Focus : Just Mindfulness

Previously (link: Walking : With Mindfulness), we discussed about us city folks having the tendency to walk while doing something else. We have become so accustomed to the hectic pace of life that it’s often habitual to do more than one thing at a time. The already fragmented mindfulness* we have is further split into smaller bits, making it harder to be aware of fleeting moments. We then live an incomplete life, one as fragmented as our mindfulness.

Multitasking might be the inability to focus on one thing at a time, while the mind is fickle about what it really wants to focus on, causing our attention span to become shorter. It’s a habit so integral in us that when we meditate, we find it hard to still the mind to focus on the one object of meditation. Before Samatha meditation can deepen, we will find our mind buzzing with ‘endless’ thoughts. Together with our short attention span, we might chase these stray thoughts instead, one after another. This lack of proper focus while the mind chases stuff drains us, making us drowsy and agitated.

In Zen practice, when eating, just eat. It’s a simple Dharma instruction but most of us often disregard it. If we are able to be mindful of every single task, we are really ‘rehearsing’ for a good upcoming meditation session. However, this mindfulness per se, can also become a form of everyday meditation that we can do without the need to find time to sit still. When walking, just walk. When reading, just read. When meditating, just meditate. Nothing more, nothing less! Never underestimate a simple teaching. It all starts ‘simple’. Why settle to be a mediocre practitioner? Let’sstrive to be more mindful. Amituofo!

* The smallest unit of elapsing time is called a moment. Sixty-five moments pass is just the time it takes a powerful man to snap his fingers. Consciousness is momentary in regard to that type of moment.