Focus

What is meant by being in the present moment? It is focusing our attention on what is happening around us both mentally and physically. Of late, all of us do multi-tasking without realizing our mind is a sequential processor and could focus only on one action or one thought at a time. Synchronizing the body and mind is essential for a complete experience. Instead of telling ourselves to be in the present moment, we should ask ourselves to focus as being present physically is different than being focused. Being focused helps us fight anxiety, cut down on our worrying and rumination, and keeps us grounded and connected to ourselves and everything around us. It is a way of life backed up by good science. Being present and exerting our ability to be mindful not only makes us happier, but can also help us deal with pain effectively, reduce our stress and decrease its impact on our health, and improve our ability to cope with negative emotions like fear and anger.

In the information world we live in, we are bombarded with news that is sometimes depressing and othertimes positive to our emotions. Some news items are opinions of the history or predictions of the future and consumption of it moves us away from the present. Every experience we encounter in our lives should fully be experienced. Our mind tends to edit bad parts of our experiences making our past seem more enjoyable than it really was or sometimes, ruminates in such experiences forever resulting in depression. Our mind always wanders and getting it focused on the present is an uphill task. It can be tough fighting these factors, but luckily, we are not slaves to the tendencies of our mind, and it is possible to overcome our more destructive or harmful urges and make better choices through discrimination.

There are several methods that can be implemented in our daily lives to overcome this ordeal:

1) We can voluntarily practice single tasking, which is closely related to mindfulness. We can focus only on one thing at a time, take frequent breaks, spend time with phone and computer only at a specific time, and work in time intervals.

2) Allocation of time for the present is essential for focusing. We can allocate limited time for ruminating on our past actions or experiences or planning on future goals but most of our lifetime should be spent on focusing on the actual experience to have a meaningful life experience.

3) Our breathing is one that connects both our body and mind and by focusing our attention on our breathing for a few minutes helps the body and mind to work together. Before we start the day, we can focus our attention on our own body starting from our feet to head what is being experienced by our body. This trains the mind how to focus.

4) We need to understand our waking state focus on our experiences can alter our dreaming state experiences as well as our feeling happy after a deep sleep state of mind.

5) Yoga is an excellent way to get connected to the present through focus and so is hiking a mountain or taking a focused walk surrounded by nature. Instead of listening to music or news while walking, one should pay attention to everything that is happening around oneself. Imagin a rock climber’s focus on where his/her feet/hand can be placed for climbing up without losing a grip. The focus is how to get to the top, but it is divided into parts so that the climber is only focused on the next step at a given time, and he forgets the rest of the world’s existence.

There is a deep connection between what happens around us to our own encryption and once we learn to live focused, this connection becomes visible to us. Our way of life becomes a path for eliminating our encryption by letting the experiences be as is instead of mentally altering them. The same experience can be described by two different people differently based on their mental conditioning. The purpose of life is created effortlessly by our focus on the present. Spiritual development is feeling our soul living by our own experiences by synchronizing our body and mind. In this situation, no one tool is given undue importance allowing it to be dominant. Ego, anger, fear, desire, attachment, jealousy, hatred, etc. are the results of an instrument dominating the one that is Supreme and residing inside us.

 

Dear Hari Sir,

Thank you for your first response to this snippet. We began believing multi-tasking is a skillset without realizing that one activity is done without our mind engaging in it and another one with the mind engaged. Even one doesn't become a saint or sage, one should try to do things with total focus however trivial the task is so that the experience will be complete. For example, if one is petting the dog or talking to an infant to draw attention, we should really engage totally so that the experience will be extraordinary. Time is never going to stop for anyone and one must choose our activities based on priorities. Even a simple task of having breakfast, lunch and dinner, most of us don't experience it with proper attention with our mind engaging on a newspaper, phone, or thinking about something else to be solved. Our mind should focus on the taste of food prepared, love of the spouse in making the effort to prepare the dishes, etc.

 

Dear Thyagarajan Sir,

Multi-tasking has become a norm and most of us take pride in our ability to multi-task. It is the ancient tradition to recite holy scriptures such as Rudram, Chamakkam, Lalitha or Vishnu Sahasranamam, etc. while cooking. Most those days used to shower before engaging in cooking food for the family. More than the ingredients and the clean source from where those ingredients were purchased (it should not be ingredients bought from chor bazaar), the love of mother/wife in thinking of well-being of the spouse/children contribute for the positive thoughts in the mind of the spouse and children. We are all connected human beings. When we engage in actions with complete focus, not only that experience becomes extraordinary but the action itself is sanctified when it is done with no expectations. Three things are essential in performing actions and they are doing an action skillfully with best of our attention with no aversion to that task in our mind, lovingly with complete focus on the processes of that action, and selflessly without expecting the fruits of that action. Then, every action performed is meditational. However, the beneficiary of that action, in the previous example, the family members who eat the cooked food should be grateful to the spouse/mother.

 

Dear Thyagarajan Sir,

One example I would like to give out of IL itself. Look at how many ladies are helping those in need with sharing their own experience, knowledge and passion in taking care of a domestic issue. Relationship forum plays an important role in this category. Many post their respond skillfully, selflessly, and lovingly for the benefit of not only the original poster but also others who could benefit from such posts.

If you carefully notice, @Rihana spending considerable amount of time responding to the finest post section after reading each one of them, giving her invaluable comments, and then selecting the best for the month of August is another great example. Without complete involvement in the action, this won't be possible. The quality of her responses are great example of how focused she is in responding and choosing the best.

 

Dear Balajee,

Excellent summary of what is meant by focus and your example of Arjuna seeing only the eye of the bird is a perfect example! I had a chance to read a summary of a discourse recently and it suggested that we should review our thoughts, plans and actions first thing in the morning and then review our actions for the day later in the night. I felt one is inspection and another is introspection. I have written prevention and cure thread based on that learning. Al Ries wrote an wonderful book titled, "Focus".