The Importance of Concentration

Hi, welcome back to your Daily Mindfulness. In today's session, we're going to talk about the importance of concentration. So I'd first like to share a quote with you from the Buddha. And he said this 2,600 years ago, he said, "We have lost respect for a concentrated mind." That's it. One line we've lost respect for our concentrated mind.

What I find hilarious about that is, again, that this was 2,600 years ago. What the heck would the Buddha say this, in today's day and age, looking at, you know, our relationship to concentration and focus? I do think it's interesting to hear this, you know, so many thousands of years ago, that he was still seeing this, that there's a tendency for humans to get distracted and to not respect the power of a concentrated mind. And that's what I'd like to focus on here today as a, another reminder that one of the things I see is we don't put enough value on the power of concentration for leading to tranquility, ease, stress reduction, and calm. So much, so much of the tension that we experience on a day-to-day basis is a mind that is just in opposition to what is here, that is feeling some dissonance between what it wants to be here and what is actually here. The powerful thing about concentration is that it closes that gap.

It essentially absorbs itself into whatever it is it's concentrating on. And that can include just the present moment experience. And think about these moments where you've just been deeply present, where the mind isn't trying to get someplace else, isn't thinking about the future, isn't caught up in the past. All of which is okay. We don't beat ourselves up for those thoughts, but when the mind really is anchored in concentration in that way, there's stillness ,there, there's ease, there's calmness.

A byproduct of a concentrated mind is tranquility. And a byproduct of often an agitated mind is stress or dispersed mind. Now it's possible and absolutely possible that we can cultivate a quality of ease by watching all of the thoughts move through our mind. You know, this also becomes the seeds for creativity and imagination. So there's merit to that.

But one thing I, I invite you to look at, as you continue on your meditation journey, is your emphasis on concentration. And what would it be like to take the development of concentration maybe a little more seriously in your meditation practice? We'll be doing a meditation today, specifically designed around cultivating concentration. But one way that we can do this is really paying careful attention to when the mind has wandered off. I'm really trying to notice that as quickly as possible. And then invite the mind back with curiosity to the thing that we're paying attention to.

The more we can reduce those gaps of mind wandering, the more quickly we can develop concentration in our meditation practice and the more we'll have access to that in our day-to-day practice. So just something to consider. And don't worry. I won't tell the Buddha about your concentrated mind. I won't tell him about my concentrated mind, as well.

Hopefully though we can start to regain some respect for a concentrated mind, and I think we'll all be the better for it. So thank you so much for your practice. Let's settle in for today's meditation.