Spiritual Practices

Concentration

Spiritual Practice: Develop concentration by practicing concentration. Whatever you may be doing, whether it's a task at work or a chore at home, put your full concentration on it. If you find that your mind has wandered, bring it back to what you're concentrating on. If it's a routine task that doesn't require much concentration, then decide to do it more quickly and efficiently. This will require a greater degree of willpower and also greater concentration.

Spiritual Practice: Watching the breath in meditation is an excellent way to develop concentration. Not only are you concentrating on the breath, which in itself is an exercise in concentration, but you are calming the breath and heart and consequently the body and mind. The calmer you are, the better able you are to concentrate. So as you watch the breath, you become more and more calm and more and more concentrated. Then you can put your concentrated mind on any task or problem, and be more efficient, more creative, and more relaxed.

Spiritual Practice: Desire increases your willpower and your concentration. Cultivate a desire to be more efficient and more effective, and it will help you concentrate on what you're doing. A desire for the beneficial outcome of your actions will also help your concentration, as long as you use the desire as an impetus to concentrate and aren't constantly thinking about the outcome, which would then decrease your concentration on your goal-oriented actions. Make up your mind to be more efficient and effective, and to increase your desire for your goals.

Spiritual Practice: Use concentration in your problem-solving. Use your concentrated attention and reasoning powers to look at all angles of the problem. Keep revolving your mind around the problem and possible solutions. The result of your concentrated effort will help lead you to intuitive insights and solutions during a calm and relaxed moment. This happens time and again to scientists, resulting in significant discoveries. If it's a personal problem you're dealing with, concentrate on the desired outcome, the ideal situation. Focus on what you want rather than on what you don't want.

Spiritual Practice: Put your concentration on one short thought, affirmation, or prayer, and keep mentally repeating it, over and over. This is practicing concentration. If other thoughts come in, go back to your concentration on the thought, without being upset or stressed. See if you can do so for five minutes, then ten minutes. This will increase your power of concentration.