Developing your Mind: The Power of Concentration - I
At my work, I often need to read and research a lot of technical stuff – skim it, scan it or study it as per the depth of knowledge I need to acquire. Often when faced with a new subject, I stare incomprehensibly for some time wandering through the material without registering anything. Slowly or when I think I have wasted quite enough of my time, my mind begins to search for something specific, like what object or concept is the material talking about? What problem does it solve? And so on. After a few days or weeks have passed, I begin to get a hang of it and realize in a flash – This is quite simple! Why didn’t I get it at the first round itself?
Take another situation: You are suddenly asked to give your opinion on a subject. At the moment, because you are not prepared, you might say something that is contrary to what you really feel, keep silent or follow the popular thought. But when you stop and think about it later, you find yourself thinking of many brilliant and truer answers than the one you gave!
Putting it another way, the fundamental question at this point is: What is it that we need most to learn new things fast or respond fast to unexpected situations?
One bright answer is intelligence.
The next question that now arises is - what is intelligence?
Simply put, intelligence is all about your ability to concentrate or focus your attention on something. In fact, concentration is considered as one of the greatest powers that a human can possess. You can be highly successful in life by concentrating effectively and avoiding distractions.
Mystics have, through heightened concentration, performed miracles. But what can we, mere mortals, do to increase concentration? Some people suggest proper diet and exercise. How correct are they?
It might also help to remember the last time you concentrated deeply on something – did you notice how your breathing pattern changed or you appeared more tense or stressed?
The answers to these questions lie in understanding concentration and the way our body acts to make it concentrate on something.
Concentration means that your brain is paying attention to a particular content without letting inputs from other senses distract you. Although you can never fully concentrate on a particular task for a long time, you can will or force yourself to keep coming back to the task after rest or breaks until the task gets completed.
Nerve cells affect mental functions like concentration and therefore, vitamins B1 & B12 found in whole grains, nuts and milk help in better concentration.
When we try to concentrate, our brain generates waves of electricity called 'alpha rhythm' at a frequency of 8 to 12 Hz. Greater alpha-rhythm is generated when brain is deprived of oxygen and carbon dioxide is retained. Therefore, several sophisticated breathing techniques try to force greater alpha-rhythm by depriving the brain of oxygen or by increasing retention of carbon-dioxide. However, these techniques are known to disturb one's natural breathing pace and should not be attempted.
There are various methods to acquire concentration and attention easily and quickly. Fortunately, it has been scientifically established that with some practice, you can excel in the mental game called concentration.
The first step to developing concentration skills is learning how to focus attention. There are many exercises available to improve your, your kid’s or your students’ focussing abilities.
All these exercises work for the common goal of helping you achieve a state of flow or heightened awareness. This goal is attained by focusing your attention on a single moment or object while pushing everything else away from your attention. By controlling attention in this way, you magnify and intensify your state of concentration and thus lay the foundation of personal excellence in your work and studies.
For an easy 3-minute method for improving your concentration skills, all you need is a black spot two inches in diameter on a wall. Sit 5 feet away from the spot and concentrate on it for three minutes daily. By concentrating, you should be able to see nothing else but that spot for three minutes.
After sometime when you master this exercise you may use your imagination to expand the spot to a bigger circle and eventually draw an imaginary square around it. With daily practice when you are able to do that quite easily, use your imagination to pull the centre of that circle towards you to form a cone. Soon you would be able to use your concentration and imagination to form a pyramid out of that cone, and change it to different colors.
Another concentration exercise is to study an unfamiliar picture or postcard carefully. For example, the picture must not be of a person or a well-known place that you have been to; instead it could be an imaginary landscape painted by the artist of mountains, fields, etc. After concentrating on it for a few minutes, try to recall its details and see the improvement by concentrating daily on the same picture.
Depending on the response I get, I’ll publish the next part in the series about acquiring intelligence and developing your mind. The next part would be about applying your concentration skills in reading and comprehending technical/study material. Close
Thanks for sharing this one with us here.......
very informative... shall try when my son needs it..........
yashasvi
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Thanks Dagny,
Do let me know if you notice any positive results. The purpose of posting this blog was to know more ideas on the same subject including its effectiveness.
If your daughter is young, such as a pre-schooler to prep student, use of voice and picture are the cues to focus her attention to a particular thing. Once her interest catches, she would focus automatically. This might seem quite obvious but being aware of these can help you try out other techniques in strengthening your daughters mental skills that will her life long. Other skills include memory and cognitive development.
Regards
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Spice,
This is really amazing. But I will give you a better feedback when I have tried it with my daughter. For I personally dont have a problem with concentration or focus.
Thanks for sharing this... and mind you, I NEVER say that. I'm not just being polite.
Cheers,
Dagny
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Interesting...lots of informative tips.....post it in ezinearticles also
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