The Power of Now is...powerful! :)

Right now I am reading "The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle for the third time. I tell you, I can't imagine how the stuff is not permanently printed on my brain tissue by this time, but I still forget it for most of the day every day!


If you haven't read The Power of Now (TPON) it is super difficult to explain, so bare with me. (and if you have read it, please forgive my loose translation - YOU try explaining it!) Anyhoo - the basic philosophy is that we human beings are not our thoughts and emotions. In fact we are not separate beings at all. We are all one "being" or "presence" that animates our human bodies. This "presence" is the essence of peace, joy and love. And the portal to that true nature is the present moment. The "Now".

Tolle points out that most human beings are madly buzzing around in their lives thinking that their thoughts and emotions are who they really are, when in reality, our thoughts and emotions make up what he calls an ego - a false self - focused solely on the future and past - neither of which actually exist. When the future comes, it will come as the "Now". When the past was here, it was here as the "Now". Therefore, all we really have is the "Now".

[Just FYI - He said that he came to this realization when he was horribly depressed, in fact suicidal. He kept saying to himself "I can't live with myself anymore." Then he had the realization that in order to actually "live with himself" he would have to have two entities or personalities within himself. He then thought, "what if only one of those two is real?"]

So the question is, how do we access that portal - the "Now" - so we can find our true nature? That's what Tolle tries to teach us in TPON. He talks about different ways to do it and I have found one of his suggestions works pretty well for me.

It has to do with focusing on a part of your body, like your hand. Close your eyes and focus on feeling the energy in your hand, feeling the molecules bouncing off of eachother. We know our bodies are not solid. Like everything, they are made up of tiny particles. Focus on the space between those molecules, feel the energy within your hand. It's kind of like a tingling or a warmth, as if your hand was illuminated from within. Then try to expand that feeling to your whole arm - then your whole body. He calls this "feeling your inner body".

When your thoughts begin to come back and take over, see them for what they are and then come back to the present moment. The "you" that sees the thoughts for what they are is the real you!


When you are "feeling your inner body" you are in the "Now".

I have done a pitiful job of explaining this, so please don't dismiss it without reading Tolle's book, where he explains everything thoroughly in detail and provides suggestions of several other ways of getting into the "Now".

I've been trying the "inner body" thing for a few days now and a couple of nights ago I had a really amazing experience with it. I don't think I could do it justice to try and explain it here, but I will just say that I can't wait to get back there again and again, and eventually I hope to live there!

I highly recommend TPON for anyone who suffers from anxiety and a true desire to overcome it... I highly recommend it for anyone, actually.