attached to ice-cream, but understand it’s bad for your health, and know you don’t feel good about yourself when you eat it, then don’t go to an ice-cream parlour to meet your friends. This doesn’t mean the ice-cream or the ice-cream parlour is bad. It just means your mind is uncontrolled. Initially, we stay away from those things that our mind gets uncontrolled about. That’s the meaning of seclusion. If we avoid the objects that incite our ignorance, anger, attachment, resentment and laziness, our disturbing emotions will gradually decrease. This happens mainly because we are now actively hearing, thinking and meditating on the Dharma to cultivate the antidotes to those disturbing emotions.
Simplify Your Life to Stop Distraction When we stop living such a busy life, running around here and there, doing this and that, we aren’t so distracted. Naturally, it becomes easier to focus on the Dharma. This is the value of attending retreats, whether they are for one day, a few months, or even several years. Going to Dharma class every week is beneficial, but when you attend a day-long Dharma class or retreat, your mind becomes more concentrated. You are less distracted because your cell phone is off, your computer isn’t next to you, there is no television. You are in silence. You are not busy telling everybody what you like, what you dislike, or what all your problems are. You have time to think and reflect. You are not looking at art books, advertisements, and all those other things that distract you. When you simplify your life and your environment, there is less distraction and thus virtuous activities naturally increase.
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