Search results for: "Focus"

  1. Page 74
  2. Xtreme Drama
     … She would think a lot about the earth element, find whatever sensations in the body were solid, still, heavy, and substantial, and just focus on those sensations. That would balance things out. It would balance out the energy both in body and mind. So gradually the wild mood swings became a thing of the past. And her life wasn’t as dramatic as it … 
  3. The Brightness of Life
     … Knowing that fact gives you focus. This is why we focus on the breath as we meditate, because the breath is very close to the mind. As you get to know your breath better, you get to know your mind better, in a way that allows you to see: This is where you’re adding that unnecessary suffering and this is how you can … 
  4. Dreams & Voices
     … There’s one voice that says, “Okay, focus on the breath.” Another series of voices say, “No, I’d rather do this. I’d rather do that.” You have to ask them, “Where is that going to lead?” As the Buddha said, the sign of your wisdom is learning how to look not at what you’d like to do, but for the long … 
  5. Strategic Friends
     … Or if you see that the mind is beginning to loosen its grip a little bit and is getting tired of doing this, wants to do something else, well, focus back in on the breath. How can you make the breath really, really comfortable in a way that you haven’t done before, so that you can keep your interest up? As you do … 
  6. Analyzing the Breath
     … Every sensation has a breath aspect to it, so focus on that breath aspect. If anything seems tight or tense, don’t write it simply off as being a solid part of the body. Think of it as a breath sensation that somehow got tightened. Loosen it up. Approach it as you would a breath that should be moving through the body. See how … 
  7. Discernment Performs
     … When you’re concerned about the results of your actions, those are the kinds of feelings you focus on. You don’t go on to the idea that all feelings ultimately are stressful, because in that case, there would be no idea of what would be a skillful action or a non-skillful action. Everything would be painful. You’d be left, in the … 
  8. Simplify
     … realizing that if you focus on these few things, you don’t have to worry about other things. You can really trust the practice to see you through. Often our desire to cover all the bases is a fear that if one thing doesn’t work out, something else will. And we hesitate to commit ourselves to a particular path of action for fear … 
  9. Pain & the Middle Way
     … In other words, focus not on the pain, but first on the breath energy in the body and seeing what you can do to make that energy pleasant. There arises a sense of pleasure in form, i.e., your sense of the body as you inhabit it from within. Then see how much space in the body that’s not occupied by the pain … 
  10. Patience & Urgency
     … The best way to express your urgency without impatience is not to focus on the goal. Focus on what you’re doing right now. You’ve got this breath, so try to be as sensitive as possible to this breath. Where is this going to take you? You know it’s going to take you someplace good. How long is it going to take … 
  11. Take Heart
     … If you think too much about where the path is going and focus all your attention on the fact that you’re not there yet, that kind of desire can get in the way. Tell yourself, “Okay, this is a path that goes in this direction, and the next step is going to be right here, and the next step is going to be … 
  12. Voices in the Mind
     … We’re not just here to focus on the breath. You find that being able to be with the breath helps pull you out of a lot of dialogues by creating a new dialogue focused around the breath. But then through the force of old habits you get pulled back into old dialogues—your parents, your old friends, all sorts of inner voices. And … 
  13. One Thing Clear Through
    Okay, focus on your breath. We have some background music tonight, but don’t focus there. You have to give up some things if you want to get something of better value. And there’s a lot more value in focusing on the breath, trying to stay with the breath as continually as you can to develop some strength of mind. This is a … 
  14. Loving Yourself Wisely
     … This is the kamma that the Buddha had you focus on most intently: what you’re doing right now. As for your past kamma, that’s going to come willy-nilly. When it meets up with good kamma in the present, sometimes past bad kamma can be dissolved. The image the Buddha gives is of a big lump of salt. If you try to … 
  15. Do, Maintain, Use
     … But focus your primary attention on the comfort of the breath and keep the perception of breath in mind. Otherwise, you go slipping off into just the comfort, and things begin to blur out. When you’ve got your awareness filling the body, you’ve got the breath filling the body, and it feels good, then you can stop evaluating the breath and just … 
  16. Strategies for Happiness
     … You try to focus all of your desires around maintaining this sense of peace and wellbeing in the mind. At some point, when that peace and wellbeing is really secure, you can undercut those desires as well, seeing that even here in this state of concentration, there’s still inconstancy, there’s still stress. In seeing that, you can let go entirely. You’ve … 
  17. The Water in Your Cup
     … So focus on that. Make that your purpose in being here right now: to find a way of breathing that feels really good. And if you can think of that sense of well-being then spreading from whatever spot you focused on, you get more and more anchored in the present. As things begin to calm down in the body, it has a soothing … 
  18. Know the Dhamma by Its Results
     … People sometimes ask, “When you focus on the breath as your meditation topic, what are you going to focus on as you die, when the breath leaves?” Well, you’ll notice that Buddha’s instructions on breath meditation deal not only with the breath but also with mental fabrication, and the instructions themselves are verbal fabrication. And in every case, you learn how to … 
  19. Humility
     … You learn how to focus cheerfully on where to improve. This is why so much of the practice lies in focusing on the present moment, because this is where the improvements can be made. It also involves learning where to focus in the present moment — realizing that a lot of the big, abstract issues in the mind come down to events, very specific patterns … 
  20. The Adventure in the Present
     … So we focus our attention on the breath as our reflector. Make the breath a comfortable place to stay. Take the whole flow of energy through the body as your object. Wherever it’s most obvious or feels comfortable to stay focused, and the breath energy feels most comfortable, stay right there. Then see if you can make it more comfortable. When you do … 
  21. Success on the Path
     … So there are two reasons to have the desire to focus on the path. One is realizing that the path leads you away from a lot of suffering. There are many comparisons in the Canon. The Buddha picked up a little bit of dirt under his fingernail one time and said, which is greater, the dirt under my fingernail, or the dirt in the … 
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