Stage Two

Stage Two: Concentration

When you enter into concentration, you enter into the first state that will lead you to meditation.  Yet, don’t confuse concentration with meditation.  It’s very much something quite different.

During the second stage of meditation, you can begin to get control of your mind.  When you learn to keep yourself in this type of mind frame, chances are good that you’ll improve the quality of your life considerably.

In concentration, your goal seems simple but it actually quite difficult to master to any amount of degree.  You need to concentrate on one sole thing or object.

To be successful, you need to keep your mind focused on that one thing and not distracted by any type of diversion that happens to spring up.  Focus on it, without allowing your mind to wander.  It’s very difficult, actually.

During concentration, although the process of focusing on one element is simple enough, the problem is the mind’s ability to trick you back into its “normal” state of being.  By pulling off the actually concentration topic and focusing on another, it pulls you back.

For example, if you need to concentrate on a paper for school, you could be sitting down thinking and working.  You’ll allow your mind to focus and relax on the topic at hand.  You think to yourself about the topic and can really clearly see what it is.

Then, you think of what your teacher had to say about the paper.  That leads to thoughts of what your friend said next to you while the teacher was talking.  Within a matter of minutes, you are thinking about something completely different than the original thought.

The end result is that you are distracted so much so that you are back at the “normal” stage of thinking, having accomplished little in way of concentration.  That’s not what will help you.

The goal with concentration, though, is to realize what’s happened.  When you can realize that you’ve been distracted and that your mind has fooled you into making its own decisions then you can come back and actually concentrate.

When you can master the art of keeping your mind focused and concentrating, you will experience a new type of thinking.  You’ll be able to relax more and you’ll be able to actually feel better about life.  That’s an amazing feeling!

What is Meditation anyway ?

Chapter 1: Exactly What Is Meditation Anyway?

Before you can begin practicing meditation you do need to understand what it is and why you need to use this method of relaxation.  The brain is the primary tool that you’ll use to define this process.  But, you may not realize that when the brain is in a “normal” state that it actually is very abnormal in what it is doing.

To help you to understand meditation, we must first break down the different stages in which the brain functions so that you can see the state of mind that you are functioning in most often.

The Stages of the Mind

There are three unique stages in the brain that depicts how it is functioning at any one time.  When you consider meditation, only going through these three stages can actually get to you achieve the serenity that you are after with meditation.

Stage One: The Normal Mind

In the “normal” state of mind, your mind is working in various directions.  It is functioning as it usually does which means it is bouncing from one idea and thought to the next.  In fact, this is quite abnormal activity for the brain because it needs to focus on a lesser amount of ideas if it is to be successful in resolving problems.

Stimuli from all over the place are coming in at the brain.  When something new stimulates you mind, it moves from its previous thought to the new one.  Although you feel like you are completely in control of yourself during this type of brain function, you likely aren’t.

You have very little control over the way that you behave and think during this type of situation.  Not only do your thoughts move from one thing to the next thing quickly, but your physical being is doing the same thing too.  Your emotions follow suite, too.

An example of this type of brain activity can be as simple as seeing a child playing.  If you see that child while you are driving, your mind goes from control of the vehicle to the child.  She’s cute, playing and riding her bike.  Then, your mind moves to thoughts from your own childhood.  You feel good and smile at the happy memories.

Of course, it doesn’t always play out so innocently.  You can go through these same thought and emotional processes with negative images too.  Consider if that child was a teenager, doing something that they shouldn’t be.  Now, you are wondering about your own children, what they are doing that you don’t know about.  And, your emotions follow you too with thoughts that are fearful and tense.

In a negative situation, you are likely to become distracted by the thoughts playing through your mind which then directly impacts the way that you drive your vehicle.  Perhaps you run a red light or, you narrowly miss a car accident.

As you can see, in your normal state of mind, your emotions as well as your physical being are at stake.  Each plays their own role in the outcome of these events.

Often, stresses build up during this process and since it is our “normal” state of mind, they pile on over time.  You can find yourself unable to concentrate on anything and overtime you can have trouble balancing all that you have to do in your everyday life.
For the most part, your “normal” way of thinking may be one of the worst things that you can do for yourself.