Someone wrote this really nice reminder/message that might be beneficial for us all, so here it is:

“Assalaamu alaykum and Ramadan Mubarak
The month has finally arrived and for many of us, it has come as a relief. It’s a great time for us to reset ourselves especially if we have not been in the best of habits or have made a number of blunders and mistakes, in the past year.
We’re human so we’re all bound to make mistakes and if you imagine over the course of the year, all that we have accumulated in terms of the bad, we can get rid of. And with that, our good deeds we have done over the year, remains, in shaa Allah. How amazing is that?! Ramadan comes once a year and is a golden opportunity to seek forgiveness and the blessings of Allah (swt).

We are always told to dream big and do big. Sometimes we start off big and end up discontinuing the actions we have committed to accomplish, midway Ramadan. For some of us, our energy is drained, we may not have time, lose motivation, become conscious about what we’re doing around others/embarrassed, etc. If this, is you, I want to request you to start off small. Start small with everything or anything (each day improving one thing). For instance, you can start by reading a verse of the Quran every time you are waiting to pray. Each time you do that, you just increase it by another verse, which means over time you are reading a lot more and by the end of Ramadan you may even complete the Quran, in shaa Allah.
Other things we can work on, are doing good deeds and improving our character. This again can be done with small, regular habits. Start small; smile to your neighbour, be helpful, give a compliment and speak well. This time can be used valuably to perfect our prayer and increase our charitable giving. Again, it doesn’t have to be big, but if each day you give in charity, the reward accumulates. Here’s the bonus: Allah (swt) guarantees multiplication of reward during Ramadan, so by being the best of yourself benefits you even more. And when you help others, the blessings continue! Is it me, or does it sound like we can actually achieve great things by doing small acts each day?  I know, I know sounds like a cheat and may sound too good to be true for some. BUT IT’S TRUE. Reap the rewards in Ramadan and dream big by being consistent in the smaller acts. Well, we’re calling it small, but in reality, depending on the sincerity and consistency it can be a HUMUNGOUS MOUNTAIN of a deed we’re carrying out! Who said dreaming big meant going all out from Day 1? 

This isn’t to discourage anyone who has made a lofty goal to let go of them. It’s more of an encouragement for everyone to get active in reaping the rewards and not undermine the small acts of kindness and worship. Remember everyone has different capabilities, with different lifestyles and situations. Some may have wealth and able to give to charity in terms of money. Others may have time and could use the time to volunteer/assist others. Maybe enrol on a course to increase in beneficial knowledge or develop a skill ? Many of us have tongues. Okay, a weird one … but hear me out. We think of always investing our wealth, health, time into organisations and other people. What about ourselves? Maybe some of us don’t have wealth, health, strength or time.  But we do have tongues, right? We can make dhikr … Dhikr is also charity … It doesn’t cost a penny. You can do dhikr whilst travelling, in the pockets of time whilst waiting for something/someone, whilst exercising, preparing for iftar, going shopping. The list is endless.

Some of you may be asking, ‘Why do we not know when the Night of Decree is?’ So, to end off,
“One of the wisdoms of Allah (swt) not revealing when the Night of Decree is, is to make sure we do not just focus on that one day in Ramadan and take advantage of the whole month to improve ourselves. So, let’s start now and build some momentum, in shaa Allah.” 
How is the first day of Ramadan going for you? “