Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Making a Difference
     … So you focus on your breath. When the breath comes in, know it’s coming in; when it goes out, know it’s going out. As you do that, you have to bring some mental factors to the breath. The first is mindfulness, just keeping the breath in mind. Remind yourself: This is where you want to stay. And make this your frame of … 
  3. Stick with It
     … What are you doing at the beginning that requires that you gradually glide down? Can’t you go straight down to the breath? Have you ever noticed, when the mind does settle down, where it tends to like to focus? You may have some ideas of where you want it to focus or think it should focus, but where does it actually like to … 
  4. How to Be Self-Centered
     … So that’s where our focus has to be. That’s where we have to be centered. This means we shouldn’t try not to be self-centered. We have to be self-centered in a wise way, a skillful way. And that deals with two big problems. One is when you’re irritated by other people’s behavior. You should center your attention … 
  5. Proactive with Pain
     … Then you can focus on how you’re going to handle this well. Two things basically happen: Pain comes in, and you feel pushed out by it. You try to push it away, and it just doesn’t want to budge, so you go escaping to other places. The first thing you have to learn is how not to get pushed out by the … 
  6. Dwellings
     … Where right now is the warmest part of your body? Focus there and see if the sensation of warmth gets stronger as you hold that perception of fire in mind. Then allow it to expand. Can you spread the warmth around? This is useful on a cold night like this. On days when it’s hot outside, you can focus on water. Again, the … 
  7. Preparing to Die Well
     … You focus on some things and willfully ignore all the things right next to them. You focus on the skin and forget that just a millimeter under the skin is some pretty disgusting stuff. As you go deeper and deeper in, it gets even worse, right there in that very same body. Then you turn around and focus on what the sensual passion does … 
  8. Contemplation of the Body
     … Some of them complain they already have a negative body image so why focus on the negative side of the body? Others say that body contemplation is a way of fostering aversion to the body, which is an unhealthy mental state. Others say they’re not all that attached to their bodies, so why should they have to focus on the body? Or they … 
  9. You’ve Got Friends
     … You try to step out of purely mental concerns and focus on the physical sensation of breathing. Then see what you can do to make that comfortable. When I talk about the breath, it’s not just the in-and-out movement of the air, it’s the whole energy flow through the body. Often the problem is going to be right there in … 
  10. Customs of the Noble Ones
     … So it’s not that we don’t want things to be different from what they are; we just have to be very selective in where we focus our desires, and learn how to curb the desires that are actively causing suffering. Ultimately, at some point in the path, you get to the point where you have to let go of all desires, but … 
  11. Reflections on Kamma
     … They also apply to your sense of what you can accomplish in life, and where you should focus your attention to get there. You want to focus your attention on doing things skillfully, which means that you have to focus your attention on your intentions because they’re going to shape your life. This is why we practice meditation, so that we can get … 
  12. Chronic Pain
     … If, say, the pain is in the left side of the body, focus on the right. If it’s in the back, focus in the front, or anyplace in the body where you can have a sense of well-being as the breath energy flows, anyplace that can be nurtured by the in-and-out breath. For the time being, resist any temptation to … 
  13. Concentration
    Concentration September 12, 2011 Focus your attention right here. The mind will be creating other “heres” to carry you away from right here. But you don’t have to go with them. Ajaan Lee’s image is of a post at the edge of the sea. The sea rises, but the post doesn’t rise with the sea. The sea ebbs away, but the … 
  14. Love for the Dhamma
     … When things aren’t going well outside, where are you going to focus your attention? Well, you could focus outside and just get upset about things outside, but that doesn’t accomplish anything. If you’re wise, you learn from the hardships the lesson that you’ve got to focus your attention more and more inwardly. If you’re going to find happiness, you … 
  15. Own Your Actions
     … But focus very carefully on what you are doing right now. Because that’s where you get to see things in action, to see your mind in action and understand what it’s doing that’s leading to happiness, what it’s doing that’s leading to pain. And you can do something about it. If you applied not-self, not-self, not-self … 
  16. Comfortable With the Truth
     … Our eyes point out, and we tend to focus our mind on things outside as well. Especially when things are not going well: We look outside for somebody, something to blame for the problem. And yet if you had to have the whole world straightened out in order to be happy, it’d never happen. You’d die first. And as it turns out … 
  17. Dwelling in Emptiness
     … So really focus in here. After a while, the issues of the world begin to go far away. Learn how to appreciate that: the fact that there’s even less disturbance in the mind. But there is still some disturbance. There’s the directed thought, the evaluation of the first jhana. For a while, you can’t let them go. You have to put … 
  18. Truths of the Will
     … This is an area where your will has a lot to say, has a lot of impact if you focus it properly. Putting an end to suffering is a big job, but it is humanly possible. And because it is possible, it’s really worthwhile to focus your energies in that direction. That really does give a worthwhile direction to your life. Some people … 
  19. The Power of Truth
     … So, the question is then, which truth are you going to focus on? And that’s answered by asking what the result is going to be. What is it going to get you to do? If you focus on how pleasant the aggregates are, you’re going to hold onto them. If you focus on their stressful side, then you’re going to do … 
  20. Getting Your Head Around the Goal
     … So we focus on following the path. We don’t try to turn the path into the goal. That would be like wanting to go to the Grand Canyon when you’ve heard that the Grand Canyon is like a big trench in the earth, and you dig a big trench across your path: your own personal Grand Canyon. That makes it impossible to … 
  21. Training the Mind
     … Just focus on your breath—nothing elaborate, nothing abstract, just the sensation of breathing in the present moment. You can focus on any spot in the body where there’s a sensation that lets you know: Now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out. It may be the movement of the air in the nose, the rising and falling of … 
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