Chapter Two has already hit home with me as well. I was delighted to discover that Tolle's teachings are along the same lines of what I am learning from yoga. It is always good to get the same meaning from different sources and in different words. Reading this book has helped tremendously to bring home the messages my yoga teachers have been saying all along. In fact, my yoga teacher has been focusing all month long on the exact same topic Tolle discusses ...the theme of "I AM."
This is about not identifying your being with your thoughts. Our thoughts tell us all sorts of things..."I am a woman/daughter/sister/wife/worker/upset/angry/unsatisfied..." The one constant advice I hear from my yoga teachers is to be aware of your thoughts, but do not identify with them - do not attach yourself to them. This is what they tell you when you are trying to calm your mind for meditation. This is also the advice they give to help you deal with irritations in your everyday life. They say that not being able to control your thoughts - to keep them away - is perfectly fine. Just notice that you are having them, and that is the first step.
I'll be honest, I wasn't getting it. Something would happen to piss me off and I knew that I shouldn't be mad about it, but no matter what, I could not stop being mad. So I would think "OK, I'm noticing that I'm mad." Well...I still stayed mad. My yoga teachers say that does not matter, and they are just proud that you noticed. Still, I did not feel that I was getting anywhere.
Things started clicking more when I read Tolle's words. His examination and explanation of the ego really helped with my understanding. He says being absorbed and totally identified with our thoughts AND emotions means we lose our true self and are completely identified with form and ego. "Ego arises when your sense of Beingness, of 'I AM,' which is formless consciousness, gets mixed up with form." (page 54)
He says...(chapter two, page 30) "Some people never forget the first time they disidentified from their thoughts and thus briefly experienced the shift in identity from being the content of their mind to being the awareness in the background. For others it happens in such a subtle way they hardly notice it, or they just notice an influx of joy or inner peace without knowing the reason."
My problem is I am still identified with my thoughts (the ego). So my yoga teachers are right, the first step is just noticing that I am identified with them. I trust that there will come a day when the shift happens for me...when I feel my being as my awareness, not my thoughts telling me who I am or what I feel. And I believe that is where true peace resides.
For now..."I am the awareness that is aware that there is attachment." (page 46). And I'm happy with that.
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"Some people never forget the first time they disidentified from their thoughts and thus briefly experienced the shift in identity from being the content of their mind to being the awareness in the background. For others it happens in such a subtle way they hardly notice it, or they just notice an influx of joy or inner peace without knowing the reason."
Kim, I loved this quote. I highlighted it. When I experienced losing Matt, I felt numb. I referred to it as "nothingness" in my grief journal. I felt like I was no longer a label. I was alive. I was no longer saddened by the things that I didn't have. I thought that life was precious for the first time...
Funny thing is, my great grandfather passed away at the young age of 102 a year before Matt passed away. At the time, I just thought that it was okay that my great grandpa passed (because he was old) but even as I write this, I get teared up. It is almost as if Matt's death opened up a part of me that didn't previously exist.
Hmmm...this book makes me think all sorts of thoughts.
"Some people never forget the first time they disidentified from their thoughts and thus briefly experienced the shift in identity from being the content of their mind to being the awareness in the background. For others it happens in such a subtle way they hardly notice it, or they just notice an influx of joy or inner peace without knowing the reason."
Kim, I loved this quote. I highlighted it. When I experienced losing Matt, I felt numb. I referred to it as "nothingness" in my grief journal. I felt like I was no longer a label. I was alive. I was no longer saddened by the things that I didn't have. I thought that life was precious for the first time...
Funny thing is, my great grandfather passed away at the young age of 102 a year before Matt passed away. At the time, I just thought that it was okay that my great grandpa passed (because he was old) but even as I write this, I get teared up. It is almost as if Matt's death opened up a part of me that didn't previously exist.
Hmmm...this book makes me think all sorts of thoughts.
"I felt like I was no longer a label. I was alive. I was no longer saddened by the things that I didn't have.
This is it :)We can all achieve that and more...:)
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