Focus

Focus.

What is this one word, which makes me lost in a world of deep thought? What does it mean, in essence? How do we get to that level of focus, and then to the desired levels of Super-focus?
What are the ascents and descents?

Focus seems to be a concentration - a latent, constant, mental, physical concentration on what you want to focus on. A state of constant concentration on the destination, and the path. A concentration that is pretty hard to even initiate in the beginning, but one which adds more and more strength to you. Focus seems to be a state of mind. A state of mind in which every there is no scope for any decision which causes you to act outside your field of duty. It seems to overrule everything that hinders speed on the path to the destination.

It seems to be sustained by growing periods of intense concentration. It grows and grows, and then the continuous concentration power increases. You immerse yourself in your work, and relax only for the sake of relaxation - in order to give your mind and body the rest they need. Every time a distraction comes, you immerse yourself in your work more deeply. You push deeper and deeper, into the quietude of the depths of your mind.

To delve deep into the calm, undisturbed, intense depths of focus; to remain in the light, transparent, revitalizing water; and to delve deeper and deeper - this seems to be the state that strongly pulls me towards itself. Lost in your work, you become one with the Present - losing all sense, except the task in front of you. You become more and more intensely focussed and further strengthen your concentration and focus.

In racing games like 'Nfs: Most Wanted', there's a certain thing called the "Nitro" boost. Your car emits a blast of nitrous oxide, which gives you rocketing speed. Instantaneously. And in your period of nitrous boost, your surroundings blur. You're moving ahead in such levels of speed, that the objects at the side of the road - the trees, the buildings, the cars, the telephone booths; literally everything - blurs. You can see something similar to a time-drag. As if the inertia of those objects holds them back even as they get pulled by your tremendous speed. I don't know if you're a gamer, and if you know at all, about Nfs. But there' is a striking similarity between a sustained state of focus, and the scenario I just described. In fact, to me, both things are the same. While in a state of sustained focus, you're the car. Everything around you are the objects around the road. The road is the path of action and duty. So when you're immersed in your work so intensely, you lose sense of everything around the path. Everything else loses its clarity. Solely the path, and your destination. Everything else is a blurred vision, not worthy of your full attention, or even partial attention.

It is these intense levels of focus that are really worth being called levels of focus. Rest all is imagining that you're focussing.

SuperFocus. A word that I use to describe the highest levels of focus. SuperFocus.

To describe SuperFocus, SuperFocus is a sustained level of intense focus, for extremely long periods of time. Your levels of focus are so high, that your time of intense focus encroaches into eveything else. Your focus, becomes like a 'Yajna'. In the literal sense, it means "religious sacrifice", but in the way I understand it, 'Yajna' is like a consecration of all actions - every single one, done as an offering to the Divine. SuperFocus, in my view, doesn't go to such high levels when the destination is a physical goal. Yet, if the goal is a manifold one, it manifests in beautiful ways.

At the moment, since I am concerned only with the physical goal aspect of SuperFocus, I would like to write about that. I shall write about the physical aspect of SuperFocus in my next post.

Till then, Sayonara. :-)