Be Deeply Mindful

Dr. Rajesh Bhola
India
Jun 13, 2014

 

There is power in concentration. It is a skill that enables us to fix our attention on one single thought or subject, while at the same time excluding everything else from our awareness. When we focus our mind, we conserve our energies and do not dissipate them on irrelevant thoughts or activities. This is why developing concentration is vital for anyone aspiring to be more efficient; this skill is vital for success in any endeavour. Without it, our efforts tend to get scattered. Various thoughts claim our attention constantly, wasting our time and energy on unimportant and useless matters. In fact they often come to rule our life. We have become so used to this condition that we regard it as natural – like breathing. While breathing we do not need to pay attention to each inhalation and exhalation; we become conscious of the process of breathing only when we have some difficulty - such as when our nose is clogged due to a bad cold. It is the same with thinking. We become conscious of the constant onslaught of our thoughts and of our inability to calm them down only when we need to concentrate, solve a problem or study. We are also acutely aware of them when we have worries or fears. Examine this familiar situation. ‘You need to study something for your job or for an exam. You sit comfortably on the sofa with the book in your hands and start reading. After a while you feel hungry and go to the kitchen to eat something. You return to the book, but a few moments later you hear people talking outside. You listen to them for several moments and then bring your attention back to the book. After a while you feel restless and switch on the music. You continue reading a little while more and then remember an incident that happened just the day before…and start thinking about it. When you look at your watch you are amazed to discover that an hour has passed and you have hardly read anything’. This is what happens when you lack concentration. Imagine what we could accomplish if we could control our attention and focus our mind. The rays of the sun, when focused upon an object by means of a sunglass, produce a heat many times greater than the scattered rays of the same source of light and heat. This is true of attention too. Scatter it and we get but ordinary results; but centre it upon one thing and we secure far better results. When we focus our attention upon an object, our every action, voluntary and involuntary, is in the direction of attaining that object. If we focus our energies upon something to the exclusion of everything else, we generate a force that can bring us what we want.

Though the concept of mindfulness or concentration originates in ancient Buddhist, Hindu and Chinese traditions, when it comes to experimental psychology, mindfulness is less about spirituality and more about concentration: of the ability to quiet our mind, focus our attention on the present and dismiss any distractions that come our way. Mindful thought could lead to improvements on the measures of cognitive function and even vital functions. Daily meditation could shift frontal brain activity towards a pattern that is associated with what cognitive scientists call positive, approach-oriented emotional states -  which make us more likely to engage with the world than withdraw from it. The greatest difficulty we come across in attaining concentration is in controlling a horde of thoughts that endlessly rush into our minds. We may try to quiet our minds, but the most heterogeneous and irrelevant thoughts will persist in assailing us. Time and again the mind will stray away and has to be brought back. It is only through practice that we can control the wavering mind, hold it and keep it where we want. Try to become absorbed in one thought at a time. No one can do many things at once…effectively. For the moment, leave every other issue except the one on which you have decided to focus your attention. Do not strain. Be relaxed. Be interested in what you are doing. Become absorbed in it. The curse of modern work culture is in multitasking - often leading to our wasting (unfocused) energy on trying to do tens of things together. Mindfulness thankfully can help even here (there is more to it than helping us regulate our emotions). We would like to believe that our attention is infinite, but it is not. In multitasking we shift our attention rapidly from task to task. Two bad things happen as a result. We do not devote as much attention to any one thing and we sacrifice the quality of our attention. In recent years mindfulness training has been shown to improve connectivity inside our brain’s attention networks, as well as between attention and medial frontal regions - changes that save us from distraction. Mindfulness, in other words, helps our attention networks communicate better and with fewer interruptions than they otherwise would. (Increased meditation practice has been associated with enhanced connectivity between the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in attention monitoring and working memory, and the right part - an area that is associated with how well we can monitor our own feelings and thoughts). Not only could this increased connectivity make us better able to switch between tasks and monitor our own attention, but it also is indicative of more effective overall management of our finite attention resources. Mindfulness training has even been shown to affect the brain’s default network - the network of connections that remains active when we are in a ‘resting’ state. With regular meditation, practitioners exhibit increased resting state functional connectivity, and increased connectivity in general. After a dose of mindfulness the default network has greater consistent access to information about our internal states and an enhanced ability to monitor the surrounding environment. 

Successful people have learnt that results can only be produced by untiring, focused, dedicated and concentrated effort. Miracles in life rarely happen. The successful get used to getting things accomplished and always feel sure of success. Many inventors have even been misunderstood by relatives and friends. Very often they did not have the bare necessities of life; yet, by sheer determination and resolute courage, they managed to cope and kept perfecting their work. While everyone wants to do something, there are few that will put the needed effort and make the necessary sacrifices to ensure a positive outcome. Have a big heart and the obstacles will begin to look smaller. Of course this is also true in the reverse. Persons who fail often get used to seeing failure, expect it…and get it. Do not expect that you will always have easy sailing. The way you weather the storms will show what material you are made of. Concentration means inner vigilance and alertness. There are thieves all around us and within us. Fear, doubt, worry and anxiety are inner thieves that are trying to steal our inner poise and peace of mind. When we learn how to concentrate, it becomes very difficult for these forces to enter into us. Concentration is the mind’s dynamic will that operates in us for our acceptance of light and rejection of darkness. Concentration is the surest way to reach our goal – whether it is of self-realisation or merely the fulfillment of human desires. An aspirant acquires the power of concentration through either constant practice or the use of modern neurological techniques that increase the brainpower. Modern research shows that the brain does not improve overnight - we have to work at it consistently. We are literally reshaping our brain every moment. We can start by building habits that lead to increased brainpower in our daily schedules. When it is time to study or remember something new, we need to switch our breathing to a slower and deeper level. Deep breathing actually changes the way our brain works, by inducing the brain’s electrical pulses to switch to Theta waves. To activate our Theta waves, we should switch our breathing to our lower abdomen. We should start breathing deeply from our stomach, consciously slowing our rate of breathing too. After a few moments we should feel calmer, the Theta waves should be flowing in our brain, and we should feel more receptive to new information. Many studies confirm that 20 (and above) minutes of meditation per day improves our concentration and attention span. Focusing on our breathing, known as mindfulness meditation, is one of the simplest ways to meditate. Start with ten minutes in the morning and ten minutes before bedtime. In addition, proper sleep, the intake of vitamins and other supplements, eating healthier and stimulating the brain through brain games, are also very conducive in increasing our brain’s concentration. Concentration has great spiritual power. Of course there have been cases of ‘negative enlightenment’ also, which led to persons becoming megalomaniacs. Concentration is one of the paths for attaining self-realisation – the attainment of Nirvana (Buddhism) and the achievement of unwavering intelligence (Bhagvad Gita). Both these states of consciousness lead to the attainment of everlasting bliss.

Dr. Rajesh Bhola is President of Spastic Society of Gurgaon and is working for the cause of children with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities for more than 25 years. He can be contacted at rabhola@yahoo.com