Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. In the Mood
     … If you’re in a bad mood, think in ways that will improve your mood, that will improve your attitude toward the meditation, your attitude toward the object that you’re going to be focusing on. Remind yourself that the breath is your friend, and you’re here to develop the friendship even further. In that way your thinking, instead of being a distraction … 
  3. Why We Train the Mind
     … You see that you really can change the direction of the mind to look for happiness in new places, to look for happiness in new ways—like we’re doing right now, focusing on the breath, getting the mind to stay in the present moment, so that we have a good solid place to look at its thoughts, or a good solid place to … 
  4. The Third Noble Truth
     … One of the ways the Buddha has you develop disenchantment is by focusing on the inconstancy of what you’ve been feeding on. But it’s not enough just to say, “So, yeah, it arises and passes away and arises and passes away, or it arises because of causes and, well, what’s next?” Instead of making a generalization, the Buddha wants you to … 
  5. Growing Up Inside
     … A while back I was reading a book by a psychologist who had focused on issues of adult development, not just child development, but how adults grow and mature as they grow older, and to what extent they can genuinely grow up. And he found that one of the most important things in the lives of people who do make a big change at … 
  6. Insight into Pain
     … Instead of thinking about things as you normally do or focusing on things as you normally would, try to hold on to your perception of the breath regardless. The mind may say, “This is stupid; you’re not getting any insights,” but you can say, “Sorry, whether it’s stupid or not, I don’t care. I’m just going to keep on doing … 
  7. A Better Place to Feed
     … When the mind is small—in other words, when you’re focused on one tiny little spot—it’s very easy to slip off into the past or the future. It’s as if the path to the past or the future were a little tiny tube, and if your mind is small enough, your awareness is small enough, it’s going to slip … 
  8. Balancing Tranquility & Insight
     … Or by adjusting the breath, or by adjusting your perceptions of the breath, the perceptions of what you’re focusing on. Then you allow the mind to get more and more steady. What perceptions allow it to get more steady? Perception of the breath as a whole body process gets it more steady. Your perception that you’re not separate from the breath, that … 
  9. Songkran
     … Focus on making the future as good as you can by focusing on making the present moment as good as you can. In that way, this convention of a new year will serve a true purpose.
  10. Dwellings
     … He asked about doubt.” “Doubt? Oh, no, never.” Then he focused on Fred. He started talking and he didn’t let up in his talk, which meant there was no room for me to translate. Even I, off to the side, could feel his compassion, it was that palpable. Karen, the woman sitting in front of the heater, said she was pushed against the … 
  11. Endurance with a Purpose
     … Here you’re focusing on the parts of the body that you can make comfortable by the way you breathe. Then you can think of that good breath energy going through the pain. Say there’s a pain in your knee, and there’s good breath energy in the torso. Well, think of the breath energy in the torso going down the back, down … 
  12. The Third Frame of Reference
     … So she focused on just thinking space, space, space and she developed a sense of space. One way to do this is to think of the different atoms in your body. They all have a lot of space in them and between them. So focus on that space and think of it spreading throughout the body, out beyond the body. She maintained that perception … 
  13. Mindful of Death
     … What things do you want to take as your nourishment? As we’re focusing here in the present moment, it’s to see processes that are bigger than the present moment as well. They can be found here, they can be seen here, but they’re going to play out in larger realms as well. The way the mind relates to itself in a … 
  14. Potentials for Awakening
     … It comes from focusing on one point but having a soft, open focus. It starts out not all that impressive, just a feeling of “okay.” Well, maintain that “okay.” Don’t allow any tension to build up inside it or around it. When the sense of “okay” seems steady, think of it spreading, because one of the reasons why people have trouble gaining a … 
  15. The Fourth Frame of Reference
    The Fourth Frame of Reference March 29, 2009 Ajaan Lee often made the point that when you’re focused on the breath, you don’t have just the first frame of reference or the first foundation of mindfulness. You have all four right there. The breath is the body in and of itself. That’s the first frame of reference. The feelings of pleasure … 
  16. Gather Around the Breath
     … So you stay focused around the breath—everything gathers right here. Some people object to the idea of working on having one focus for the mind, because it requires desire. But the Buddha is very clear that desire is part of the path. It’s part of right effort: You’re trying to generate desire to give rise to skillful qualities, and this is … 
  17. Learning from What You Do
     … You start noticing how your intentions affect the breath by intentionally playing with it, experimenting with it, then learning to maximize the amount of pleasure that can come simply from having your mind focused on the present moment. Once there’s a sense of ease in the spot that you’ve been focusing on, allow that sense of ease to spread through the body … 
  18. The Choice Not to Suffer
     … You keep in mind that you don’t want to get sucked in to your thoughts, and so you develop mindfulness but staying focused on the breath, or the body in and of itself, as your frame of reference. Any thoughts that would pull you into thought worlds you put aside. If you get worked up about something that you want in the world … 
  19. Breath Meditation: The Third Tetrad
     … You’re focused on the body, being sensitive to the breath, sensitive to the whole body as you breathe in and breathe out, and then you calm the process of bodily fabrication, i.e., you gain some rapture and then calm the effect that the breath has on the body so that it gives rise to a sense of ease and well-being. In … 
  20. The Fourth Noble Truth
     … In other words, your inner chatter focuses on the breath. You want to stay right here. Of course, this builds on all the other factors of the path, but it also brings them all to fruition. Ajaan Lee has a nice explanation, saying that when the mind is in right concentration, really noble right concentration, you’ve got all the factors of the path … 
  21. Shoulds & Ideals
     … They’re actually four categories for understanding what’s happening, for focusing on what’s really worth noticing in the present moment. We have four categories because there are four different things you can do in the present moment. You can either try to comprehend what’s there, or you can try to let it go, or just verify for yourself that it’s … 
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