{"id":123,"date":"2011-05-21T01:16:44","date_gmt":"2011-05-21T08:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/?p=123"},"modified":"2024-07-04T16:34:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-04T23:34:09","slug":"concentration-focus-the-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/concentration-focus-the-mind.html","title":{"rendered":"Concentration: An Iterative Approach to Focusing the Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Michael W. Taft<\/p>\n

Concentration is the eternal secret <\/em>
\n<\/em>of every mortal achievement<\/em>
\n– Stefan Zweig<\/p>\n

There is an ancient story from India that tells of five young princes who were practicing archery in the woods with their teacher, named Drona. One day Drona decided to test the boys by having them shoot birds\u2014an extremely difficult thing to do with a bow.<\/p>\n

The princes all missed, except for the one named Arjuna. Afterward, Drona gathered them\u00a0 in a circle, and asked them to describe exactly what they saw when they took aim. The brother who was the worst archer spoke first, saying, “I saw the bird and the tree and the sky and the woods all around me.”<\/p>\n

The next prince, whose aim wasn’t quite as bad, said, “I saw the bird and the tree.” When asked, he could give a good description of the tree.<\/p>\n

The third boy said, “I saw the bird and the branch.” The fourth brother, who had nearly shot the bird, said, “I just saw the bird.” Under Drona’s questioning, he gave a detailed description of the bird.<\/p>\n

But the young prince Arjuna, who had actually hit his mark, could not describe the tree or the bird at all. When Drona asked him why, he replied “I saw only the eye of the bird.” Afterward, Arjuna went on to become the greatest warrior in Indian history.<\/p>\n

Single-pointed\u00a0Focus like Arjuna<\/h4>\n

This story tells us almost everything we need to know about concentration. The brother who was widest from the mark was distracted by everything around him. While he was trying to aim, he was looking at the sky and the woods and other non-essentials. Each prince was able to concentrate a little bit better on the hunt by being able to block out more and more distraction.<\/p>\n

The one who almost hit the bird had pretty good focus; he knew that to achieve his goal of shooting a bird, he had to concentrate on just the bird. But Arjuna was the most concentrated of all. He was able to block out all distraction\u2014even the distraction of the bird’s body\u2014and narrow his attention down to a single, all-consuming point. And he is the one who achieved his goal.<\/p>\n

That is how the skill of concentration works. You learn to guide your attention onto a single point. If anything pulls your attention away\u2014which will happen often\u2014you calmly and gently guide it back to the focus point.<\/p>\n

Learning to concentrate works best if you think of it like doing repetitions with weights. In order to build strong muscles, you lift the weights up and down over and over. Each time you do it, you get a tiny bit stronger, and over a long period of time you get a lot stronger. Eventually you can lift a very large weight. You could think of lifting weights as a simple algorithm:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. lower weight<\/li>\n
  2. lift weight<\/li>\n
  3. repeat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    One iteration (round) of this algorithm isn’t going to do very much, but zillions of iterations will make your muscles very strong. It’s the repetition that is key.<\/p>\n

    Concentration as Iteration<\/h4>\n

    The same thing goes for concentration. Your mind will wander, but you bring it back to the object of focus<\/a>. The effort of bringing it back is analogous to the effort of lifting a weight. Each time you bring your mind back to the object of focus, your concentration gets a tiny bit stronger, and over a long period it gets a lot more powerful. Eventually your concentration is extremely focused and unwavering. Just like weightlifting, you can picture the concentration process as a algorithm:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. mind wanders<\/li>\n
    2. return mind to focus<\/li>\n
    3. repeat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      It’s the last step of repetition that brings mastery. Concentration happens in zillions of tiny repetitions all day long. None of these need be too effortful\u2014concentration can be very gentle\u2014but like compound interest the cumulative effect over time is very potent.<\/p>\n

      People feel scattered and distracted, and imagine that they should have concentration power from the get-go. But that’s like imagining that you can be an Olympic weightlifter with no practice. Concentration takes practice, but it is worth it. Weightlifting doesn’t just make you strong for lifting weights, it makes your body strong for everything you do the rest of the day. Concentration practice, too, strengthens your ability to focus for everything you do in your life. It effectively increases your intelligence, because you can bring more of your mental powers (i.e. attention and working memory) to each task.<\/p>\n

      Under Drona’s tutelage, the other boys learned to focus like Arjuna, and all became great archers and warriors who fought by his side. By daily practice of meditation, your concentration too can develop to heroic proportions.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Want to learn how to focus like Arjuna?\u00a0Learn the Secrets of Concentration<\/a><\/h4>\n

       <\/p>\n

      photo by Alan Levine<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      by Michael W. Taft Concentration is the eternal secret of every mortal achievement – Stefan Zweig There is an ancient story from India that tells of five young princes who were practicing archery in the woods with their teacher, named Drona. One day Drona decided to test the boys by having them shoot birds\u2014an extremely… Read More »Concentration: An Iterative Approach to Focusing the Mind<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","neve_meta_reading_time":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161],"tags":[47,37,49,38,42,50,295,52],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-concentration-meditation","tag-arjuna","tag-attention","tag-bhagavad-gita","tag-concentration","tag-distraction","tag-focus","tag-subfeatured","tag-working-memory"],"acf":{"event_date":null},"yoast_head":"\nConcentration: An Iterative Approach to Focusing the Mind - Deconstructing Yourself<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn to focus like Arjuna by cultivating concentration. 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Taft","date":"April 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"More than you ever wanted to know about the etymology and history of words for attentional stability by Michael W. Taft The Oxford English Dictionary defines the meaning of concentration as: The keeping of the mental faculties fixed on one object or set of objects. 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For most people it means narrowing the attention to a single point. But actually there are several dimensions of focus or concentration that are relevant. We can think of concentration\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Concentration"","block_context":{"text":"Concentration","link":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/category\/concentration"},"img":{"alt_text":"meaning concentration","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/dimensions-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/dimensions-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/dimensions-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2297,"url":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/breathe-and-relax-for-better-concentration.html","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":2},"title":"Breathe and Relax for Better Concentration","author":"Michael W. Taft","date":"October 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael W. Taft As meditation experts the world around have noticed over the millennia, relaxing makes concentration much easier. If you are too amped up, your system will be full of stress hormones such as glucocorticoids, which stimulate you to scan the environment for threats, get ready to run,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Concentration"","block_context":{"text":"Concentration","link":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/category\/secular-meditation\/concentration-meditation"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/relaxing-crop.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/relaxing-crop.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/relaxing-crop.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":335,"url":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/concentration-with-shinzen-part-i.html","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":3},"title":"Concentration with Shinzen, Part I","author":"Michael W. Taft","date":"July 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We've been discussing concentration lately on the blog. Here, meditation teacher Shinzen Young shares his views on concentration. Fascinating and helpful. Part one of a three part series. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lq1IL_DnC98 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Secular Mindfulness"","block_context":{"text":"Secular Mindfulness","link":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/category\/mindfulness"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/lq1IL_DnC98\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":567,"url":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/concentration-light-as-a-feather.html","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":4},"title":"Concentration: Light as a Feather","author":"Michael W. Taft","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael W. Taft I was in Paris recently, and visited the Rodin museum. I\u2019ve always loved his work, and some of the best pieces are at this gorgeous 18th century hotel-cum-museum. In the garden outside sat the French sculptor\u2019s most well known piece, the Thinker, atop a tall granite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "relaxation concentration"","block_context":{"text":"relaxation concentration","link":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/category\/relaxation-concentration"},"img":{"alt_text":"relaxation concentration ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/deconstructingyourself.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/thinker-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/deconstructingyourself.com\/concentration-iv-why-bother.html","url_meta":{"origin":123,"position":5},"title":"Concentration: Why Bother?","author":"Michael W. Taft","date":"June 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Michael W. Taft In the last three articles, I wrote about concentration as an iterative process, the activity of listening, and the skill of breaking things down into smaller, manageable pieces. In other articles we also looked at how multitasking is multi-failing, and ways to reduce distraction. 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