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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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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.
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