Question
I am a 42 years old man who can not concentrate in anything he does. For example If I am in a movie I will bo thinking in everuthing but the picture in the screen. If I watch TV the same problem. If I am reading a book I can read 3 pages and notice that meanwhile I was thinking in everything but the reading.
Please tell me any exercice to get concentrated in what I am doing, whatever it is.
Answer
Hi, Aurax.
Thanks for your note. It is hard to tell from what you said how much meditation might help you. You might first check with a doctor to see if you have attention deficit disorder or some other neurological condition.
I am just guessing at some of the possible reasons behind what you describe, since I don't know you. You can write back to me and address some of the things I am going to write. That way maybe we can get to understand each other better.
For one thing, I wonder if perhaps there are some things on your mind that are bothering you - things that you really need to take some time to think about. These things could disturb your mind while you are trying to do other things and in that case they need to be paid attention to. They need time for you to listen to them.
Maybe there is not some particular concern or conerns bothering you but just the overwhelming noise of the mind trying to recover from all of the daily activities. In this case, it would also help to have quiet time in which the thoughts that are trying to come out can do so and at the same time you can see if it is possible to let the mind find its quietness. You may find at certain times that quietness doesn't come, that the thoughts want to be heard. At times the thoughts do need to be heard, but you can also experiment with letting them be heard in silence.
Finally, it is possible that in situations where there is input into your mind -reading, movie, conversation, etc - there may be a resistance in you to hearing or seeing what is going on. The mind may be defending itself against really hearing or seeing the movie by making its own noise. You can look carefully in these situations to see if something in you doesn't want to hear what is going on.
What I described above may not be your situation. Let me know if my comments bring up some response for you or some clarification so I can understand what you mean better. In any case allowing yourself quiet time in which the activity of the mind is not needed can help you get a perspective on what is happening in your mind.
I'll stop here for now and hope to hear back from you.
Best,
Jay Cutts
