Setting an Intention
The Power of our Thoughts
Throughout the world, there is a lot of focus on the New Year, with resolutions, goals, changes, and doing new things. Even in mythology, people performed rituals and acts to celebrate the beginning of a year. The belief in new beginnings goes back to prehistoric times and is not new. There are many debates and critiques on why people wait for the new year to set goals; why not start now? The point is further emphasized when the January gym rush fizzles out everywhere by February. This brings to mind what Aristotle said: “Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives – choice, not chance, determines your destiny.” He also added, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle here is referring to intention and habits. Therefore, where is the intention coming from if we are to investigate what is going for people concerning their resolutions? And is there a habit being built through sincere effort?
Neurologically, many positive aspects occur in our brains when we set intentions and form habits while facing difficult challenges. We know we can build resilience by facing difficult things we would much rather avoid. But what causes this resilience? It is more a function of the healthy dopamine released when encountering challenging tasks. This release triggers the reward system in our brain, reinforcing motivation, pleasure, and focus. When we repeatedly do difficult things, we facilitate neuroplasticity and form new neural connections, improving cognitive flexibility and problem-solving skills. Additionally, we undergo myelination, which insulates these new neural pathways, allowing us to master skills and improve mental processing. By voluntarily facing stress, which is short-term and acute, we can engage the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, allowing us to enhance stress resilience and emotional regulation. Finally, we also improve the overall executive functioning of our brain through planning, decision making and self-control, and we can then reduce anxiety by reducing the activity of our default mode network.
All the positive impacts we see with the brain when we train to do challenging tasks are also transferrable in the psychological realm. Some of the things I highlighted previously touched on resilience, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility and anxiety reduction. By healthy dopamine release, we also feel more motivated and less prone to depression. Therefore, to engage in these complex tasks, we must make an intention. As Aristotle shared, it is a choice we are making; that is how excellence becomes a habit through repeated effort. Conversely, I often see the opposite in the clinical setting, where people will do anything to avoid what is causing them suffering. Escape behaviours such as addictions or acting impulsively have been documented to show that people get caught in the pain-pleasure cycle only to prolong the suffering. As Joseph Campbell wisely said: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.¨
Yet, setting an intention has a deeper meaning in the Islamic tradition. While much focus has been on the external actions of Muslims, both within (Ummah) and outside the community, what has been lost is the journey within oneself. In his extensive work on the Revival of Religious Science, Imam Al-Ghazali emphasized the importance of internal purity before one can have pure actions. This purity is based on one’s heart, thoughts, beliefs, and ideas. While one can look impeccable in one's actions or how one dresses, it cannot make up for the inner beauty one must work at. In one of the Hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), he said:
¨Actions are judged by intentions, and every person will get what they intended.”
Surah Al-Isra also explains the intentionality behind one’s actions and the importance of acting with uprightness (17:9-19):
“Surely this Quran guides to what is most upright, and gives good news to the believers—who do good—that they will have a mighty reward.
And ˹it warns˺ those who do not believe in the Hereafter ˹that˺ We have prepared for them a painful punishment.
And humans ˹swiftly˺ pray for evil1 as they pray for good. For humankind is ever hasty.
We made the day and night as two signs. So We made the sign of the night devoid of light, and We made the sign of the day ˹perfectly˺ bright, so that you may seek the bounty of your Lord and know the number of years and calculation ˹of time˺. And We have explained everything in detail.
We have bound every human’s destiny to their neck.1 And on the Day of Judgment We will bring forth to each ˹person˺ a record which they will find laid open.
˹And it will be said,˺ “Read your record. You ˹alone˺ are sufficient this Day to take account of yourself.”
Whoever chooses to be guided, it is only for their own good. And whoever chooses to stray, it is only to their own loss. No soul burdened with sin will bear the burden of another. And We would never punish ˹a people˺ until We have sent a messenger ˹to warn them˺.
Whenever We intend to destroy a society, We command its elite ˹to obey Allah˺ but they act rebelliously in it. So the decree ˹of punishment˺ is justified, and We destroy it utterly.
˹Imagine˺ how many peoples We have destroyed after Noah! And sufficient is your Lord as All-Aware and All-Seeing of the sins of His servants.
Whoever desires this fleeting world ˹alone˺, We hasten in it whatever We please to whoever We will; then We destine them for Hell, where they will burn, condemned and rejected.
But whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it accordingly, and is a ˹true˺ believer, it is they whose striving will be appreciated.
The intention behind any action must be to seek the pleasure of Allah. One of the things Imam Al-Ghazali reinforces is that many people are seeking the joy of this world while losing sight of the hereafter. Then, the intention is not to seek the reward from Allah, but it is mired in worldly pursuits. This is not an easy task, as Islam is a journey. We are in this world to perfect ourselves and continue working on our shortcomings, always returning to our intentions. Doing difficult things makes us stronger and more resilient when tested in our pursuit of the hereafter. Every act that may seem mundane, such as eating and sleeping, can have an intentionality behind it. By thoughtfully engaging with our intentions, we can then change our reality.