Find Your Focus

Whether it’s in your job or at home, you’ve probably heard someone to tell you to focus. And you probably want to be able to concentrate better to accomplish your goals. On the other hand, this increasingly multitasking world filled with smartphones and instant updates makes it even more challenging to be able to focus. Whether it’s from temptation or obligation, it’s very difficult to do that one thing that was your initial goal.

Let’s look at the word focus. What does this mean to you? For too many of us, the word focus has come to mean some authoritative figure telling us to complete a task. It’s really unfortunate, but that’s the experience that many of us have with this word. But fundamentally, being focused means a certain capacity to accomplish your goals in the most efficient and expedited manner. You don’t let other things slow you down. But, with so many temptations and obligations out there, it’s becoming harder and harder not to get distracted. So what do we do? Let’s hear what Sadhguru has to say about being focused.

Unless you create a distance between you and the external world, it is very hard to stay focused. There are too many distractions in the name of temptations and obligations. You can get away from these distractions; but then you lose all the things that you value. So, should you leave your job, your family, and other important aspects of your life? No, you don’t need to do such things. What is most important is to create that space within you where these external factors are not swaying your actions or reactions. When this happens, being focused becomes a lot easier. You can easily prioritize your attention in the direction of your choosing.

Many have turned to meditation as a means of finding focus. Meditation can be useful in finding that space between what’s going on inside you and the hectic events in the outside world. When you try to get to this space, then you will see how many distractions your body and mind create. These distractions also take away from your focus.

“If you don’t run off, but continue to sit and meditate, in two to three minutes, in a half a dozen places, you will suddenly start to itch. If you don’t meditate, nothing will happen, but if you sit for meditation, so many things will start happening everywhere. This is because the mind knows that if you keep the body still, the mind will also naturally become still. And the mind knows that if it allows this to happen, it will become enslaved. This is why in yoga, so much stress has been laid on asanas, because if you just learn how to keep your body absolutely still, then your mind will also become still.

If you just observe yourself, you will see how many unnecessary movements your body is making when you stand, sit, and speak. If you look at your life and see, you will see that probably more than half the time is taken up in this. There is so much unnecessary thought and activity with the body – things that you yourself do not really care for. But if you keep the body still, slowly the mind will start collapsing.” – Sadhguru