Practicing Savoring Can Benefit Your Focus

The importance of focusing your attention on the here and now is the basis of a successful life. You can improve your focus simply by living in the moment. Living in the moment improves your awareness and your focus, both of which otherwise you'd have missed. Focusing your attention on the here and now also helps you relax your mind, as you don't let constant worries, concerns and stray thoughts dominate your brain.


Using your conscious mind to think about things you want to focus on, like a hobby or project, gets in our way of living in the moment. Thoughts start to run through your mind and distract you from living in the moment. By meditating you can learn to focus on what's important. There are many forms of meditation and one of the most popular is yoga. Yoga incorporates physical exercises, breathing techniques and meditation into one relaxing experience.

Happiness and sadness are two very different states of being. While they are part of our natural state of being they can also cause us stress and depression. Happiness, as happiness is often described, is the absence of negativity while sadness is associated with negativity and pain. However, we all need to experience some happiness and sadness in our lives. Happiness and sadness are also part of our natural function as complex beings. Focusing your attention on the present moment brings your attention into balance and can lead to a greater sense of happiness and fulfillment.

To focus on the present moment and get us out of linear thought processes requires that we stay grounded. A common way to do this is to get a cup of herbal tea, such as chamomile, an incense stick, or a marjoram, and sit for a few minutes. Breathe deeply and visualize the object you are trying to get a handle on: a tennis ball, a train, a basketball, etc. Each time you picture something, focus on it intensely for a few moments until the image fades and becomes less vivid until it is no longer attention-grabbing.

One way to keep your attention on your goal is to ignore distractions. We all have phones, computers, TVs, etc. As the old saying goes, "Don't distraction the mind." The way to master this is to stay focused on whatever it is you want to focus on. This can be accomplished by simply not looking at or paying attention to any other items.

Focusing your attention on your purpose can bring about peace of mind by reducing your levels of self-consciousness. Self-consciousness, or an overactive or under active mind, can cause us to feel threatened, unworthy, or worried about our lives. We can learn to quiet our minds to eliminate these feelings by learning to embrace and deep breathe as often as we can. By doing this we can calm down and get into a state of relaxation that enhances the ability to focus. We can also learn to savor each breath as it passes through our bodies.

Meditation is one of many ways to focus on the present moment. While meditation is itself a beneficial activity, there are many other ways to meditate such as enjoying a poem, enjoying nature, enjoying a conversation with a friend or family member, having a reading together, meditating before bed, and so forth. All of these activities help to enhance the ability to focus on a specific thing or objective.


The practice of savoring can actually deepen our focus as well. Practicing savoring involves centering our attention on something else entirely, for a moment. In doing so, we are able to free up some space in our mind and free it from thoughts, memories, or worries. This allows us to savor each breath as it passes over our bodies as it allows the mind and body to relax and enter into a deeper state of relaxation.