THE POWER OF NOW

Just before we start this week's tip, let me first apologise for not giving you notice that there would not be a tip last week owing to a holiday. 

This week could have been 'tipless' too... We got back from Spain yesterday to find that the house was full of gas. We had some cleaners in the house during the week and they must have left the cooker on accidentally as they were cleaning it!  Luckily nothing sparked an explosion.

We immediately celebrated, well as soon as the fear of blowing ourselves up subsided, by drinking some Champagne!

Last night, suddenly nothing really seemed to matter, we could have been blown up, instead we were alive and well and feeling very much in the 'now'.  As there are no such things as co-incidences, I wasn't at all surprised to remember that we just happened to be be booked on to a seminar the next day with Eckhart Tolle who wrote "The Power of Now".  A genuinely, insightful book for living in the now, written by a truly enlightened human being.  I read this book about 3 years ago and have just started to re-read it, I personally highly recommend it.

I have spent the afternoon in the presence of an enlightened soul who shares willingly his insights and practical tips on living in the present moment and I am still feeling serene from this experience.  So today I thought I'd take one of his insights and how we can use it to help stop the constant chatter in our minds, that prevents us from being and fully experiencing the peace and joy from within, an alert stillness, which happens spontaneously, as soon as you decide to put your awareness internally.

Tolle says "...80-90% of most people's thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful.  Observe your mind and you will find this to be true.  It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.  This kind of compulsive thinking is actually an addiction.  What characterises an addiction?  Quite simply this: you no longer feel that you have the choice to stop.  It seems stronger than you.  It also gives you a false sense of pleasure, pleasure that invariably turns into pain."

He goes on further to say that unless you have found the "off" button in your head then your mind is using you.  You are unconsciously identified with it, so you don't even know that you are its slave. Almost like being possessed without knowing it.

So for the sake of space I am going to paraphrase Tolle's writing into a very simple exercise, which, when done very regularly, will give you that peace, the gap, the "no mind" where you can be fully present.

1. First of all get used to observing your thoughts.  (You may be surprised at how many trivial meaningless ones we have as well as the more damaging ones.)

2. When you observe the voices in your head pay particular attention to any repetitive thought patterns, some which may have been playing for many years. Tolle calls this "watching the thinker".  So you are witnessing it, but listening impartially.  Without judgement.  If you begin to judge it, it will come through the back door.  You will soon get the hang of this, realizing there is a voice, and here 'I am'  listening to it, watching it.  This 'I am', is the realization of your own presence.  It arises from beyond the mind.

3. So now when you have thoughts, you are aware not only of the new thought but also of yourself as the witness of the thought.  This brings in a new dimension of consciousness.  As you listen and observe the thought, you will begin to feel a conscious presence - your deeper self - behind or underneath the thought, as it were.  The thought then loses power over you and quickly subsides, because you are no longer energizing the mind through identification with it.  This is the beginning of the end of involuntary and compulsive thinking.

Try it now with a thought you are having, listen to it, then observe, then be aware of a deeper self.  You'll probably find a lovely inner peace, a letting go.

There is a discontinuity of the mental stream - a gap of "no mind".  In the beginning the gaps will probably be short, a few second perhaps,  but gradually they will become longer. The stillness and peace inside you will gradually get deeper. 

Do not make the mistake of thinking you are losing consciousness, quite the reverse is true.

I would suggest you do this throughout the day it only takes seconds and it's truly wonderful to experience.  Those who practice meditation will already know this, so pass this tip on to someone you think could benefit from stilling their mind.

If you want to take it a step further then you can throughout the day become intensely conscious of the present moment.  This is a deeply satisfying thing to do.  For example, if you was your hands be 100% fully present in that moment, feel the water, smell the soap, listen to the water.  Simple acts will become marvellous experiences as you are truly experiencing the now and therefore not attached to your past or your future.

Until next week Onwards and Upwards and BE FULLY PRESENT in your week!

© 2004 Denise Bosque All Rights Reserved