My Worst Habit is a poem written by Rumi

1. In lines 3-5 we read, If youre not here, nothing grows. I lack clarity. My words/tangle and knot up. With
Rumis Sufi background in mind, its easy to connect this to a period of Qabz, marked by an unconnected
feeling of disparity with his God.
2. If Rumi feels that God is far from his presence, not on his mind, or God is not a priority, then nothing will
grow.
3. Rumis pursuit to enlightenment halts and does not get any closer to his spiritual integration with God. He
then furthers the deprivation of being out of tune with God, I lack clarity. My words/tangle and knot up. If
Rumi is out of tune with his God it goes as far as lacking coherence in his thoughts.
1. We know Rumi is talking about God in this poem when he writes, How to cure bad water? Send it back to
the river. Saying that if the water is not right, you send it back to where it came from. The river, where
everything flows, constantly flushing all the bad away, maintaining beautifully clear, perfect waters.
2. How to cure bad habits? Send me back to you. Rumi creates an analogy between God and the River, his
habits and bad water.
3. Rumi states in the beginning of this poem, My worst habit is I get so tired of winter/ I become a torture to
those Im with, and as a Sufi it is important to maintain an emphasis on a complete break with what is
called the world and egotism: Sufism is to possess nothing and to be possessed by nothing.
4. As a Sufi, Rumi sins against this idea because he lets his human attributes possess his actions. Therefore, he
must cure his bad habits by getting back in tune with what is pure, flowing, and perfect. His God.
1. Rumi answered the question what is Sufism? in this way, To find joy in the heart when grief comes.
Further reflecting on Rumis work in My Worst Habit, he writes, There is a secret medicine/ given only to
those who hurt so hard they cant hope. / The hopers would feel slighted if they knew.
2. To further understand these quotes we must be weary ...that the spiritual path is hard to travel except for
those who were created for that purpose and that it is impossible to become a true Sufi if one is not born that
way.
3. So when we analyze this line, There is a secret medicine we can distinguish this secret medicine is
Sufism specifically because it is only given to those who were created for that purpose.
4. It is given only to those who hurt so hard they cant hope. Adding to the fact that Rumi believes Sufism is to
find joy in the heart when grief comes.
5. Lastly, if the hopers knew they would feel slighted. If those who have been going about their average Islamic

lifestyle and following the normal Islamic law, knew that these Sufis were chosen specially to travel along
the path of Tariqa to find their truth and eventually be one with God in this mystical manner, they would be
offended.
This is a little odd to analyze, but it is the final project me and two other group members completed for the
final in the fall term of Ways of Knowing. This is merely the script, not the entire project. But I chose this to
represent my inquiry and critical thinking skills. This term helped me develop and refine my abilities to draw

upon specific evidence and connect it to a meaning. For this project I educated myself on Rumis Sufism
devotion and read over his poetry to make complete sense of it all. It was quite a beautiful experience to get to
know one of my favorite poets on a much more intense level.