I recently rekindle a lovely friendship with someone I went to college with. We bonded over dorm room TV show marathons, 8 am (in our senior year!) English classes, and harsh criticism from southern writing professors. He's always made me laugh and gave me material for jokes that never came to mind when I fed off any of my other friends! He, himself, is an immensely talented writer; a observant, humorous - albeit deliciously sarcastic - artist with the ability to paint a picture with words that always leave you smiling. He always knew what he wanted - to be a screenwriter - and didn't take any shortcuts to get to the place he felt he needed to be to make this happen - California. The competitive LA streets led him to jobs that created a colorful resume, many interesting people, and even more interesting stories (material?). Recently, his two year stint in the west led him back to his hometown of Philadelphia - and blankly left him asking, Now What?
He's reminded me that the Now What times we're bound to experience throughout our lives can be both frustrating and exciting. Terrifying and relaxing. Leaving you on the edge of a either a breakdown or the precipice of a fulfilling beginning. I'm so proud of him and excited too. Proud because he's the kind of person that won't just sit on the (literal) couch (read below). Excited because I have discovered, first hand, how acceptance and presence can transform your life and is sure to change his.
Below is my response to a note he wrote me and something I wanted to share because it both reminded me of where I was at this time a year ago and how far I've come, as well as the beliefs that got me here.
Dear Friend:
I can say this now that you are considering this perspective - that book, those concepts changed me. In a really good way. It was kind of the first domino that started the chain of spiritual and "earthly" events that I observe everyday. It is beyond comforting to accept the idea that the "universe", "god", "energy" - whatever you want to call it - is on "our side". Because, well, the universe, god and energy IS us. It's in us, it is us, it is around us.
People say that they don't believe in destiny or fate because, what, we can just sit on our couch and life will happen to us? No. And yes.
In a literal sense - you can't sit on a couch for a significant portion of your lifetime; at some point you have to get up. But, in a way, we actually do only have to sit on that proverbial couch - we don't have to DO anything but just be in the moment we're in - be, observe, don't pass judgement, feel instead of think.
But since we're human, of course, some action is required. Jobs don't apply for themselves. Travels aren't booked without your doing. A relationship isn't maintained without a phone call. But humans tend to constantly ruminate about decisions and possibilities and relationships, big and small. Your job application follows you to the grocery store line, to the dinner table, to merge lane on the highway. Of course we have to think and do but We never STOP thinking about doing, even when we're in a place where nothing can be done - i.e. the grocery store or the dinner table!
Wouldn't a better idea be to say - there's my desk, I have an hour. I am going to spend this hour applying for jobs. I will put all of my thought and creative energy into this task, this moment, these moments where I'm working on this project. And when the hour is over - when you are done applying for those jobs - you get up from your desk. You walk away. And you stop thinking about it. You move on to whatever you want to do next - and you are there. You are in your backyard reading a book and you are not thinking about the job - because what can you do about the job while your on your chair in the backyard? If you make the decision to observe, accept, feel in the very moment, in the very place you are living your life in that second- you will become aware of what you want the next step - of your morning, of your day, in you life - to be; and you know what the next step should be because it FEELS "right".
(Human beware - the mind convinces us otherwise. It gives us "logical" reasons to think that our idea or want is silly - but that's the ego. The ego THINKS instead of FEELS. And that's the challenge of being human!)
So what Eckhart Tolle is getting at, I think, is that when we are in the present moment, when we are aware, it helps us ignore that pesty ego, that pesty reason and logic. Instead, we are in tune - we become content - we become quiet so that there is no noise disrupting the connection between all the energy that IS, in, and around us.
The phenomenon I still admire is that when we "give up" dictating how we're going to get what we want, whatever we truly want then happens. But, really, we don't give up - we just let go...of what our mind is telling us should happen, and start listening to something much bigger than that.
Enjoy!
Julie
