Author: Vali Soki

Simple Slow Down Meditation Technique

This is a very simple meditation. Everyone can do it.

In fact, it doesn’t seem like meditation at all. But it works. It works very well.

Here’s the thing.

We are always in a hurry. We always rush to catch the next thing in the future. Whatever that thing might be. A TV show, a meeting, a computer game, a romantic rendezvous, you name it.

By when we do that, we forget to live our life. Because, we can live our life if we are at the ONLY time and in the ONLY place where life is happening:

Here and Now.

And if we are in a hurry, we miss that place and time altogether.

Introducing the One-third-speed Meditation

This meditation can be referred to as “One-third-speed Meditation“.

It can help you to reestablish your connection with the Here and Now.

I gave it a name “One-Third-Speed Meditation” because it is very descriptive and fully grasps the essence of the practice.

That is, it requires of you to slow down everything you do to one third of your normal speed.

Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you are washing dishes. The way I normally do that is very fast.

Why? Because I want to finish the task as soon as possible. After all, who likes to wash dishes? So, the sooner I’m done, the sooner I will be free to do other things.

But, that’s not the best approach. The main reason is it puts you in a mental state of hurry.

At the end of the day, the downside of putting you in a state of rush overweighs the benefit of being free to do other things.

Because, you program yourself to chase the next thing on your list, and when you catch it, guess what… there’s another one to chase.

So you are much better off if you break this mental state of constant rush!

And this meditation enables you to do so.

As I said, it is very simple, just reduce the speed of whatever you are doing to one third of what you are used to.

Resist the urge to do the job faster.

Whenever I manage to do that, as if by magic, my consciousness illuminates just a little bit more.

Instead of thinking about what next I am going to do, I start to be present in the here and now more and more and more and more.

The slower I go, the more present I am. I start to live in the present moment.

I don’t miss the here and now any more.

Let me propose something.

While you read these words, reduce the reading speed to one third of your normal reading speed when you surf the internet.

Right here and right now.

See what happens for yourself.

The Constant Flow of Thoughts.

Your thoughts are like a never-ending train passing by, taking you to whatever destination you dream about.

They never leave you out in the open, free and fully alive, conscious in the moment.

They can even be rather negative, in which case you should do everything you can to clear your mind of them.

However, if you do this meditation right, the train of thoughts starts to slow down. Or to put it differently, the thought cloud starts to clear up, even if a little bit. Normally, the cloud of thoughts follows you relentlessly everywhere you go.

But now, all of a sudden, you start to see through this cloud.

What you see is a glimpse of you clear consciousness beneath. A tiny millisecond of it. One precious glimpse after another, if you do this practice long enough.

There’s nothing more precious than that. Your essence shining through from within.

How to Do the One-third-speed Meditation

This one is no brainer. Choose a task and slow down to one third of your normal speed of execution.

Here are two examples:

Washing Dishes

Reduce the speed of washing. Observe how your hands are moving slowly. Observe the water flowing from the tap. Let your movement be gracious and continuous. Be present beside the sink as you enjoy doing the task at hand. Don’t project your mind into the immediate future, planning what you are going to do next.

Eating

You can do this meditation while eating your meals. Again, just reduce the speed at which you are normally consuming food. Chew slowly and make breaks between bites. Put down your fork every now and then. Relax. Enjoy the taste. Feel the nourishment as it makes your body stronger. Let your meal last 2 to 3 times longer than usual.

Advantages of One-third-speed Meditation

You Don’t Need a Special Time

While with some other meditation techniques you have to allocate special time to practice meditation (like, early in the morning, or before going to bed), here you don’t. Whenever you do some job, go run an errand, or perform a household task, there is an opportunity to practice.

You don’t need a special place

This is trivial as well. You don’t have to isolate yourself from your environment. You don’t need any special posture, special chair, special room, etc. Whatever you do can become your meditation.

Anyone can do it

Being a very simple form of meditation, in fact, hardly any meditation at all, everyone can do it. What can be more natural than slowing down and paying some attention to what you are currently doing.

Disadvantages of One-third-speed Meditation

You Won’t Go Too Deep

This is not really a disadvantage, but simply that”s how it works. Probably you won’t be able to concentrate and go deep into your inside. At least most of the time. That’s why I suggest having another form of meditation technique to complement this one. Another technique where you close your eyes and explore the depths of your inside world. My experience tells me that you can go much deeper into an altered states of consciousness if you close your eyes and direct the flow of consciousness inside. Therefore, learn another form of meditation alongside this one.

You Can Be Distracted Easily

At the beginning, you will find it that even a small distraction can take you out of your meditation. Either something or someone catches your attention, or you simply start thinking about something else and forget to go slow. If that happens, don’t beat up yourself. Simply go back to a slower pace once you become aware that you are out.

The Bottom Line

Believe it or not, whenever I manage to go slow, I also manage to do more.

If I rush, the end result is a series of rushed tasks that amount to very little or almost nothing. (They may even look big at the time you are doing them, but the end result is slim.)

It is a sort of paradox and a counter intuitive thing, but true nonetheless. It’s like the relationship between quality and quantity. Even a little bit of quality stuff is worth much more than a lot of stuff of no quality.

Your life is like that. If you don’t slow down it appears as if you are doing a lot of important things in your rushed day. But they amount to very little.

Slow down, and let your true presence, your true creativity come forward. It can only do that if you are conscious and focused. It can only do that if you are present, alive in the here and now, and if you don’t rush to catch the next thing on your agenda.

And enjoy.

Enjoy the movement of your body and the presence of your mind.

Enjoy in your being alive with this slow pace meditation technique.

Namaste!

Image Credit:

Courtesy of Brian Robinson

About Vali Soki

Vali Soki is a is the editor in chief at EternityofSpirit website.

Filed under: Blog Posts, Meditation & Mindfulness

7 Best Ways to Clear Your Mind From Negative Thoughts

stop-negativityMore often than not, Negative Thinking is a matter of habit. If you let thoughts linger in your mind, they will stay there unless, of course, you take action and get rid of them.

You might be tempted to use brute force on those thoughts. Don’t.

It doesn’t work that way. Pushing them out or using force often backfires on you.

You reinforce what you pay attention to. When you resist negative thoughts, you actually reinforce them. Then they become stronger. It’s a vicious circle.

The more you try to avoid them, the more you think about them.

Obviously, you should do something different. Devise a different strategy.

Below I will suggest several strategies how to get rid of your negative thoughts.

Change your posture

There’s an intimate link between your body and your mind.

Monitor your body language for a moment. Chances are, if you are in a state of negative thinking, your body will reflect that.

What’s your body language telling you? Are you slumped, as opposed to standing tall? Do you have a closed posture?

What is your facial expression?

If the answer to these questions is yes, you will be prone to negative thinking, even if you are not at the moment.

The solution here is to change your bad body language. Let your body express your confidence. Stand up straight. Smile more often.

Once you change your body posture, you will notice a change in your mental state. You will feel much better. The negative thinking will be less dominant or it may disappear entirely.

Science confirms that. In an article published in the Biofeedback journal, Professor Erik Peper found that just by choosing to alter your body posture to an upright position, you can improve energy levels and mood in general.

stop-negative-thinking

So, just a simple change of posture might do the job with your negative thinking.

Talk to someone

It’s never a good idea to keep these negativities to yourself. It helps if you talk to someone. If nothing else, it makes you formulate your concerns and dilemmas much better.

Who you decide to talk to is not unimportant. Choose a good and considerate friend, who you know for sure won’t judge you.

When you decide to share your thoughts with someone, you will be able to see your emotional issues much better and put things into perspective.

If needed, you can then deal with the causes of the problem much better.

It is also important how you talk to someone. In a recent interview, Andrew Newberg explains the need to minimize negativity that goes on in conversations. For example, people should try to make three positive comments for every negative statement in their conversation.

stop-negative-thinking-2

Calm your mind in meditation

You don’t need a long meditation session. Just a couple of minutes of your time.

Just to calm your mind.

Throughout the day we often let our mind run like a crazy horse. When you combine this with negative thinking, everything just gets more difficult.

So, sit down for a moment. Close your eyes. Do nothing. Just be present. Don’t try to stop your thoughts. Whatever happens, just be present.

It’s a kind of rebooting.

After a minute or two, you will feel much better. It often takes that little to slow down and stop rushing.

If you have more time, you can even thy some free guided meditations from UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center.

stop-negative-thinking-3

Change your perspective

Negative thoughts can be the result of wrong perspective. Can you identify your point of view on the cause of concern?

Is the problem really so big as you imagine it? Is it a real problem or not?

Let’s take an example. Suppose you are thinking: “These problems are so difficult, I’m in a great trouble.” Instead, you could change your thinking to this: “Right now I face challenges, I’m working on them and trying to find a solution.”

Both statements reflect the same truth.

In the first you are negative. In the second you have a positive outlook.

Always try to find the positive in every situation. This shift in perspective could mean a great deal to your mental patterns.

Set aside some creative time

Being creative is a fantastic mood changer.

Especially if you are affected with negativity.

So, instead of obsessing with negative thinking, decide you are going to spend some time creatively.

It could be any form of art: writing, drawing, painting… Or even cooking, as long as you are creative in it.

The negative mental patterns disappear under the light of creativity. Use it. It works.

Creative work also enables you to explore your inner emotions. It can be a sort of self-therapy. It also leads to emotional discharging and brings about elevated mood.

Go for a walk

I know. This is trivial. But it helps.

So, take a walk, alone or with a friend. Ideally, it should be a walk in a forest, or at least in a park.

The idea here is that, sometimes, your thoughts are a result of your surroundings. You receive (positive or negative) thoughts from the people around you.

If they are filled with negativity, I bet you will be in a negative mood too.

So, if you change the environment, you may start to lose that negativity.

Wood is the best environment to transform your negative patterns. Science is clear about the health benefits of spending some time in a wood.

Even a park can help, or any cultural event or artistic performance that’s uplifting and fills you with joy.

Make it your habit to distance yourself from any negativity that surrounds you in your day to day life.

You can combine walking with searching for good things. Stacey Kennelly reports about a study in which the participants were instructed to consciously search for good things while in a walk. They were feeling happier than the people who were instructed to look for bad thing.

stop-negative-thinking-6

Cultivate gratitude

Gratitude seems to be a magical cure for everything.

Seriously.

If you have never tried cultivating gratitude, now is the best time to do that.

Why? Because it works so well on dissipating your negative thoughts.

The famous spiritual growth guru Tony Robbins talks about 10 power emotions, or 10 emotional seeds you should plant in your soul right now. Can you guess which one is at the top of the list?

stop-negative-thinking-7

We often tend to forget all the good stuff in our life. In the midst of our busy days, we simply have no time to focus on the positive. Not to mention the negativity we are constantly being bombarded by the media.

Now, you absolutely have to train your brain to start cultivating gratitude. For all the good things in your life.

There’s always something you can be grateful about.

Do you have a roof over your head? Are you grateful about it? Do you know how many people are homeless?

If you are homeless, are you healthy? Are you grateful about it? Do you know how many people are not healthy?

You get the point here? Make a list of things, no matter how small, that you are grateful about.

And, never, never take anything for granted. Often the wonderful things are right in front of your eyes, but you fail to see them.

Learn to appreciate the positive things in your life. They are already there for you and you should be enormously grateful for them.

Infographic

Check our the summary of this post in the infographic below and click here if you want to download it for free.

stop-negative-thoughts

 

About Vali Soki

Vali Soki is a is the editor in chief at EternityofSpirit website.

Filed under: Blog Posts

The Miraculous Power of Focus

Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.~Greg Anderson

There is a tremendous power in your ability to focus.

In this post I would like to explain how powerful the use of your own ability to focus can be, give you a couple of tips how to improve in this area, and show you a simple practical exercise with a ton of useful benefits.

If you can learn to focus the right way, your life will be transformed as if by magic.

Because…

ffocus

Your Reality is Determined by Your Focus.

Think about the title of this chapter for a moment. Can you see how true it is? Our experiences teach us that.

For example, you wake up in the morning and start thinking how miserable your day is going to be. Chances are your day will be exactly as you imagined it.

But if you focus on the fact that your life is a wonderful gift worth enjoying, chances are your day will be great.

Or if you let your focus jump here and there, from one task to another, chances are you will have an unproductive, albeit busy day.

I have understood one important thing for my life. Whenever I focus on just one task at a time and manage to lose myself in it, my day not only becomes productive, but very enjoyable too.

Likewise, when I focus on how tired I am and when I direct all my attention on, for example, watching TV, the result is countless hours of fruitless TV-watching done.

But if I focus on being fit and healthy, I become fit and healthy through healthy food and activity.

I know that now some people probably shake their heads in disagreement, but trust me, even though this whole story might seem simplistic, it’s totally true.

Meet the miraculous power of focus.

So, how can you use focus to enhance various aspects of your life? You can use the tips given below. Toward the end of this post I will also present a simple practical exercise for enhancing your ability to focus.

Focus on Your Goal

Focus is, without a doubt, the most important factor that will determine whether or not you will achieve your goal.

It is NOT willpower that determines your success. It is NOT self discipline. It is NOT how rewarding your goal is. It is NOT motivation.

It is focus. As simple as that.

The same holds true if you want to create a new habit.

It is how efficiently you can maintain your focus that determines your success rate.

If you can’t keep your focus on the goal you want to achieve or habit you want to build, there’s little chance of success. Unless your goal is an easy one that would’ve happened anyway without too much trouble.

End-Goals vs Means-Goals

It is also worth mentioning that you should be careful while selecting your goals.

Vishen Lakhiani has defined so clearly the concept and importance of going after “end goals“, rather than “means goals“. If you are new to this, check our his website, or his bestseller book “The Code of the Extraordinary MInd“.

most-important-questions

Now we are going to consider several great ways of keeping focus in your life: focusing on the now, on the things you are doing, and on the positive aspects of your life.

Focus on the Now

This is a subject thoroughly covered in the spiritual and self-growth literature. Like these tips from .

living-present

But, being present in the moment so important that I have to mention it here.

Focusing on the “here and now” can bring you so much good, that you simply cannot afford not to be doing it. Check out this slow pace meditation to learn how to enter the here and now more easily.

It can help you enjoy your life more, reduce stress, and improve your productivity.

Living in the now, as opposed to living in the past (“Why did you do that thing to me?”) or future (“The meeting this afternoon is going to be very boring.”) is a hard thing to do. It takes a lot of practice. But it is worthwhile.

Focus on What You are Doing

There are certain task we like so much, that when we do them, the entire world around us disappears. Have you ever experienced this?

When this happens, you are so involved in what you are doing, you lose track of time.

Another way to define this state of consciousness is to use the increasingly popular term “Flow State“. It turns out, being in a flow is a vital ingredient to happiness.

The state of flow, or being “in the zone”, is a state of peak performance. ~daringtolivefully

There is a profound satisfaction when you are absorbed in whatever work you are doing, as opposed to being in a passively boring state.

The million dollar question is how to get into a state of flow?

As anything truly valuable, it takes practice.

But the first thing is to find something you love to do. Something you are truly passionate about.

Find out what you love to do. Leave the usual distractions aside, TV, facebook, twitter, checking emails, … all those things are plain opposite to flow.

The next step after you get rid of all distractions is to focus on the task at hand. This is where things get difficult before they get easy (flow state). Eliminating distractions is another topic entirely. I don’t want to get into it right now. But, you have to maintain your focus for some time, and if you can do that you have won half the battle.

Love Melli takes this further with four simple steps for entering the ‘Flow State’ any time.

how-to-enter-flow-state

 

Focus on the Positive

You have a simple choice in life. To focus on the positive or to focus on the negative.

Always choose the first one.

I’ve learned early in my life to focus on the positive. When I was really young, it came to me like the most natural thing. I don’t think I’ve read that somewhere. I just knew that it was the right thing to do.

Quickly I learned to dismiss my negative thoughts or to create positive thoughts instead of them.

The sad reality is that your negative thoughts have the tendency to grow and overwhelm your consciousness. You have to catch them early enough while you still have control over them.

has some great tips how to focus on the positive when the negativity is too embedded, and you need some help to uproot it.

focus-on-the-positive

Cultivate positive thoughts even if there are no negative thoughts in your mind. Learn this skill, as it is so important.

For example, create a habit of thinking how great you feel. Think about all the good things in your life. If you just make a small effort, you can find so many great things in your life you can feel great about.

You can also learn the transformative power of gratitude.

Learn to see the positive sides in any situation. No matter how grave it may be, there has to be something positive about it.

The end result is happiness, as you always focus on the positive.

Why is Focus so Important?

Focusing on just one thing at a time is very important. That is, until you finish the task. For example, let’s say you want to paint the outside of your house. You start off with a complete focus. The first couple of days you start by preparing the paint and paint one of the walls. While your focus is on the task, you make great progress.

But, halfway through the job, you decide that your house needs decluttering, and you shift your focus. You start to move boxes, and fill bags with junk. You no longer paint your house, because your focus is elsewhere.

You may even decide to jump back and fort between decluttering and painting, but then, chances are you will not be efficient in either task.

If you maintained your focus on the painting all the way till the end, you would have a nice painted house. Then you would be able to devote your attention to something else, like for example to declutter your house.

This is just an example why it is important to focus on one goal at a time. I’m sure you can find many others from your personal experience.

Multiple goals widen your focus, and you’ll have less chances to complete any of them. It is still possible, but your diffuse focus make it more difficult.The same is true with multitasking.

As reported by dailymail, study confirm that multitasking may be doing you more harm than good and may impact cognitive performance:

multitasking-and-focus.

Many of us will have problem maintaining focus even with one goal in mind. It is therefore very important to find a way to keep yourself on track. Here are some tips that I use:

  • I try to read online about my goal as much as I can. The other people’s experiences often mean a lot to me and bring me insight and inspiration.
  • I post easy to spot little reminders everywhere through my home.
  • I try to tell to my friends and family about my goals so they can remind me of it.
  • I dedicate a time every day to work on my goal.
  • I perform daily concentration exercise to enhance my ability to focus (see below)

For more tips check for example Celestine Chua’s post where she writes about 9 tips to stay focused on your goals.

tips-on-how-to-focus-on-goals

Concentration Exercise for Better Focus

Here is a simple practical method how to improve your ability to focus. It may bring you a lot additional benefits too.

Method:

  • Sit in a chair in front of a white wall. Find a dark spot on the wall at the height of your eyes. You can also use a black point on a white paper for this. Close your eyes and relax for a couple of minutes.
  • Open your eyes and start looking at the spot without blinking.
  • You body should be absolutely still. If you have to blink, do that, but before blinking, silently say to yourself :”I am going to blink”.
  • When you are done, close your eyes and observe the reflection of the spot on the inner screen of your mind for a couple of minutes.
  • At first, you won’t be able to practice for too long. Start with half a minute and slowly increase the time until you reach 5 minutes.

Benefits:
This exercise improves your ability to focus. As an additional benefit, it improves willpower, intuition, vision, memory and strengthens the eyes.

Outlook

If you’ve made it so far, I hope you liked this post. If you can spare an additional couple of minutes, please let us know how you manage to maintain focus in your life in the comments section below. Here is a beautiful and inspiring quote instead of a conclusion:

Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. ~Jack Canfield

About Vali Soki

Vali Soki is a is the editor in chief at EternityofSpirit website.

Filed under: Blog Posts