosing to pause. Tomorrow morning. Before you check your emails. Before you dive into the endless cycle of worrying about your bills, your job, your relationships... Pause. Give your heart, CPR. Breathe in gratitude. Breathe out surrender. Take that anxiety... and turn it into faith. When the fear hits you... let that be the trigger to pray. Not the trigger to panic. Every time you feel the worry creeping up your chest... let your brain say: "Ah. My heart is getting sleepy again. Let me wake it up. Let me pray." Don’t worry about yesterday. Yesterday is already written. The ink... is dry. Don’t worry about today. You are still breathing. You are fully equipped to handle whatever today throws at you. And please... do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow, is not even in your hands anyway. It is time... to wake up. If you have the time to sit there, and overthink it... you have the time to bow your head, and pray on it. Wake up your heart. Take care.