Came across this TED talk by Dandapani. He gives an interesting perspective on how we loose concentration and how we need to teach ourselves to concentrate!
Came across this TED talk by Dandapani. He gives an interesting perspective on how we loose concentration and how we need to teach ourselves to concentrate!
nice one, good insight and advice, i can recommend it too
so lets apply it to some of the topics occurring here on sbi:Originally Posted by Dandapani, a Hindu monk
if you keep being depressed, you're actually practicing depression, so you become good at having it in your life
if you want to have a positive attitude in your life, you need to practice such an attitude, to become better at it
for many people it is easier to grab a wonder pill with all its side-effects, than to practice a healthier life in the first place, and then they wonder where illness/disease/loss of immunity/... comes fromchildren don't need to be drugged, they just need to be taught how to concentrate
hehe, he meant 'no attachments to the activity of using the computer or internet or email' because attachments to materialistic things is what keeps you attached to the materialistic world (and away from the spiritual)its ok to use email for monks as long as there are no attachments
notice he did not say that we are the mind nor that we are our mind, not even that we are the awarenessall of us have a mind, its the most powerful tool...
...imagine awareness as a glowing ball of light, an orb
...imagine the mind as a vast area with many sections in it
...when it lights up that area you become conscious of it
this is a good way of improving one's relationship, obviously the results are even better if both use the same techniqueto be concentrated is to be able to keep your awareness on one thing for an extended period of time
practice: if you have a spouse/friend/child/... when you speak to them, give them your undivided attention, if your awareness drifts away, you keep it back...
as opposed to leaving it all to someone else, like the street, the school,...share this knowledge with your children, be an example for them
that is an example of a positive attitude in your lifeproceed with confidence, life is meant to be lived joyously
when he says 'meant to', he means that is where life is leading to, the outcome of life and any stage of life wherein you acquire such an attitude, which then gets stronger as you approach its outcome (or as you keep practicing it and becoming better at it)
@kelly:
so, are you practicing concentration yet?
another thing, notice how this is different than the western mainstream psychotherapy approach where they encourage talking about negative experiences, which effectively keeps your awareness on such experiences, ie. you actually practice having such negativity in your life by constantly returning (your awareness) to it - it may be good to share the experience (makes it easier on you), but the other person listening to it is getting a part of the burden as well (spreading negativity) - whereas it would be recommended to let go of the negativity, ie. to concentrate on positive things in your life or better yet on a generally positive attitude in life (no matter what comes your way, you remain positive)
His talk indeed changed my perspective on how to concentrate and be productive. I started practicing in my day to day chorus and could drastically see the difference.
For instance , every night when i go to sleep, i had the habit of checking my phone till the point i get sleep. After watching his talk, i no longer use my phone in bed and concentrate on my breathing and try to get that ball of light to focus on one area of my brain. 5 - 10 mins , i start having a sound sleep.
Another example, i code in my office which is part of work , and during weekend which is part of my some hobby project that i undertake. I implemented his teachings and could really focus on the work / code that i do and get the most out of it.
I recently watched this video 2 -3 days max, and practicing the art of concentration has increased my focus level which thereby optimum usage of time.
Distractions are really counter-productive. According to this article, on an average it takes ~25 mins to get back to the original flow of thoughts once you are distracted.
Here is another interesting video which talks about the tiredness we have at the end of day after work. Are you really tired or is your mind tired?
I didn't get that part at all thank you
the answer is in the first video: your awareness is moving in the area of your mind related to tiredness, the mind itself does not get tiredOriginally Posted by kelly
very intresting thanks for sharing
In my opinion ,
We lose concentration because we are not trained that way. From childhood we focus on multi-tasking which leads to sub-conscious programming. The only way to break from it is by practicing concentration which is very hard and time consuming . But if you have a strong will power and succeed then the result will be mind-blowing and devastating in a positive way in your life .
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