Keeping My Focus
Post on Instagram. Edit Photos. Write on the Blog. Train. These are the habits that I'm trying to build. I'd like to throw study into there as well, but I'm going to finish out July just focusing on these.
I know I already wrote about this, but its still in my mind. The way Shi Heng Yi explained on how to work towards a thing that you want is very direct. 30, 60, 90, or 365 days of complete devotion to one thing. That is how I'm working towards my blogging and Instagram posts. I've heard before that 60 days is a way to build a good habit, so maybe I need to keep blogging and posting into August as well.
Using what the masters said has let me have a clearer mind throughout my days. For training, I'm focused on only tournament stuff. For work, I'm focused on just showing up each day. For studying... well there is no studying. Not yet. It is hard to keep this kind of focus, but I'm more aware when distractions enter my mind. Which helps me "control" where my thoughts/focus go.
Meditation ~ 坐禅
"Practicing meditation means to regulate and concentrate on three things. [Body, Mind, Breath] To have one's mind focused in one state is called concentration. Suffering and pleasure will successively cease."
-The Way to Buddhahood, pg 95
As simple as meditation seems, I've really struggled to build the habit back at home. Right now I normally do it once or twice a week for not very long. The reason I'm talking about this now is that is what I'm reading about in "The Way to Buddhahood". I'm glad to see that this book doesn't talk about meditation as a way to relax or calm yourself (which it can do) but talks about it as a method to develop concentration.
In my previous blog, I learned a lot about meditation from Masters Ning, Yan, Peng and Bao. Which gave me so much clarity at the time and helped guide me to a better, deeper meditation. Their ideas were similar to what was presented in the book. Relaxation and calm feelings are simply a side effect of making progress in your meditation. If you focus too much on this relaxation feeling, you'll fall asleep. Different masters have different steps, but eventually your concentration and awareness slowly grows. You start with being aware of yourself, and then expand outward to your environment.
Eventually, you reach a higher/indescribable state of awareness or even enlightenment.
The first time that I tried meditation was not at my sister's house. It was when I lived in Missouri, when my dad introduced me to Stephen K. Hayes' books on ninjas. In one of the books it introduces you to different hand symbols, mantras, and meditation to develop certain kinds of concentration. So I dressed up in my ninja suit, went to the top of our tiny hill, and began to practice what I had read. A light rain started to fall, but I kept at it. I had some kind of awareness at that point as I remember hearing my dad walking quietly towards me, way before he was close to me.
I haven't thought about that story in a while.
Enjoy your weekend.
📿Johnny