The Power of Now

I am just now getting around to finishing The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, and although boring at times, it has a lot of insight that I thought I'd share with you all.

Back on June 26, 2010, I wrote this post about living in the present. Aren't we all too guilty of discounting our present moment by focusing too much on the future? I know I put too much emphasis on all my tomorrows, even before they become my todays. I know I worry (probably, no...definitely, more than the average person), and by doing such, I am not living in the now. If I would just focus on the NOW, and not belittle the blessings each moment holds, I think I'd transform myself into a totally different, better person.

While reading The Power of Now, I highlighted ideas / statements / thoughts that I fought insightful, and while re-reading those highlights, I thought it'd be beneficial to share some of them.

• The realization I am that is prior to I am this or I am that. (page 14)

• You see and judge the present through the eyes of the past and get a totally distorted view of it. (page 18)

• In your everyday life, you can practice [becoming intensely conscious of the present moment] by taking any routine activity that normally is only a means to an end and giving it your fullest attention. (page 20)

• Emotion arises at the place where mind and body meet. It is the body's reaction to your mind - or you might say, a reflection of your mind in the body. (page 25)

• If you really want to know your mind, the body will always give you a truthful reflection, so look at the emotion, or rather feel it in your body. If there is an apparent conflict between [your thought and your emotion], the thought will be the lie, the emotion will be the truth. (page 26)

• Make it a habit to ask yourself: What's going on inside me at this moment? (page 27)

• By dwelling mentally on the situation, event or person that is perceived cause of the emotion, the thought feeds energy to the emotion, which in turn energizes the thought pattern. (page 28)

• Even when the sky is heavily overcast, the sun hasn't disappeared. It's still there on the other side of the clouds. (page 30)

• All cravings are the mind seeking salvation or fulfillment in external things and in the future as a substitute for the joy of Being. (page 31)

• Realize deeply that the persent moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. (page 35)

• What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is? What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. (page 35)

• Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. (page 35)