How long can you concentrate? An hour? Two hours? Or maybe only for a minute or two?
I'm starting to think this little question and the whole subject of concentration is important - or if not important, at least interesting, [or maybe just interesting to me. ok maybe its not that big a deal - never mind].
[Damn!! I wanted to write this simply an clearly but my internal chatter got in the way. F___, what an idiot! You'd think I could stay focused for at least 5 minutes - but no! I trailed off into this cesspool of idea / counteridea/ self criticism/ self justification...]
That little real life episode is part of my internal chatter which is with me always. I call it my monkey-brain - and it SUCKS! It poisons almost everything. Sometimes I am aware of it happening, but most of the time it takes me over completely and I find a half hour or a half day has passed and all I have done is have some internal incoherent conversation about [who knows what].
What joy it must be not to have to listen to my monkey brain! That is why I think concentration is important. I am going to define concentration as "non-monkey-brain-thinking". It is focus/thinking devoid of the internal chatter of emotional justification/criticism [the monkey brain].
[to be continued and edited]
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How long a person can concentrate depends on how you define concentration. Thinking about one thing and one thing only is very hard and can only be done for a few seconds, perhaps a minute or more if you are thoroughly trained. The goal of many types of meditations is to learn to concentrate on one thing for a period of time – but it actually becomes an exercise in watching our thoughts to see how our brains keep from concentrating on one thing. Our unconscious minds are very, very good at avoiding and distracting us from what our conscious brains want to do.
ReplyDeleteWhile one-point focus is almost impossible for the average person, concentrating on a larger task that involves more than just one facet is possible for longer periods of time. The concept of ‘Flow’ as described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi is a good description of this type of concentration. We all have experienced a period time when we were totally in the moment and the passing of time was irrelevant. I’ve experienced Flow when reading a good book, studying an enjoyable subject, writing, playing chess, solving programming-related problems, and when running or hiking. (Not to mention the flow experience during sex!)
There is no doubt that the ability to focus and concentrate can be improved with practice. There are concentration techniques to follow that have been around for thousands of years. I also have no doubt that the ability to focus is transferable from one activity to another.
Eliminating extracurricular activities such as band, art, and sports has been called short-sighted because it is through these enjoyable activities that students learn to concentrate. Watch a child try to concentrate on homework they don’t want to do versus watching the child voluntarily concentrate intently for an hour on a drawing or on solving an enjoyable puzzle. Perhaps the purpose of band, art, and other extracurricular activities is not in performing the activity itself, but to teach the ability to concentrate in an enjoyable environment. Once students have learned to concentrate in enjoyable areas, perhaps students can use those experiences in other areas that are not as enjoyable for them.
My ability to concentrate at one sitting has now been exhausted, so I will end this little essay now.
David - Wow. First, I am a big fan of Csíkszentmihályi and have 3 of his books right above my computer work station. I must say, though, apart from the concept of Flow and a few basic points, I haven't gotten a lot more from his books. That said, Flow is a great concept.
ReplyDeleteMeditation is also a topical topic for me. I did Tai Chi for many years and I think it helped me tremendously controlling my "gray" periods. I stopped doing it a year or so ago (i should restart). I have recently started relooking at zen mediation, and as you probably have noticed, I have an interest in Buddhist ideas - in fact, I may have originally taken the phrase monkey brain from a Buddhist discussion.
All this aside, concentration is an important topic for me. And I probably don't mean single minded focus, but the ability to direct thoughts into a particular arena, while limiting non-useful monkey-brain thoughts. I do believe that some inner chatter is necessary and in general, I am more interested in insight than what is called purely rational thought.
Sigh - good topic. We should have a beer and discuss. Oh right - a few thousand miles are in between.