To this week's Mindful Monday meditation practice and guidance and Yeah,
So just referring to a talk I went to,
A presentation a week ago,
A couple weeks ago,
At London Excel,
The ICC auditorium.
Which I've not been to actually,
I've been to the.
.
.
Learned an Excel a couple of times for well more than a couple for conferences but this was a huge room a huge downstairs room to go and see a a talk with a good friend of mine,
Steve Ware.
Another mindfulness teacher.
And to see and listen to Eckhart Tolle.
And he is an interesting character who has been around I think in the world of mindfulness really since the 90s,
And he wrote a book.
A number of books but the main book was a book called The Power of Now which you may have heard of,
You may have read.
And yeah,
It's kind of interesting because I have a kind of a checkered history with Mr.
Toll and his books.
Because actually I bought his book.
The power of now,
I think in the early noughties.
So I would say probably only a few years after it was published.
I remember reading it.
I still have a copy.
Fairly well-thumbed on my bookshelf and and I remember reading it,
In fact I remember where I was when I read it,
Coming home on a train during the day I think,
The sun was shining so it would have been the summer and clearly I'd left work early for some reason.
So I guess that's interesting and mindful.
I was obviously being mindful of being in the present moment to have that recollection.
And I remember,
But however,
I remember reading the book and the kind of thing I took from it was that cognitively,
Intellectually understood that it made sense.
This suggestion of being in the present moment and gaining energy and being,
I don't particularly use the words actually,
But being mindful.
And earn.
But although I understood it to make sense,
My gut reaction was,
Well,
That's completely unachievable.
You know,
There's no way I'm going to be able to do that then.
So thanks,
But I'll put it to one side.
That's what I did and it was through various kind of iterations and experiences down.
The years really,
In the almost 20 years.
That I kind of found myself in this world and understand intellectually that makes sense,
But also kind of experientially.
So now I understand the value it has in my body,
In my life,
In the way that I am and the way that I am with other people.
I thought,
Yeah,
So I thought I would just talk about a few things and then just let's sit together in a little bit of silence,
Lightly guided.
About what he said.
And so here are kind of sort of five things.
It's a big book and a long talk.
The talk was two hours in front of more than 4,
000 people.
Quite an experience.
But yeah,
Here are kind of five things that.
.
.
Came to mind from his book and that he talks about.
And the first one is that you're not your mind.
You are not your mind.
So the constant streamed thought that you have in your head,
We have in our heads,
Isn't who we are.
Freedom starts when we notice that we can observe our thoughts rather than being carried away by them.
So,
You know,
We talked a little bit about clouds in the sky.
Being thoughts,
Like thoughts moving across the mind and that,
You know,
They're there one minute and they're gone the next.
And so that's really important if we can try and do that.
The second point is that the present moment is all there is and there's a reason why the present is called the present because it's gift.
Should we choose to accept it?
And that life only ever happens right now.
And the past is a memory and the future is only imagination.
And both only exist.
As thoughts are actually happening right now.
And so,
You know,
We're often thinking about what we could have done better or what we're doing in the future,
But actually all of that is just now.
And,
Um.
.
.
And the positivity and energy that we can gain from spending more time in the present can be amazing,
Be powerful.
The third point is that most suffering is made in the mind.
And so not all suffering,
Right?
So,
You know,
If I was to walk out of here and stub my toe,
That pain would be absolutely real.
But a lot of the pain that we feel,
A lot of the suffering we feel is caused by us as a response to that original.
Incident.
And we have a great deal more control about that than we think.
Um.
.
.
Yeah and you know problems and time is really important so we talked a little bit about time there but they talk it's worth saying that the ego lives on time so the ego needs the past and future to sustain a sense of identity.
So,
Um.
.
.
Whether that's grievance or wanting.
So we're looking forward to what we could have done better.
Defines who we are,
Who we think we are,
What we're going to achieve in the future.
So being in the present moment really weakens that,
Makes us more grounded,
More connected.
And accepting and then acting is really important.
Amen.
Surrendering to the present doesn't mean being passive.
It doesn't mean being weak or being a coward.
What it means about it saying okay so I understand this has happened and accepting the reality of that but then saying okay so what am I going to do about that?
And that pause,
That breath allows us to be so much more connected and grounded and wise really.
And just connecting that really is the final thought which is about inhabiting our bodies.
So,
You know,
How can we pause better?
So for sure,
Right,
We can all just stop.
And count that as a pause and then carry on doing something.
The ability to inhabit our bodies,
Feeling the inner body,
The aliveness in our hands,
Breath and chest and so forth,
There's this anchor.
That really superpowers this porting possibility.
And draws attention out of the head and into the present moment and,
You know,
That superpower,
That kind of supercharging.
The present moment through the body allows us a greater pause,
A greater time,
Greater wisdom.
So a few thoughts there really about what Eckhart spoke about and yeah I would definitely recommend the book.
It may seem a bit long,
But I'm recommending it.
Nearly 20 years after I didn't like it.
But hey.
I do like it now and I do think it's worth taking a look.
Quite a lot of information there,
Maybe a few things fitting around in your head,
Maybe one or two things landed more than others,
Maybe all of it did,
Maybe none of it did.
And that is fine too so This may be taking an opportunity to pause and to gather.
In this moment.
Maybe closing your eyes if that feels okay,
If that feels good.
If that feels comfortable.
Yeah,
Let's see if we can step into this present that Eckhart spoke about.
Where you can use an anchor is the breath,
Maybe it's feet on the floor or hands resting.
Maybe a couple of deeper breaths if that feels okay.
Settling and sinking into the posture we've chosen.
And noticing what comes up in their minds,
I'm sure that our minds will can often do wonder.
Seeing if it's okay if it's possible to come back to this present moment this being here this sitting here this Yeah,
This gathering.
Yeah,
Wherever,
Whenever we are,
You are watching,
Listening.
And still sharing this moment.
And see if it's possible now and in the future as often as we can to come back to this present moment and noticing if our minds are wandering and if the thoughts are Yeah,
Not that helpful.
Not that productive.
Not that necessary.
And just coming back to the hair and now using connecting with this power,
The power of now.
Power of being here,
The power of.
.
.
The present moment.
Yeah,
Sorry.
Bring this whole practice to a close.
If you feel that you'd like to sort of stay,
Yeah,
In the present moment,
Wherever you are,
Whatever you're doing,
Then of course,
You know,
That's completely fine.
Please do.
And yeah,
Thank you once again for joining and take care.
I look forward to catching up soon.
Bye for now.
