Practicing something repeatedly makes us good at it, whether it's good or bad for us. Our daily habit of allowing our awareness to jump from one thing to another trains our awareness to be distracted. Technology exacerbates this by constantly feeding us short bursts of content. This constant switch between stimuli trains our awareness to move quickly from one thing to another. To practice concentration, we need to structure our lifestyle to support it, just like an Olympic sprinter structures their day to support their race. Meditation for a few minutes in the morning is not enough; we need to practice concentration throughout the day. This means giving our undivided attention to what we're doing at any given moment. By doing this consistently, we train our awareness to stay focused on one thing. When we then sit down to meditate, our trained awareness helps us stay focused.
When you were a kid, teachers and parents probably told you to concentrate. And as an adult, you likely often think about how much more productive, present, and happy you'd be if only you had better focus. But despite how much we think about our desire to improve our focus, no one ever gets any training in how to do it and even explains what focus is, exactly.
My guest today is an exception to that rule. He was taught the secrets to concentration when he spent ten years as a Hindu monk, and today he's on a mission to share them with others. His name is Dandapani, and he continues to live as a Hindu priest, though he's now also an entrepreneur and author, with a book just published called The Power of Unwavering Focus. Today on the show, Dandapani defines focus and shares the existential reasons why developing yours is so vital. He explains how that development begins with understanding how the mind is different from awareness, that where awareness goes, energy flows, and the need to bring awareness to attention. We walk through how to stop practicing distraction and start practicing concentration by making each of your daily activities a focused practice, and ultimately, making your whole day a practice. We also discuss how daily sessions of meditation are inadequate for developing focus, how mindfulness is different than concentration, and how the ability to control and direct your awareness is one of the greatest powers you can possess.
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