Making some changes...

Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu everyone!

Insha'Allah I hope everyone has been doing well and is in the best of health and iman.

So I've been doing some thinking lately, and I made a realization about myself. Alhamdulillah, I love Islam, and Alhamdulillah I am pretty good about fulfilling the basic requirements (salat, sunnah prayers, fasting, trying to eat only halal meat, no drinking, khimar and jilbab-type clothes, etc.). However, I feel like I'm lacking the spirituality associated with these acts; that is, I'm doing them, but I am having trouble actually connecting to them and understanding their deeper meaning. When I'm in salah, I often get distracted. I read the Qur'an, but not nearly as often as I would like to. I also don't know much about the life of Prophet Muhammad (saw), which I think is crucial. There's so much I could be doing, but I just don't, Astaghfirullah. However, Insha'Allah, I have decided to change this. I want to become a more Islamically spiritual person, rather than a Muslim who does the requirements but doesn't have any passion for them.

Sometimes people jump into decisions like this headfirst, but I don't think this is a good idea; people may be very ambitious in the beginning, promising to read five surahs a day and praying all the sunnah and nafl prayers and practicing Arabic for an hour each day, but this zeal can burn out fast. Prophet Muhammad (saw) said that it is better to do small things consistently than big things only occasionally, and this makes perfect sense. When someone exercises, they can't just start out running five miles immediately; they need to start out slow and then gradually increase their distance until they can do it comfortably. I think this philosophy is applicable to religion, as well.
Here are my goals. They seem very insignificant, but Insha'Allah I will implement them and they'll become part of my everyday life.

-read the Qur'an for at least five minutes before bed (or more if I'm up for it, but at least five)
-recite the last three surahs after each prayer and before going to bed
-choose at least one prayer each day and recite a special du'a afterwards, either in Arabic or English (I'm thinking either after Isha or Fajr, since this is when I have the most free time)
-try and make dhikr more often, especially when I'm not doing anything (for example, as I'm walking to class I could repeat "Subhanallah" until I arrive); this is very important to me, since ALLAH said in the Qur'an that the remembrance of ALLAH ("dhikrALLAH) is the best thing
-try and say the full greeting to people, i.e. instead of "salaam alaikum", say "salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu"; this seems a bit strange to me (Astaghfirullah) since it's so many syllables, and most people just say "salaam alaikum", but a person can receive 30 rewards in Paradise for saying the full greeting. It also has a beautiful meaning, "Peace be upon you and the Mercy of ALLAH and His Blessings".

Insha'Allah, we will all strive to get closer to ALLAH and increase our love for Him, as well as our love for the Prophets (peace be upon them all). Ameen!