Aloha,
I'm Reverend Cindy Potlos and today I want to talk about the power of focus.
The power of focus is truly almost miraculous.
Think about how we achieve what we want in life.
When we decide and have an intent,
Which is very,
Very important as well,
We then can really focus on how we go about achieving what we want in life.
And I have talked to many people who have gone through COVID and that have some problems focusing afterwards.
I was talking to one person who said ever since they had COVID,
They just really couldn't focus like they did before.
And that's what created an idea in me to talk about the power of focusing.
We have a lot of outside influences,
So many distractions that happen.
It comes from a lot of what we see through the internet,
Through our phones,
Through what we hear on TV or the radio,
Through phone calls we get,
Through bings and tings and reminders on our phone of things going on.
That it's very important to guard our power to focus and to not be distracted.
And this is really a key that we can use in meditation.
Now if you go to the dictionaries,
You'll see that focus is defined as a way to concentrate on something in particular.
It's a way to,
When you think about focusing,
Also you think about your vision bringing something into view.
Of course that can be translated in meditation to envisioning and to be able to have a manifestation by visioning.
Another example of focusing is to adjust a microscope to better see something clearly.
With our soul and with our power of our inner mind,
We can direct our mind to focus.
And over years and years of meditation,
I've been actually doing it for five decades plus of meditating,
I have found how important this focus is in creating peace of mind,
In creating a place where we can connect to our inner self and our soul and be able to go to our highest self for a clear focus of our souls and purpose in life.
Now other words that are used for focus is heart,
Limelight,
Focus,
Pole star,
Seat,
Focal point,
Spotlight,
Target,
Meeting place,
A nerve center.
But if we take the word focus and put it into meditation as in a focused meditation,
It then involves focusing on something intently.
Now I just mentioned the power of intent.
You ask any healer and they will tell you that your intent as a healer can be 90% of the power of healing.
Your intent in life on your purpose in life is so,
So very important as to your motivation.
Now,
If you put intent and focus together and focus with intent,
You then can use that power for so many things,
Including of course,
Any of the benefits you get in meditation.
And we know,
I think most of you know,
The benefits of meditation include stress relief,
Improved memory,
Self-awareness,
And also this ability to be clear in your mind,
To clear the clouds that pass through your subjective and subconscious self,
To get to that clear still point within.
Have you heard that term before,
That still clear point within?
I was thinking this morning of that beautiful song,
I can see clearly now,
I can see clearly now,
The rain has gone.
And there's that beautiful moment where it's a bright,
Bright,
Sunshiney day when the clouds are gone.
And that is the way it feels when you're clear in yourself and you've reached that place of clearness in meditation.
Now,
You know,
This practice of meditation goes back to thousands of years,
Of course,
In India,
In Egypt,
The Hindu,
The Buddhist cultures,
The Taoists in China.
This has long been what wise people and teachers have used to achieve a clear focus and to teach others.
Many of the highest priests in Egypt were there to teach the head people,
The ones in charge,
The princes,
The priestesses,
How they should live their life.
The same thing when we go back to Confucius even.
And there is the same element that is carried forward in Christianity.
The focus there of how to live with love and how to pray to God and how to have proper values.
It also exists in Judaism with the practice they have when they gather.
And also in Islamic religions.
The practice of meditation is not belonging to one religion,
But to all of those who wish to seek that spiritual connection within.
We start to see the roots of meditation happening in the West in the 1700s.
And in the 20th century,
It became popular in the US.
And in the 1960s,
There were teachers,
Of course,
That were starting to bring this to the West.
There were teachers in Zen Buddhism,
Suzuki Roshi.
There were many wonderful Indian teachers,
Swami Vivekananda,
Krishna Murthy,
Dr.
Paul Masters,
Satchitananda,
And of course the great Yogananda,
Who were bringing this forward in teachings.
The practice of meditation in the US has taken off.
And now there's so many kinds of meditations.
Many,
Many kinds of meditations with mindfulness being very,
Very popular right now.
Transcendental meditation,
Still there after the Beatles,
Brought that to people's attention.
There's also visualizations and affirmations.
There's many,
Many forms of practice in Tibetan Buddhism and meditation there as well.
So we can use this focus in meditation to come to that still place within where we can then connect with the highest light,
The one source of all light,
To connect with our soul,
With God.
And it's such a valuable practice.
Now the traditional way of doing this is simple.
You find a comfortable place where you can relax.
That's your place.
Why is this important?
Well,
It's important because you know if you have a spot that you've dedicated with an altar,
A candle,
Possibly a statue or two,
A picture,
Maybe a flower,
Maybe incense.
And if you light that candle,
You can look at that candle.
And what do you do with the candle?
You focus on that light.
And then as you're focusing on that flickering candle light,
You just breathe.
You breathe in,
You hold your breath.
For a few seconds,
You pause there,
Focusing on that highest point within.
And you just release and let go,
Just focusing on your breath.
Breathing in,
Holding your breath,
And breathing out.
Holding your breath out for a moment and breathing in and finding yourself getting comfortable and relaxed and just focusing now on your breath.
Breathing in,
Holding and breathing out.
Now what does this breathing focus do?
When you focus on your breath,
Breathing in,
Holding and breathing out,
You are giving your mind something to concentrate on.
And your mind,
Like a computer,
Is programmed to follow your instructions.
So as you focus on your breath,
You can simply know that your mind will get less distracted and go off and do what they call the monkey mind chatter.
Just breathing in and breathing out.
Now in Zen traditions,
You don't need a candle,
You just focus your breath and your mind on maybe possibly that still point.
Slightly eyes open,
Gazing down.
And again,
Just breathing in and breathing out,
Almost to the point where you're just allowing your mind to take over.
And then you can,
If you're doing something with a mantra,
You can say your mantra.
Or if it helps in your practice to use a word,
You can just use a word.
Say the word is love.
And now that you've got yourself relaxed and clear with just your breathing,
You can just add the word love.
Or whatever your word might be.
Breathing in and allowing that word to resonate through you.
And breathing out.
And if you're doing mindfulness meditation,
You would allow yourself to just be aware.
Be aware of what you're feeling.
Be aware of how it feels to just sit here.
To just be here now.
Breathing in and breathing out.
You might want to do a scan of your body,
Seeing how it feels in your area of your head,
Of your eyes,
Of your ears,
Of your jaw,
Your nose,
Releasing any tension you might find.
Using your intention to feel your neck area.
How does your neck feel?
Allow yourself to feel anything that might be going on there and clear any tension in your throat chakra out.
And just visualize that throat being radiant and beautiful and clear and full of energy.
Focusing on that creative force of your beautiful throat chakra.
And feeling your shoulders and the light going down your arms to your fingers.
Breathing in and seeing the light spreading through all of the shells and the different levels of your cells and all the atoms in your body.
And now seeing that beautiful light that you are in your heart of love.
Just focus intently on your heart.
Breathing into your heart and finding the breath within the breath.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Breathing deeply in and breathing out.
What is your heart feeling?
Is there anything in your heart that you need to heal?
Just allow yourself to feel that deepest part of your heart of hearts.
Just be there in the love that you are.
Journey into that light of love in your heart.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And allow the energy to go down to your third chakra full of a beautiful golden light that comes through all of the organs of your body,
Your liver,
Any stress you may be feeling in your kidneys or your pancreas or your spleen or your stomach.
Just breathe light and love into every part of your whole third chakra area and let go of any stress there and moving on down to your second chakra.
Breathing in and seeing any tension in your hips or your lower back,
Any hidden feelings,
Any tension,
Fear that might be hidden.
Allow yourself to be perfectly safe and send love and that beautiful peach color light to your second chakra.
Just breathing in and out and now allow yourself to go to the root chakra.
The beautiful red,
Red energy there.
Just let it be charged and full of light releasing any old fears,
Anger,
Tension,
Anything that needs to be healed.
And allow the light to go down to your thighs,
Your right thigh,
To your left thigh,
To your right knee,
To your left knee.
Send light and love to your knees and thank them for working so hard for you.
And now let's focus on sending that light down to your calf area,
Letting your calves be full of light,
Any tension there released and on down to your feet and your toes.
Now just sense how you feel and now send light about six feet up above you,
Six feet below you,
Six feet out on either side of you,
Six feet in front of you and back of you and focus on letting that entire area be filled with a healing,
Wonderful,
Powerful light and just let it protect you.
You are now protected and full of wonderful light and love and now allow yourself to completely be safe and able to travel to that light where the light comes from your soul area.
Let your attention be focused on the light within your soul.
Breathe into that soul and allow yourself to just be in this wonderful,
Beautiful,
Golden energy of your soul.
And the objective observer right there,
Present right now,
Is your highest self able to see you and all that you are.
That perfect,
Beautiful self that you are present here right now in the light.
Allow yourself to be completely able right now to focus on that energy of your soul's light and allow yourself in this beautiful place to see yourself objectively and to thank yourself for all of who you are and how hard you've worked to do what you're doing in life.
Allow yourself to feel love for yourself.
Keep breathing deeply and allow yourself to slowly come back,
Slowly come back to your conscious mind and allow your whole consciousness to now be recharged,
Redeemed,
Restored,
Reset and know in this moment that you are totally able to do what you need to do in life if you focus on it.
Just allow yourself to think for a moment of anything that might come to you as a particular message,
Something you need to remember and bring whatever it is,
If it is a message to your conscious mind and write it down so that you can build that bridge with focus from your highest self,
To your highest consciousness,
To your conscious mind and to your subconscious mind,
Building that bridge from the inner to the outer.
And now we're slowly going to come out of meditation and we're going to take a moment to just be grateful.
We're going to be grateful for that power and that energy and that intent that you have had to be able to be completely centered in light and love.
Breathing that in and now breathing out,
Feeling good,
Feeling great.
Right now,
Right here,
We're going to close out this meditation and remember you always can sit and meditate.
I suggest doing it in the morning when it's quiet but find the best time for you.
Take that time to focus and remember you can use this gift of focusing that you learn in meditation to focus throughout the day and when it gets busy and there's a lot of chatter and a lot of distractions going on,
Go back to remembering to breathe and to focus,
To be centered in who you really are.
And remember that power of focusing is a great gift in life.
Use it,
Use it and you'll find that power of focusing with a pure intent can change your life.
Blessings to you always.
