If anyone has been keeping up with Chile's Clutter Challenge a lot of people have been trying to clean up their lives. This is probably part of what inspired a recent Ureka moment for me.
I'm a perpetual hopper, going from one idea to another. While this allows for massive breadth in knowledge, it normally fills the everyday mind with WAY too much to focus on. I lack focus. Well, focus is really just a function of the mind, and the mind is what you train it to be/do.
Meditation is nothing new for me. I've discussed it with quite a few different people who follow the practice and am amazed at the variety of styles people use. I've mostly followed the "no mind" philosophy and tried to eliminate though by letting ideas drift away. A friend of mine seemed appalled at that fashion. She was sure that meditation must be towards a goal or purpose. Other friends visualize different things, which seem to affect the body via suggestion or metaphore.
If meditation can manipulate the brain's ability to perform certain functions, why can't it improve focus? What about other brain functions? To test this, I'm changing my meditation to a meditation on a single object. Today was the number 1. Try to keep the word/image/concept of one in your consiousness for 5-10 minutes.
Having Trouble? I sure did.
2 comments:
"Jumper", eh? Hmmm ... never thought of it that way, but I apologize for passing that gene on to you.
I'm pretty sure Chile had more in mind the physical clutter in her home, but I think she'd also like the thought of clearing the clutter from her mind. It's something we can all use, I think.
If you decide to "get into" meditation a little deeper, don't discount the breathing exercises associated with (for instance) lamaze techniques for pain management. At first glance you may think the two disciplines unrelated, but concentrating on one focal point combined with exhaling all unrelated thoughts really works to gain control of sensory perceptions.
Just saw this
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