Image via Wikipedia
In splendid detail, Easwaran describes the benefits of practicing mindfulness and what he calls “one-pointed attention:”
Developing a one-pointed mind will…enrich your life moment by moment. You will find that your senses are keener, your emotions more stable, your intellect more lucid, your sensitivity to the needs of others heightened. Whatever you do, you will be there more fully. Entering a home, you won’t slam the door because you will be there to hear it. You won’t so easily trip or spill things or bump into people because you will be aware of your movement. You won’t forget things because now your mind is engaged. You won’t become mentally fatigued, for you are conserving your powers. You will not be fickle or vacillating because you will have healed the mind of its divisions. And perhaps most precious of all, you will not ignore the distress or joy of others, because in looking into their eyes you will be looking truly into their hearts. ….Achieving this precious – I might say wondrous – one-pointededness will also greatly facilitate mediation and speed our progress on the spiritual path. Meditation is concentration, and concentration finally become consecration….When we let our minds become scattered, we are but leaves on the surface of the lake of life, far from infinite reality. When we unify our minds, we plunge deeper and deeper into that reality and move ever closer to the Lord.
