Page 86 - Advance Copy: Todd Kaufman, Author

TODD KAUFMAN
A Focal Point Meditation is a meditation I have specifically designed to do just that: get you really good at noticing the very first inklings of a thought, and then letting the thought go, thus avoiding that big nasty train from barreling into the station and wreaking havoc!
Soon I am going to show you how you can do this really simple little meditation, of course with Intention, Repetition and Reward. (You saw that coming, didn’t you?!)
Meditation: The learned art of choosing your thoughts.
So many patients have told me they can’t meditate because their minds race so fast, or they just naturally multitask. Others say they have OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) so focusing is impossible. To these folks I say: “Awesome! You are the most likely to learn quickly, and master, the art of choosing your thoughts!”
Why is this? Remember the three keys to neuroplastic change: Intention, Repetition and Reward. If you were to intentionally try to stay focused on one sensation, say the feeling of your breath, and your thoughts kept going elsewhere, you would repeatedly have to choose to change your thoughts back to that sensation. And if your untrained mind wandered off hundreds of times, you’d have to choose to bring it back to focus hundreds of times.... Look at how many times you would be repeating the thought change process! Hundreds! And since repetition is one of the three keys to neuroplastic change, you are like the sportswoman who never stops practicing to perfect her skills!
So if you are finding it challenging and uncomfortable to keep a singular focus (remember: Being uncomfortable is the harbinger of change!) then you are definitely on the right path!
I don’t know a single successful and effective therapist
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