WAKE UP CALL

Someone recently recommended the book The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle as a must read. I have never truly been drawn to his work. I admire him and realize that he is a sentient being, but I felt that my path was elsewhere.

Well never say never hit me again last week while listening to other teachings online. In following my own path I now find how wrong I have been as I am now crossing his path in my search of, what I thought, was basic knowledge. How many times has this happened to you?

So slammed in the face with my own self importance and lack of humility, I am now reading The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle with much gratitude to the online recommendation. The concept of the present moment always sounds so simple doesn’t it?

WHAT WE THINK AND DON’T KNOW

I thought I was in the present moment 25 years ago but, like all of us who start walking a path, I quickly learned I didn’t even know what those words meant. Or even conceive that they represented an entire concept of changing our lives forever. I mean, they are such simple words. How could they possibly cause us any trouble?

Oh My God! I think the roof caved in when I got going in my first class all those years ago though . It was, “What is this brain thing doing to me all the time that I didn’t know about?” Then I wanted to know why I should stop all this inner chatter, who cared? It was my brain anyway and my body and they said it was just normal to be this way. Anyone recognize this stuck place? Of yeah, it’s a doozy isn’t it? Keeps you there quite a while in resistance to change. We are a stubborn bunch aren’t we?

AT THE BEGINNING

I started with meditation and breath work, but I didn’t really connect the concept of present moment to anything until those words, Present Moment, became trendy and totally attached themselves to everything. The years in between I thought I had overcome my resistance and had become quite proficient at meditation. I had taken a few side tracks through various cultural knowledge exploring where my path was leading and found I was drawn to doing energetic healing work. That was a perfect fit for my meditation and intuition and I never recognized I utilized Present Moment to facilitate and be the energy channel for doing the healing itself.

A couple of those side tracks were into the world of the Inca with a side trip into Carlos Castaneda, which is Toltec. I trained with the Four Winds and was fortunate enough to have one of the shaman live in my area. She offered Four Wind students additional instruction and guidance. I took advantage of this opportunity for 3 years weekly, then monthly.

The concept of present moment is in those teachings as well, though described and named differently. In fact, it is one of the primary principles of their teachings. But even there I didn’t get the connection to or truly understand present moment for many many years. It seems I kept looking for the reason why it was so hard to understand and accomplish, rather than just accept and do it. In fact, I didn’t even realize that I didn’t understand it until just the last couple of years. I got stuck in myself.

BACK TO THE PRESENT MOMENT

So here I am now feeling I am finally learning what Present Moment really means only to realize I will never be fully capable of achieving it. So much for those self important notions of having got it down pat. I’ve only just begun, again.

What I do know though is that Present Moment has to be carried over into every day life. It can’t be avoided if you are on a Spiritual Path. If you ignore it, you get nowhere. If you embrace it, you begin to transform yourself and your world. Such little words with a monstrous wallop. It’s there with us every step of the way whether you call it present moment or staying present or being in the moment or being focused. It has so many names sometimes it’s hard to recognize it.

So I humbly acknowledge my own self importance and forgive myself for being so naive. But then this final thought came to me. Imagine what our world would be like if this one principle alone of Present Moment were taught to kids in all schools. What a different brighter world we’d have.

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