When focused with intent, your thoughts can be significantly more powerful, akin to light being concentrated by a magnifying glass. If, however, your thoughts lack focus, they may resemble light being transmitted through a prism or even being diffracted through the water. While light can be transited through a magnifying glass, a prism or a glass of water what happens to the light on the other side is very different. When the light passed through the magnifying glass, the multiple waves and particles of light are focused with greater intensity. Conversely, light transiting through the prism can be split up and separated, effectively reducing the overall intensity. Similarly, light traversing a glass of water can be distorted and scattered by the intervening components so that the light may no long bears recognisable as the original form.
These examples of light passing through various substances are comparable to your own thoughts. You can discover the skill of focusing your thoughts through the technique of Ekagrata rather than allowing your thoughts to become dispersed or scattered like the light in the previously mentioned example of the prism and glass of water.
The ability to be able to truly focus your mind is a key aspect of any practice relating to mindfulness or indeed any aspect of your life. The basic principle of Ekagrata is simply that of focusing your thoughts without concentration and maintaining that focus without allowing your mind or thoughts to drift off to other things. The same principle of focusing your thoughts is also important for those who wish to succeed in their practices of meditation or other more advanced techniques such as Cognition.
While many may talk of focusing your thoughts, it is important to comprehend that there is a subtle but important difference between focused thought (Ekagrata) and concentration. While concentration can seem similar to focusing, it often contains emotional aspects which can distort the thoughts resulting in an overall unsatisfactory result. So take the opportunity to discover how to focus your thoughts without concentration as this can help you in so many ways.