As humans, we always want to feel in power, feel in control, of situations, of things that happen to us. We want to know what could happen in future so that we are in control and we know how to handle issues when they arise. We always want to feel secure and feeling in control assures us of this feeling of security.

One of the many strategies that we use for feeling in control is to plan… plan ahead. Plan our lives that lay ahead of us. I am not against having a plan for our life ahead. It is, after all valuable to helping us gain a direction, pursuing a goal or a feat of accomplishment. However, it’s the underlying intention behind making such plans that makes the difference whether we are able to accept when our plans dont work out the way we wanted them to work out. When the underlying intention is of exercising control and to feel in power, then of course, it leaves us in a mess, completely flustered, when things dont materialise the way we wanted them to. Because we realise how little control we have in reality, leaving us in despair, desperation and doubt whether we can achieve anything in this life with an unknown future.

So, while the planning in itself is a valuable thing to do, we could probably save ourselves a whole lot of trouble by changing the Intention behind it. What if, we were able to keep the Intention behind planning as just ‚an action stemming out of a full blown committment‘ that we make to ourselves in pursuit of our Goals and leave the desire to feel in control completely out of the perspective?

But as humans, we need a sense of control, otherwise we would not have any stability. Our mind and body need the sense of control to function in an orderly manner.

Thats where the power of concentration comes into play. Concentration of the mind and development of focus at will is an outcome of tireless attempts and perserverance that display their significance only once we have been able to master it. Ever wondered, why after reading a captivating story, or watching a mind-blowing adventure on TV or a favorite movie, we often feel calm and composed? We are left caught in our world of imagination and as long as it wasnt a horror or a depressing movie, we like the idea of submerging ourselves into the other world of our imagination. At that instant, our fears, our insecurities take a back seat as we relish the new world presented to us.

If one reflects on this phenomenon, it speaks of that one thing that is in fact very hard to control even after years of practice – that of ,Concentration‘. Often if another were to actually point it out to us when we are ’succumbing‘ to concentrating hard and being effectively ‚dissolved in our thoughts and imaginations, then it would have the ability to snap us out of this ‚concentrated activity‘ in an instant!

Conscious concentration, or in other words, , Concentration at will‚ , as the act of exhibiting the state of concentration of the mind being self aware of the act itself, hence, is a tell tale sign of how much in control we actually are… because this state of concentration is one which can easily be lost! When we gain control over that aspect which was or has been impossible to control in the past, it gives us the feeling of power and places us in a state where we are able to accept whatever that comes our way. Because deep down we then know that we were able to control one of the most uncontrollable aspects about ourselves!