from The Power of Now
by Eckhart Tolle
Are you stressed? Are you so busy getting to the future that the present is reduced to a means of getting there? Stress is caused by being "here" but wanting to be "there," or being in the present but wanting to be in the future. It's a split that tears you apart inside. To create and live with such an inner split is insane. The fact that everyone else is doing it doesn't make it any less insane. If you have to, you can move fast, work fast, or even run, without projecting yourself into the future and without resisting the present. As you move, work, run--do it totally. Enjoy the flow of energy, the high energy of that moment. Now you are no longer stressed, no longer splitting yourself in two. Just moving, running, working--and enjoying it. Or you can drop the whole thing and sit on a park bench. But when you do, watch your mind. It may say: "You should be working. You are wasting time." Observe the mind. Smile at it.
2 comments:
Sheryl, Last night while I was reading The Power of Intention, by Wayne Dyer, I came across a passage that addressed our concern about "extreme situations" and how this philosophy applies. Here's the passage:
"I was deeply honored to be on a panel with Viktor Frankl in 1978 in Vienna, Austria. I strongly recollect that he shared with me and the audience his assertion that it's the ability to see beauty in all of life's circumstances that gives our lives meaning. In his book Man's Search for Meaning, he describes a bowl of filthy water with a fish head floating in it, given to him by his Nazi captors in a concentartion camp during WWII. He trained himself to see beauty in this meal, rather than focus on the horror of it. He attributed his ability to see beauty anywhere as a vital factor in surviving those horrific camps. He reminds us that if we focus on what's ugly, we attract more ugliness into our thoughts, and then into our emotions, and ultimately into our lives. By choosing to hang on to one's corner of freedom even in the worst situations, we can process our world with the energy of appreciation and beauty, and create an opportunity to transcend our circumstances."
I thought of MLK when I read this passage...he stood up for what was right, but also transcended his situation by choosing to see the good in all people (even his enemies) and promoting peace rather than violence.
So maybe Tolle's implication (from yesterday's post) is that if we can't leave a bad situation, we can transcend it.
"The obstacles you face are... mental barriers which can be broken by adopting a more positive approach."
Clarence Blasier
Post a Comment