You Can't Point a Mind that Cannot Be Pointed

A modern multitasking lifestyle is a large challenge for anyone who wants to be able to focus on one task at a time. Being mindful, and thus staying in the here and now as needed, can be practically impossible for a busy person—let alone for someone who also regrets the past and/or worries about the future at times.

The more you regret, the more you worry, the more stressed and distracted you become—and the less focused on the task at hand you may soon find yourself. Performance in any area suffers when you're not paying it full attention—which can be extremely dangerous on an assembly line, the road, or in front of a stove.

But you don't have to erase all bad memories and avoid planning for the future to prevent distraction-created problems. You just have to train yourself to be able to concentrate on one task (thought) at a time—which does take planned and consistent practice—especially if you tend to check email ten times an hour.

Anchor Meditation + Benefits of Concentration

One method I recommend to improve concentration is anchor meditation. An anchor can be a mantra (word, phrase), a person, an image, even your breath. You start the meditation by focusing on your breathing and the chosen anchor. If your mind wanders, which it most often does by drifting into the past or the future—just bring it back to the here and now by refocusing on your anchor.

Even though it may take a while, and a good number of tries, this process will help you gain and maintain control of the thoughts and feelings that influence you in meditation and in daily life over time. Each time you reject a trespassing thought (trespassing because you should or want to be focused otherwise at the time) you disempower it's influence over you—at least to a certain degree.

The more you consciously focus on your anchor, the less you will unconsciously focus on and be stressed by unwanted, trespassing thoughts in meditation. The more you reject unwanted, negative thoughts through your anchor meditations, mastery list prayer work, and Keys Quick Prayers on the go, the more peaceful, positive, precise, and capable of hearing the Voice of God within—will you be.