What Do You Focus On?
Life is a manifestation of where we focus our energy. Whatever we focus on will grow. This is why it’s very important to strengthen our concentration. It takes a strong diligence to focus our energy on positive things that contribute to our highest wellbeing. When we water a garden, the water doesn’t selectively nourish the flowers while avoiding the weeds. The water makes all things in the garden grow, and it’s our duty as gardeners to remove what we don’t want from the garden.
This is true for our life, too. Whatever we put energy into will grow. If we don’t manage the negativity in our life, it will build momentum and end up competing with or overshadowing the positive aspects in our life.
We only have so much energy in each day. Every time we focus on something negative, we lose valuable space for positive energy. This is why building strong concentration is so critical to wellbeing. We must stop wasting our energy on depleting subjects and reinvest our attention into things that fulfill us, inspire us, and make us feel good!
This is true for our life, too. Whatever we put energy into will grow. If we don’t manage the negativity in our life, it will build momentum and end up competing with or overshadowing the positive aspects in our life.
We only have so much energy in each day. Every time we focus on something negative, we lose valuable space for positive energy. This is why building strong concentration is so critical to wellbeing. We must stop wasting our energy on depleting subjects and reinvest our attention into things that fulfill us, inspire us, and make us feel good!
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Deepen Your Understanding: When we think of each of our emotions as a seed that needs attention to grow, we can be more mindful to put energy into cultivating strong and positive qualities such as focus, joy, and peacefulness, while reducing the energy we put into harmful seeds such as guilt, insecurity, and anger.
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Concentration and Willpower
In our modern society, there are so many distractions that can tear our focus away from our best intentions. Most people have a habit of multitasking, dividing their attention between many things instead of being fully present with one thing at a time. This divided focus can stretch our awareness very thin and make our mind very busy! Many of us have been cramming as many distractions and as much stimulation into our days as we possibly can for a very long time, and this can make our attention span quite short and fidgety.
To improve our concentration, we can think of our attention as energy represented as a ball of glowing light. We only have so much light in our ball, just as we only have so much energy to concentrate with. When we point our focus on one thing, our light of concentration is very bright and dense, like a star; but as we allow our attention to touch on more and more subjects, our light of concentration must stretch to cover each thing we’re focused on, turning it into a dimly lit haze. Stretching our attention like this thins our light and prevents us from being able to enjoy fully engaging with each thing. When our attention is spread thin, we can easily burn out in areas that are overly demanding. Sometimes we let our attention stretch so thin that we can’t even keep track of everything in our awareness, leaving us with intrusive thoughts and stress about our unsorted mind. To refocus our mind, all we must do is recollect our concentration and direct its light to just one thing at a time.
Just as we use our willpower to brush our teeth and change our clothes before bed, we use our willpower to return our attention to the object we’re trying to focus on. When we’re listening to another person, that person should have our undivided attention. If our attention drifts to something other than that person, we use our willpower to return our concentration to the person and their words. We use our willpower to return our concentration to the object of our focus, again and again, training our concentration to be more attentive and strong. If we train ourselves like this regularly, we will notice great improvements in our concentration. If we choose one person that we see regularly, and we commit to always give our them our complete attention, then we’ve created a great opportunity to practice. If we use our willpower to keep our concentration on one thing at a time, and we do this as much as we can throughout the day, we’ll have practiced concentrating for many hours by the end of the day!
To improve our concentration, we can think of our attention as energy represented as a ball of glowing light. We only have so much light in our ball, just as we only have so much energy to concentrate with. When we point our focus on one thing, our light of concentration is very bright and dense, like a star; but as we allow our attention to touch on more and more subjects, our light of concentration must stretch to cover each thing we’re focused on, turning it into a dimly lit haze. Stretching our attention like this thins our light and prevents us from being able to enjoy fully engaging with each thing. When our attention is spread thin, we can easily burn out in areas that are overly demanding. Sometimes we let our attention stretch so thin that we can’t even keep track of everything in our awareness, leaving us with intrusive thoughts and stress about our unsorted mind. To refocus our mind, all we must do is recollect our concentration and direct its light to just one thing at a time.
Just as we use our willpower to brush our teeth and change our clothes before bed, we use our willpower to return our attention to the object we’re trying to focus on. When we’re listening to another person, that person should have our undivided attention. If our attention drifts to something other than that person, we use our willpower to return our concentration to the person and their words. We use our willpower to return our concentration to the object of our focus, again and again, training our concentration to be more attentive and strong. If we train ourselves like this regularly, we will notice great improvements in our concentration. If we choose one person that we see regularly, and we commit to always give our them our complete attention, then we’ve created a great opportunity to practice. If we use our willpower to keep our concentration on one thing at a time, and we do this as much as we can throughout the day, we’ll have practiced concentrating for many hours by the end of the day!
Improving Focus + Concentration
Most of our sources of happiness are temporary, such as when we spend time with friends, enjoy delicious food, or listen to music. We can fully appreciate and enjoy temporary happiness while it lasts, but we can cultivate lasting happiness in our spare time to have a space of lightness and joy within ourselves at all times. When we’re first discovering how to cultivate our happiness, it can feel overwhelming because we usually have a lot of other feelings and emotions in the way. The things that provide us with temporary happiness usually distract us from our deeper feelings, so when we don’t distract ourselves, we can be met by chaotic and unsorted thoughts. Even being busy in everyday life can distract us from being aware of how we’re truly feeling. However, unattended feelings will confront us as soon as our attention isn’t fully occupied. We might experience our thoughts racing around our mind randomly: at night, while we’re driving, when we‘re bored working, or when we separate from other people. Being distracted by our thoughts can be detrimental for a variety of reasons including sleep deprivation, impaired focus, or decreased performance. We can improve our focus by concentrating on anything for an extended period of time. Think of it like exercising a muscle, the more you work the area, the stronger it gets. It’s the same with our cognition.
- Breathing mindfully. Be fully aware of your inhale and your exhale. Tune into the sensations of breathing in and out.
- Use your eyes or ears to tune into a certain point. This can be an item around you or a particular noise in the background (noises can be unpredictable so I recommend using your eyes to focus on an object.)
- Concentrate on the subject of your focus in a light and easy manner. Release any tension with your breathing.
- Hold this focus for as long as possible. What can you observe about this subject? Continue to breathe, gently releasing from any intrusive thoughts and guiding your awareness back to what you’re focused on, continuing to give it full attention for as long as you can.
Freedom in Awareness
There will be times in our life were we feel uncomfortable, unfocused, bored, or dissatisfied in one way or another. Life offers us both happiness and suffering, so we must accept that there will occasionally be these unpleasant times. We can gracefully navigate these difficulties by remembering there is infinite awareness available in each moment. With gentle determination, we can refocus our full attention on being observant and engaged with the present moment, leaving no room to feel bothered by dissatisfaction. By being fully aware of our conversations, activities, and consumption, we can immerse ourselves in the richness and vibrancy of each moment and enjoy the brilliance of life. When we keep our attention focused on the present moment, we’re freed from our distracting and unpleasant thoughts.
Energizing Meditation for Alertness
During formal meditation or during everyday activities, we may find our mind becoming sleepy. To energize a mind that feels dull or foggy, all we have to do is invite alertness into the mind. We can use our mindful breathing to incorporate clarity into any moment.
- To begin, close your eyes and find a comfortable posture to sit in for about ten minutes. As you breathe, tune into the subtle sensations of your body. Inhale and exhale, expanding and contracting the belly, breathing at a comfortable pace that helps create some movement in your body.
- We energize our mind by mindfully breathing rich oxygen into our body system. Energy and clarity of mind are natural results of being properly oxygenated and of being aware and connected to the present moment. Inhale energy, exhale awareness.
- Breathe slowly and deeply, bringing oxygen into your body, and sit up straight, stacking your spine up. Open the chest, and consciously release all the stale energy and tension you were holding. Exhale and let go of dullness and distraction.
- Enjoy breathing mindfully for a few minutes. When you feel ready, open your eyes and observe the room around you with your new, awakened clarity. Continue to breathe deeply and take mindfully observe of whatever sights grab your attention.
- After a few minutes pass, stand up and shake out your body. Feel the energy you cultivated inside your muscles as you move around or stretch.
Did you know the more time you give your mind to rest in stillness (meditation), the less sleepy/sluggish you’ll feel?
Meditation can energize us, help us destress more deeply, and support us in sleeping better at night.
Meditation can energize us, help us destress more deeply, and support us in sleeping better at night.
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Deepen Your Understanding: With every breath, we have the power to influence our energy. When we extend the length of our inhale, we can boost our energy by increasing our heart rate, and when extend our exhale, we calm and relax our system by slowing our heart rate. Learn more about how breathing patterns can energize, relax, or balance your energy here.
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Visualization Challenge: Cultivating Mental Clarity
Try this simple visualization exercise to replenish and balance your energy by mindfully inviting clarity into your day. I recommend doing this practice at night, right before bed. Allow yourself to unwind, get comfy in bed, and then enjoy this simple breathing practice. Focus on the comforting feeling of your inhale and the refreshing feeling of your exhale, then visualize yourself experiencing clarity in everything you do tomorrow. What would your most wise and skillful self do? How would it look for you to act thoughtfully through all your daily tasks? How would it feel to move through your day with grace and mindfulness? Visualize this as you breathe for as long as you wish. Then tomorrow, from the moment you wake in the morning, try to extend the practice of visualizing yourself experiencing clarity and composure as you do your daily activities, for as long as possible throughout the day.
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Deepen Your Understanding: Practicing mindfulness in the morning can set our whole day up for success. Taking time to cultivate clarity of mind, self-appreciation, calmness, and gratitude will help us bring those qualities forward into the rest of our day.
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