HOW TO INCREASE CONCENTRATION

From The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont

CONCENTRATION GIVES MENTAL POISE - LESSON 8

You will find that the man that concentrates is well poised,
whereas the man that allows his mind to wander is easily upset.
When in this state wisdom does not pass from the subconscious
storehouse into the consciousness. There must be mental quiet
before the two consciousnesses can work in harmony. When you are
able to concentrate you have peace of mind.

If you are in the habit of losing your poise, form the habit of
reading literature that has a quieting power. Just the second you
feel your poise slipping, say, "Peace," and then hold this
thought in mind and you will never lose your self-control.

There cannot be perfect concentration until there is peace of
mind. So keep thinking peace, acting peace, until you are at
peace with all the world. For when once you have reached this
state there will be no trouble to concentrate on anything you
wish.

When you have peace of mind you are not timid or anxious, or
fearful, or rigid and you will not allow any disturbing thought
to influence you. You cast aside all fears, and think of yourself
as a spark of the Divine Being, as a manifestation of the "One
Universal Principle" that fills all space and time. Think of
yourself thus as a child of the infinite, possessing infinite
possibilities.

Write on a piece of paper, "I have the power to do and to be
whatever I wish to do and be." Keep this mentally before you, and
you will find the thought will be of great help to you.

The Mistake of Concentrating on Your Business While Away. In
order to be successful today, you must concentrate, but don't
become a slave to concentration, and carry your business cares
home. Just as sure as you do you will be burning the life forces
at both ends and the fire will go out much sooner than was
intended.

Many men become so absorbed in their business that when they go
to church they do not hear the preacher because their minds are
on their business. If they go to the theater they do not enjoy it
because their business is on their minds. When they go to bed
they think about business instead of sleep and wonder why they
don't sleep. This is the wrong kind of concentration and is
dangerous. It is involuntary. When you are unable to get anything
out of your mind it becomes unwholesome as any thought held
continuously causes weariness of the flesh. It is a big mistake
to let a thought rule you, instead of ruling it. He who does not
rule himself is not a success. If you cannot control your
concentration, your health will suffer.

So never become so absorbed with anything that you cannot lay it
aside and take up another. This is self-control.

Concentration Is Paying Attention to a Chosen Thought. Everything
that passes before the eye makes an impression on the
subconscious mind, but unless you pay attention to some certain
thing you will not remember what you saw. For instance if you
walked down a busy street without seeing anything that attracted
your particular attention, you could not recall anything you saw.
So you see only what attracts your attention. If you work you
only see and remember what you think about. When you concentrate
on something it absorbs your whole thought.

Self-Study Valuable. Everyone has some habits that can be
overcome by concentration. We will say for instance, you are in
the habit of complaining, or finding fault with yourself or
others; or, imagining that you do not possess the ability of
others; or feeling that you are not as good as someone else; or
that you cannot rely on yourself; or harboring any similar
thoughts or thoughts of weakness. These should be cast aside and
instead thoughts of strength should be put in their place. Just
remember every time you think of yourself as being weak, in some
way you are making yourself so by thinking you are. Our mental
conditions make us what we are. Just watch yourself and see how
much time you waste in worrying, fretting and complaining. The
more of it you do the worse off you are.

Just the minute you are aware of thinking a negative thought
immediately change to a positive one. If you start to think of
failure, change to thinking of success. You have the germ of
success within you. Care for it the same as the setting hen
broods over the eggs and you can make it a reality.

You can make those that you come in contact with feel as you do,
because you radiate vibrations of the way you feel and your
vibrations are felt by others. When you concentrate on a certain
thing you turn all the rays of your vibrations on this. Thought
is the directing power of all Life's vibrations. If a person
should enter a room with a lot of people and feel as if he were a
person of no consequence no one would know he was there unless
they saw him, and even if they did, they would not remember
seeing him, because they were not attracted towards him. But let
him enter the room feeling that he was magnetic and concentrating
on this thought, others would feel his vibration. So remember the
way you feel you can make others feel. This is the law. Make
yourself a concentrated dynamo from which your thoughts vibrate
to others. Then you are a power in the world. Cultivate the art
of feeling, for as I said before you can only make others feel
what you feel.

If you will study all of the great characters of history you will
find that they were enthusiastic. First they were enthusiastic
themselves, and then they could arouse others' enthusiasm. It is
latent in everyone. It is a wonderful force when once aroused.
All public men to be a success have to possess it. Cultivate it
by concentration. Set aside some hour of the day, wherein to hold
rapt converse with the soul. Meditate with sincere desire and
contrite heart and you will be able to accomplish that which you
have meditated on. This is the keynote of success.


"Think, speak and act just as you wish to be, And you will be
that which you wish to be."


You are just what you think you are and not what you may appear
to be. You may fool others but not yourself. You may control your
life and actions just as you can control your hands. If you want
to raise your hand you must first think of raising it. If you
want to control your life you must first control your thinking.
Easy to do, is it not? Yes it is, if you will but concentrate on
what you think about.

 For he only can
 That says he will.


How can we secure concentration? To this question, the first and
last answer must be: By interest and strong motive. The stronger
the motive the greater the concentration.--Eustace Miller, M. D.

The Successful Lives Are the Concentrated Lives. The utterly
helpless multitude that sooner or later have to be cared for by
charity, are those that were never able to concentrate, and who
have become the victims of negative ideas.

Train yourself so you will be able to centralize your thought and
develop your brain power, and increase your mental energy, or you
can be a slacker, a drifter, a quitter or a sleeper. It all
depends on how you concentrate, or centralize your thoughts. Your
thinking then becomes a fixed power and you do not waste time
thinking about something that would not be good for you. You pick
out the thoughts that will be the means of bringing you what you
desire, and they become a material reality. Whatever we create in
the thought world will some day materialize. That is the law.
Don't forget this.

In the old days men drifted without concentration but this is a
day of efficiency and therefore all of our efforts must be
concentrated, if we are to win any success worth the name.

Why People Often Do Not Get What They Concentrate On. Because
they sit down in hopeless despair and expect it to come to them.
But if they will just reach out for it with their biggest effort
they will find it is within their reach. No one limits us but
ourselves. We are what we are today as the result of internal
conditions. We can control the external conditions. They are
subject to our will.

Through our concentration we can attract what we want, because we
became enrapport with the Universal forces, from which we can get
what we want.

You have watched races no doubt. They all line up together. Each
has his mind set on getting to the goal before the others. This
is one kind of concentration. A man starts to think on a certain
subject. He has all kinds of thoughts come to him, but by
concentration he shuts out all these but the one he has chosen.
Concentration is just a case of willing to do a certain thing and
doing it.


If you want to accomplish anything first put yourself in a
concentrating, reposeful, receptive, acquiring frame of mind. In
tackling unfamiliar work make haste slowly and deliberately and
then you will secure that interior activity, which is never
possible when you are in a hurry or under a strain. When you
"think hard" or try to hurry results too quickly, you generally
shut off the interior flow of thoughts and ideas. You have often
no doubt tried hard to think of something but could not, but just
as soon as you stopped trying to think of it, it came to you.