Have you ever been in prayer, and had random thoughts pop into your mind…?
Maybe the prayer starts with a sincere intention to leave the matters of this material world behind, but a few moments in, you’re stuck in a stream of random thoughts about your day and your life….
…And before you know it, the whole prayer is over and even though you recited everything correctly, your mind simply wasn’t there.
Sound familiar?
Why does that happen?
There are 2 kinds of thoughts that can distract you in prayer:
- Random thoughts that have nothing to do with anything. These don’t have a lot of pulling power, and with practice you can overcome these for several minutes at a time and stay focused on what you’re doing.
- Thoughts that carry a lot of heavy emotion.
It’s this 2nd kind of thought that poses a real problem for us. Things like:
- If I don’t get those work papers sorted, I’m going to be up for review and that manager really has it in for me.
- I hope my husband doesn’t find out I’ve been talking with that attractive guy from work
- Why won’t she call me back? She told me she wants to be my wife, but she’s totally blanking my texts?!
- I hope my kids don’t get in any more trouble. Allah, please guide them, make them pray 5 times a day and keep them away from the bad crowd.
- I’m nearly at my ideal weight. If I can just stick to this diet for a little while longer, I’ll finally be there!
What gives these thoughts more ’emotional pulling power’ than other random thoughts?
And, more importantly, how can we transcend these types of thoughts so we can have less on our minds, and be more present during prayer & dhikr every day…?
Funny you should ask. That’s exactly what we cover in the Instant Ihsan program, starting with this free training:
Instant Ihsan: 7 Insights To Master The Nafs & Access The Life-Changing Power Of The Quran.
