Let’s learn about concentration and focus.
“Every thought you have makes up some segment of the world you see. It is with your thoughts then, that we must work, if your perception of the world is to be changed”.
A course in miracles.
You have about 50 000 thoughts per day. What are you thinking to create the world you live in? Be aware of your thoughts. This will give you the power to create the environment you want. You are in control whether you like it or not. Accept it!
If you have been practicing what you have learnt in this series of articles you will have discovered a world of thoughts. Your very own unique, internal world.
You may like or dislike these these thoughts, either way you have complete control. You can control the thoughts that enter your mind by changing the way you view the world. You can decide which thoughts you give energy to and which thoughts you discard. You do not have to follow every line of thought.
The thoughts that you follow and give energy to become more dominant than the thoughts you discard. Your subconscious mind records these as your dominant picture on the issue at hand. You move towards your dominant picture because your creative subconscious is tasked with making your outside world fit the picture that you have stored internally. This is a very powerful way of changing your reality, if your mind is on the appropriate subject.
Your mind should be on whatever you want. This does not mean that you should spend all day thinking about your goals. What it means is that when it is appropriate to think of a subject the picture you evoke is of a certain kind.
The picture you need to have is a positive vision. A picture of you already having achieved your goal.
To realise this vision or make your dominant picture as you want it, you need to focus and concentrate. Remember thoughts are real, tangible sources of energy.
Concentration means intense mental application, complete attention. You may find this can be difficult if you have not practiced this before.
Lets use a simple example. You want to achieve a goal of buying a new car. You need to imagine yourself already in possession of the car. You need to picture yourself driving it and owning it.
Whilst this is going on be aware of the thoughts that occur in your mind. Alongside your positive thoughts in regard to your goal you have other negative thoughts that are not in line with what you want.
Do you think that the car will be too expensive?
Do you believe you are wasting money?
Are you thinking, “how will I afford this”?
Are you thinking…we can go on and on.
These thoughts that are not aligned with your goal. You are not giving complete attention to what you want. Whilst you are dealing with these other lines of thought your attention is not on your goal.
If you are aware of your thoughts you will suddenly realise that you have spent much more energy on counter productive thoughts than on creating a dominant picture of the goal you want. Of the 50 000 thoughts per day how many of them are in line with what you want?
You will be familiar with the well known cliché in regard to a glass of water. The water level is at the half way mark.
“Is the glass half full or half empty?”
Think about it for a minute. What this actually shows you is that there are two distinct and very different ways of thinking.
1. You can look at the glass and conclude that it is half full.
2. You can look at the glass and conclude that it is half empty.
How you answer this question depends on two things.
1. Your goal or what you deem as valuable. A full glass or an empty glass.
2. Your attitude, which is the way you lean towards something. Do you think something has been taken away from your goal or you have gained something?
You will probably feel that something in the glass is of value. If this is the case then how will you answer the question; is the glass half full or half empty?
The glass being half full is a positive way of looking. The glass being half empty is the negative perspective. The answer to this question will show you, how you focus.
Focus means the point to which your concentration is aimed at. In other words to focus and concentrate means you need to apply energy and attention to what you want. What you want must be the point of your focus.
This can be applied to all area’s of your life. There are two sides to everything this is the concept of duality. Without this concept nothing would exist. Opposites cause contrast. It is this contrast that defines everything that exists. Without light you could not have darkness, without there being an up there is no concept of down. There will always be a positive and negative way of looking at everything.
You can make your focal point stronger by performing a ritual. A ritual is a ceremony that helps focus your attention on what you want. Witch’s and Wizard’s do this using symbols that help them link to their subconscious mind, unlocking it’s power. This is called magic.
In the modern world it is enough for you to perform the ritual of visiting the car dealer. Sit in the car of your choice and make the picture in your mind much more vivid.
Every time you worry you are helping to reinforce the negative picture in your subconscious mind. You are focused on the glass being half empty.
This happens for two reasons,
1. because you have not exercised your faculty of concentration.
Practicing concentration can be as simple as staring at an object and keeping your thoughts from wandering. You might find that this is only possible for a matter of seconds before you mind moves from it’s focal point. You need to practice.
2. You have not practice looking from the alternative, positive perspective.
Practicing your positive perspective is a matter of becoming aware of what your mind is thinking. In other words, as we have discussed, watching your thoughts.
You may have thoughts that you don’t want. Smoking is an example of this. Your thought would be “I need a cigarette” the most common way to deal with this is to fight the thought. “No I don’t want a cigarette.” By fighting the thought you are giving it power because you can only fight something by giving it attention.
Fighting the thought is similar to worry. You are actually just reinforcing the behavior by giving it attention.You will have more success trying the following;
1. Be aware of the thought that enters your mind.
2. Accept that this is only a thought that has entered your mind. It has as much power as you give it.
3. Realise that you have a choice. You can act on the thought, give it more attention or you can change what you think.
In the case of smoking you need to constantly apply the affirmation “I am healthy”
Do not use a negative such as “I do not smoke.”
Without concentration and focus, you are at the mercy of your environment. Whatever happens around you will distract you from what you want. Sometimes we go along with these distraction because it is easier. You need to sharpen your vision of what you want.
Common distractions that prevent you from focusing on what you want are your work, television cleaning and social activity. This doesn’t mean you should stop these activities. Simply look at how much time you devote to each.
Can you sit quietly with your thoughts?
Do you make time for this?
If the answer is no, you need to examine the distractions in your life.
There is no need to run from yourself. It is with internal contemplation that you will improve your life. You have the power. You can do anything you wish to do. All it takes is will. Will is developed by concentration and focus. Distractions are what keep you from realising your potential.
