Search results for: "Focusing"

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  2. Cooking the Mind
     … You’re going to be focusing on the expectations. Results don’t come from expectations. They come from very ordinary things—being aware of the breath; trying to be aware of the breath as continually as you can—though Ajaan Sao didn’t add even those explanations. If people asked, “What should I expect?” he’d just say, “Don’t ask. Just do it … 
  3. The Teacher Inside
     … Where are you focusing? Is this a good place to focus? If not, you can move. Be very deliberate in these steps, because when things go well in the meditation, you want to be able to remember what you did. If you’re just mucking around in the present moment and happen to hit something good, you can’t remember how you got there … 
  4. Basic Wisdom
     … You notice that some ways of focusing on the breath get better results than others. Or the way you relate to your object: In the beginning, you have to think about it again and again and again and keep reminding yourself to come back, evaluating it until it becomes comfortable. But once it gets comfortable enough, you don’t have to do that activity … 
  5. Sober Up
    Sober Up January 30, 2011 In English, when we talk about getting the mind to stay focused on something, we talk about its “settling down.” And in one way that’s right. The mind tends to be flying around all over the place. If it can focus on one object, it’s like a flock of birds that finally settle down on one spot … 
  6. The Dhamma Bucket List
     … I heard of a woman general in the army here in the States who made a habit everyday of making a list of the ten most important things that needed to be done that day, and then crossing through everything except one and two, and focusing on those. Now, maybe you can’t make a list of what your unskillful habits are, but try … 
  7. No Mistakes Are Fatal
     … a focused state of mind. Now, “simple” doesn’t mean “easy.” As I said, there are all these other currents going on in the mind. But as you keep coming back, coming back, you’re coming back to these building blocks on a simple level. Keep it basic, but be very observant. One of the reasons things don’t stay basic in the mind … 
  8. In Your Right Mind at Death
     … So she focused on the space element and she didn’t feel threatened by the fire in the house at all. Then, when she later came back to the body, everything had settled back down to normal. And she learned an important lesson: If you can access space in your meditation, you don’t feel so threatened when the body pushes you out, and … 
  9. How to Look, How to Listen
     … I’m focusing on the wrong perceptions,” that’s when you learn. In other words, you look at how you’re fabricating things in an unskillful way, because this is how dependent co-arising gets set into motion. You’re fabricating in ignorance. You’re putting together your experience, right here, right now, and you’re hardly even aware of how you’re doing … 
  10. Making a Difference
     … You’re really focused on this. You pay attention. When you’re with the breath, you try to be as sensitive as possible to how the breathing feels. The more sensitive you are to detect the slightest little bit of tension or tightness and work through it, then the more comfortable the breath becomes, the more absorbing it becomes. It feels really good just … 
  11. Feeding Instructions
     … In fact, as the Buddha said, often our clingings and cravings aren’t focused on where we think they are. You may think you love the person, but actually you love the feelings, you love the perceptions, the thought constructs that surround your sense of that person. You see this especially when the relationship changes. Say, the person is beginning to suffer from dementia … 
  12. True Friends
     … Start with a couple of good long, deep in-and-out breaths, and notice where you feel the breathing in the body, because that’s what we’re focusing on: the rise and fall of the abdomen, the rise and fall of the chest, anyplace in the body where you can tell that now the breath is coming in, now the breath is going … 
  13. Genuine Goodness
     … What kind of breathing feels best? In focusing on the breath, you’re also learning about the mind. As Ajaan Lee says, the breath is like a mirror for the mind. When you put the breath in good shape, it requires that the mind be in good shape as well. You’re putting the mind in good shape because you’re learning to be … 
  14. In Charge of Your Moods
     … Why are you focusing on things that make you angry? Part of the mind will say, “There’s something wrong here. Something has to be done to change it.” Well, can you change it without getting angry? The problem with anger is it tends to blind you, but if you can clearly see a situation that’s wrong, and you learn how not to … 
  15. Challenges
     … You learn that you’re developing these things not only by focusing on the breath, but also by fending off the things that would pull you away. It’s all part of training the mind. Just give yourself the encouragement so that you’re up for it, that you can take these things as challenges and not as obstacles. Approach them with interest, with … 
  16. Healing Breath
     … Find one spot where it’s easy to stay focused on the sensation of breathing, and begin to get a sense of what kind of breathing is going on. Learn how to read the breathing. Become sensitive to its variations. Then stay there until you find that the breath gets more comfortable, more at ease. In the texts, they talk about then spreading your … 
  17. The Karma of Self & Not-Self
     … Everything that’s related to being ardent, alert, mindful, focused on your topic of concentration: That’s self. You’re the one who’s doing the meditation. You’re the one who’s going to benefit from it. You’re the one who’s watching it to make sure that you’re doing it well, and who offers suggestions on how to do it … 
  18. Evaluating Your Practice
     … To begin with, you’re focusing on the breath in and of itself. At the same time, you’re also keeping track of the mind, to make sure it stays with the breath. If the mind slips off, you want to be able to remember, “What have I been able to do in the past that keeps the mind with the breath and keeps … 
  19. Skillful Thinking
     … This is why we don’t just sit here focusing on the breath without thinking at all. We have to understand the Buddha’s teachings and see how they actually relate to what we’re doing right here, right now. That requires some humility. No matter how smart we are, we’ve been causing suffering, so we’re not all that smart. We’ve … 
  20. Yes & No
     … You choose a frame of reference that you’re going to stay focused on. You try to keep track of that, ardent, alert, mindful, putting aside greed and distress with reference to the world. There are two activities there. One is choosing your topic. And the other is learning how to say No to everything that’s going to pull you out into the … 
  21. In the Details
     … The problem with lust is not just the imperfect objects that it focuses on, but also all the things that we do under the power of lust. Remind yourself of those, too: all the stupid things you’ve done in the past because of lust. Bring those to mind. And keep at it. The lust may still be there, lurking around, but you can … 
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