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The Power of Unwavering Focus - Softcover

Dandapani

 
9780593544013: The Power of Unwavering Focus
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593544013 ISBN 13: 9780593544013
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2022

Inhaltsangabe

The life you want is in reach, if only you can master the power of focus

Anxiety, stress, worry, and fear—these are the mental maladies that literally plague us, contributing not only to our growing unhappiness, but also to physical ailments such as heart disease and obesity when left unmanaged. As Hindu priest and renowned speaker Dandapani shows in this eye-opening and enriching new book, it is only through mastering one skill—the skill of focus—that we can permanently lay these mental roadblocks to rest.
 
Dandapani spent ten years in a cloistered monastery, learning invaluable lessons on the benefits of concentration. In THE POWER OF UNWAVERING FOCUS, Dandapani distills the wisdom he gained as a monk into a practical, step-by-step guide to understanding and harnessing the mind. With clear definitions and practicable exercises (such as making your bed every morning), Dandapani teaches readers how to move awareness within the mind with willpower, incrementally integrating the practice of focus into daily life, resulting in sustainable change.
 
Through his lectures and courses, Dandapani’s message of focus has already reached and helped millions overcome distraction. Now, THE POWER OF UNWAVERING FOCUS opens readers’ eyes to how practicing the skill of focus can drastically improve productivity, relationships, mental health, and happiness—ultimately gifting us the ability to direct awareness and energy toward achieving our life goals.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Dandapani is a Hindu priest, entrepreneur, and former monk of ten years. A highly sought-after speaker and leading expert on leveraging the human mind to create a life of purpose and joy, Dandapani has shared the stage with world-renowned leaders such as Hillary Clinton, former secretary of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon, and former French president François Hollande. He and his wife are currently creating a thirty-three-acre retreat center and botanical gardens in Costa Rica to further their mission of inspiring personal growth and self-transformation.

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Chapter 1: Foundations for a Concentrated Mind

Lesson 1.1: Living a Purpose-Focused Life


There is nothing more important than knowing who you are, the path that you are on, and its final end. —Gurudeva


It was a cold and windy winter evening in Munich as we hurriedly walked toward the restaurant we were heading to. As much as I love walking around in this old Bavarian city, my favorite place in Germany, I was eager to get out of the cold. It wasn't long before we arrived at our destination, and the warmth of this quaint restaurant with its well-worn hardwood floors was a welcome embrace. We made our way to a table in the corner, draped the chairs with our layers of winter wear, ordered some wine, and continued the conversation we had been having on the walk here.

I was spending the evening with one of my dear friends, Moritz, a German entrepreneur whom I have known for a few years. He reached over to his glass of wine, took a sip, placed it back on the table, and asked me, "If you say that knowing one's purpose in life is so important, critical, in fact, then why do you always talk about the mind and focus? Why do you not start with teaching people how to find one's purpose in life?"

The wood chair creaked as I leaned forward and responded, "We discover our purpose in life with our mind. To do so, we need to have sufficient understanding and mastery of our mind, plus the ability to focus it. Only then can we maintain a state of self-reflection consistently over time to come to a clear and definitive conclusion of our life's purpose. So, though it may appear that seeking one's life purpose is where we should start, it is, in fact, not the case."

I continued, "When I ask people what they want in life, most people respond with some version of 'to be happy.' You often hear parents saying to their kids, 'We just want you to be happy.' Happiness should never be pursued. Rather, one should pursue a lifestyle where the by-product of living that lifestyle is happiness. For example, I have a glass of wine with one of my dearest friends in my favorite city in Germany and I feel happy. So the key is then to have good wine with good friends in Germany."

Moritz laughed and responded with, "I'll toast to that!"

"Cheers!" I smiled as we clinked our wineglasses.

It was warm inside, but sitting next to the window I could feel the cold desperately trying to seep in through the glass. "It's a sequential process," I shared. "Having a good understanding of the inner workings of the mind and the ability to focus is the foundation of what is needed to discover our purpose in life. Our purpose defines our priorities, and our priorities define the lifestyle we should lead. The by-product of living a life that has been defined by our purpose is happiness."

Moritz responded, "Well, when you put it that way, it all makes sense why you would want to start with understanding the mind and learning to focus."

"When we can live a purpose-focused life we can live a rewarding life."

This book will give you the foundational teachings and tools necessary to understand and leverage the mind and the power of unwavering focus. Understanding these two things-your mind and how to focus it-will allow you to begin the process of discovering your life's purpose, and subsequently defining your priorities and focusing on them, thus enabling you to live a life of purpose and joy. In the upcoming chapters, we will learn, among other things, how to use these learnings to live in the present as well as to heal many of the ailments that plague our mind, such as worry, fear, anxiety, and stress.

I'll share with you a step-by-step process of understanding how the mind works so that you can learn to control and direct it. You will also learn how to focus. In addition, I will share with you a range of simple, practical, but highly effective tools to help you become good at controlling the mind and focusing. You will learn ways to implement these tools easily and consistently in your daily life to sustain your progress toward the goals you want to achieve. Don't expect to master any of these tools by the end of the book; rather, expect to get a good and solid understanding of how these tools work, and practical techniques for applying them in every aspect of your life. It's your consistency in applying these tools in the coming weeks and months that will determine how much you actually benefit from them. Eventually, if you are consistent enough in your application, you will find that your mental patterns, your habit patterns, start to change, and you will create a different lifestyle for yourself.

The ability to focus is one of humanity's greatest assets. It is at the core of all human success and endeavor, because the ability to concentrate is what helps a person manifest their goals in life. Most people want to experience some version of happiness, contentment, enlightenment, or other such uplifting feelings, but they do not know how to attain such states because they are never taught that the key to creating the life they want is concentration. Additionally, most people are never taught how to harness and direct the powers of concentration as a tool for manifestation.

Now, the question will be asked, "Do I need to live a focused life?" My answer is "No." You absolutely do not need to live a focused life. Living a focused life is a choice, and we all have the choice of whether we want to or not. It's your life, and you should decide how you want to live it. That said, living a focused life supports you in having a more rewarding life.

There is a reason you are reading this book, and I hope it's because something inside you is telling you that leading a focused life or a purpose-focused life will improve the quality of your life and bring greater meaning to it.

What's the difference between a focused life and a purpose-focused life? A focused life is one in which you are able to give whoever and whatever you are engaged with your undivided attention. You are fully present in all your experiences and thus creating a truly rewarding life, though your experiences are not driven by a greater overarching purpose. A purpose-focused life, on the other hand, is one in which your life's purpose defines your priorities, and your priorities drive what you focus on. Your life is lived very intentionally. You make wise choices each day based on your life's purpose: who you spend time with, what you spend your time on, what music you listen to, what books you read, what shows you watch, what foods you eat, and more. You give who and what you are engaged with your undivided attention, but the who and what are intentionally chosen.

Ultimately, the goal of this book is to help you live a focused life or a purpose-focused life and reap its boundless benefits.

Lesson 1.2: Taking Charge


We have the choice of what we focus on in life. This choice is not always easy. Sometimes, if not often, it is extremely difficult, but we do have the choice.

When I was a monk living in my guru's monastery, I met a man from the island country of Mauritius who always smiled. He was, for lack of a better word, interning at the monastery for a few months, and during this time I got to know him. One day I asked him, "Why are you always smiling?"

He looked at me and said, "My father died when I was very young. My widowed mother had to raise me and my siblings all by herself, and we were quite poor. Every morning my mother would wake us up, get us to stand in a line, and then make us all laugh for five minutes. That was how we started our day."

I cannot even begin to tell you how that story has impacted my life. This lady, faced with the loss of her husband and forced now to provide for...

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2022
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593544013
ISBN 13 
9780593544013
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
352
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
M.E.G Cards & Gifts
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paula@megcards.com

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