What Monks Know About Focus

We need to deal with our attention problems before we try to achieve any other sustained goal.

So we sit and focus our attention on our breathing. But before long, the challenge becomes obvious. The human mind is an unpredictable and wildly creative creature that seems to have a life of its own. It produces an astonishing array of content, images, phrases, memories, emotions, and insights. Sometimes that content is inspiring and intelligent,

Focusing on what’s right in front of you, he told me, gives you “some of the raw material that has to be digested, but at some point, you need to stand back from that.”

Perhaps that is why so many of us have half-done tasks on our to-do lists and half-read books on our bedside tables, scroll through Instagram while simultaneously semi-watching Netflix, and swipe between apps and tabs endlessly, from when we first open our eyes until we finally fall asleep. One uncomfortable explanation for why so many aspects of m