The Power of Concentration

How can I clear my mind and calm the racing of thoughts?

Many people feel that calming the mind is in a sense leading oneself into a lethargic state, where we refrain from thinking and our mind will fall into a vegetative state. This is not true. When one calms the mind, the person can find solutions, ideas and attain access to the deeper parts of the mind. How to do it?

Firstly, we begin with learning how to concentrate.

Concentration is a technique where we focus all of our energies into one particular subject or object. Concentration compliments meditation where one has the ability to focus and discipline their emotional life and mind to an extent. This paves the pathway for meditation.

When a person desires to clear the mind of all doubt, worry and anxiety, the person must know how to focus to rid themselves of the outer force attempting to create a disturbance in the mind. When one learns how to concentrate, these forces have difficulty entering the mind. If doubt enters the mind, the power of concentration will dismantle it. If fear enters the mind, the power of concentration will rid the mind of it. Currently, many people are victimized by the destructive mindset. When the mind knows the power of concentration, the negative thoughts will have no power to force itself onto anyone.

How to deepen your concentration?

There are many techniques which would suffice in the the development of concentration. Now, the mind is so accustomed to thinking and wandering that it is extremely difficult to focus on a particular object for longer than two minutes. We will lead with a technique called the dot. To begin, we draw a dot about the level of your eye. Stand about 10 inches away and begin to focus on the dot. Begin to breathe while focusing on the dot. Breathe in for three seconds and breathing out for five seconds. What can be implemented next, is to feel that every time you breathe in, you are getting your breath from the dot. When you breathe out, the dot is getting the breath from you. Now, it is just you and the dot. Your breath is coming from the dot and the its breath is coming from you. It is what we can call a cycle. Once you can do this for ten minutes, then you are on the correct path to developing your concentration.

Just like the muscles of the body, the more you exercise it, the more proficient it becomes. If a person does not exercise the muscles, then they go into atrophy and begin to wither.

This is a technique where any individual can practice, from beginner to more advanced. As one progresses and becomes more advanced, another implementation can be utilized such as focusing on something that awakens joy within oneself. Joy is a feeling more intense than love and many do not dwell in this feeling often. When a person practices drawing in a feeling often, the individual becomes accustomed and can recognize it easier. This leads to raising their awareness. The higher we aim to raise our consciousness, different circumstances will appear and when realized, we can raise our conscious awareness.

A following technique which can be utilized is where a person can use a candle light where they sit in front of it, eye level and focus on it. Once the focus is set in, a person will feel that they are the light themselves. This awakens an emotion from deep inside, one that is felt not so often but a pleasant one. Others, can awaken the emotion of love or joy. You can use many objects or subjects, a flower petal in the stead of the candle light for instance. This is where you focus on the petal, breathing in and out. And eventually becoming one with the petal including an awakening of a pleasant emotion deep within yourself.

As long as you practice, you will intensify your concentration just as a bullet entering an object or a magnet attracting something. From this, everyone will achieve enormous benefits, inner vigilance and alertness. This is one of the surest ways to

achieve any goal.