Search results for: "Focus"

  1. Page 92
  2. Boxed Stories
     … Just be in the sense of the body as you feel it from within, and see what you can do to make it as comfortable as possible, through the way you breathe, through the way you focus. Or just relax certain muscles in different parts of the body—the backs of the hands, the tops of the feet—and see if that pattern of … 
  3. You’ll Wish You’d Meditated More
     … Heedfulness doesn’t focus just on the negative. If everything were negative, heedfulness wouldn’t make any difference. The whole point of heedfulness is that you can make a difference through the way you act. You can make a difference through the way you think and talk to yourself. There is safety that can be found. So spend as much time as you can … 
  4. Respect for Concentration
     … How does this breath feel? Is it good enough? If it’s not, well, what would make it better? This helps you focus on what the real issue is, which is that you’ve got to get the mind to settle down in a place where it likes to settle down. So you do your best to create that nice spot. And then your … 
  5. Pleasure on the Middle Way
     … We have the choice as to which ones we’re going to focus on and develop. So as we practice, we make the most of that by being very conscious of what these feelings can do to us. There are some pains that are actually useful for the practice, others that are not. There are pleasures that are useful for the practice. They have … 
  6. Friendship Leading to Seclusion
    We come here to gain some seclusion so that we can focus on what’s going on inside the mind. The texts talk about three kinds of seclusion: bodily seclusion, mental seclusion, and then seclusion from your attachments. Bodily seclusion is when you’re away from other people, as when you go off and sit in your hut, sit in your tent, sit under … 
  7. Gladden, Steady, Release
     … Your best preparation for the future lies in these qualities that get developed as you stay with the breath, as you focus on the breath. This is your safe place. If you stay here long enough, you can develop a sense of ease, a sense of well-being that nobody else can touch. Nobody even has to know that you have it. But you … 
  8. The Pursuit of Happiness & Goodness
     … Find the sensitive spots in the body that respond to different ways of breathing, that let you know, “Okay, this way of breathing is really good,” and focus there. As the Buddha said, indulge in it. Not to the point where you lose the breath and just go for the pleasure. Remember the breath. The fact that you’re attentive to the breath is … 
  9. Endurance
     … Which spot in the body seems to be most sensitive to the breath coming in going out? Focus your attention there. And see what kind of breathing feels really good there. If the mind wanders off, bring it back. You’re trying to protect this sense of well-being right in that spot inside. That will be something you can learn to depend on … 
  10. A Point of Balance
     … So as you focus the mind right here on the breath, you’re putting yourself in a position where you really can solve the problem of suffering and its cause. If you’re not right here, you’re wide of the mark.
  11. Like Earth and Space
     … So you put them out of your mind and you just focus on the fact that everything around you is earth. Your body is earth. The things you’re sitting on are earth, the trees above you. Here we are in a building, the building is earth property. As the Buddha said, it’s like taking a cowhide and stretching it with a thousand … 
  12. Noble & True
     … through the body, so that no part of the body is untouched by that sense of wellbeing. There may be little pains here and there, but don’t pay them attention. Focus primary attention on the sensation of comfort that you’re gaining here right now, because it’s a blameless comfort; it’s a blameless pleasure. Again, that’s something that makes the … 
  13. Guarded
     … You focus on doing good where you can—both inside and out—and that becomes your strength. The ajaans talk often talk about the need for a fence. As Ajaan Maha Boowa says, virtue is a fence for your thoughts, words, and deeds. Concentration, in particular, is a fence for your mind. It’s through discernment that you learn how not to need those … 
  14. Selecting from the Teachings
     … So focus on the breath, because, to begin with, that’s the element through which you experience the whole rest of your body. We tend to think of ourselves as being in the solid part of the body, and that the breath comes in and out of that. But actually our whole awareness of the body, from the head down to the toes, out … 
  15. Hitting a Wall
     … If your energy is running out, your mind is distracted, it’s hard to focus, okay, you’re pushing yourself too hard. If you’re not pushing yourself hard enough, there are also telltale signs. You’re going to sleep without any sense of having expanded your range in the course of the day. That’s a telltale sign right there. There should be … 
  16. Questioning Impermanence
     … the body, how do they affect the breath? How does the breath affect them? When you think about the breath, does that change the breath? Some people, as soon as they focus on the breath, tense up around it. That’s their way of keeping something focused and under control. But that doesn’t last very long. How can you stay with the breath … 
  17. Trustworthy Judgment
     … Set up the question in your mind and then put it aside, focus on the breath, stay with the breath. Get the mind so that it’s really solid and still, and then from that perspective you can start contemplating the issue. Then do it again, and then again, just to make sure. You want to develop the kind of habit where you don … 
  18. Truths of the Will
     … So you focus on the breath. And whatever energy is required to keep the mind with the breath, you apply that energy. Whatever skill is needed to pull away from any disturbances, any hindrances, any distractions, you apply that skill. You keep at it. Of course, truths of the observer require a certain amount of will for you to know them. In other words … 
  19. Mindfulness Like a Dam
     … But if you focus it on one channel, it has a lot of force. So we’re going to use this force to clean up what’s in the mind. You’re going to find things you don’t like in the mind, but they’re not going to stay there. Your ability to see them is the first step toward washing them away … 
  20. Harmlessness
     … And even when you can’t focus entirely on the breath, or give it your 100% attention, you can still make it the framework. Even though you’re aware of what’s going on outside and you’re responding to what’s going on outside, you can still be aware of the breath energy in the body. It may be too much to ask … 
  21. The Sport of Wise People
     … But you can’t let yourself lose your focus on keeping the bowl of oil balanced on your head. You should have that kind of respect for your concentration—and, as I said, for the concentration of the people around you. There’s that old saying that silence is golden. So if you’re going to break silence, what you have to say should … 
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