Concentration

 

Am I multitasking?

Keeping focus and paying attention is not easy. There are so many things around us demanding our attention that it is very hard to choose one. However, your mind will love you for trying. It is extremely tiring to juggle many tasks and learn multiple things all at once. And really learn those, not only transfer some ideas in our short term memory. Concentration is a very useful skill to have. Did you know that you can actually train yourself to be better at it? You train your body, but you really should train your mind as well. That is why many Martial Arts include meditation. The fact is that in the end, your mind will control your actions one way or the other. We wish to avoid any panicky reactions to anything. When we panic and get scared our heart rate probably rises, we might feel as our body turns into stone and our mind can not grasp any thought. Our reactions can be different, but if we panic those reactions rarely are beneficial. Keeping our mind and body calm under pressure is a very important thing to learn. It helps so much in all aspects of life. But how to keep focus and how to concentrate better? 

How learn to concentrate?

We may start our journey to meditation and a calm mind in so many ways. Some like to meditate, some can not understand the idea behind it and just can not stay still. We all are different and there are ways to keep calm and stay focused. The only thing we need to do at the beginning is to realize the need for peace and give permission to our mind to start that journey towards peace of mind - give our mind permission to let go of the idea of haste and allow it to find its own pace. To realize that setting goals and keeping the path clear is a good thing. Going about things one at a time is a good thing. Working hard is a good thing, but hard work should always have a focus. It means that one finds the importance of choosing the battles, ways to separate tasks and prioritize.

 One of the most important things is to understand the difference between accomplishing and living. When life becomes task-orientated those tasks lose their meaning as goals because the journey to that goal loses its importance and only the outcome matters. We need those journeys. It is on those journeys we learn and grow. And we all are on multiple journeys at once most likely for our entire life. Our journeys as a spouse, friend, parent, human, student, teacher and worker are all lived simultaneously. And for that our loyalties, responsibilities and ideals may cause stress in our lives unless we learn to focus and concentrate in a moment and on the journey. Being present is difficult but luckily we can all learn it. Let us start with a simple exercise - tonight turn off your phone 1 hour before you go to bed and during that hour you focus on things at hand. If you are under a lot of pressure and you are multi-tasking, make a to-do list before going to bed so things in your mind will let you sleep. 

Sleep heals, so rest and breath.