Train Your Mind

Our mind’s nature is to wander, and it is always a challenge to get it to be in one place.

Asking questions, searching for answers, thinking of something in the past, imagining something in the future-These are manifestations of our wandering mind. Unlike a physical object rooted in any location because of gravity, our mind is entirely free. It can visualize, it can imagine, and it can wander.

Unfortunately, the strength of our mind is also our biggest weakness. While it can do amazing things, our mind also moves about aimlessly, dissipating a lot of our energy.

But, when we give our mind a direction, it becomes potent. To do that, we need to train our mind so that it follows our instructions.

Like we train to build strength in our muscles by lifting weights or through resistance, we can train our minds not to wander, to concentrate, and be single-minded and focused.

There are quite a few interesting exercises that I have come across to train our minds to concentrate on. But the best exercise that I use often and have seen benefit is one where you count backward while focussing on your breath.

You could start with 100 and count backward. Inhale 100, exhale 99, inhale 98, exhale 97, and so on. If you miss the count anytime before you reach zero, you start over again. On good days I manage to get to zero in about 2 or 3 tries; on bad days, I can’t get to zero, however hard I try. Somewhere in the process of counting backward, my mind repeatedly wanders and loses count- “that email I need to send,” “that screechy noise of the fan in the other room.”

Take this simple exercise as a weekend practice.

It will be exasperating but fun. Our mind is no different from our body. With so much distraction around, our powers of concentration are always wearing thin. If you are willing to spend an hour on your body, then don’t be shy of committing an additional 15 min to 20 minutes, giving your mind a “concentration” and “focus” workout.

The sun rays become fire only when we bring it to a focus using a lens. Learn to get your mind to focus and concentrate. It will ignite your potential.