Weekly Challenge - Focused Thought

To pass this week's challenge, you have to spend 10 minutes in focused thought.

Some people might call this meditation, but I like to think of it as focused thought. The word "meditation" comes with a lot of baggage, much of which I don't want to deal with, but there is a significant benefit to spending time in focused thought.

Sit somewhere comfortable and quiet where you won't be distracted for 10 minutes. Set a timer and then forget about it. Then close your eyes and just think about something. Anything will do. You could think about:

• Noises you hear, imagine a story about what causes those noises.
  
• The meal you'll eat later and all the work that went in to preparing that meal.
  
• How your lungs rip oxygen out of the air and send it through your body in your blood.

Don't worry if you find your mind drifting from the topic that you're focusing on. Just refocus your mind back to the original thought and keep going. After a while, you'll start to wonder if you goofed up when you set the timer. Resist the urge to check it and trust that you did it right the first time.