Developing concentration and focus is a central goal of many meditation techniques. To accomplish this, we pick an “object of meditation” (something like the breath) and then gradually train our attention to intentionally absorb into the object and to stay there.
As we choose to pay attention to our object, we temporarily define anything else that might emerge into our awareness as a “distraction”. Usually when we meditate, these other objects of mind (physical sensations, mental words and images, emotions, external sounds and sights, anything besides what we have chosen to pay attention to) will pull on us and try to yank us away from our chosen object. For many of us, our mind has gotten cluttered over the years with habits of unconscious wild wandering attention. So, unfortunately, as we meditate, we often become distracted, lost and unconscious in the pull of preoccupying experiences.
As we practice concentrating our mind, the invitation is to let go of and release all distractions, to simply let them drop away. We don’t chase them or give them any extra attention – instead, we repeatedly, patiently but firmly, return our attention to our object. Ten thousand times, our attention gets compulsively sucked away into distraction, but ten thousand and one times, we patiently start over again, and choose to gently bring it back to our object.
As we develop a concentrated mind, we aim for continuity of contact with our object of meditation. This can seem like a simple goal, but attaining it can be a challenge. A settled mind almost always takes patient persistent effort and sustained practice over time. Just like lifting weights or playing piano scales, developing concentration can take effort and energy, simple and dumb repetition, and can be tiring. We are making progress and building strength and skill as we do so, though.
Even simply becoming aware of how distracted we are and how difficult it is to focus is actually a great first step. Gradually, as we put in our hours, the periods of forgetfulness become shorter, and the periods of sustained connection become longer.
The more we sensitize our awareness and notice the details and deep texture of our object of meditation, the more interesting and engaging it becomes. This usually makes it easier for our mind to stay put.
If we spend enough time developing concentration in this way, our mind takes on the characteristic of becoming more stable, steady, rooted, settled, rested, grounded, collected, simplified, unified, gathered together, harmonized, composed, tranquil, peaceful, and calm. Not only is concentration a useful ability in many of the most important areas of life – for example, getting work done and communicating with people – a concentrated mind is also notably pleasant.
Some meditation techniques don’t have much division between a chosen object and distractions – everything is welcome in certain techniques. Before doing such techniques, however, it is useful to practice a concentration-intensive technique first, so that the mind is more clear and stable going in.