By Eknath Easwaran

Everything we do should be worthy of our full attention. Doing more than one thing at a time divides attention and fragments consciousness. When we read and eat at the same time, for example, part of our mind is on what we are reading and part on what we are eating; we are not getting the most from either activity.

Similarly, when talking with someone, give that person your full attention. These are not little things. Taken together they help to unify consciousness and deepen concentration.

One-pointed attention is a powerful aid to meditation. Though our mind may be three-pointed or four-pointed or a hundred-pointed now, we train it to be one-pointed in meditation. Until it is trained, the mind will continue to go its own way, because it is the nature of an untrained mind to wander. Attention can be trained, and no skill in life is greater than the capacity to direct your attention at will.

The benefits of this are numerous. If you have trained your mind to give full attention to one thing at a time, you can achieve your goal in any walk of life. Whether it is science or the arts or sports or a profession, concentration is a basic requirement in every field.

One-pointed attention is helpful in whatever job you are doing. But perhaps the greatest benefit of a trained mind is the emotional stability it brings. In order to get angry, for example, your concentration must be broken – your mind has to change lanes. In order to get afraid, your mind has to change lanes. In order to get upset, your mind has to change lanes. What we all yearn for is a mind that cannot be upset by anything. And we can achieve it, too; but it calls for a lot of work in the training of attention.

When the mind is one-pointed it will be secure, free from tension, and capable of the concentration that is the mark of genius in any field.

For a full discussion of one-pointed attention, read this chapter from Easwaran’s book Passage Meditation.