Concentrate on TedEx by Dandapani

When a child is so maligo at makulit, they are being teased of being so distracted, tease if not
being to concentrate and so very often we give labels to them like ADHD, ADD or whatsoever.

It's in my humble opinion that people can't concentrate today for 2 reasons.
1. ǩ We were never taught how to concentrate

2. ǩ We don't practice concentration

So how can you do something if you're never taught how to do it? And how you could be good at
something if you don't practice it?

Let's have a survey here:

How many here while you are growing up in a formal school were taught to concentrate? In
school like classes, every week... Show of hands please

How many in this room while growing up were told to concentrate? Show of hands...

Isn't that amazing?! People told us to concentrate but they don't tell us how to.
And I got told to concentrate all the time.... Eating food, doing homework...

Anybody would show how to do it?

How many of you here have children? How many of you tell your children to concentrate?

Do you show them how to? No. And then you wonder why they can't concentrate.

You can't expect somebody to do something of you don't teach them how to do it.
And then if you want them to be good at it, they need to practice it. Right?

When I wanted to play for Chicago bulls or taekwondo for Asian Games.
How many hours of the day should I practice?
When I was in elementart, I was once a gymnasts. We practice everyday after class but that
effort didn't still brought me to provincial nor Regional nor national meets.

So that means I was not that good enough yet at my skill. Yes I'm better than some of the others
but that doesn't permit me yet for higher meets.

So imagine if you practice distraction 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, what would you be good at
of after
6 months? - distraction
After a year? - you'll be really good at distraction
After 1.5 years? - you'll be an expert of distraction
When you do that, you can already write a book mastwr in distraction and TV shows like Ophrah
might invite you talk on distraction, events would invite you to be a keynote on distraction.
And when you're in stage you're so distracted that you forget what you wanted to talk about.

That's what you are good at.

But we don't practice distractice 8 hots a day, 6 days a week. The truth is, we probably practice it
16 hours a day, 7 days week.

The average person sleeps 7-8 hours roughly so we are awake for about 16 hours a day.

Let's just say that you're practicing it 13 hours a day 7 days a week on distraction and you
wonder why you're so good at it.

That's the law of practice. We become good at what we usually practice.

Whether it's positive of negative, it doesn't matter.

If you practice something over and over and over again, then you become really good at it.
And that's why people are so good at distraction. It's what they practice.

Why are people not good in concentration? Because they never have taught it and they never
practice it.

We don't need to be grag to learn but we just need to be taught about it.

Thesame way with children. They just need to be taught and then practice.

Just anything else... to become tennis player, a good dancer, a good gymnast, a good vlogger, a
good emcee, performer... you need to practice practice practice.

And then people would say, technology are great distractors. Smartphones, laptop, internet.
Q: Are they distractors?

I.would like to say that it's No and Yes.

But mostly no. Why?

Technology itself is not a bad thing. It's a beautiful thing AS LONG AS WE'RE INCHARGE OF IT.

But everytime your phone beeps or makes a.sound and you go to your phone and say, "Yes
master how can I serve you today."
Then you will in distraction. It's training you to be distracted.

But if you usually use technology, then technology is not a bad thing.
When I say yes that it's distracting, there are some areas that could be distracting.
For example,.if a phone rings here, that could be a distraction but we can do something like
turning it off and choosing bot to engage with it.

So technology in itself is not a bad thing. The question is, do we engage in it or not?

So how do we become good at concentration?

We start by understanding the MIND. All of us has a mind and it's the most powerful tool in the
world... It built the smart phone, brought people in the moon and Mars, it made metals to fly,
etc...

Yet there's no manual for the mind.

When was the last you saw a manual for the mind?

We have this complex and powerful tool in world and yet there's no manual.

That's the reason why, we, me and my husband dive in in studying the mind though our coaches
and mentors here and abroad. Most of then are scientists.

Once we know how the mind works, you can control it and once you can control it, you can focus
it.

You can't focus in something you don't understand.

So how does the mind work?

There are 2 things that you need to understand.
1. Ǖ Awareness
2. Ǖ Mind

Imagine an awareness as a glowing ball of light that can float around.

Imagine your mind as avast space, vast area with many different sections in it
One area of the mind is anger, jealousy, love, hatred, frustration, joy, happiness, food, phone, etc...
And this glowing ball of light called awareness can travel within the mind and it can go to an area
of the mind that it wants to go to.

When it goes to a particular area of the mind, it light that area. When you light that area of the
mind, you become conscious of it.

So for example you go and watch the Frozen 2 movie.

So go went inside the theater, the lights went dim. When the director of the movie is so good,
that director can take your awareness into different areas of the mind they wanted you to go to.
They can get you to a sad area of the mind, happy area. The movie can be exciting, thrilling,
suspenseful, scary and 120 minutes later it says in the screen "THE END"

And you have thought that was an amazing movie.

You paid P250 to allow the director to take your awareness to different areas of the mind.

And this happens on a daily basis. Each day we allow someone or something throughout the day
to take our awareness and bring to an area of the mind to another.

When we allow someone or something to do that, we're being distracted.

The art of concentration is the art of keeping the awareness, that ball of light at one thing for an
extended period of time.

Every time that ball of light drifts away we bring it back. If it drifts away again, we brings it back.

So that's the theory. You have awareness, you the mind.

Many people say, my mind wanders all the time. Technically that's a false statement. What
wanders is your awareness. Your awareness is the one moving within your mind.

Let's do a simple practice to see if that actually works. With this, I need audience participation.
I want everyone to sit up straight in your chair. So if you have anything on your lap, I want you to
bring it down first.
Sit up straight in your chair with your spine straight. If you're leaning back, just sit forward a little
bit and I want you to close your eyes. Take a slow deep breath in... and I want you to become
aware of the room. Is it cold or hot or humid? I want you to become aware at the chair you are
sitting... Become aware of the sounds you might hear or the noise, the humming of the projector
or airconditioning...
Now I want you to become aware of the most recent wedding you've attended. Do you
remember whose wedding it was?... Whose getting married? Did you approved of the marriage?
What did you wear? Is it in line with the motif?... try to think everything you can about the
wedding... Did you go by yourself? Did you go with your family?... Was it a large wedding?
Hundreds of people or maybe it's intimate like 20-30 people... Hiw was the food? Was it good?
Was there an alcohol? Did you drink a lot? We're you drunk?

Did you remember what the bride is wearing? Did she make a good choice?

Now I want you to remember the most recent vacation that you went on... do you remember
where it was? What kind of vacation was that anyway? Was it educational? Was it exciting? Did
you enjoy? How long did you go for? What was the weather over there?... Try to think everything
you can about that vacation. Did you spend a lot of money? We're you able to buy souvenirs for
you? For your family?... How was the food? Is it spicy? Sweet? Bad?

Now your eyes still close and I want you to become aware of the room again. Become aware at
the chair you're sitting on, the sound of my voice, the humming od the AC or the projector.
Now slowly open your eyes and back in your seats again.

That was a very simple exercise to prove 2 things to you.

1. ǭ The clear separation of the awareness and the mind
2. ǭ You can actually take your awareness and move it to different areas of your mind that you
wanted to go to.
And you just allowed me to do that. I walk you through here in the room, the latest wedding you
attended and the recent vacation you just had.

How would i know that you're thinking about it? Because my eyes are open and yours is close.
When I ask did the bride make a good choice, somebody made a facial expression.

And then you I walk you through the recent vacation area of the mind and you stayed there. And
while you're in the vacation area of the mind, you were not thinking about the wedding anymore.
And then from the vacation area i took your mind back into the room again.

And this happens all day and we allow other people and things around us to take our awareness
from one area of the mind to another all day long... from the time we wake up.

And therefore we become distracted.

To concentrate is to be able to keep your awareness on one thing for an extended period of
time.

How do we practice this? By doing one thing at a time throughout the day.

What's the best way to develop concentration? To bring that practice into our everyday life.

Look at opportunities throughout your day, in your average day, what's the great opportunity to
practice concentration?

Who among you are married?

Everytime you speak with your spouse, especially husbands, keep that ball of light of awareness
in an extended period of time. If it drifts way, bring it back. And if drifts away again, bring it back
again.
The more you practice this, the more you become better at concentration.

Give her or him your undivided attention.

Everytime you speak your child, you practice concentration. Every time you teach your class, you
practice concentration.

Everytime I pray, I am being challenge by concentration because my mind always wanders.

Have you heard about the joke about a mother who is praying?
Our father who art in heaven... anak pakilagay yung singing ko baka masunog.
Thy kingdom come thy will be done ... anak pakibabad yung labada at ako matapos mamya
On earth as it is in heaven... do ko pa pala matapos yung Hugasin koӭЫ

You laugh but it's true.

If you are parents, if you can't concentrate, you can't teach your children how to concentrate.

The benefits of concentration are endless. When you're able to concentrate, you are able to
focus all your energy/Strength onto a single given point.

Your life is a manifestation of where your energy is flowing.

If you can't concentrate, the things that you want to manifest or happen in your life becomes very
very challenging.

Make concentration or thinking a daily practice in your life. Be Unwavering in your focus. Proceed
with confidence because life is meant to be lived joyously and it all begins by learning how to
concentrate
Last modified: 3:06 PM