HOW TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT from Eckhardt Tolle

Eckhart Tolle is a German-born resident of Canada, best known for his books THE POWER OF NOW
and A NEW EARTH. He is considered to be one of the most spiritually influential people in the world. This is his advice on how to live in the present moment:

Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.

Always say 'yes' to the present moment... Surrender to what is. Say 'yes' to life - and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you rather than against you.

The power for creating a better future is contained in the present moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.

People don't realize that now is all there ever is; there is no past or future except as memory or anticipation in your mind.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life.

It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

When you get into your car, shut the door and be there for just half a minute. Breathe, feel the energy inside your body, look around at the sky, the trees. The mind might tell you, 'I don't have time.' But that's the mind talking to you. Even the busiest person has time for 30 seconds of space.

People look to time in expectation that it will eventually make them happy, but you cannot find true happiness by looking toward the future.

Discontent, blaming, complaining, self-pity cannot serve as a foundation for a good future, no matter how much effort you make.

Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.

When you wash your hands, when you make a cup of coffee, when you're waiting for the elevator - instead of indulging in thinking, these are all opportunities for being there as a still, alert presence.

The only thing you ever have is now.

I'm grateful for always this moment, the now, no matter what form it takes.

When you take your attention into the present moment, a certain alertness arises. You become more conscious of what's around you, but also, strangely, a sense of presence that is both within and without.

Narrow your life down to this moment. Your life situation may be full of problems - most life situations are - but find out if you have a problem at this moment. Do you have a problem now?

The soul is your innermost being. The presence that you are beyond form. The consciousness that you are beyond form, that is the soul. That is who you are in essence.

If you are not living this moment, you are not really living.

The more you live in the present moment, the more the fear of death disappears. [And all other worries.]

Most people treat the present moment as if it were an obstacle that they need to overcome. Since the present moment is life itself, it is an insane way to live.

You can always cope with the present moment, but you cannot cope with something that is only a mind projection - you cannot cope with the future.

There is a fine balance between honoring the past and losing yourself in it. For example, you can acknowledge and learn from mistakes you made, and then move on and refocus on the now. It is called forgiving yourself.

People tend to dwell more on negative things than on good things. So the mind then becomes obsessed with negative things, with judgments, guilt and anxiety produced by thoughts about the future and so on.

Who you are cannot be defined through thinking or mental labels or definitions, because it's beyond that. It is the very sense of being, or presence, that is there when you become conscious of the present moment. In essence, you and what we call the present moment are, at the deepest level, one.

 

This book is on my to do list.

 

My mind is always on the past or future. Always trying to think things. I'm always trying to work out my pain in my head like if I don't I will lose Control. This seems like textbook tms don't you think?

 

I've read Tolle and it works for me only when I'm not so obsessive. I too have future conversations in my mind and live in the past virtual at the same time. It's exhausting!

 

Hi All,

Something I was very fascinated by was... how do I practice mindfulness and set a goal in the future?

Whilst mindfulness focuses on letting go of the past and any preconceived thoughts, we can still set goals.

Mindfulness can influence goals we set by giving them a more gentle, realistic and achievable tone.

1) Resist letting perception shape your goals: We all have limiting beliefs about ourselves – bad habits of thought based on past failures – It’s part of being human. Our perceptions can negatively shape goals we set by getting in the way of aiming high. Statements like, “I’ll never be able to save enough money” or “I’d like to lose 15 pounds but I’ve never been able to lose weight before so I can’t possibly set a goal around losing weight” can fill our heads and hearts and spook us before we even try to make a change. Your mindfulness practice can help you become more aware of these self-limiting beliefs, and help you start replacing them with positive, kinder self-talk.

2) When setting goals, be specific: The more specific you can be, the greater the chance you’ll meet your goal. Vague goals around health and wellness, career, love and family life will only frustrate you. The more you can define your goal in concrete terms with health measurements, numbers, dates, time frames and any other metric that applies, the greater your chance of success.

3) Break it down: Along with defining your goal in measurable terms, break it down into milestones. The end game may be to get a new job, for instance, but the steps along the way may involve networking, making a video resume and going on informational interviews.

4) Reward yourself: Along with breaking down your goal into smaller pieces, take time to acknowledge yourself for a job well done at the completion of each milestone. Just as we have a tendency to resist shooting for the moon, we also tend to be overlook our small successes. Take time to be proud of what you’ve achieved thus far by doing something meaningful for yourself.

5) Be compassionate when you trip up: As much as we’d like to believe we’ll have a direct line from start to finish, it’s highly likely that you will need to adjust your time line for achieving your goal. If your goal is to run a marathon, you might get ill or work may interrupt your training. If you’re trying to lose weight, you may have a week of business dinners that make it hard to eat healthy. Bring compassion and flexibility to your goal setting process and instead of berating yourself for missing a workout or gaining back a pound, wake up the day after feeling refreshed and with a new commitment to start again. One of the basic tenets of mindfulness is that every day is a chance to begin again.

Source: mindfulhub

I think, to effectively set goals, one should look at perhaps creating a physical plan i.e on paper, or your computer and monitor it occasionally and forget about the task once it's complete. At least this way, once you've updated your plans you can shift your focus back to now. Living in the now, doesn't mean giving up on your goals.

 

I agree with Richsimm that living in the present does not mean giving up our goals. Living in the present doesn't mean I can't look forward to something good happening. I think we all need hope, whether it's pain going away or becoming more financially secure. I don't play the lottery, but pray to God to help me with finances.

 

It was mike2014 who give that excellent advice Walt.

 

Power of Now...


This is a great book, Short but to the point, in the sort of way Sarnos Healing back pain was for me. Totally relevant to TMS as it teaches about how to hear and react to the very same entity that is responsible for our TMS, If your new to TMS, or the Ego, you might not quite grasp it yet. Kind of like sarnos books, if you don't really believe it, you just won't get it easily. When I first found TMS I was only interested in becoming (back) pain free. Sarnos books were good for that, I regained full use of my body fairly quickly and have been relatively pain free since, However Sarnos book left me wanting more understanding of the psychology behind it, and of course it opened the closet on some very deeply buried emotions that are the real source of my pain. Of the books I've read since, this has been one of the most enjoyable. I'd recommend it to people that want to understand why they might need to practice mindfullness or looking to understand more about the nature of the ego.


For me, it is a very nice take on how to not get absorbed by ego, or overcome by past or future emotions, thus living happily and free of pain, NOW!