When Eckhart Tolle's 'Power of Now' came out several years ago, it was a subject of instant adulation and intense discussion among people who liked to flaunt spirituality as their new fashion statement.
A few, simpler, folks believed that being in the NOW requires a very strict discipline and therefore is beyond the reach of those that don't, for instance, live in the Himalayas or in a secluded ashram.
Such assumptions__to treat spirituality as a fashionable recourse or to imagine that being anchored from within is beyond our grasp__are wrong.
Being in the Now requires practise of a simple kind. Just concentrate and indulge in what you are doing at the
moment. For example, if you are brushing your teeth, encourage your mind to focus on your teeth, the impact of the toothbrush on your gums, the foam that the toothpaste generates and the feeling of freshness the exercise leaves you with. If you are drinking a glass of water, feel the water travel down your body, inside. In fact, if you concentrate, you can even feel it settling in your abdomen. When you are eating your meal, savor each morsel. Enjoy each flavor.
The problem, however, with us is that our mind is like a dog. It likes to stray from the course. Instead of focusing on what is happening in the present it plays back memories of a past event or experience or dwells on a future, to-be state. So, while you are eating, you are thinking of the man who stepped on your shoe at the airport or you are worried stiff about a crucial meeting that is coming up later in the day. Resultantly, you have, on most days, not even realized what you ate!!! Be sure though, just as you would bring back your dog that is straying away by pulling at its leash, you can pull back your mind every time it strays from the present. To do that just be conscisous of the mind's tendency to stray. Every time you catch your mind dwelling on the past or anxious about the future, declare to yourself, "Honey, can you come back and stay focused on what's going on now?". Talk to your mind. And it will obey you.
Practise this in every small action of yours, every moment of the day, in your every waking moment for 21 days, and you will have mastered being in the NOW. It is as simple as that. In fact, most beautiful things in life are simple.
Learnings:
1. Always stay focused on each present experience
2. Remember that your mind, like your dog, likes to stray. Stay conscious of this and bring in back on course, each time it strays
3. The more you do this, the more you start living in the NOW.
A few, simpler, folks believed that being in the NOW requires a very strict discipline and therefore is beyond the reach of those that don't, for instance, live in the Himalayas or in a secluded ashram.
Such assumptions__to treat spirituality as a fashionable recourse or to imagine that being anchored from within is beyond our grasp__are wrong.
Being in the Now requires practise of a simple kind. Just concentrate and indulge in what you are doing at the
moment. For example, if you are brushing your teeth, encourage your mind to focus on your teeth, the impact of the toothbrush on your gums, the foam that the toothpaste generates and the feeling of freshness the exercise leaves you with. If you are drinking a glass of water, feel the water travel down your body, inside. In fact, if you concentrate, you can even feel it settling in your abdomen. When you are eating your meal, savor each morsel. Enjoy each flavor.The problem, however, with us is that our mind is like a dog. It likes to stray from the course. Instead of focusing on what is happening in the present it plays back memories of a past event or experience or dwells on a future, to-be state. So, while you are eating, you are thinking of the man who stepped on your shoe at the airport or you are worried stiff about a crucial meeting that is coming up later in the day. Resultantly, you have, on most days, not even realized what you ate!!! Be sure though, just as you would bring back your dog that is straying away by pulling at its leash, you can pull back your mind every time it strays from the present. To do that just be conscisous of the mind's tendency to stray. Every time you catch your mind dwelling on the past or anxious about the future, declare to yourself, "Honey, can you come back and stay focused on what's going on now?". Talk to your mind. And it will obey you.
Practise this in every small action of yours, every moment of the day, in your every waking moment for 21 days, and you will have mastered being in the NOW. It is as simple as that. In fact, most beautiful things in life are simple.
Learnings:
1. Always stay focused on each present experience
2. Remember that your mind, like your dog, likes to stray. Stay conscious of this and bring in back on course, each time it strays
3. The more you do this, the more you start living in the NOW.
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