The Value of Mental Development

Continuing the series of the Eightfold Path, it's time now to talk about the last three of the group; the right effort, the right mindfulness, and the right concentration. These I believe is the most important concepts of the list, however it requires mastery over the first five concepts in order to implement these. 

The Right Effort

This refers to choosing to put your limited time and energy in a task that will lead you to your goals. This requires that you clearly know what it is that you want in life and directly pursue it. For example, if I want to get better at writing the wrong effort would be to do math, it's not going to improve my writing. The right effort would be to start writing blogs, diaries, or articles. The right effort is directly related to your values with the basis of what it is that you value most in life.

The Right Mindfulness

The right mindfulness is being perfectly aware of your surroundings. I like to refer this to certain social relationships that we have. There are times when some are just not interested in our company yet we strive hard to approve ourselves to them not knowing that it only makes things worse. Having the right mindfulness means you clearly understand this and even though it is painful you know that the right decision is to let them go. Again, the right mindfulness relies heavily on acceptance of your true reality.

The Right Concentration

Humans have so many different emotions. Every single day there are many catalyst that can trigger a variety of different emotions. These emotions then clouds the mind which makes it harder to see the path to the persons goal. It is important then to obtain the right concentration to riffle through these different emotions clouding the mind to really find what it is that we have to do to reach the goal.

Conclusion

This is the end of the Eightfold Path. The Buddha prescribes this to anyone wanting to end suffering. A deep understanding of these eight concepts and applying them to our lives will result in a much more peaceful and satisfying life.