Use Your Energy Wisely

Developing one-pointed attention is valuable on the meditation cushion and off. When the mind is calm, not flitting from one thought to the next, energy is conserved. Vital force is available for the task at hand.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian

Conservation of energy is one of the five techniques that constitute the first of the eight 'limbs' of yoga practice. The goal of these practices are the cessation extraneous thought activity and the experience of pure transformative awareness during meditation. One pointed-attention frees us from the distractions of busy mind. I remember that many years ago when I started high school, a printed time planner seemed to help me get organized, limit wasting time and focus on the task at hand. Now in our modern world, we have instant access to electronic calendars, but the devices that enable this are laden with 
enticing distractions. The default mode network of our brain seems to induce a tendency to change thoughts every second or two unless we make an effort to concentrate. Often it seems that our greatest challenge is to concentrate on what is most important. Developing that one-pointed attention in our meditation practice such as focusing on our breath or on a mantra, supports us in quieting the mind for meditation but also in our daily life. We can notice when our attention wanders and bring our energy back to what is important.