A New Earth - A New Book from Eckhart Tolle

If you liked The Power of Now, you'll want to read Tolle's latest book, A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life's Purpose. It is so full of wisdom that I am now reading it for the second time.

What I want to share with you today is about the healing power of accepting "what is" in the present moment. Tolle points out that all stress and distress results from resisting what is happening right now. For example, if as I am composing this blog, I am fully present and focused on this experience, I am also relaxed, open, and in a creative, pleasant mode. But if I am thinking about what else I might need to be doing or what I have to do later today, or any other possibility that might pop in my head to distract my attention from this process, I am not fully present. I am resisting what I am doing, allowing my thoughts to take me away from the present, and creating stress for myself by doing so.

You might think about activities you enjoy where you are fully absorbed in what you are doing and free of distracting mind chatter. I was talking with friends about this kind of experience today. We agreed that certain activities provide us with the kind of focus that is both relaxing and absorbing. Playing a computer game like Free Cell, working a crossword puzzle, doing a numbers puzzle, exercising, cooking, cleaning, or participating in a sport which requires concentration and full attention are examples that came to mind. When the conscious mind is totally engaged in an activity like one of these, we are free of the idle thinking through which we blindly create pain for ourselves and others.

In our culture, we all but worship the mind and the thoughts we think. Often we make no distinction between ourselves and our thoughts. Unconsciously we make our thoughts and the stories we tell ourselves the rulers of our lives.

It is a huge leap in consciousness to realize that we are not our thoughts. We also are not our emotions or our bodies. We are much more than what we think, what we feel, or the physical bodies we wear. We are spiritual beings who are able to observe our thoughts, notice our feelings, and appreciate our bodies without becoming totally identified with them. When we tune into the higher Self within us that observes our thoughts, and feelings, and bodies, we free ourselves from being their slaves. We also open the way to being fully present in the eternal Now, experiencing "what is" rather than ruminating on "what was" or "what might be."

Recently I've been noticing - without judging myself for what I see - when I feel stressed or tense. Invariably what I realize is that I am resisting what is taking place in the moment. I resist by wishing things were different, making up stories in my head about what might happen that I wouldn't like, telling myself I ought to be in some other place or engaged in some other activity, or imagining what might be going on with other people who are important to me.

Please notice that I am noticing without judging what I see. If I get into judging what I notice, I'm into another form of resisting "what is" and making myself feel bad or unworthy in the process. Judging "what is" simply creates pain and dissonance. It serves no useful purpose. The key to witnessing our inner process is doing so with non-judging awareness and with acceptance of what we see. Once we notice what we are thinking or telling ourselves, we have choices we weren't aware of before we recognized what we are doing or saying to ourselves.

Non-judging awareness of our inner processes not only give us choices, it also heals. Accepting "what is" heals. Resisting or rejecting "what is" wounds us. We've all been wounded enough. here is no need to add more pain to what we already unconsciously carry and need to release.

I invite you to join me in noticing when you are resisting being fully present in the moment that is. I also suggest that if you haven't yet discovered Eckhart Tolle's work, you do so. Start with The Power of Now. Continue with A New Earth. Both books will open wonderful doors of awareness and peace within you. There are no better antidotes for anxiety and depression than knowing how to be centered in the present, moment by moment, and day by day.