Improving concentration

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One of the biggest problems of meditation is maintaining consistent concentration. Sitting down and meditating is not a simple business and many teachers talk about mental maps that take years to traverse for most people, or not at all. As any good psychologist will know, there are many minds in our psyche and they run automatically throughout the day. They make decisions for us. They are our counselors and tormentors. These minds are based on addictive conditioning to follow their advice, based on advise we've gotten from our family and culture, mixed in with direct or indirect threats to remove pleasurable attention if we don't comply.

Many Minds: 0:00
Intro: 1:15
Moving too fast: 1:39
Just stop!: 11:36
Ego to satisfy craving: 17:44
Mastering craving: 25:29
Are humans stupid? 30:31
Ignorance (Avijja): 33:55

Resources:

Abiding in Emptiness - Mary Aubry https://dharmaseed.org/talks/audio_player/990/56371.html

MN 121: The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness: https://suttacentral.net/mn121/en/sujato

Deepening into Emptiness - Rob Burbea: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/12520/

Welcoming - Rob Burbea: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/9813/

Dependent Co-arising: https://rumble.com/v1goxkv-dependent-co-arising-various-authors.html

How to motivate yourself: https://rumble.com/v1gv3zl-how-to-motivate-yourself-freud-and-beyond.html

Emotional Feeding: https://rumble.com/v1gqvl1-emotional-feeding-thanissaro-bhikkhu.html

Case Studies: 'Little Hans' - Sigmund Freud: https://rumble.com/v1gu93b-case-studies-little-hans-sigmund-freud.html

Jhana: https://rumble.com/v1gqznl-the-jhanas.html

LSD Simulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTamIwZFr1s

"Small moves Ellie." Contact - Jodie Foster and David Morse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRPUO6gGSh8

No Mind - Rob Burbea: https://dharmaseed.org/teacher/210/talk/9547/

The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0176239

Dr. Willoughby Britton and His Holiness the Dalai Lama: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etii18s9RKU

Be Completely Not Enough - Gangaji: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLN__QHwpss&t=3s

The biggest disease affecting humanity - I am not enough - Marisa Peer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw3NyUMLh7Y

The Diamond In Your Pocket - Gangaji: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781591795520/

Suffering and Addiction - Gangaji: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlLcI5oDKu4

I Am Enough: Mark Your Mirror And Change Your Life - Marisa Peer: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781916411005/

The Pleasure Principle - Sigmund Freud: https://rumble.com/v1gurqv-the-pleasure-principle-sigmund-freud.html

The Psychology of Awakening - Conscious TV - Georgi Y Johnson interviewed by Renate McNay: (12:36) https://youtu.be/_BQdbwxWUXc

From Illusion to Truth - Leonard Jacobson (45:40) https://youtu.be/JFSSKtCYFkM

Everybody spiritually by-passes - Mariana Caplan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqJ3iqJPX_s

Spiritual Bypassing and Inner Bonding: https://rumble.com/v1gpm57-spiritual-bypassing-and-inner-bonding.html

Transference Focused Therapy - Otto Kernberg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUHO5laXVug

The Craft of the Heart - Thanissaro Bhikkhu https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/y2019/190521_The_Craft_of_the_Heart.mp3

Skillful Thinking - Thanissaro Bhikkhu: https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/y2001/0109n1b1%20Skillful%20Thinking.mp3

Flow - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://rumble.com/v1gvked-how-to-gain-flow-in-7-steps.html

The art of focus - Christina Bengsston https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF80HzqvAoA

The Anapanasati Sutta: 4 tetrads: https://rumble.com/v1gon6r-the-anapanasati-sutta-4-stages-of-meditation.html

Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780712654777/

In Sheep's Clothing: Understanding and Dealing with Manipulative People by George K. Simon: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780965169608/

WNAAD Stalking: https://rumble.com/v1gvhk1-stalking-world-narcissistic-abuse-awareness-day.html

What is thinking? - Martin Heidegger: Paperback: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780060905286/

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