Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Scramble the Image
    Scramble the Image December 9, 2014 A common habit when you focus on the body is to tense up at the spot where you’re focused—which may help maintain the focus for a while but it’s going to cause problems in the long term. It blocks the flow of the blood, makes you uncomfortable, makes it hard to stay. So you’ve … 
  3. One Thing at a Time
     … You realize you can’t simply just tell yourself, “Let go.” You have to let go through understanding, which is why we focus on one thing at a time. Focus on the breath, and the issues of feelings and issues of the mind will gather right there where you can see them all together clearly. They all become one big issue. And you realize … 
  4. Patience & Sensitivity
     … Often as soon as you focus on the breath, things tighten up. How can you focus without the tightening up? Why does the tightening up have to go with the focus? Sometimes it relates to our preconceived notions of what it means to be focused. Sometimes it has to do with our ideas of what has to be done to make the breath do … 
  5. Different Minds, Different Bodies
     … two breaths here, then focus the awareness on another spot in the body, two breaths there, and then just keep moving it around, top to bottom, top to bottom, here and there. After I got over that phase of sleepiness, then I got the mind to settle down and just stayed in one spot. So that’s another way of dealing with sleepiness or … 
  6. Calm & Insight
     … In some places it’s more prominent than others, and you want to focus your main attention there. Then eventually, as that area becomes more comfortable, you want to think of that comfort spreading throughout the body. Your awareness spreads throughout the body, so that you’re bathed in breath and awareness. As for insight, the questions are: “How do you view fabrications (the … 
  7. Stick to Your Duties
     … As Ajaan Lee pointed out, this is the most difficult part of the path, because it requires that you really focus on developing a skill. As for the part of the mind that likes to figure things out, try to figure out concentration. If the mind has trouble settling down, try to figure out why. Then, once it settles down, try to figure out … 
  8. Meditation as Play
     … Try to get a sense of what it means to focus. Can you focus without tensing up around the focal point? And when you focus, are your eyes involved in the process? Can you do it without** involving the eyes? In other words, be aware of the chest **in the chest. Be aware of the stomach in the stomach. Be aware of the eyes … 
  9. Dhammacentric
     … Why does he focus instead on keeping in mind the body in and of itself, feelings, mind states, mental qualities in and of themselves, with no direct mention of the duties of the four noble truths or the duties with regard to skillful and unskillful qualities? Now, there is indirect mention in the quality of ardency. Ardency is what knows its duties and tries … 
  10. Honesty
     … You focus on the effort, you focus on the causes, and the results are sure to come. If they’re not coming, then you reflect on what you’re doing and what you might be doing wrong. You can consult with other people, but ultimately you have to be the judge of what’s working and what’s not. The other quality you bring … 
  11. A Noble Warrior’s Path
     … So you focus on the form of the body; you focus on the breath, as you feel it. Breathe in a way that gives rise to feelings of well-being and ease. Hold a perception of the breath in mind and try to adjust the perception so that it allows you to breathe in a way that’s really comfortable. You have to question … 
  12. Strength of Discernment
     … You have to focus on where you should pay attention. Because we’re trying to give rise to discernment, and discernment lies in knowing which things are fit for attention and which things are not fit for attention. That’s the diversity of these things. You have to ask yourself: “What are my duties right now? Where am I responsible?” And you focus there … 
  13. Ripples Go Far
     … But then when you see the larger pattern, you understand what’s going on and where to focus your attention. That’s the second knowledge that he gained on the night of his awakening: seeing all beings in the cosmos being reborn in line with their karma. And that’s when he began to focus in on the karma his mind was doing in … 
  14. Inner Baggage
     … So you can experiment to see with what level of breathing sensations you want to focus on. Which ones are more comfortable? Which ones are more stable? Which levels of focus are more stable? Looking at this, you can see very simply how the way you relate to the breath can have a big impact on how you experience the breath. If you weigh … 
  15. Tranquility, Insight, & Concentration
     … Wherever it’s clearest—that now the breath is going in, now the breath is going out—focus your attention there. Then ask yourself if long breathing is comfortable. If it is, keep it up; if not, you can change. You could try shorter breathing; or in short, out long; in long, out short; fast, slow; heavy, light; deep or shallow. Try to find … 
  16. A Small, Steady Flame
     … We tend to overlook it and focus on other things, but our primary sensation is right here. It’s breath. As we meditate, we’re learning to get back in touch with that primary sensation so that eventually we can use it as a mirror for the mind. Because, as I said, it’s where the mind and the body meet. It’s the … 
  17. Your Breath, Your Territory
     … It’s one of the reasons why we focus on the body. It gives you a place to stay so that you can do this sort of work. Now, to stay here, you want to feel at home, in the same way as moving into a house. You want to put up some artwork, you want to bring in some furniture you like. Arrange … 
  18. Mindfulness Island
     … And although the Buddha does recommend that you focus on the present moment, it’s not for the present moment for its own sake. It’s not to say, “Narrowly focus here.” You focus on the present moment because you know there are things in the future you’ve got to prepare for and you’ve got to keep in mind that you need … 
  19. How to Think about Death
     … You can use those verbal fabrications to focus back on the breath, ground yourself, and say I’ve got this breath, what can I do with it? In fact, it’s because of death that we focus on the present to begin with. The Buddha never talks about focusing on the present because it’s a wonderful moment, or that it’s the Eternal … 
  20. Wise Choices
     … But the wise choice is to focus on things that have a good potential, things that are conducive to long-term happiness. As the Buddha once said, wisdom begins by asking that question: “What when I do it will lead to my long-term welfare and happiness?” It’s wise because you realize that the question of happiness and suffering is the big issue … 
  21. What Should & Shouldn’t Be Done
     … I think he could read their minds and figure out what they were doing, so he would say, “Don’t focus there, focus here.” If something came up, he would tell them whether to pay attention to it or not. And listening to him teach and seeing all the many different problems that people could come up with, I began to realize that the … 
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