Blossoming Mindsets: Islamic Psychology for Personal Growth and Development

  Am I Abnormal? When Being Quiet Is Mistaken for Being Broken I recently received a phone call from one of my former students that made me stop and reflect deeply. It was in the evening, shortly after the sunset prayer. He wanted to know whether he was normal or abnormal  and he felt I was the only person who could help him answer that question, because I knew him well enough. He explained that some of his classmates in college had begun labelling him as antisocial, selfish, even a misfit. Not because of anything harmful he had done, but because they did not understand him. What hurt most was not the labels themselves, but the fact that he was beginning to carry them. Slowly, almost unconsciously, he was on the verge of submitting to a story about himself that was never his to begin with. When Difference Starts to Feel Dangerous What confused him most was this: he did  interact with people. He chatted with everyone. He was even the class representative and a popular one ...

  Being Human Is Not a Performance: The Moment I Chose Alignment After a long and hectic day , after fulfilling my professional and religious obligations , I took a short self-compassion break .  Nothing dramatic. Just a pause to breathe and return to myself. To step away from the noise and the public gaze, I usually head to the open fields nearby or to the lakeside , both about a ten-minute walk away. Sometimes I walk. Sometimes I cycle. These quiet moments of living aligned  help me reconnect with my human authenticity . On this particular day, I cycled to the fields. As I passed by two people along the way, I overheard a comment said in clear disgust: “Imagine he comes all the way just for that.” The tone carried judgment. The smirk confirmed it. The implication was unmistakable , a quiet moral verdict passed without context, without curiosity. At the time, I brushed it off. It’s a free country. People are free to think and speak. Their opinions do not define me. Still...

  Transforming Emotions: An Islamic and Psychological Path to Inner Peace Struggle : When Emotions Feel Like a Storm There was a time in my life when my emotions felt like strangers living inside me. Before Fajr, in the quiet hour when peace should settle, I often felt a tightening in my chest.One unexpected comment could ignite anger I didn’t understand.One disappointment could sit in my heart for days like a silent ache.And I kept telling myself: “Be stronger.”“Good Muslims don’t feel like this.” “You should be grateful. Why are you feeling this way?”So I tried to suppress the emotions. But suppressed emotions don’t disappear , they grow louder.Maybe you know this too:the weight of carrying feelings you cannot easily explain. Shift : Seeing Emotions As Messages, Not Mistakes My turning point came when I learned a simple truth:   Your emotions are not failures. They are signals from your inner world. Just as heat transforms metal, life’s experiences transform the heart. Allah...