You know that feeling when you’re lying in bed, exhausted, but your brain just won’t shut off? When you’re replaying conversations from three days ago, worrying about things that haven’t happened yet, and somehow also thinking about what to make for dinner tomorrow?
Yeah. That’s what psychologists call “psychic entropy” — basically, mental chaos. Your attention is everywhere and nowhere at once. Your mind is running, but you’re not actually going anywhere.
And here’s the thing: this isn’t a modern problem. It’s a human problem.
The Default Setting Is Chaos
The Qur’an actually addresses this head-on:
“Indeed, the soul is ever inclined to evil, except those upon whom my Lord has mercy.” (Yusuf 12:53)
Translation? Our minds naturally lean toward disorder. We’re wired for distraction, for worry, for that endless mental chatter. The default state isn’t peace — it’s noise.
Islam has words for this that we’ve known for centuries: ghaflah (being mentally checked out, heedless) and waswasah (those intrusive whispers that won’t leave you alone). Modern psychology is just now catching up with terminology like “energy leakage” and “attention fragmentation.”
But the solution? That’s been there all along.
What Does It Mean to Forget Yourself?
There’s a verse in the Qur’an that hits different when you really think about it:
“And do not be like those who forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves.” (Al-Hashr 59:19)
When you lose connection with something bigger than yourself — with Allah, with purpose, with meaning — you actually lose touch with who you are. It’s like losing your center of gravity. Everything starts spinning, and you can’t figure out which way is up.
That’s when anxiety creeps in. When nothing feels quite right. When you’re busy all day but feel empty by night.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ understood this deeply. He said:
“The strong one is not the one who can wrestle others, but the one who controls himself when angry.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
Real strength isn’t physical. It’s having mastery over the battlefield inside your own head.
Finding Flow (Or: When Everything Just Clicks)
You know those rare moments when you’re so absorbed in something that time disappears? When you’re cooking, or writing, or working on a project, and suddenly three hours have passed and you didn’t even notice?
That’s what psychologist Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi called “flow.” It’s when your mind, body, and purpose all align. No mental noise. Just pure presence.
Islam has its own version of this: khushu’ — that deep, calm absorption you feel in prayer when everything else fades away. The Prophet ﷺ would enter prayer and become completely present, fully there, one-pointed toward Allah.
“Successful indeed are the believers — those who humble themselves in prayer.” (Al-Mu’minun 23:1–2)
But here’s what’s beautiful: this state isn’t just for prayer. The Prophet ﷺ also said:
“Allah loves that when one of you does something, he does it with ihsan (excellence).” (Al-Bayhaqi)
Ihsan is flow with intention. It’s doing everything — your work, your relationships, your hobbies — with full awareness and excellence. That’s when life stops feeling fragmented and starts feeling whole.
Your Body Knows What Your Mind Has Forgotten
Here’s something interesting: neuroscience now confirms what Islam taught 1,400 years ago — movement regulates the mind.
When you’re anxious, stuck in your head, spinning in mental loops, sometimes the answer isn’t to think harder. It’s to move.
The Prophet ﷺ encouraged physical activity — archery, horseback riding, swimming, wrestling. Not as vanity or distraction, but as discipline. As a way to anchor the soul.
“A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak believer, though both are good.” (Muslim)
This isn’t about having the perfect body. It’s about strength being holistic — physical, spiritual, emotional, all working together.
When you exercise with intention (niyyah), it becomes more than just working out. Your heartbeat becomes gratitude. Your sweat becomes patience. Your strength becomes humility. Even a morning jog can become dhikr (remembrance) when you do it with awareness of Allah.
The Qur’an says:
“And He has made the earth subservient to you — so walk among its paths and eat of His provision, and to Him is the resurrection.” (Al-Mulk 67:15)
Walking itself is framed as both physical and spiritual. Through movement, you reconnect scattered mental energy with the rhythm of creation. You literally dissolve the chaos.
It’s Not About Silencing Your Thoughts
Here’s what Islam doesn’t ask you to do: suppress everything, become a robot, never feel anything.
Instead, it invites you to redirect.
The call to prayer comes five times a day — not to interrupt your life, but to recalibrate it. To pull you out of the spiral and remind you what matters.
You don’t need to silence your thoughts. You need to align them.
Every action can begin with intention. Every moment can carry meaning. Every routine — even the mundane ones — can hold barakah (divine blessing) when done with awareness.
And when your mind feels completely lost, scattered in a thousand directions? There’s this:
“Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.” (Ar-Ra’d 13:28)
Bringing It All Back Together
We live in a world designed to fragment us. Notifications. Comparisons. Endless scrolling. Constant noise.
But Islam offers something radical: tawheed — the oneness of God. And through that oneness, you’re invited to unify your own scattered being.
When your thoughts align with truth, when your actions carry intention, when your heart stays connected to remembrance — that’s when you escape the chaos. You stop being a victim of your own mind and become a conscious participant in something bigger.
The ultimate clarity doesn’t come from controlling everything. It comes from surrender. Not from silencing your mind, but from tuning it back to the Source.
Because peace isn’t found in an empty mind.
It’s found in a mind — and a body, and a heart — filled with meaning.
