The brain likes to just go wherever it wants, it enjoys drama, it enjoys all the distracting thoughts that actually keep us from focussing. Our brain is constantly trying to distract us and it’s constantly trying to shift our attention away from clarity and focus. Focusing actually allows us to develop the skill to control our brain and bring our attention back to what it is we’re doing and back to what it needs clarity on. This is one of the reasons why focus is such a strong and such an amazing foundational skill, not just in spiritual development, but in all areas of life.

Through learning how to focus, you are learning to harness your brain’s power and direct it at a specific task. Now, even on the surface, that sounds like such a powerful skill – just think about it, imagine you want to write a book, but you keep getting distracted, different things keep popping up – you look at the tree, you look at that bird, you look at the cat that’s walking across the road, your mind is constantly trying to pull you away from your task. A focused mind though can clear all those distractions, it can shut them all out and it can give you the space to direct your attention to what it is you want to do. So, when you are in the focussed state, you will sit down and you will write your book, you will take action towards what it is you want to achieve and nothing will interfere with that. A person who has mastered focusing can have a bomb go off next to them and they won’t even notice it – that’s the power of the mind and that’s the power of your ability to focus. When you can focus to that degree, you can accomplish anything.

Now, the real skill in focusing comes from focusing on the most boring thing imaginable as if it were a video game or your favourite show – you put the same care and attention and energy into the most boring and mundane task as you do into the most exciting one. That is when you have a focused mind. The mind wants to do things that it enjoys, it’s constantly looking for gratification, it’s constantly looking for a hit of dopamine, so, the things you naturally enjoy, of course, it’s going to focus on. Video games are fun, they’re continuously giving you that rush – things are changing, the pictures are evolving, you can get lost in that world that’s like a giant fantasy adventure for your mind! It loves it! Of course, it’s going to focus on it. However, sitting down to write your book or to edit something that you want to edit or whatever else you are trying to accomplish, your mind doesn’t want to do that, so it’s going to distract you. You sit down to write your book and, suddenly, your brain will be like, why don’t we watch a Netflix show, it’s only half an hour, then we can write… have you ever had your mind do that? It’s because it’s trying to distract you, it’s trying to break your focus so that you’ll do something that’s fun, because when you do something that’s boring, when you do something that you have to commit your mind to, you don’t get those rushes, you don’t get that hit of dopamine, you don’t get that adrenaline, you just sit there, and your mind gets bored… it gets bored and wants to do something else, so it tries to shift you away from that.

So when you are learning to focus, what you’re basically learning to do is you’re learning to direct your thoughts at something specific, at one specific task. So, if you want to write your book, everything else gets blocked out. You shut out the world and you focus on that book until you’ve attained your word goal. So let’s say you want to write 10 000 words – you shut the world out and you focus until you attain those 10 000 words… Your body can also tag team with your mind to distract you. You could be right in the middle of writing and suddenly, your stomach’s like, I’m hungry, give me some food… that can also be a distraction… (obviously, for most of us, when our stomach does that, especially when we are working on something, it’s not actually hungry, it’s just trying to distract us. We’re not going to starve if we don’t eat in that moment). So, a lot of times it’s just a distraction technique where your mind and your body now are trying to tag team you to break your focus. This is why training your focus is such an important foundational skill, because when you have that focused state, when you have that ability be like, no, we’re doing the work now, shifting your attention back to what you’re doing and focusing on it, shifting your attention back and focus, then nothing can distract you – you won’t get sucked into drama, you won’t succumb to the distractions, the call of Netflix will not tempt you, you will be focused on your task and you’ll accomplish more, you’ll actually be able to accomplish more and get done all those goals that you want to achieve. Most of the time, people don’t attain their goals because of lack of focus, because they are not willing to commit their attention and the energy needed to stay on task, they get distracted and their mind and their body sometimes wins over and pulls them away, so focusing is basically over. So that is why is so important to develop your focus ability, because then you can commit to your tasks, you can commit to what it is that you want to accomplish and you can make great strives, not just in your life, but on your spiritual practice too.

Now, focusing is really important for spirituality because a lot of our skills depend basically on our ability to focus – our ability to hear our inner voice, our ability to hear our inner tuition, our ability to discern truth from self-defeating patterns – you need to be able to hold the focused state and you need to be able to actually hold your mind and be present in that space. You need to be focused on what you are doing, you also have to stay present with that inner voice. You have to stay allert and engage with it, hear it through your awareness and allow it to unfold within your body in a way where your answers will be loud and clear. Focusing also helps you to connect with the energies that are around you and to thus manifest what you want. Being focused on your manifestations and being focused on the goals helps bring them to you, it helps pull what you desire to you, so the more focused you are on your goals, the faster you’ll attain them.

There’s so many profound things that you can do when you’re focusing, it is such an important and foundational skill in spiritual work, and it is one that you really need to work to develop!! It’s also, ironically, the most boring skill to develop because, most of the time, you’re just sitting there, gazing either at a candle, at a dot on the wall – you’re just focusing, you’re diverting your attention from any type of narrative and you’re focusing on a singular point and, the more boring the point is, the better, because, when you are focusing on that singular point, you are training your mind. You are training your mind that it can’t distract, it can’t deviate, it can’t lure you away with its habitual BS, you’re training it that, this is what we’re doing and this is what we’re focusing on, nothing else… and the more you do that, the stronger your focus will become and the more influence and control you’ll have over, not just yourself, but on the world around you. A person who can focus their mind and focus their thoughts can also connect to the energies around them and connect to the energies of people around them.

Some of the best ways to develop focus are really simple. One of my favourites is gazing at a candle. You basically sit in a dark room, light a candle and gaze at it, only focus on the flame, that’s all you’re focused on, is the flame. Gaze at the candle and focus on the flame. People have asked me – can I blink? No, you don’t blink. You will go through a period where your eyes will water, your eyes will water incessantly like you will just have the floodgates open – this is your eyes cleansing, you’re being purified, the toxins are leaving your body. Allow this to happen and know that it will pass. Eventually, you’ll get to a point where you can just sit there completely focused on the candle and you won’t even think about blinking, you’ll just be there – you, focused on the candle. The more focused you are, the stronger your mind becomes and the more capable you are of listening to your inner voice. You want to be strong in your body, you want to be strong in your mind and strong in mastering your emotions.

Focusing also leads to another powerful skill, which is mental mastery. This means that you have control over your emotions, things will happen to you but you won’t react to them, you won’t be bothered by them. You will know how to control your emotions and divert that energy to where it is most productive.

A lot of times, when things come, either “good” or “bad”, we react, it’s an instinctive reaction. A mind that is focused will not react. It will acknowledge its emotions – this is a very important thing to note – a lot of people mistake repressing their emotions to not reacting to their emotions. You never want to repress your emotions – the more you repress your emotions, the more the shadows are going to build and the more your emotions will actually have control over you. A person who has emotional mastery acknowledges their emotions, they say, this upsets me greatly, or, this is terribly exciting – and then they choose how they are going to react or when they are going to react. This also gives self-control: when somebody can’t provoke you and they can’t gain that emotional control over you, they can’t direct you and that’s when you take your real power back.

When you are emotionally unstable, your subconscious mind, your patterns, your self-defeating patterns will influence you and direct you to where you will go straight into seeing those patterns in your day-to-day life, loud and clear. Basically, you will be a puppet to watever your subconscious mind hides… When you actually have mastery over your emotions, this doesn’t happen. When something happens in your life and you are being triggered, you’re like, okay, I’m not going to react to that. I’m acknowledging that this upsets or distracts me, but I’m going to choose how I react to that and I’m not going to let it sway me from what I know to be true for me.

So, focus is such a powerful and incredible skill and it’s one that I highly recommend you work at developing. It can be as simple as taking 15 minutes a day and gazing at a black dot on the wall. If you’re gazing at the black dot on the wall, just gaze at it, just focus on the dot – nothing exists but you and the dot and again, your eyes might water in the beginning, but eventually, you’ll get to a point where it doesn’t matter – it’s just you gazing at the dot. You are completely focused and fixated on the dot and nothing else matters. That will strengthen your mind, it will strengthen your ability to hear your inner voice, and you’ll start to get to a point where you’ll realize that you are very aware of what’s going on around you, that you’re very connected and in tune with not just your body, but also your mind, your thoughts, the energies around you… you’re going to start picking up on things that you never noticed before, you’ll be more present, you’ll be more grounded and you’ll be more centred and you’ll be able to master yourself and master your own energies and your life from a point of true empowerment! It’s such a powerful skill to develop, so take the time every day to just sit in silence and gaze at the candle flame or gaze a dot on the wall – it’s more about consistency than actually how long you can do it. Eventually, you will build up and be able to hold the focus for even hours… some people can hold it for days, it’s actually Buddhist monks that hold the focus for 40 days and 40 nights – they train themselves to be in that level of advanced focus and clarity… but, for now, five minutes a day – just take five minutes a day and just focus. You will be amazed at all the different areas of your life this is going to impact in a positive way – not just your metaphysical practice – your memory will be better, you’ll be sharper, you’ll notice things, you’ll be more observant, you will see things around you and the world will make more sense, there will be a sense of clarity within you and also, a sense of peace. When you take the time to focus, you also take the time to centre yourself and be present with yourself, which benefits you in the long run too.