Does your mind flit from one thing to another? Do you have
trouble focusing on something for more than a few minutes? Do you
consequently have a bunch of half-finished projects lying around the
house, and a dozen half-baked ideas still knocking around in your
cranium, and thus a pile of regrets about where you’re at with those
things and in your life? If so, what should you do?
Now if you went to the gym and tried to lift weights only to find
your arms and legs were weak and flabby, you’d start a program of
weekly exercises to strengthen your muscles. Well, your mind is a kind
of muscle too! And just like the muscles in your body, your brain needs
weekly exercise to tone up the strength of its focus and concentration.
What’s a good workout for your noodle? Well, I discovered some
interesting concentration exercises in a great old book from 1918: The Power of Concentration
by Theron Q. Dumont, and have shared some excerpts from the book below,
along with some great illustrations from Mr. Ted Slampyak. While some
of the exercises are a little goofy and you may look like a crazy person
staring at an outstretched glass of water, you’ll have the last laugh
as your concentration power increases to Professor X levels. Use this
guide to beef up your brain, or as inspiration to invent your own
concentration exercises. Now put your finger on the side of your nose
and let’s get started.
Concentration Exercises from 1918
The rays of the sun, when focused upon an object by means of a sun
glass, produce a heat many times greater than the scattered rays of the
same source of light and heat. This is true of attention. Scatter it and
you get but ordinary results. But center it upon one thing and you
secure much better results. When you focus your attention upon an
object, your every action, voluntary and involuntary, is in the
direction of attaining that object. If you will focus your energies upon
a thing to the exclusion of everything else, you generate the force
that can bring you what you want.
When you focus your thought, you increase its strength. The exercises
that follow are tedious and monotonous, but useful. If you will persist
in them you will find they are very valuable, as they increase your
powers of concentration.
It will be necessary to first train the body to obey the commands of the mind.
I want you to gain control of your muscular movements. The following
exercise is especially good in assisting you to acquire perfect control
of the muscles.
Exercise 1: Sitting Still in a Chair
Sit in a comfortable chair and see how still you can keep. This is
not as easy as it seems. You will have to center your attention on
sitting still. Watch and see that you are not making any involuntary
muscular movements. By a little practice you will find you are able to
sit still without a movement of the muscles for fifteen minutes. At
first I advise sitting in a relaxed position for five minutes. After you
are able to keep perfectly still, increase the time to ten minutes and
then to fifteen. This is as long as it is necessary. But never strain
yourself to keep still. You must be relaxed completely. You will find
this habit of relaxing is very good.
Exercise 2: Fix Gaze on Fingers
Sit in a chair with your head up and your chin out, shoulders back.
Raise your right arm until it is on the level with your shoulder,
pointing to your right. Look around, with head only, and fix your gaze
on your fingers, and keep the arm perfectly still for one minute. Do the
same exercise with your left arm. When you are able to keep the arm
perfectly steady, increase the time until you are able to do this five
minutes with each arm. Turn the palm of the hand downward when it is
outstretched, as this is the easiest position. If you will keep your
eyes fixed on the tips of the fingers you will be able to tell if you
are keeping your arm perfectly still.
Exercise 3: Fix Eyes on Outstretched Glass
Fill a small glass full of water, and grasp it by the fingers; put
the arm directly in front of you. Now fix the eyes upon the glass and
try to keep the arm so steady that no movement will be noticeable. Do
this first for one moment and then increase it to five. Do the exercise
with first one arm and then the other.
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The purpose of the above exercises is to gain control over the
involuntary muscular movement, making your actions entirely voluntary. The
following exercise [is designed] to bring your voluntary muscles under
the control of the will, so that your mental forces may control your
muscular movements.
_____
Exercise 4: Concentrate on Opening and Closing Fists
Move your chair up to a table, placing your hands upon it, clenching
the fists, keeping the back of the hand on the table, the thumb doubled
over the fingers. Now fix your gaze upon the fist for a while, then
gradually extend the thumb, keeping your whole attention fixed upon the
act, just as if it was a matter of great importance. Then gradually
extend your first finger, then your second and so on until you open the
rest. Then reverse the process, closing first the last one opened and
then the rest, and finally you will have the fist again in the original
position with the thumb closed over the finger. Do this exercise with
the left hand. Keep up this exercise first with one hand and then the
other until you have done it five times with each hand. In a few days
you can increase it to ten times.
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The chances are that the above exercises will at first make you
“tired,” but it is important for you to practice these monotonous
exercises so you can train your attention. It also gives you control
over your muscular movement. The attention, of course, must be kept
closely on each movement of the hand; if it is not, you of course lose
the value of the exercise.
You may think these exercises very simple and of no value, but I
promise you in a short time you will notice that you have a much better
control over your muscular movements, carriage and demeanor, and you
will find that you have greatly improved your power of attention, and
can center your thoughts on what you do, which of course will be very
valuable.
No matter what you may be doing, imagine that it is your chief object in life.
Imagine you are not interested in anything else in the world but what
you are doing. Do not let your attention get away from the work you are
at. Your attention will no doubt be rebellious, but control it and do
not let it control you. When once you conquer the rebellious attention
you have achieved a greater victory than you can realize at the time. Many times afterwards you will be thankful you have learned to concentrate your closest attention upon the object at hand.
Let no day go by without practicing concentrating on some familiar
object that is uninteresting. Never choose an interesting object, as it
requires less attention. The less interesting it is the better exercise
will it be. After a little practice you will find you can center your
attention on uninteresting subjects at will. The person that can
concentrate can gain full control over his body and mind and be the
master of his inclinations; not their slave. When you can
control yourself you can control others. You can develop a Will that
will make you a giant compared with the man that lacks Will Power. Try
out your Will Power in different ways until you have it under such
control that just as soon as you decide to do a thing you go ahead and
do it. Never be satisfied with the “I did fairly well” spirit, but put
forward your best efforts. Be satisfied with nothing else. When you have gained this you are the man you were intended to be.
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Exercise 5: Concentration Increases the Sense of Smell
When you take a walk, or drive in the country, or pass a flower
garden, concentrate on the odor of flowers and plants. See how many
different kinds you can detect. Then choose one particular kind and try
to sense only this. You will find that this strongly intensifies the
sense of smell. This differentiation requires, however, a peculiarly
attentive attitude. When sense of smell is being developed, you should
not only shut out from the mind every thought but that of odor, but you
should also shut out cognizance of every odor save that upon which your
mind, for the time, is concentrated. You can find plenty of opportunity
for exercises for developing the sense of smell. When you are out in the
air, be on the alert for the different odors. You will find the air
laden with all kinds, but let your concentration upon the one selected
be such that a scent of its fragrance in after years will vividly recall
the circumstances of this exercise.
_____
The object of these exercises is to develop concentrated
attention, and you will find that you can, through their practice,
control your mind and direct your thoughts just the same as you can your
arm.
_____
Exercise 6: Concentration on the Within
Lie down and thoroughly relax your muscles. Concentrate on the
beating of your heart. Do not pay any attention to anything else. Think
how this great organ is pumping the blood to every part of the body; try
to actually picture the blood leaving the great reservoir and going in
one stream right down to the toes. Picture another going down the arms
to the tips of the fingers. After a little practice you can actually
feel the blood passing through your system.
Exercise 7: Concentrating on Sleep
What is known as the water method is, although very simple, very
effective in inducing sleep. Put a full glass of clear water on a table
in your sleeping room. Sit in a chair beside the table and gaze into the
glass of water and think how calm it is. Then picture yourself getting
into just as calm a state. In a short time you will find the nerves
becoming quiet and you will be able to go to sleep. Sometimes it is good
to picture yourself becoming drowsy to induce sleep, and, again, the
most persistent insomnia has been overcome by one thinking of himself as
some inanimate object–for instance, a hollow log in the depths of the
cool, quiet forest.
Those who are troubled with insomnia will find these sleep exercises
that quiet the nerves very effective. Just keep the idea in your mind
that there is no difficulty in going to sleep; banish all fear of
insomnia. Practice these exercises and you will sleep.
Exercise 8: Practice Talking Before a Glass
Make two marks on your mirror on a level with your eyes, and think of
them as two human eyes looking into yours. Your eyes will probably
blink a little at first. Do not move your head, but stand erect.
Concentrate all your thoughts on keeping your head perfectly still. Do
not let another thought come into your mind. Then, still keeping the
head, eyes and body still, think that you look like a reliable man or
woman should; like a person that anyone would have confidence in…
While standing before the mirror practice deep breathing. See that
there is plenty of fresh air in the room, and that you are literally
feasting on it. You will find that, as it permeates every cell, your
timidity will disappear. It has been replaced by a sense of peace and
power.
The one that stands up like a man and has control over the muscles of
his face and eyes always commands attention. In his conversation, he
can better impress those with whom he comes in contact. He acquires a
feeling of calmness and strength that causes opposition to melt away
before it.
Three minutes a day is long enough for the practice of this exercise.
Exercise 9: The Eastern Way of Concentrating
Sit in a chair with a high back in an upright position. Press one
finger against the right nostril. Now take a long, deep breath, drawing
the breath in gently as you count to ten; then expel the breath through
the right nostril as you count to ten. Repeat this exercise with the
opposite nostril. This exercise should be done at least twenty times at
each sitting.
Exercise 10: Controlling Desires
Desire, which is one of the hardest forces to control, will furnish
you with excellent exercises in concentration. It seems natural to want
to tell others what you know; but, by learning to control these desires,
you can wonderfully strengthen your powers of concentration. Remember,
you have all you can do to attend to your own business. Do not waste
your time in thinking of others or in gossiping about them.
If, from your own observation, you learn something about another
person that is detrimental, keep it to yourself. Your opinion may
afterwards turn out to be wrong anyway, but whether right or wrong, you
have strengthened your will by controlling your desire to communicate
your views.
If you hear good news resist the desire to tell it to the first
person you meet and you will be benefited thereby. It will require the
concentration of all your powers of resistance to prohibit the desire to
tell. After you feel that you have complete control over your desires
you can then tell your news. But you must be able to suppress the desire
to communicate the news until you are fully ready to tell it. Persons
that do not possess this power of control over desires are apt to tell
things that they should not, thereby often involving both themselves and
others in needless trouble.
If you are in the habit of getting excited when you hear unpleasant
news, just control yourself and receive it without any exclamation of
surprise. Say to yourself, “Nothing is going to cause me to lose my
self-control. You will find from experience that this self-control will
be worth much to you in business. You will be looked upon as a
cool-headed business man, and this in time becomes a valuable business
asset. Of course, circumstances alter cases. At times it is necessary to
become enthused. But be ever on the lookout for opportunities for the
practice of self-control. “He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he
that ruleth a city.”
Exercise 11: When You Read
No one can think without first concentrating his thoughts on the
subject in hand. Every man and woman should train himself to think
clearly. An excellent exercise is to read some short story and then
write just an abridged statement. Read an article in a newspaper, and
see in how few words you can express it. Reading an article to get only
the essentials requires the closest concentration. If you are unable to
write out what you read, you will know you are weak in concentration.
Instead of writing it out you can express it orally if you wish. Go to
your room and deliver it as if you were talking to some one. You will
find exercises like this of the greatest value in developing
concentration and learning to think.
After you have practiced a number of these simple exercises read a
book for twenty minutes and then write down what you have read. The
chances are that at first you will not remember very many details, but
with a little practice you will be able to write a very good account of
what you have read. The closer the concentration the more accurate the
account will be.
It is a good idea when time is limited to read only a short sentence
and then try to write it down word for word. When you are able to do
this, read two or more sentences and treat similarly. The practice will
produce very good results if you keep it up until the habit is fixed. If
you will just utilize your spare time in practicing exercises like
those suggested you can gain wonderful powers of concentration. You will
find that in order to remember every word in a sentence you must keep
out every thought but that which you wish to remember, and this power of
inhibition alone will more than compensate for the trouble of the
exercise. Of course, success in all of the above depends largely upon
cultivating, through the closest concentration, the power to image or
picture what you read; upon the power, as one writer expresses it, of
letting the mountains of which we hear loom before us and the rivers of
which we read roll at our feet.
Exercise 12: Watch Concentration
Sit in a chair and place a clock with a second hand on the table.
Follow the second hand with your eyes as it goes around. Keep this up
for five minutes, thinking of nothing else but the second hand, This is a
very good exercise when you only have a few minutes to spare, if you
are able to keep every other thought in the stream of consciousness
subordinate to it. As there is little that is particularly interesting
about the second hand, it is hard to do this, but in the extra effort of
will power required to make it successful lies its value.
Always try to keep as still as possible during these exercises.
