Search results for: "Focus"

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  2. Compassionate Duties
     … The thoughts that were inspired by renunciation, in other words, trying to find happiness in a way that doesn’t involve sensuality—i.e., what we’re doing right now, trying to find a sense of well-being as we focus on the breath—thoughts based on non ill-will and harmlessness: Those he said you can encourage. And you do that by being … 
  3. Building a Home for the Mind
     … You’ve got all kinds of breathing that you can focus on, or you can start with the breath energies in the body. Some people find that easier to focus on those energies than on the in-and-out breath to begin with. Just scan through the body. Notice where there’s any tension or tightness. Think of it relaxing. Then move on until … 
  4. Dimensions of Right Effort
     … You have to focus your attention on the road. And even though the road doesn’t look like a mountain, it’ll take you there. So there’s work to be done on the path. We can’t let our impatience get in the way. This is one of the problems of our American educational system: It rewards people who get everything right the … 
  5. Switch the Context
     … Years back when I was first meditating with Ajaan Fuang, I began to notice that there was a bit of tension in one of my feet, and that if I tried to focus too intently on it, it just stayed tense, so I worked around the edges. Then one day it released, and as it released, I suddenly remembered an incident from my childhood … 
  6. The Cost of Happiness
     … The more still you are, the more refined your focus, and more refined your solidity, then the more refined the movements you can see. Always look for that. That’s your guarantee. That’s your protection against mistaking some halfway point on the path for the goal. It’s in this way that the Buddha’s first teaching and his last teaching are connected … 
  7. Letting Go
     … focusing on something and allowing it to be comfortable at the same time, finding the right way to focus, the right amount of pressure to focus. Choose a spot where the breath seems obvious—in other words, where you can clearly feel, “Now the breath is coming in; now the breath is going out.” Allow the sensation of the breath to have some space … 
  8. The Possibility of Letting Go
     … That’s the area where you should focus your desires for improvement—because as long as the mind is dependent on outside factors, it’s in a position of weakness. It’s open to all kinds of changes, all kinds of instability. And “outside” here doesn’t just mean outside of you. The body itself is considered an outside factor when we’re talking … 
  9. The Power of Present Karma
     … In a way, he asked the obvious question—if action is what makes a difference, then focus on action; if the way you pay attention makes a difference, focus on the way you pay attention. Try to get down to the nuts and bolts of how the mind puts experience together, and you find that you can put something really good together with those … 
  10. Culture Shock
     … That one point, that one focus, trumps everything else. And it affects everything within the culture — from the way we walk, the way we talk, what we wear, what we eat, the kind of shelter we look for, the medicine we use, everything from the very basics all the way up to how we comprehend our own minds. So as you shift from one … 
  11. A Good-natured Attitude
     … His meaning is that sometimes you focus most of your attention on the breath and sometimes you focus more of your attention on the mind. For example, when you’re working with the breath, if you find the breath intriguing, if you find it interesting and it’s enjoyable to work with the breath, go ahead and do it. But sometimes you find that … 
  12. Doubt vs. Discernment
     … These are the things you can focus on. It starts with right effort, which is basically the same thing as ardency. What makes the effort right is that it’s informed by right view as to what’s skillful, what’s not. Then you can do what you should be doing with that kind of knowledge. You realize, “I’m sitting here, I’ve … 
  13. Booster Stages
     … There’s a passage where the Buddha says that if you find that the way you’re focusing on the body makes you anxious, irritable, uncomfortable in the present, try to focus on a theme that inspires you, that gives rise to a sense of clarity, confidence in the mind. Then, when that theme has done its work, you can put it aside. That … 
  14. Possessiveness
     … You focus on your breath; you talk to yourself about the breath to adjust it in ways that make it a good place to be; you focus on perceptions of the breath and perceptions of the mind that allow you to settle down with feelings of pleasure and ease. That’s what right resolve does: It takes the knowledge of right view and uses … 
  15. A Room of Your Own
     … If there’s pain in your stomach, focus on your back. If there’s pain in the back, focus on the stomach. In other words, try to resist the mind’s tendency to obsess with the pain, obsess with the discomfort, or to feel that it has to check out every possible threat coming in. Stay with what’s comfortable. Learn to see if … 
  16. A Refuge in Quiescence
     … You focus on say, the breath in and of itself. You watch your mind as it’s close to the breath. And whatever lessons you learn about what’s skillful and unskillful, and how to encourage skillful qualities and discourage unskillful ones, you file them away right here. That way, whenever you focus on the breath, you’re right next to where the file … 
  17. Mindfulness, the Gatekeeper
     … It’s important that you focus on that quality of desire. It’s not the case that all desires are bad or all desires are greed. The desire to be skillful is something to be encouraged. It’s a part of the path. Then you focus your intent based on that desire. You focus your persistence based on that desire in one of four … 
  18. Renunciation
     … When you see that the causes of suffering are inside, and that the potential for putting an end to suffering is inside as well, you want to focus all your efforts here and not let them get scattered out. So as you’re working on right concentration, remember that this is how we fulfill the factors of right resolve. It’s the greater happiness … 
  19. The Story behind Impatience
     … At any moment we can choose what to focus on, what to do, what to say, what to think. We’re not compelled by the past. There are influences coming in from the past, but we can choose which influences we’re going to let pass, which one’s we’re going to work on, which ones we’re going to pick up, and … 
  20. In the Elephant’s Footprint
     … If thinking in terms of self gets in the way, you focus back on actions again. Just keep doing what seems to be the most skillful thing. Commit to being as skillful as you can, and then reflect on what you’re doing. The commitment is important. You’re not just looking at actions willy-nilly, whatever happens to come through the mind or … 
  21. The Need for Evaluation
    When you focus on the breath, when you try to bring the mind to a state of concentration, you’re trying to do two things at once. One is to give the mind a place where it can rest, gather its strength, heal its wounds, and in general develop a sense of ease and well-being. The second purpose is to be able to … 
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