What will I experience, learn and come away with in an evening with Eckhart Tolle? These were the thoughts in my mind as I said ‘yes’ to a dear friend who generously gifted me an extra ticket to hear Tolle speaking in Vancouver, with her, thank you Leah!
My previous experience with Tolle was minimal and included partially reading one of his books, The Power of Now, many years ago. I resonated with what he shared, especially about us having an Ego self, but found the book a challenge to get through and ended up returning it to the shelf and not getting back to it. Since then I have seen this book and his others on the shelves of my friends, family and many bookstores. I have remained curious about his teachings, and hadn’t delved deeper, until this event.
First off, I was wowed by how many people attended his event at the Vancouver Convention Centre! There was excitement buzzing around the room as people took their seats. Tolle was immediately warm, inviting and humorous. He told everyone, with a twinkle in his eye, that “if you don’t resonate with what I am sharing, it’s okay to get up and leave. Don’t worry, people won’t know if you’re going to the bathroom or not coming back.”
It felt like I was in the (very large) living room of my Grandfather, listening to him share his wisdom.
I took some notes during the talk so that I could reflect back on the points I found most interesting. Many of these points I have heard before from other teachings and now heard them in a new way, and others were brand new to me. Now I will share them with you. These quotes are not necessarily exactly as quoted by Tolle, but how I took them down:
“Your thoughts, emotions and thinking have you. You don’t have them. When you become them, that’s unconscious living”
This idea gives me so much space and an access point to step out of my thoughts/emotions/thinking and be an observer of these happenings, instead of being in them. I call this elevation, and I LOVE elevation! It feels so expansive and spacious to come from this vantage point. When one is aware of their thoughts and not attached to them, they are now living consciously. From this place there is more clarity, peace, ease and choice.
“Meditation is not for doing, to achieve something. It’s a realization of being – that you are. Not a realization of who or what I am, it is that I am. Done without any unconscious expectation of a future outcome, that it should get you somewhere.”
I had a good chuckle at this one. As a person who thrives on achievement, getting somewhere and getting shit done, I realized that I have brought this to my meditation practice too! I don’t practice as regularly as I would like, and upon hearing this I realized that when I do meditate, I have had an unconscious agenda that it will get me more peace, patience, wisdom and insights. I wasn’t doing it simply for the practice of just being. Tricky me!
“You can’t achieve enlightenment, you realize it. Because it’s already here.”
This thought really inspires me. It has me exhale and let go. Again, the achiever in me holds on tightly to outcomes I am striving to achieve. It can be exhausting and heavy. The thought that enlightenment is already here, that is to me, that I already am enough, is a wonderful possibility.
“The present moment is the access point to the deep I.”
The Deep ‘I’, I took to mean as your truest, highest and best self. Your essence. Again, this reminder that it can be simple, there’s nothing to do, to strive for, manage or control. Just to be present in what is now, is so beautiful. This is the work I both practice and teach through Positive Intelligence, how to connect with the present moment through your senses.
“Forgive those that are unconscious, do not try to transform them. Recognize it’s unconsciousness.”
Forgiveness on all levels is so much access to healing and freedom. When we can recognize and accept where people are at, instead of trying to change them, it’s a load off not only for us, but for them too. I can see in my life where my automatic is to see that others need to be ‘fixed’ or see a different point of view. This insight is a reminder to accept people who they are and where they are at in life. Nothing to fix or change. No managing or controlling necessary.
“The ultimate of suffering is to cause awakening. Your comfort zone does not awaken you.”
Tolle talked a lot about suffering and its relationship to awakening, to being your best self. I have heard this said in other ways: that contrast in your life produces clarity around what you want, that there is always a gift in every challenge or circumstance, even if you can’t see it in the moment. I believe this to be true for me in my life.
In my journey to become a coach I learned a lot about comfort zones, and that it’s the place where we live that is (as it’s aptly named) most comfortable. That doesn’t mean it’s what we want or desire, it’s just what we know, and that’s comfy. I’ve learned that possibility lives OUTSIDE of our comfort zone. Hearing Tolle share “Your comfort zone does not awaken you,” felt like permission for me to lean into discomfort, into fear, in service of living a life fully, that I love.
This event and these teachings, I see as another step in the direction of my personal and spiritual growth.
What do you see for yourself in these concepts?
(Eckhart Tolle Photo Credit to onbeing.org)