concentration

Under the deulge of all the thoughts and splashing tangents that rain down on our minds every second of every day of every year of our lives, it's not surprising that our attention is distracted from one thing to the next and the next in rapid-fire succession. It's that knee-jerk mental reaction to all those thoughts that a Zen-Master would call "Monkey-Mind".

Then sometimes something happens. Life throws us a curve-ball and our reaction to that unexpected situation (and the thoughts that come with it) is to focus. We really get in there to examine what's going on, with blinders on to everything else. Often we get in so close that the frenzy is, at first, a confusing blur.

So we step back a bit, change our perspective and hope for a more focused view from a different angle. Still very single minded, from our fresh perspective we may begin to understand the how and why mechanics of the situation that has suddenly demanded our undivided attention.

In our burgeoning understanding we can start to relax, take another step back and calmly begin to consider the "big picture". We can then, more clearly, weigh our attitudes against our previous thoughts and experiences and hopefully make an informed decision on how best to react.