Posts Tagged ‘focus’

2 sides!

Monday, September 28th, 2009
Red and white sides of a Rubik's Cube completed.

Red and white sides of a Rubik's Cube completed.

After about 2 weeks worth of effort I’ve managed to complete 2 adjacent sides of a Rubik’s Cube on my own! I remember doing this as a child but had no recollection of how I had managed to do it back then.

I find one side easy, but even now I’ve got some doubts about whether I can reproduce the 2 sides very easily. We shall see! I bought the cube recently when I heard someone at work reminiscing. I decided that I wanted to see if I could solve it on my own and learn how to reproduce the solution.

To that end I’ve been leaving the cube out in a common area of the house and letting people mess it up for me. Every time I come back it’s in a different configuration so I’m forced to rethink my next plan of attack.

It amazes me that there are so many combinations from such a simple little device and that so much confusion can be found with a few moves. Slowly my mind is starting to understand the effects of certain actions.

On towards 3 and more sides!

Integration

Saturday, September 8th, 2007

It’s common for people to spend a lot of effort planning a trip away. Even the shortest excursion can be smoother and safer given good foresight. But few give much thought, if any, to the difficulties they might encounter upon their return.

I recently came back from 2½ months away on a meditation retreat. There were little breaks here and there but I was mostly shrouded within a very focused and protective environment, letting the rest of the world whirl and change without me. These retreats are not new to me, but I usually go for only 10 days. While I knew coming home would include an adjustment period, there’s never really any way to know what you’ll get until you arrive.

(more…)

The benefit of discipline

Sunday, October 8th, 2006

I’ve had various struggles with discipline throughout my life. I wrote before about keeping focus, putting things off, and getting enough sleep.

Discipline requires dedication and decision making. Dedication is necessary for maintaining effort during adversity, and decision making is needed to ensure there is no stalling because of uncertainty. Both dedication and decision making demand a certain degree of belief in why the goal is worth striving for in the first place.

And so we come to meditation.

(more…)

Focus

Monday, September 18th, 2006

There’s a funny thing about getting things done… you need to stay focused to do it.

That’s not to say that one who isn’t focused won’t accomplish anything, just that they’re unlikely to have much control over what they get in the end.

(more…)