By Natirah Azira

Humans consist of four main elements; emotions, thoughts, actions and spirituality. In many situations, it can be admitted that emotions are the part that takes up a lot of our focus even when we are just sitting still without doing any action. Unconsciously, the mind is also still moving at that time.

Conscious vs. Unconscious Mind

And the part that we most often overlook is thinking – what we think. It can be divided into two parts, namely thinking when we are conscious and thinking when we are less conscious. Thinking when we are conscious, is when we think about something, for example, remembering our wife's order about what items to buy, or thinking about a problem that has occurred.

The less-noticed part is usually when we are influenced by emotions. For example, when we anger someone, such as angering our partner who doesn't remember our birthday. If we think again about what we were thinking at that moment, there must be a feeling like - 'our partner doesn't care, or doesn't care'. These feelings are actually a form of unconscious thoughts, which will greatly influence our emotions and subsequent actions. These thoughts are sometimes right, and sometimes wrong.

Now, try to recall the last time you felt angry or sad. What were you thinking at that moment?

From the explanation above, it is fair to say that the mind is a friend who is also close to the true self. What we think about will affect our emotions, actions and even spirituality.

Practice Thinking Correctly

If we want to be a person who is calm and open-minded, there is no other way, the mind must be trained to think correctly. Mufti Menk said, if it is not trained, then it will think that it is the leader and will think arbitrarily. That is what happens to people we usually see who are too negative in everything – their minds are like in automatic negative mode. This is because the mind is given full power to think as it pleases. It will lead itself to the valley of weakness and downfall.

“O you who believe! Avoid much suspicion (so that you do not suspect what is forbidden), for indeed, some suspicion is sin…” _{(Surah Al-Hujurat, 49:12)}

See, in this verse there is an element of thinking. Allah advises us to stay away from speculation, which is a form of negative thinking process. This word of Allah teaches us that thinking needs to be aligned with facts or truth, whereas speculation is not facts or truth.

In conclusion, our mind can be a good friend and elevate us, or a bad friend that can bring us down to a low level. Friends need to be advised, they also need to be given guidance so that they can become a better friend day by day.

Date of Input: 03/09/2025 | Updated: 03/09/2025 | asmunir