This is hard to do if you think you are your mind. Sort of managing yourself as if there are two of you. You are not your mind. It seems that your mind likes to wander. If this had a purpose, it is no longer clear to most people. It has become a distraction to have a wandering mind. You are doing something important and suddenly find yourself thinking about something less important and losing focus.
How can you train your mind to stay focused?
The most effective way is to take it gently. A little bit of training each day. Start by focusing on something inside or outside. Inside could be your breathing. Outside could be the sounds you can hear. If you start with inside, focus on your breathing. Slowly in and slowly out. If random thoughts pop into your head, gently take your focus back to breathing. Repeat this exercise for as long as you intend to train your mind on this occasion. Maybe start with two or three minutes. Do it when you are kept waiting. If you choose to focus externally, careful not to label the sounds. Just hear them as sounds or you will get sucked into thinking instead of just listening.If your mind does start labelling, gently go back to just listening to sounds instead of identifying the sound of people laughing ( and you know one of them…..)
Remember that you are not trying to control or stop the distracting thoughts. You are simply changing the way you view your wandering mind. You are seeing it as normal and learning to live with it. Your ability to focus will improve and you will spend less time out of focus. You will be more present, more attentive and much more focused.
Try it every day.
