You are not your Mind

If you are not your mind, then what are you? 

What if your mind is ego disguised as the rational, logical, all-knowing entity? And that voice keeps you in safe, stuck and in negative thoughts. 

Who would you be without this voice?  

Eckhart says - 'not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don't realize this because almost everyone is suffering from it, so it is considered normal.'   

When you believe that you are your mind it begins to use you and you get out of touch with 'what is'.  'What is' is the present moment and there are no problems in this moment.  Is there? Problems are only past and future illusions which are not real.  Only the present moment is real, and now this, and now this...

He asks -'can you be free of your mind whenever you want to? Have you found the 'off' button?'

Finding the 'off button' can be as simple as observing the entity or the voice. When you do 'you realize that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken'.  Today 'watch the thinker'.

 

Awakening to 'The Power of Now'

Over the next 3 months, I feel compelled to take on 'Living in the Now'. I want to take each heading of 'The Power of Now' and choose one significant or profound statement in that section and relate it to my life and experiences.
Beginning with his Introduction Pages 3-6, Eckhart speaks of how 'I cannot live with myself any longer', and what a peculiar thought it was. He asked: 'Am I one or two? If I cannot live with myself, there must be two of me: the 'I' and the 'self' that 'I' cannot live with. "Maybe" only one of them is real'.
Which one is real?
Have you ever stopped to really listen to the voice in your head and hear what it's saying? Have you asked: 'Is that me who's thinking that thought? If it's not, who'? Recently I did. I heard my monkey mind jump from thought to thought without a break. After observing for a time I was exhausted. Listening to all negative stuff about myself, others, situations etc. Yuk! It was like taking a helicopter view of myself. I realized that I am not my thoughts. It's like someone or thing has taken me over. For one whole day I simply observed where those thoughts carried me...I was amazed at where I went. Mostly not wanting to go to any of those places. They didn't feel good.
So, if you were to be the observer of your thoughts for an entire day, what would you discover?
Following Eckhart's awakening, he spent almost two years sitting on park benches in a state of the most intense joy. People would ask him 'I want what you have. Can you give it to me, or show me how to get it?' He would say: 'You have it already. You just can't feel it because your mind is making too much noise'! 1' 30"

I dusted off my copy of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and took it on my recent trip to Vancouver Island. Wow! I get it NOW! When I first bought the book over 3 years ago, I stopped about 1/3 of the way through and couldn't make it to the end. I was coaching a client a couple of weeks ago and suggested she read it to make sense of what she was going through during that time. Quite often, whatever I share with my clients is something I also need to take a look at. Yes, note to self - dig out 'The Power of Now', which I did. Since reading it, everything has changed. Living in the NOW has changed my perspective of so many things - relationships - oh my gosh this is huge!; the insignificance of the past and the future and how we let it consume our thoughts all day, everyday. I now feel I am getting closer to knowing what's really important by Living in the Now. Whenever I feel worry or stress I just stop and feel my right hand or ask 'am I breathing'? When I do, in that moment I feel the anxiety or panic dissolve and virtually disappear! It's easy. Well, it sounds easy, however after a lifetime of living in the past or future - this will be a challenge. So, over the next 3 months, I want to share my experience of Living in the Now - of course, in 30 seconds! Want to join me?