A tip for how to be more present. In his groundbreaking book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment Eckhart Tolle gives us a tool for determining if we are staying in the present. When we are anxious and tense, chances are we are spending too much time in the future. On the other hand, when we feel guilty, sad, bitter, or resentful, we are probably focusing on the past. Once we realize we are not in the present, we are present, he writes.
Archive for the ‘authenticity’ Category
On Being Present
January 23rd, 2011
Alone or Lonely?
May 2nd, 2010
There’s a big difference between being alone and lonely. Several years ago, a friend introduced me to the Osho Zen Tarot deck. There are fifty-six cards in the deck, each with a beautiful illustration and poignant message. Often as a part of my morning meditation, I shuffle the cards, cut them, spread them out facedown, and pick one randomly.
This morning I picked “Aloneness.” I often do. The message is a good one: “When you are lonely you are thinking of the other, you are missing the other. Loneliness is a negative state. You are feeling that it would have been better if the other was there – your friend, your wife, your mother, your beloved, your husband…. Loneliness is absence of the other. Aloneness is the presence of oneself. Aloneness is very positive.”
I am once again reminded that whether single or coupled, I am called to be “a light unto myself.”
P.S. You can check out the Osho Zen Tarot deck at http://bit.ly/145mtI.