Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. The Mind in Good Shape
     … Where are you focusing your attention? Is this the best place to focus? What would happen if you focused it in different places? Some standard ones are around the navel, at the solar plexus, the middle the chest, the base of the throat, the middle of the head, the tip of the nose, the middle of the forehead, the top of the head. But … 
  3. The Committee of the Mind
     … We start out with the breath as our focus, but we’re not here to get the breath. We’re here to get the mind. But to get the mind, you need to focus it on one thing. There has to be something in the present moment that’s interesting and comfortable at the same time. So learn how to make the breath comfortable … 
  4. Don’t Believe Everything You Think
     … You focus your awareness on one point, but that one point is connected to every other part of the body. Keep that in mind. And try to make an examination, an exploration, to see what kind of breathing feels best for the different parts of the body. This gives you something to do. When you have something to do with the breathing, you’re … 
  5. Factors for Stream-entry
     … People like to focus on, “What is it like to be a stream-enterer?” or “What fetters has the stream-enterer put aside? And exactly what does it mean to put these fetters aside, or to be free from them?” But the real issue is how to get there. Once you get there, then you know the answers to these questions. So the first … 
  6. How to Be Happy
     … As long as there’s going to be some conversation, focus it on the breath, focus it on the mind, keeping the mind with the breath. If you do this with some skill, you find that it creates a sense of well-being. If you do it without any skill, it can be pretty miserable. So try to be observant because that’s what … 
  7. There’s Work to Be Done
     … Otherwise, if you just stay with the breath, after a while you begin to lose focus. If you don’t make the effort of developing a full-body awareness, it’s very easy to lose focus and just blur out. This is a skill we’re developing here. I wouldn’t say all, but many of the Buddha’s images for people who are … 
  8. Discernment All Along
     … In the beginning, you think about the breath coming in from the outside, and that’s your main focus. But don’t limit it. Don’t limit your focus to just the air coming in and out through the nostrils. Think of the way the whole body moves as you breathe in, moves as you breathe out. If it feels tight or tense, what … 
  9. Strategies for Generosity
     … You want to find ways of helping that are not harmful to anybody and focus your energies there. This ultimately leads to another gift that’s more universal and limitless. In addition to the gift of virtue, there’s also the gift of forgiveness. Then beyond that there’s the gift of learning how to overcome your own greed, anger, and delusion—because those … 
  10. Finding the Openings
     … So focus on getting your mind settled and solid and rooted and strong. The work that goes into settling it is well worth the effort. If we don’t do that, what’s left for us? We have to embrace changes that go flying past, which basically means that we’ve given up. The Buddha said to use the process of change to improve … 
  11. Reflecting on Karma
     … But use this reflection to get yourself on the path, confident that you can and should stay on the path, and focus your priorities as you practice. As Ajaan Suwat used to say, “We’re here not to get anybody else. We’re here to get ourselves.” If other people are inspired by the way we practice and want to come and practice, too … 
  12. Good Traditions
     … The way to learn how to endure things is to not focus on the negative but to focus on the positive, realizing that you’ve got the opportunity to do good things, and that that’s a rare opportunity. You don’t give in to the thought that says, “I can’t manage this. This is too much for me.” You do what you … 
  13. Training Your Minds
    Training Your Minds April 10, 2011 Close your eyes and focus on the breath. Take a few deep, long in-and-out breaths and see how the process of breathing feels. Notice where you feel it. What kind of sensations do you have in the body when you breathe in? What kind do you have when you breathe out? Where do you feel the … 
  14. When Things Aren’t Going Well
     … If it strings you out to focus on the stress, then focus on the question, “Where are the good things right now? What can you rely on as your path?” If there’s a little bit of mindfulness, hold onto it. Right speech, right action, all the “rights” of the noble path: Hold onto what you’ve got, realizing that the situation inside and … 
  15. Only Your Best
     … When he talks about the qualities that he brought to his awakening, it was resolution along with ardency and heedfulness, realizing that some things are more important than others, and so require your full attention, your total focus. Some dangers inside and out are more important than others, more dangerous than others. You’ve got to prepare. The big danger, of course, is death … 
  16. Staying on Track
     … Sometimes the problem is with the way you breathe, sometimes it’s with the way you talk to yourself, the things you focus on, and the comments you make. Then there are the perceptions. These are brain messages where you identify, “This must be that, that must be this, this must mean that, that doesn’t must mean this.” People can drive themselves crazy … 
  17. The Blood You’ve Shed
     … That’s what we want to focus on right here, right now. And that’s exactly what the Buddha did. From his second knowledge, he focused in on the present moment, looking to see what his mind was doing at that moment that was causing stress and suffering, and what intentions and views he could develop to put an end to that stress and … 
  18. The Wisdom of Wising Up
     … Why not five or three noble truths? Why does he focus on these particular teachings? Why focus on suffering? Was there something about his culture that kept him from seeing the beauty of life? Remember, though, that all of his teachings have their roots in some very common human experiences, in particular, the wisdom of wising up. It’s about seeing when you’ve … 
  19. Actor & Experiencer
     … So that much is something good to focus on. Then next step of course is: What are you going to do with the present moment? Well, you’ve got the breath; you’ve got the mind. You’ve got all the raw materials for awakening. It’s simply a matter of learning how to put them together in the right way. You don’t … 
  20. Generating Good Energy
     … You have empathetic joy both for the causes that you’re creating by the way you focus and for the results. And then there’s equanimity for the breath. This can mean two things. One is when you’ve tried your hardest to help certain parts of the body to get connected to good breath energy, to take part in the general sense of … 
  21. Focused on the Breath
     … In fact, you can focus on the muscles that you usually use to breathe. Think of filling them with good breath energy as you breathe in, as you breathe out. When you breathe out, try not to squeeze the breath out. Let it flow naturally. We’re exerting control over the breath here, but we’re trying to exert control in a way that … 
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