Concentration Exercise Page 2

Page one of this lesson contained information on the why you should practice improving your concentration abilities, plus a couple of concentration exercises for you to work with. This page of the lesson gives you additional exercises to work with.

This is another exercise that can be done almost anywhere. I can remember as a young child, I was in hospital several times and was very afraid. To help be calm my fears I began counting in my head. After I reached 10,000 and they still had not took me to surgery, I switched to counting by two's and the numbers helped me remain calm in a very tense situation.

They helped me remain calm because they kept my concentration on the numbers rather than the surgery they were going to perform on me. It gave me something to focus on and kept the scary thoughts out of my head. I learned my numbers at a very early age (3) and I was only 5 when I became ill. You can use a very similar method to help you focus you thoughts and keep the un-needed thoughts out of your head.

Choose a number and begin to count backwards from there. For your first trial, start with 100 and count backwards to zero. Make sure you keep stray thoughts out of your mind. If you find the thoughts begin to creep in, stop counting, take a moment to process the thoughts, then begin again.

When it becomes easy to count backwards from 100, choose a larger number and work backwards from there. Don't choose all even 100's however. That makes it even easier to work with. Choose a number such as 137, 218, or 271. Our minds are use to working with sequences and the hundreds are a natural sequence. Make yourself work a little harder for it.

Once you can count backwards with easy from any starting number, being to work by counting backwards by 2's or 3 s. 100, 97, 94, 91 etc., etc.

This is slightly hard to do and requires you to focus even harder to complete the Concentration exercise.

For this exercise you will need an object. Preferably a rather simply object such as a piece of fruit, a paper clip, a pencil or ink pen, a thumb tack, a key or any other simple object you might happen to have in the room nearby. Hold the chosen object in your hand and simply visually examine it for a few moments.

Are there any imperfections on it? What color is it? Is it cold or warm to the touch. Concentrate on learning everything there is to know about your object, without allowing stray thoughts to enter your head.

After you have examined your object for a couple of minutes, close your eyes and "see" the object in your minds eye. Examine it completely, see the imperfections. Feel it coolness or heat. Allow all of your sense to get involved in seeing this item

As you are visualizing, if any stray thoughts start to float into your mind, simply push them to the side and allow them to float away, while keeping your attention on your object.

This exercise must be performed outdoors or near a window with a wide view of the sky. A bright, sun shiny days is also preferable.

As you know, clouds are almost always moving and changing shape. Often they have shapes that resemble various objects and as we watch them, we tend to try to see objects in them. For this exercise, see the cloud itself, not the object it's shape may form. As the cloud's shape changes, do not try to determine what the shape is. Simply see the cloud and keep stray thoughts out of your head.

For this one, all you need is a blank space on a wall that you can look at. The area should be free of other things that could draw your attention away and a solid color wall will work much better than one with patterns on it.

Allow your gaze to fall up a single spot on the wall. As you look at it, let your concentration move downward toward this single spot, allowing everything around this spot to simply fade away.

If any other thoughts start to flow into your mind, simply push them gently away and maintain your focus on this single spot.

Chances are, when you first start this exercise, you will be focused on the single spot, but at the same time you will see 6 inches or more around the spot in your field of vision. Try to bring your field of vision in closer so all the area around the spot fades away. Your goal is to bring your focus of your attention down so tightly that you see nothing but the single spot you have chosen.

Do not try to do anything with the spot. Simply allow it to be while keeping all other thoughts out of your head.