what did you say again?

Yes, actually... there's quite a bit you can do. And doing that is really important to many aspects of your life. The ability to focus your mind is like a muscle in many ways -- if it isn't exercised, it tends to become weak. There's a near explosion of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) among both children and adults today... a predictable consequence of the sheer rate of change in modern times and the widespread presence of multiple sources of mental stimulation: 500 channels of television, magazines, books, video games, stress from work, life challenges, and of course the Big Kahuna of ADD: the Internet. None of these stimulation sources are good or bad in and of themselves, but their omnipresence in our lives produces new challenges for the mind: a human mind simply cannot drink deeply from a "firehose" of stimulation, information, entertainment, and distractions. It saturates quickly and loses its sensitivity, it's ability to create and imagine, it's capacity for subtlety and multi-perspectival thinking. Our emotional, mental, social, and spiritual development all depend heavily on being able to slow down and "absorb and integrate" our experience. Our experience is sort of like firewood: in order to make use of it, we have to burn it up. "Burning it up" means paying attention to it, experiencing it, BEING with it -- feeling the feelings and being aware of the thoughts, noticing connections, sensing subtle relationships. This "fire of awareness" is the natural capacity of the mind to be present in the moment and flow forward with the movement of time. When we do this, a natural kind of absorption and integration occurs, in which we learn from our experiences and synthesize ever-greater "wholes" out of the random pieces and bits remembered, thought, and felt. This process takes time, and most importantly, it takes attention. So how does one develop this muscle of attention? With lots of time and effort, spent in the right kind of exercise. (Sorry, there are no shortcuts.) All approaches that work depend on repetitively interrupting the tendency to get "lost in thought". "Awareness practice" is the proper name for these approaches -- meditation being the most well-known variation. Typically the student is instructed to sit still and upright (on a cushion, or a chair) and attend to their breath: just the simple in and out of air in the lungs or through the nose, etc. Just sit there, and be aware -- don't get lost in thought: if thoughts arise, just acknowledge them and then return your attention to your breath. If you find yourself lost in thought, just acknowledge that, notice what the thoughts are, and then return to the breath. This sounds really simple. And in a way, it is. But it's devilishly difficult to do -- because that muscle of attention is very weak for most of us. Almost any thought that arises is more tempting and attractive than following our own breath in and out... and like a junkie sighting his favorite dealer, the attention will be automatically drawn toward the stimulation. So just like building a physical muscle, mastery only comes with ongoing and regular practice. I usually recommend that people start with 5 minutes a day and work up to 30 minutes a day -- 30 minutes of "time out" to allow the mind to integrate a whole day's worth of inattention and distraction. Even that isn't really adequate to burn it all up, but it does make a big difference over a sustained period. After a few months of daily practice, it's common for people to start noticing changes which are obviously attributable to their meditation practice -- sudden insights that seem to come out of nowhere, a deeper ability to relax and enjoy life, heightened sensory awareness, etc. If practice persists for a number of years, profound transformations begin to occur in your personality, worldview, and values. These transformations are not the result of being "taught" something by some teacher (although a teacher is helpful), nor are they the result of learning some new ideas. They're the result of your own mind discovering and integrating the fragments of knowledge which it didn't even realize were already on hand. It's the deepening of one's own self-understanding, which pulls in everything one has learned about life in the process. Here's how I like to think of it: consider that your assignment is to sit quietly for 30 minutes and just be satisfied with the moment, without getting lost in thought. It's really quite pleasant when you can do that. Of course, most of us CAN'T do that, and that's the whole point -- whatever beliefs, attitudes, or mental habits are preventing you from just sitting there quietly and being satisfied are the same things that are preventing you from experiencing life as whole, complete, and satisfying. So if you can't sit and be satisfied -- sit and observe. Be aware, study, and experience the source of your dissatisfaction: that's awareness practice. Either way, you're on the right track: you're either sitting and being satisfied, or you're sitting and learning about dissatisfaction. Both forks of that road lead to freedom. Zen meditation instruction from Zen Mountain Monastery: http://www.mro.org/zmm/teachings/meditation.php Meditation for computer junkies: http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/310591 How do you turn off negative self talk in your head? http://www.answerbag.com/a_view/854832

Yes, there are such methods. I, myself, have been treated for ....Ooh look, a bird!