Distraction

Right Concentration is one of the steps on the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path, which is the way to well-being. Right Distraction is not on the list. However, distraction is a preferred mode of mental processing in our culture. Increasingly, rather than attending to our own experience, we attend to the experiences of others in our entertainments. Instead of noticing our surroundings and our place in them, we interface with digital media. We talk, text, tweet, surf, listen to music, play games, watch videos. Sometimes we may even read a book. Even while reading, some of us are multi-tasking. We don't just do one thing that captures our attention, we slice our concentration thin and deal it like cards to multiple distractions.

Distraction is not all bad. It is a valid strategy for reducing vulnerability to destructive emotions. If you are swept up in a pattern of destructive emotion that historically leads you to self-defeating behavior, wholesome distraction may be just the thing to keep you from doing something you will regret. Or when caught in the web of obsessive-compulsive behavior, one can break free by recognizing the problematical nature of the behavior and distracting oneself with some incompatible behavior. If I am feeling compelled to organize my sock drawer for the seventh time today, I can recognize that that is a symptom of OCD and chose to distract myself with another behavior in another room. With repetition the compulsive pattern may eventually lose its grip.*

In these cases, distraction is a tool. In many cases, it is an escape from living in the moment. It is the opposite of presence. The ability to remain present in the moment open to experience is a key skill we must develop to have lives that work. Another key skill is concentration. When we have the ability to choose where we place our attention, we become masters of our experience and we become more effective in our actions. Happiness is not found in hauling our attention away from our present experience. It is more likely found in diving into our present moment mindfully attentive to the multifarious mental and sensory phenomena that present themselves to us, and in choosing where we wish to place our attention.

You want surround sound? Open your ears. You want big screen? Open your eyes. You want mult-channel input? Take a deep breath and open all of your senses. If you want to improve your ability to concentrate, practice a meditation technique that trains concentration. Meditations of this kind involve placing mental attention on something like the flow of our breath or placing attention on an object, perhaps a candle flame, or the focus may be upon a mantra or other sound.

Beginning meditators often feel discouraged that they can't hold their concentration very long, but a short attention span is normal. Our nature is to be easily distracted. The trick though is to be mindful enough to return the mind to the object of meditation. We focus until we lose focus. We remember to bring the focus back. Time after time. With practice, our ability to maintain concentration grows. As that capacity develops, it is reflected in life away from the meditation cushion. With the combination of mindfulness and right concentration life becomes more enjoyable and more manageable.

Practice:

Observe your own level of distraction. How do you use external devices, such as phones, music players, TV, and computers to take you away from your own experience?

Observe your own distractibility. What is most likely to distract you: music, talk, your own thoughts, random sounds, physical sensations, emotions?

Practice putting aside distractions and observe the sensory and mental phenomena that arise moment to moment. Suspend the negative judgments you might be inclined to make about your experience and just accept your experience as a gift or as an interesting spectacle you are witnessing.

Use a meditation practice that emphasizes concentration to improve your ability to concentrate.

Remind yourself to be more present.