Focus: The Master Key To Happiness - By: Willie Horton

I have my suspicions that John Lennon wasn't quite on the money when he claimed that all you need is love! I would suggest that all you need is focus ' because focus is what makes us more present, more productive, more effective and, indeed, even more loving. Yet, if you look through the all the research and theory in the field of psychology over the last seventy years, you will discover that the normal mind is self-destructively unfocused. This is because our present-day mental faculties and capabilities were honed in an era when we were hunter-gatherers ' an environment altogether different from 21st century living. Our minds are tuned to pay attention to little other than the threat of man-eating (or woman-eating!) beasts jumping out of the undergrowth! And those are in short supply these days (unless you put bankers and politicians in this category!). As a result of these 'capabilities', we are rarely present in the here and now ' in fact research suggests that the normal mind is only about 1% here, the rest of it being buried in our own very personal evolution. More important, however, is the recent revelation that, as far as neuro-psychology is concerned, there is a direct link between success and happiness on the one hand and our level of focus, on the other. The more excited enough by what is going on right now, the more we will be focused.

Basically, exciting yourself is a prerequisite to getting exciting about anything - it's a chicken and egg situation! Let me explain. Neuro-psychology has discovered normally dormant parts of our brain become highly activated when we hit a natural high. This comes about as a result of us paying an unusual or abnormal amount of focus to what is going on. In other words, when something powerful, exciting, awe-inspiring or simply out of the ordinary grabs our attention, we use more of our mind. The result is that we become fully engrossed in what we are doing and our mind is unable to pay attention to the normal subconscious programming and 'stored knowledge' that is responsible for our ordinary everyday lacklustre state of mind. It has also been found that meditation has a similar effect on our mind. You shouldn't be surprised at this assertion. You see, meditation is nothing more than a structured methodolgy that enables you pay an abnormal amount of attention to what it feels like and sounds like to be fully present in the here and now.

Meditation - often misunderstood by people or even feared by those who lack an understanding of the process - is, basically, a workout for the mind. Meditation brings discipline and focus to an otherwise undisciplined and unfocused mind. Don't forget, to be almost completely unfocused is, in fact, our natural adult default state of mind. This default state also means, unfortunately, that your subconscious mind is free to focus on what psychology calls our 'stored knowledge' - the stuff that we learned when we were young and impressionable - the source of our self-limiting beliefs. In short, meditation tears your subconscious mind away from its preoccupation with the past and drags it, often kicking and screaming, into the present.

And the present is where life is lived. Only in the present can you be at your very best. Only in the here and now can you actually do what needs to be done. However, as we've already seen, the ordinary mind is pretty much everywhere other than here - it is all over the place. Quite obviously, a key characteristic of the natural high that I mentioned earlier on is that, when we have such an experience, we are more fully present. Unusually successful and unusually happy people are more present than the norm - that is why we notice such people and say that they have presence. You need to presence for it is the key to effortless happiness and success.

Five to ten minutes meditation - or, as many of my personal development clients like to call it 'mental exercising' - each morning is the mental equivalent of a visit to the gym. It is training - training that, if you do it meticulously each morning, will develop your ability to be present and focused as the day progresses. If you are more present - or more focused, - you will be more efficient at what you're doing, more effective in the process, more productive as a result and, as sure as night follows day, life will become easier. As a result, regardless of where you find yourself or what you've got to do, your life will simply be a joy.

In addition, presence - your presence of mind - will afford you and even bigger benefit. When you become more focused, it is effortlessly simple to spot what's important, as distinct from what's urgent. You will immediately notice when you are doing something that you shouldn't be doing - wasting your time, letting other people drag you down or distract you, thinking useless thoughts or listening to those little inner voices that are activated by your self-limiting beliefs. This level of focus provides you with an important advantage throughout the day. Not only will you be more productive in what you're doing - you'll be doing the right thing. Not only will you become more alert to your own behaviour and you will become more alert to the behaviour - good, bad and indifferent of others. Most importantly, you will become alert to all the possibilities and opportunities that are forever presenting themselves in your life. Now, you might think that you don't see many possibilities or opportunities in your life. They do - it's just that in your normal unfocused state of mind you've never noticed them.

Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton

About the Author

Willie Horton enables his clients live their dream - since he launched his acclaimed Personal Development Seminars in 1996. His clients include major corporations: Pfizer, Deloitte, Nestle, KPMG, G4S & Allergan. An Irishman, he lives in the French Alps and travels the world as a much sought after speaker and mentor. He is the author of To Succeed Just Let Go and the creator of Gurdy.Net

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