The Power of Now

So, you might have noticed that little voice in your head. Yah? :)

One of the key first steps to entering the Power of Now is to be able to get outside of the tremendous force of an undisciplined mind.

As Eckhart says: “When you listen to that voice, listen to it impartially. That is to say, do not judge. Do not judge or condemn what you hear, for doing so would mean that the same voice has come in again through the back door. You’ll soon realize: there is the voice, and here I am listening to it, watching it. This I am realization, this sense of your own presence, is not a thought. It arises from beyond the mind.”

We do that consistently and we start to notice some gaps between our thoughts, a gap of what Tolle calls “no mind.” Sweet. But is that state passive and dis-engaged? Nope.

“It is not a trancelike state. Not at all. There is no loss of consciousness here. The opposite is the case. If the price of peace were a lowering of your consciousness, and the price of stillness a lack of vitality and alertness, then they would not be worth having. In this state of inner connectedness, you are much more alert, more awake than in the mind-identified state. You are fully present. It also raises the vibrational frequency of the energy field that gives life to the physical body.”

So, watch your thinker, yo. :)

Amen.

So, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t consciously digested a meal in awhile. And, I’m not making sure my fingernails are growing or my heart keeps beating while I’m asleep.

Yep.

There’s something MUCH bigger and more intelligent than me taking care of all that stuff. :)

Imagine our little out of control monkey minds unplugging us from a power outlet that is God.

Our job is to quiet our minds long enough so we can allow more of that intelligence to flow through us and into the eternal Now. (And, of course, to enjoy the process. :)

That’s awesome.

WHATEVER (!) the present moment contains, accept it AS IF YOU HAD CHOSEN IT.

What’s stressing you out right now? Alright. Cool. Now, accept it as if you had chosen it!!!! That’s a remarkably simple and equally powerful way to live that will *definitely* miraculously transform your life.

Byron Katie says the same thing in her great book Loving What Is (see Notes). She says that when she argues with reality she loses, but only 100% of the time. So, let’s quit arguing with reality, love what is and act as if we’d asked for exactly what we’re experiencing! :)

Genius.

We’re planting seeds ALL the time. If we want to enjoy a beautiful garden of consistent joy and love and appreciation and all that goodness, we’ve GOTTA stop planting weed seeds, eh? Answer: YES! :)

Tolle’s BIG on the idea that we need to catch ourselves the moment we find ourselves slipping into negativity. As he says: “Any delay will allow a conditioned mental-emotional reaction to arise and take you over.” Neuro-plasticity peeps would agree. If we want to re-wire our consciousness, we’ve *gotta* quit running the old patterns and create new grooves.

To achieve this, in addition to getting into our “watching the thinker” mode, he also advises us: “make it a habit to go within at once and focus as much as you can on the inner energy field of your body.” As we do that, we get out of our minds and into our Being. As he says: “Just as the sun is infinitely brighter than a candle flame, there is infinitely more intelligence in Being than in your mind.”

Dig it.

Did you know the Tibetans don’t have a word for “guilt”? Nope.

The closest they have, according to Geshe Michael Roach in his great book The Diamond Cutter (see Notes) is “intelligent regret that decides to do things differently.” That’s using “clock time” while staying present in the Now. Beating yourself over the head with guilt/shame/etc., gets you out of the Now into psychological time. Not where we want to hang out.

A bit more mojo on clock time vs. psychological time as it relates to goals and the Now:

“If you set yourself a goal and work toward it, you are using clock time. You are aware of where you want to go, but you honor and give your fullest attention to the step that you are taking at this moment. If you then become excessively focused on the goal, perhaps because you are seeking happiness, fulfillment, or a more complete sense of self in it, the Now is no longer honored. It becomes reduced to a mere stepping stone to the future, with no intrinsic value. Clock time then turns into psychological time. Your life’s journey is no longer an adventure, just an obsessive need to arrive, to attain, to ‘make it.’ You no longer see or smell the flowers by the wayside either, nor are you aware of the beauty and the miracle of life that unfolds all around you when you are present in the Now.”

Can I get an Amen? Thanks so much.

→ “All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present.”

Feeling any negativity? Which side of the spectrum are you on? Too much future creating anxiety, tension, stress, worry? Bring yourself back to the present. Too much past creating guilt, shame, bitterness? Bring yourself back to the present.

Can you see how your negativity is created by leaning in one direction or the other and stepping out of this Now? Super powerful thing to see/feel/realize, eh? That witnessing alone is pretty much what we need to dissolve the negativity and reclaim our Now.

That gives me a big smile. It’s the conclusion to a section all about accepting whatever emotional experience you’re having AND choosing to no longer create the internal sickness by no longer thinking the thoughts that make you sick.

In response to a questioner celebrating the power of accepting our emotions, Tolle says: “It is certainly true that, when you accept your resentment, moodiness, anger, and so on, you are no longer forced to act them out blindly, and you are less likely to project them onto others. But I wonder if you are not deceiving yourself. When you have been practicing acceptance for a while, as you have, there comes a point when you need to go on to the next stage, where those negative emotions are not created anymore. If you don’t, your ‘acceptance’ just becomes a mental label that allows your ego to continue to indulge in unhappiness and so strengthen your separation from other people, your surroundings, your here and now.”

Brilliant.

So, what are YOU eating, er, I mean doing in your life that you KNOW makes you emotionally sick? Now a good time to choose a new food? :)

That’s poetry.

So, are you experiencing something stressful in your life? Sweet. Identify it. Now it’s time to make one of three choices: 1. Remove yourself from the situation; 2. Change it; or, 3. Accept it completely.

So… Which one will it be? :)

Let’s take responsibility for our lives, make a choice, and accept the consequences. No negativity. No excuses.

Oh, and HAVE FUN. Choosing to be empowered is a deeply joyous thing so let’s shake out our bodies, relax a bit and enjoy the dynamic experience that is life, shall we?! :)

Tolle walks us through The Bhagavad Gita 101 lesson on renouncing the fruits of our labors but NOT (!!!) our goals and/or labors. He brilliantly articulates the relationship.

In response to a question about whether, from a state of wholeness, we would still be able to or willing to pursue external goals, he says: “Of course, but you will not have illusory expectations that anything or anybody in the future will save you or make you happy. As far as your life situation is concerned, there may be things to be attained or acquired. That’s the world of form, of gain and loss. Yet on a deeper level you are already complete, and when you realize that, there is a playful, joyous energy behind everything you do. Being free of psychological time, you no longer pursue your goals with grim determination, driven by fear, anger, discontent, or the need to become someone. Nor will you remain inactive through fear of failure, which to the ego is loss of self. When your deeper sense of self is derived from Being, when you are free of ‘becoming’ as a psychological need, neither your happiness nor your sense of self depends on the outcome, and there is freedom from fear.”

Um, what he said.

So goals still rock. Attachment not so much.

As we embrace this dynamic, we “don’t seek permanency where it cannot be found: in the world of form, of gain and loss, birth and death. You don’t demand that situations, conditions, places or people should make you happy, and then suffer when they don’t live up to your expectations. Everything is honored, but nothing matters. Forms are born and die, yet you are aware of the eternal underneath the forms. You know that ‘nothing real can be threatened.’ When this is your state of Being, how can you not succeed? You have succeeded already.”

* queue (loud) hallelujah music *

Another cool distinction: Life vs. Life Situations.

Our LIFE, our inner Being, is perfect. The Now is full. We live with gratitude for the gift of life and all the wonderful things we are blessed to experience. From THAT place, we can effectively have fun improving our external “life situations.”

But… If we ignore the perfection of our Being that is our Life and spend all our energy trying to improve our life situation, we’re like the architect who works on the superstructure without spending any time on the foundation. (That house falls at the first strong wind. :)

That’s classic.

Remember the Big Idea on no longer eating food that you KNOW makes you sick? Well, uh, here’s the perfect recipe to get yourself sickity-sick: Get a big bowl. Mindlessly throw in several handfuls of “waiting to start living.” Generously sprinkle in a deep sense of “this is never enough.” Filter out all appreciation for what is. Carelessly toss in some “some day.” Then binge. Guaranteed to make you feel like crappola.

Alternatively, we can joyfully mix and match the Ideas that resonate most deeply with us and create a delicacy of blissful Nowness sprinkled with love, appreciation, peace and all that yumminess.

It’s *ALWAYS* our choice. Let’s choose wisely. :)

That’s recipe we want, eh?