Contents
Hello dear blog readers! Concentration of attention is the ability to keep attention on one thing, designating some object as paramount for a certain period of time. And today we will learn ways to develop, or improve the ability to concentrate.
Exercises to Increase Concentration
Exposure
To begin with, it is important to learn how to relax your body so as not to watch some object for a long time in tension, forcing yourself not to think about anything else. The process of concentration should take place unobtrusively and harmoniously, then everything will work out for you. Therefore, if you seriously wondered how to increase mindfulness and the ability not to be distracted, sit comfortably in a chair and try to relax your body as much as possible, inhaling and exhaling slowly, calmly.
Your task is to make sure that not a single muscle tenses up, allow yourself to just be at this moment, without thinking about whether you are doing the right thing or not, what you will do later and what business you need to run. Set a timer for five minutes, with the next classes it is important to increase the duration, reaching at least a quarter of an hour. During this period, by the way, you will also gain strength for further achievements.
Reading
Every time you read something (with the exception of workflows), try to mentally count the number of words in the selected piece of text. The main thing is that the pace does not change, control yourself, not allowing you to pause. Over time, this training will have a positive effect on your ability to focus.
And in general, every time you notice that you are thoughtlessly peering into a book, stop yourself and return to the starting point from which you lost interest and involvement. You must be able to immerse yourself in the text without reacting to various stimuli.
Nature
This is a unique assistant, with the help of which you will not only learn to keep your attention on a subject for a long time, but also feel inner harmony, and this will entail such “consequences” as good health and mood. Therefore, look at the clouds as often as possible, thinking only about them at that moment, at the flames and water, how tree branches sway and snow falls …
Watches
Turn on your favorite show, movie, news — anything as long as it arouses a lot of interest in you. Set an alarm clock with a second hand in front of you and note the minute during which you watch it move. Your head should be “empty”, the only thing that interests you at the moment is the rhythmic movement of the arrow. If there are successes, increase the amount of time. This exercise «works» only for adults, do not force children to experience unnecessary stress, choose a more interesting task program for them.
Mirror
Stand in front of a mirror and draw two dots on it just opposite your eyes. Keep your head straight and do not move, trying to blink as little as possible. Now you should imagine that you have an interlocutor in front of you, feeling completely calm, just look at these points without thinking about anything. The minimum time is 5 minutes.
Methods for checking the level of concentration training
- There is an exercise that will help not only to advance in the ability to focus, but also to determine if there are changes after increased training. It is necessary to take a sheet, a pen and begin to draw a horizontal line very slowly and smoothly, thinking only about this process. As soon as you notice that you are distracted, make a small jump up, then return the line down and continue to the next jump. If you have poor concentration, the sheet will look like a cardiogram, the ideal result, respectively, is a straight line. At first, 2-3 minutes will be enough, over time, depending on the success, complicate the task.
- In this task, you will also need a sheet of paper, select some small object, such as a sharpener or a paper clip, note the time and just watch it, consider it consciously, without letting extraneous thoughts in. As soon as you notice that they “broke”, put a dash. At the end of the time, you can count their number and compare the result with previous attempts.
- You can track the improvement of results by changes in character and relationships with other people. Those who know how to concentrate are smoother in their movements, they achieve greater success and are more trusted by others, because, it’s banal, they look intently into the eyes during a conversation, they know how to listen and don’t “run” from topic to topic.
Recommendations
Meditation
Take up meditation, because, in addition to significantly increasing your mindfulness, you will also improve your health, get rid of the negative effects of stress, and achieve a sense of inner harmony and balance. Check out this article, it just describes in detail exercises that help you stay in the present moment, without including obsessive thoughts about the past and worries about the future.
Class time
At first, try to choose the right time for classes, when you are calm and you are not disturbed by problems that require urgent resolution. Otherwise, the concentration will be low, from which you will experience stress and further aggravate the situation, eventually abandoning training. You will stop worrying about this when you already “know Zen” and learn to be distracted from what is happening around you as if at the snap of a finger, switching instantly to inner sensations and not worrying about the fuss.
Mindfulness
See the article on mindfulness. If you learn to be aware and notice yourself in space, various situations and everyday affairs, then you will not have problems with concentration. Therefore, if some actions have reached automatism, when consciousness turns off, do something urgently. Start brushing your teeth with a different, unusual hand, change the route to work, try to notice the smallest details that you haven’t looked at before, and so on.
Bad habits
If you have bad habits, then no matter how much you practice, the effect of the exercises will be small. First of all, you should start to lead a healthy lifestyle, and then it will be easier for the brain to cope with various tasks, whether it is memorizing a large amount of information or completely concentrating on something, even if there is chaos around. Where to start, you will learn from the article «How to start a healthy lifestyle at 30: TOP 15 fundamental rules.»
Stress
Disturbance of attention can lead to stress. If it is easy to switch off from external sources of irritation by closing the door, blindfolding and using earplugs, then it is not so easy to get rid of emotional discomfort and incessant internal dialogue. And sometimes you can’t get rid of it at all. If you understand that this is the main cause of your problem, then try using the method of breathing techniques, in addition to calming down, you will tune in to a certain wave that will increase the effectiveness of classes. You can learn by looking at the recommendations here.
Aids
There is a useful accessory — a rosary, which you can use at any convenient time, especially when it is not possible to perform the above methods, for example, if you are in line or on a bus. Focus on each bead you touch, so you will achieve calm and balance. In case you have forgotten them or have not had time to buy them yet, you can put two thumbs together, scrolling in a circle at the same time.
Conclusion
And that’s all for today, dear readers! The quality of our life depends on our ability to focus on one thing, because then we understand more, notice, remember, and so on. Therefore, make every effort to improve your results. Good luck in this difficult but important process!
The material was prepared by Zhuravina Alina.