Oooo, I didn’t know there was second one! Great! Thank you!!
1 Like
Netflix. Your in Australia arnt you?
Yep! Cool, thanks, will add to my watchlist tonight! 
1 Like
I’m excited for you it’s that good 
1 Like
Have you seen hoops? That’s another good adult cartoon. So funny. And big mouth. So good!! 
both Netflix
Nope haven’t seen those either - also adding to the list!
haha
1 Like
Reading The Power of Now, again.
Thought I’d share this little insight of Eckhart’s:
‘The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. To put it more accurately, it is not so much that you use your mind wrongly - you usually don’t use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease. You believe that you are your mind. This is the delusion. The instrument has taken you over. … If you can’t find the “off” button to your mind, then your mind is using you. You are unconsciously identified with it.
The beginning of freedom is realisation that you are not the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the mind. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness become activated. You begin to realise that all the things that truly matter - beauty, love, creativity, joy, inner peace - arise from beyond the mind. You begin to awaken.’
Free yourself from your mind. I strongly believe this is how we, too, can free ourselves from suffering / addiction.
Anyone else here follow the spiritual teachings of Eckhart Tolle? Or others?
5 Likes
Yes, very true. I love the connection between his words, mindfulness, mediation, Buddhism. Another wonderful and beautiful spiritual teacher who expresses these notions is Mooji. His smile lights up my heart 
3 Likes
This is the one I watched most recently. But the After School channel on YouTube has many on Eckhart. And also some amazing other ones too
Some more words from Eckhart:
Pain.
The pain that you create is always some form of nonacceptance, some form of unconcious resistance to what is.
On the level of thought, the resistance is some form of judgement. On the emotional level, it is some form of negativity.
The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment.
The more you are able to honour and accept the Now, the more you are free of pain, of suffering - and free of the egoic mind.
Very helpful for me grateful to be able to receive his wisdom. Hope it is helpful to you, too, my fellow sober ppls 
6 Likes
This is powerful. To me, the significance is in the feeling I get when I’m absorbed in an activity, in flow, immersed in something where I feel mastery & I’m not worrying about how to do it or what might happen.
This feeling for me is always the result of training & effort. I’ve only ever felt it when I was playing or singing music, and then only after weeks of training to master the song or style.
There’s probably a lesson in there 
1 Like
Thanks Matt! Yes, it is so powerful, isn’t it. I think that’s when most of us experience it, at its core - when completely immersed in the present, immersed in a way that our creative flow takes over and we no longer have to or are thinking, we’re just doing, being or creating 
Really love this thread, so I wanted to bump it up 
I’m reading The Power of Now again and every time I read it I regain wonderful insight and understanding into life. Into how I’m living in the mind all the time. It’s incessant. When, really, the best way to feel peace and be at ease is to silence the mind and just be present, in the here and NOW. To get silent, to bring awareness into body and the stillness and natural beauty all around.To watch or listen, without thought. Or, like said previously, to become so immersed in an activity or a creation that we’re operating fully present. The more I practice this, the more often I can seem to bring myself back to it. There is more being and less thinking. And, therefore, less worry and anxiety. When you’re truly present, you’re not thinking about anything. You’re just aware. You are the watcher. The awareness itself. Consciousness. You just are. You are being. And that is always enough. 
1 Like
That reminds me of the concept of Wu Wei, which I first encountered while living in China. It stuck with me. It’s about being in the moment, of the moment; not contriving to make a moment but instead living in the moment, as the being-in-the-moment.
I think about it often.
2 Likes
Not sure how I missed this way back when you posted it @Matt - but wow. I loved reading about this concept of Wu Wei just now - definitely resonates! Any source for serenity is welcomed in a new, sober, better, world
1 Like
I haven’t read or listened to any of Eckhart’s work recently, though, I’m grateful to be able to revisit this thread!
Some days I find myself feeling overwhelmed and anxious. In these moments, it’s helpful to just stop, breathe, listen and take in my immediate surroundings and become really present. After just a minute or so, I feel the body ease and mind calm. The anxiety drifts away. That’s the ‘Power of Now’ for me
2 Likes
I have been feeling this too. It’s amazing how our minds are like toddlers in that way: they just wander around and part of our responsibility is to call them back to us, back to the place we are, back to what we’re doing (“come back, get out of the street, we’re walking here now honey” 
).
I’ve been listening to this audiobook / course recently and I’m on lesson 2, “Happiness”. Happiness is very strongly associated with the ability to be present, in what you are doing in that moment (rather than being absent, thinking about what you don’t have or should be doing, or whether you’re “doing it right”):
https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/how-to-make-stress-work-for-you
Thanks for bumping this thread! It’s an important understanding, being present
2 Likes
Thanks for sharing your book/course too, Matt! I’ll have a look at it, as I’ve just finished a book and ready to start another
1 Like
