Focus

"This requires total concentration” (Bruce Lee paraphrase)

Martial artists can focus their mental attention and bodily energy to apply physical forces that astonish most other mortals because the latter cannot see beyond the distractions of their own busy, active minds.

Today, the advent of electronic media and the internet have enabled many distractions that seem appealing at first, yet enslave us in the end.

Text message.  Email.  Phone call.  Tweet.  Pandora.  ipod.  Video game.  Facebook.  Pinterest. Netflix.  Hulu.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes.  Focus.

Fox News.  CNBC.  Politico.  CNN.  Talk radio.  The New York Times.  The Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg.  Reuters.  

What was I doing?  Oh yes, writing a blogpost.

Napoleon Hill in his 17 Principles of Success described a quality he called “Controlled Attention” as the ability “to focus the powers of [the] mind upon the attainment of a definite objective and to keep it so directed at will.”  If one is often distracted, bouncing from activity to activity like a pinball on steroids, how can one achieve or accomplish anything worthwhile.  “Multi-tasking” is an oxymoron!

So, what can we do when we are either assaulted or tempted by the barrage of today’s electronic distractions? I do have a few simple recommendations:

1) Cancel your cable/satellite TV service.  Throw out all radios, ipods, gaming consoles.

2) Read only one literate newspaper each day.

3) When with people, place your cell/smart phone in “airplane” mode, and be fully present for the people you are with.

4) If you must check and respond to email, do so only 3 times each day (morning, around lunchtime, and late-afternoon).

5) Rise early and meditate each day.

I recognize that what I am suggesting here is a radical departure from the way many individuals act these days.  Who among you has the courage to reclaim your focus?

On Patience

”Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character.”--Heraclitus

In the major religious traditions of the world (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism), there is universal acceptance that patience is a virtue.  However, as with so many behaviors or qualities of character we wish to strengthen, knowing what to do (or how to be) is the easy part.  Doing it (or being it), is often not so easy.

Perhaps I am fond of the Buddhist approach to patience as one of the six paramitas (or perfections on the bodhisattva path to enlightenment).  My attraction to this perspective is primarily because the Buddhist approach provides a method or process for “perfecting” the virtue through meditation and daily application, rather than just defining it or providing exhortations, parables, or metaphors about it.

That said, a definition here would be helpful to our understanding so that we may aim toward acquiring and perfecting this desirable quality. The essence of the virtue of patience is the strength of mind and heart that enables us to face the challenges and difficulties of life without losing our composure and inner tranquility. We practice the virtue by embracing adversity, insult, distress, and the offence of others with tolerance, free of resentment, irritation, emotional reactivity, or retaliation. We cultivate the ability to be loving and compassionate in the face of criticism, misunderstanding, or aggression.

The strengthened quality of patience in ourselves is not a forced suppression or denial of agitation or negative thoughts and feelings about our circumstances. Rather, it is a state of being where we maintain our inner peace, calmness, and equanimity under all circumstances--especially when we fall short or miss the mark. Certainly, change your circumstances if you can.  Accept them if you cannot.

In recognizing the virtue in another, it is often said that an individual “has the patience of Job.” The reference is to the Old Testament Book of Job, where Job is beset with disasters that take away all he has, including his family, his health, and his property. As he suffers, Job struggles to understand his situation and even curses the day he was born at one point.  However, he never loses faith as he patiently searches for the right path out of his calamities. In the end, Job’s health, family, and property are restored and he lives in harmony to a ripe old age.  A fine example of the virtue of patience in action.