We all have faced it at one time or the other; We’ve all been there! Recent research has taken the mystery out of why we get distracted.
Let’s find out – what is concentration?
Sitting at your desk with an urgent deadline and a wandering mind. Even after lakhs of attempts, things are not moving forward. You need to focus on the work in front of you. You are inspired to do this. But you can’t just focus.
In this digital world, we get easily distracted. Information is everywhere and we feel the need to deal with ever increasing and diverse forms of information. It takes up our time and our attention. Inability to concentrate on the task at hand: Known as lack of concentration.
What is concentration?
Concentration is purely a mental process. For this the mind needs to be turned inwards. This is not a muscle exercise. One should not fight and wrestle violently with the mind. When you focus on an object, avoid tension anywhere in the body or mind. Think slowly about the object in a continuous manner. Don’t let the mind wander.
Concentration can happen only when you are free from all distractions.
A person whose mind is full of passion and filled with all kinds of luxurious desires can hardly concentrate on anything even for a moment. His mind must be bouncing like an old monkey. Chanting of any mantra and pranayama will stabilize the mind, remove tossing and increase the power of concentration. Too much physical exertion…the mind will be distracted. Those who practice concentration should give up these things.
In Will Power and Self Discipline, Remez Sasson wrote that concentration is the ability to direct one’s attention following one’s will. Concentration means control over the attention. It is the ability to focus the mind on a single subject, object, or idea, and at the same time exclude from the mind every other unrelated thought, idea, emotion, and sensation.
That last part is the tricky part for most of us. To focus means to exclude or ignore every other unrelated thought, idea, feeling or sensation. To ignore the numbers, the beeps and other indicators that we have a new message, a new update, a new “like”, a new follower!
Our daily routine is dominated by switching in and out of our mobile phones and computers. We get a constant influx of messages from WhatsApp, email, Telegram and half a dozen other apps that are somehow important to our work. We constantly look for information to help us solve our daily problems or get our work done.
Productivity is affected by frequent distractions. It takes more time to complete a task. We don’t even listen. We don’t understand things with our partner or even with co-workers, and end up in misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and conflicts. It affects memory. We forget things or cannot recall information immediately which affects our personal life and professional image.
We hope and pray that you understand this and deal with it properly in your life, to make it better.
Will explore the different aspects of concentration in your next blog.
@aditya : News Quest
