If so, what can a person do to strengthen their ability to control their thoughts? Like sometimes, I can sit down and try to imagine little things, something as simple as riding a bike around the block. I might make it as far as the middle of the block before my ability to focus starts to become bombarded with other thoughts that I constantly try to tune out. Each time this happens my vision of riding my bike becomes so distorted that eventually everything becomes nothing but one big blurr. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this (or allow me to remain focused)?
You may be starting with too difficult an exercise. If you're not used to focusing your thoughts for long periods, you have to work up to it. It's no different than physical exercise, really. Simple one - sit still in a comfy chair, close your eyes, and listen to yourself breathe. Don't try to "think of nothing" - no-one can do that - but rather let the sensory experience of breathing fill your entire awareness. The sound, the feeling, the comforting repetition. Be careful you don't fall asleep, tho . . . this is actually one of my methods for going to sleep when I'm having trouble. But it also teaches focus.
I have no idea about something like that, maybe the bike ride is too boring for you? But, one of my problems is that I'm so good at focusing, that I get distracted from important things. One thing I do, which you might find works, is to examine something closely. I can spend about fifteen minutes, easy, sitting outside on the grass, looking at a single buttercup; firstly, all the colours - and trust me, there are more colours than you can see. Look at how the colours change, and how they might be made up, we don't live in a world of primary colours. Then, about how bits of it curve, and how cool it must look on an atomic level. And how bits seem to be completely different from each other, but it's all sprouted from the same place, and how you might be able to see tell tale signs that showed that it was once a bud, and before that, a little shoot, and before that, a seed. And when you think you might have looked at it as much as you can, look at it some more, because you haven't. Because you can't see inside it, so imagine what it might look like inside, and how you inside of it might look like to you now looking at it, and how it might look if you were inside looking at you looking back at yourself. And how the rest of the flower might bend around this tiny you that's inside a layer of petal, and how you might see the bits around you change as they melt together. And then curse, because you went outside to get work done, and it's nearly 20 minutes later, and you're really disorientated because you forgot that there was actually the rest of the world around you.
Sometimes people with active minds find it difficult to concentrate o one thing for too long......but fear not, its sign of genius .
I actually tried that once when I was very little. Only problem is that within a few minutes of watching, this dumb dog came over and ate it, then tried to bite me I think its things like this that causes me to fail at concentration.
I get all the random stuff over with in one go. The average male thinks about sex six times a minute? Fine, that's six times ten seconds equals one minute. Sorted. What were we talking about? Mmm.... sex...
Practice, keep at the same thing you just described. You loose focus, acknowledge it, refocus. Zen meditation has some really good exercises.
Problem is, the harder I try to focus, the more distorted my mental vision becomes until things get so clouded that I can't see anything
Most of what is called "psychology" is a soft science. They don't know shit. A little of what is called "psychology" is research into the brain (the physical seat of the mind) with related sensory inputs et cetera, and there are some exciting and interesting things being discovered . . . which are utterly ignored by 98% of the people who call themselves "psychologists". Psychiatry is the medical branch that investigates the brain and the mind, and they have some neat drugs, but still know very little about their subject. If you find it difficult, some of those drugs may be useful . . . or not. If you can learn some mental techniques, they will probably serve you better.
I find sitting in front of a large mirror in a drak room with a single candle works absolute magic. Nothing to distract you just stare into your own eyes in the dim light. its hypnotizing. I don't know if the roots of this are Zen meditation or some kind of Pagan practice but a friend recommended it to me and it has done wonders for my overall satisfaction with life.
It seems like everytime I try to focus on one thing, other thoughts keep jumping in the way. It's like watching television without having any type of control over the remote. The channels just keep changing anc changing on their own and I have no way to stop it
isn't that pretty much a quote from an ADD commercial they had a few years ago? what are you trying to focus for anyway? you could just not be able to focus simple because you don't think you are able to focus. i bet you focus just fine durin the day when you aren't even thinking about it.
