Mind focus

Well, I'm really not sure if this is the correct forum to be asking this question, but it seemed the most appropriate.

At night, before I go to sleep, I always like to imagine certain scenarios, as sometimes this will absorb into my dreams and it will be what I dream about. I can seem to get lucid dreaming down, or else I'd just have the scenarios in them.

Anyway, this normally works. I can have a dream of something I want to dream about. But, I can't always focus on what I'm imagining. Especially recently, I can't stay focused for more than a few moments. My thoughts start to drift from one thing to another. I've even tried looking on the internet for tips on how to focus my mind, but it's all articles about how not to procrastinate and junk like that.

So, my question is, is there anything that can help me increase my focus when I'm lying in bed about to go to sleep? Or any tips, or anything?

Again, I'm not sure if this is the correct forum. Thanks in advance.

Hi Alex,

sounds like you need to practice some basic meditation. Focusing on something for a long time is way more difficult than it sounds - specially when you're lying down. Those thoughts that cause you to drift are all those semi subconscious thoughts that are constantly being processed while you're awake - like right now.

Meditation teaches you to quiet your mind and fight off or disregard this array of thoughts. One technique I just started to practice is by counting breaths in sets of five, starting over each time.

Example:

one
one, two
one, two, three
one, two, three, four
one, two, three, four, five

one
one, two,
one, two, three... (and so on)

Sounds easy, but I get lost right around the third set - and I've meditated many times before!

It's hard, but you'll eventually learn to ignore random thoughts and stick to one task.

Good luck!

Alright, thanks.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tornado Joe

Hi Alex,

sounds like you need to practice some basic meditation. Focusing on something for a long time is way more difficult than it sounds - specially when you're lying down. Those thoughts that cause you to drift are all those semi subconscious thoughts that are constantly being processed while you're awake - like right now.

Meditation teaches you to quiet your mind and fight off or disregard this array of thoughts. One technique I just started to practice is by counting breaths in sets of five, starting over each time.

Example:

one
one, two
one, two, three
one, two, three, four
one, two, three, four, five

one
one, two,
one, two, three... (and so on)

Sounds easy, but I get lost right around the third set - and I've meditated many times before!

It's hard, but you'll eventually learn to ignore random thoughts and stick to one task.

Good luck!

---

Dude I'm private messaging you about this.

Doesn't telling us about this defeat the purpose of it being a private message?

Tee hee.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hadyn

Doesn't telling us about this defeat the purpose of it being a private message?

Tee hee.

---

Haha, yes it does. Fun to do anyway. :P

This has worked for a lot of members here:
99 Breaths to Relieve a Wandering Mind

It's just what it sounds like.

Count every breath you take. But instead of going "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..." you group them as such:

1

1 2

1 2 3

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5


and repeat the process. So, if you were to count the total number of breaths per set, you get 15.
Below you'll find your count in bold, and the actual breath in breaths in italics:

11

12 23

14 25 36

17 28 39 410

111 212 313 414 515

I hope I didn't make it even more confusing :?

You guys might also want to lookup the 61-point relaxation technique. It's kinda based on the same principal (focusing your thought on one thing), only more fun to do. I made a Flash tutorial about it in this thread (post #6).