A New Earth - Chapter 6

Okay...so now I am officially one FULL week behind. Oops! Tonight's live class is Chapter 7 and I am just finishing Chapter 6.

Some of my highlights during Chapter 6 - Breaking Free from the pain body:

BOOK IDEA: Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

• You are not your thoughts but the AWARENESS of your thoughts.
• Learn to accept what ever emotion arises within you.
• Wanting something that is different than it IS causes stress.
• Let go of mental positions (being a 'right fighter') - if you identify with this it's the ego.
• When you begin to awaken, this sometimes means you have to let go of something that used to give you a false sense of self.
• When people begin to become more present, some friends will join you and others will fail to join you....but don't focus your energy on those that did not join you. (ex. run your own race, if you're running and keep turning behind you to see who's behind you - you waste energy turning around)
• It's easier to detect pain body in others than in yourself.
• Question: When we are in the pain body's grip, what are some ways we can get free?
• catch it as it arises (if it's too late the pain body will take over - a small thing happens and you can flare up)
• Realize what kind of situation triggers your pain body and bring consciousness into your body when these triggers happen.
• Be AWARE of the pain body - then they can't renew themselves and they will subside
• You attract certain things into your life that reflect your (inner) state of consciousness.
• It's always more important what your interstate of consciousness is than the external situation.
• Remind yourself to be AWARE of what is going on inside of you.
• Love has no wanting, it wants nothing in return
• The extent to which you can love another human being depends on the extend to which you are connected to your own essence.
• Every human being has their own CROSS TO BARE (in parallel to Jesus on the cross) He has come to the point to accept the suffering in the present moment - no more inner resistance.
• The very moment the worst thing can happen to you - if you surrender to it, there's an opening that allows energy of the divine to come through.
• Grace is hiding behind suffering - but will not show itself until you surrender (suffer consciously).
• When parents argue in front of children - you are creating and reinforcing your children's pain body's
• Children ABSORB your pain body - whether you fight in front of children or do not
• Children don't have the language so they pick up on the 'bad' energy of the pain body.
• When you see a pain body episode in your child, talk to them to help them begin to become aware - questions to ask:
• What was it that came over you when you wouldn't stop screaming?
• Do you remember?
• What did it feel like?
• Was it a good feeling?
• That thing that came over you, does it have a name?
• No? If it had a name, what would it be called?
• If you could see it, what would it look like?
• Can you paint a picture of what it would look like?
• What happened to it when it went away?
• Did it go to sleep?
• Do you think it may come back?
• These questions will help your child begin to become aware.
• The past has no power over the present moment.
• Get still, bring yourself to the present moment.

So that's it....3 more chapters to go!

A New Earth - Chapter 5

As you can see, I am falling a little behind on my online classes of A New Earth. That being said, I have not lost interest (just falling short on time)!

My notes are becoming less & less during the online courses - not sure what that means. Possibly I'm understanding or maybe not?? LOL Either way, I'm learning lots and am working through MY awakening witch includes a yearning for learning!

So my highlights from Chapter 5 in point form:

• When you become dependent on learning all sorts of entertainment (tv, stereo, etc) the minute you walk in the house...this is a sign that you need these stimulants to fill you up
• Become aware that thinking HAPPENS to you - do not identify with that thought, judgements, likes, dislikes then make up your definition on your self through these thoughts
• Realize there is a voice in your head - your thoughts and become aware that this is just the story you tell yourself and it (the past) has no power
• Do not attach to your past - don't identify with the past because it'll prevent you from being present.
• QUOTE: Any negative emotion that is not fully faced and seen for what it is in the moment it arises does not completely dissolve. It leaves behind a remnant of pain.
• Any emotion/thought is a form of energy
• The pain body can almost live as an entity in you (or energy)
• Sometimes it's dormant and sometimes it's active
• The pain body feeds on negative thinking
• Some people have an addiction to negativity
• Negativity that is not dealt with - goes inside you & will take a form (ie. over weight, addiction, anger, etc)
• In intimate relationships, where perhaps we re-in act drama in some way these negative situations - intense emotional negativity - the pain body will awaken and one will push the partners buttons that will bring on more intense emotional negativity
• Pain body is the emotional part of the ego
• The pain body LOVES family
• When someone acts very dramatically, don't 'buy into' their drama. People like this suffer from the disease of the pain body. You should act as the 'compassionate presence' - BE PRESENT
• Recognize the pain body in others and do not buy into other's pain bodies. Allow the other person to be in their pain body then you're not 'feeding' the other pain body & the other person's pain body will dissolve.
• Pain body's are cunning & clever
• DO NOT BE DRAWN INTO THE DRAMA (something I have to learn how to do more) - you need great alertness not to be drawn in
  
• When the pain body takes over a person - their whole personality becomes transformed
• WORRY is repetitive negative thought patterns
• to not worry - step out of that stream of negative thinking
• step into conscious thinking (presence)
• take 3 conscious breaths
• Humans can only act to their level of consciousness
• When losing a loved one, allow the emotion of sadness when you remember that loved one
• Sadness & tears come but through the acceptance of the emotion comes PEACE
• Accept the void (of the loved one who is gone) instead of the body, then something else shines through - the formless. Where the form once was , the formless can shine through (that's the GRACE that hides behind death)
• Don't try to hold on to the way it was rather than letting the Grace shine through
• Bring presence to your thoughts - otherwise you become obsessed by thought
• QUOTE: Thinking is no more than a tiny aspect of the totality of consciousness of the totality of who you are.
• We are not our thoughts, we are the awareness of our thoughts.
• INSPIRATION does not come through your thoughts, it comes through your BEING (the space of awareness or presence)
• You'll never THINK your way to a purpose and you'll never worry (have the same negative thought over and over) your way out of a problem.
• Alcohol & Drug Abuse - is an escape of your pain body
• When faced with negative emotion - embrace these feelings with ACCEPTANCE
• Be the space & accept the present moment
• FOR NOW, every time you see your pain body and other's pain bodies show themselves - recognize it & accept it.
• BE AWARE, because this awareness will begin to dissolve it
• To be obsessed means thoughts going over & over in your head
• Thoughts have momentum in your mind - they fulfill no useful purpose. Don't try to get rid of them - ACCEPT THEM.
• AWAKENING (being present) doesn't happen immediately - you have to catch yourself doing it more often = start slowly then you'll find it becomes natural.
• Choose to be present by:
• feeling the inner body
• conscious breaths
• be in touch with your sense perception
• Train yourself to be present
• BE THERE when the pain body happens - it's easier to recognize it in someone else = but will require more presence to see it in yourself.

That's it, that's all....

A New Earth - Chapter 4

I can't really say which chapter is my favourite so far. Definitely not chapter 1 - but between chapters 2, 3 & 4 - they are all excellent. After reading chapter 4 (for those of you who are parents) I now parent differently. Parenting in the present moment - has come very naturally. It's not always easy - but very rewarding. To witness Noah 'coming back to the present moment' is incredible.

#1 Question posed on Oprah's discussion boards: How do you relate to people who are not on this same path as you?

Answers:

• Do not expect other people to change just because you are changing
• Allow other people to be where they are
• Do not demand a change in others
• The most powerful way to bring about change in others is to ACCEPT them as they are (complete acceptance)
• This shift is stepping out of your judgemental mind
• No longer resist their old patters & stop reacting to their patters (ie. this is 'playing their games')
• Part of your change is your willingness NOT to judge, be an observer in your own life & witness the ego in others as you see it in yourself
• Don't mistake their ego for who they are - because this will strengthen your ego
• Your old ego wants people to believe what you believe - but this book is NOT a new belief it's an awareness
  

My favourite quotes & parts of this chapter's 'webinar' (in point form):

• The readienss is not there for everyone
• Pg. 104 Human alone is never enough, no matter how hard you try.
• Take attention away from the mind and put it to the present
• You will feel more light & free (less stressed) when you stay present (and I can attest to this)
• If you need to plan something in the future - do this as a concentrated event/experience (ex. 'right now, I am planning the activity for next week')
• Nothing is more important than the NOW - for an athlete the term for being present is being in 'the zone'
• Don't identify yourself with your ROLE (ex. as mother). Being a mother is a function - fulfill the function, but do not identify yourself with your role/function. When you become too identified with function, it becomes a role (ex. when a child grows up & you still behave as though they were small and sometimes your actions are no longer appropriate - because you're stuck in that role)
• Guilt in mothers - recognize the egoic mind structure. At first the awareness doesn't flow to all areas of your life. THEN you realize there is a time gap between the old behaviour & your awareness. THEN you realize that the gap gets shorter between the old behaviour & awareness. THEN you realize just before you slip into your old behaviour that you become aware.
  
• What is a Role? (role vs. job function) - when you adjust the way you interact based on who you are talking to - you are role playing (ex. how do you talk to the janitor versus your boss)
• Observe in yourself using your awareness.
• Bring in 'small spaces' in your daily life - to deal with role playing or old conditioned behaviour - and gradually you will see more presence in your life
• When it comes to suffering or challenges in your life, do what you can to help but don't go into anguish yourself.
• How to stay in the present moment when a child is freaking out? How to raise more conscious children.
• Pay more attention to YOUR inner state than to what is happen in your child (it's likely that you feel anxiety but YOU do this to yourself). It's a viscious circle - we think that our children cause us anxiety when it is ultimately US causing ourselves these feelings. ONLY YOU can cause your own feelings. Stay conscious - and realize that if YOU get in this 'nervous energy field' or anxious feelings, this will provoke further 'so called' bad behaviour in your child.
• Children ABSORB that nervous energy, more than even your language (this IS their language)
• Your first interest NEEDS to be 'what is my inner state'.
  
• Accept the moment for what it is.
• Be there as the SPACE for what ever you child does
• Don't have a REACTIVE barrier
• Allow your calmness to calm the child down (can be used in any reactive state in your life, with children, co workers, confrontation, etc)
• Make this your spiritual practice (alot easier said than done, but practicing will help) - stay calm.
  

A New Earth - Chapter 3

So far - this is my best chapter yet. My biggest A-HA moment came when they spoke of the reasons people overeat - WOW. What I got from the class Monday night on Chapter 3:

• Who are you? Many people may answer mother, father, doctor, etc but it is much deeper than this and there is no conceptual answer to this question.
• Ego = thinking
• What you react to in another, you strengthen in yourself
• when you react to something that someone else does, realize that this is something you have to look at in yourself
  
• Ego is identifying with thought
• Once you label something, you desensitize yourself with that person or thing
• Complaining is one of the ego's favourite ways of strengthening itself
• The ego is the identifying with the negative thoughts
  
• Become aware of that complaining voice in your head
• Egoic complaining is when no change is to take place by the complaint, when there is no purpose to the complaint, when they are resenting complaints
• When ego tries to make someone wrong, the complaint is personalized
  
• Rather than complaining - state the facts
• When you complain - there are hard feelings, hurt feelings. The hurt feelings come from the ego - accept and recognize the hurt feelings
• No grievance has justification
• When you call someone a name - instead of sensing the aliveness of another human being - you've labelled them
• ex. when we label ourselves as 'good people' - we identify THAT as who we are. Then when someone says you're 'no good' (or calls you names or criticizes you), many people get angry or the ego wants to defend itself - then the ego will go into self-repair mode - and get angry back.
• Get in touch with your deeper level that does not get hurt
• When you feel hurt - often it turns into anger
• Ask yourself - what grievances to we carry? Remember - no grievance has justification through grievances the ego stays alive.
  
• Worrying is mental noise, get out of the mind and into the presence - you can only help yourself
• Worry is unconscious mind movement into the future when the outcomes are negative - it pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose
• What ever you fight - you strengthen and what you resist, persists.
• Non-reaction - recognize when another human displays egoic behaviour and allow your ego to be there but not to react. Accept egoic behaviour within other people (ie. rudeness, etc), when you don't react you'll eventually see the other person's behaviour back down.
• The ego in other people is NOT who they really are, then the presence in you gets to relate to the presence in them - this is compassion.
• Your reaction is so automatic that when someone behaves unconsciously (ex. yelling at you), to react in the same way is very automatic (ex. yelling back at them)
• Peace or Drama? Peace is the new egoic mind and Drama is the old egoic mind
• Many people have an addiction to unhappiness (drama) - become aware of it and you can step out of this into the present moment (peace).
• Have a good relationship with the NOW? If you don't, you don't have a good relationship with life because life is NOW.
• The NOW is the exit out of the ego.
• OVEREATING - has alot to do with ego because the ego that lives in a constant state of NOT ENOUGH always seeks something else to fill it (like with food - but any addiction has to do with ego) .... A-HA
  
• Eat consciously - Stop resisting - once you make eat consciously and make a meditation of it, you won't eat 2 bags of chips unconsciously....you will begin to enjoy every single chip and in the enjoyment & pleasure - if you stop when it's no longer pleasurable - it's no longer pleasurable after 3, 4 or 5 - when you're conscious. But the time you eat the whole bag, you don't even taste them anymore.
  
• Make a meditation of it, BE WITH IT, FEEL IT, sense it - allow yourself and your whole body to be with it and when you're done with the pleasure of it LET IT GO...
• Sense your body - you don't become overweight (or even drunk) if you are acting CONSCIOUSLY.
• Obsessive indulgence happens when you are unconscious - addictions are unconscious.
• This book is NOT about believing - it's about what you come to know for yourself (feel for yourself). God, in the essence of all consciousness is NOT something to BELIEVE - God IS.
• God is a 'feeling' experience not a 'believing' experience.
• When you can fully accept that you don't know who you are - you are closer to who you are ...... A-HA
  
• Be in the form (the body) and sense the formlessness (your essential beingness) in the background of your life at all times
• YOU - are the awareness between your thoughts and the awareness of the thoughts

WOW - 2 A-HA moments for me - ANOTHER great chapter (between chapter 2 & 3 - I can't decide what is my favourite chapter so far! Another week, another pleasure!

A New Earth - Chapter 2

Yet another good lesson. These lessons have been a real 'awakening' for me to examine my own existence and place on this earth - I guess, the whole purpose of the book. As Mr. Tolle states that for some this book will be well received and for others (who are not ready) it will be meaningless... so if you are not ready, don't read. I guess, I am because so far I have loved every minute of my time spent on ready, listening and working on activities.

Chapter 2 online class - I just finished. It was great. Much more practical than the first. This time, I took 10 pages of notes (again which I will summarize in point form below). It's weird because as a high school student (so many years ago), I disliked dissecting books very much. But now, it's interesting and fun, something I choose to do with my free time.

• To take attention from your thinking mind into the present moment, ask yourself 'am I still breathing'. This should leave you feeling very calm, relaxed with a deeper sense of aliveness.
• Silence = giving your mind a break
• STOP labeling things, try starting with nature (a tree, a flower, etc)
• Everyone is identified with their past - but this is NOT who you are, these are just a collection of memories, thoughts
• Fulfill the functions you have (ie. mother, father), honour them but do not identify with them. This is not who you are - if this becomes all you have then you get lost in surface reality and it becomes painful or can turn into conflict (ex. if you identify with your opinion "this is MY opinion" and someone questions it, people often get an angry or possibly a fight begins)
• So WHO AM I? When you see that something you are thinking, you SEE the illusion - 'these are thoughts in my head, these are something I've told myself I believe, this is something I've told myself I identify with'.....when you can SEE that.....the SEEer or OBSERVER IS who you really are....(confusing I know, but say it a few times and it makes sense - to me, at least)
• Practice being PRESENT with your children - how? Two types of presence - form & formless. Form attention is do this, brush your teeth, comb your hair, do that.... Formless attention is listening, watching, BEING with your child. Acknowledge them, give them space, show them PRESENCE.
• When we lose our self in concepts, we mistake the words for the things. (ex. telling your child 'this is an oak tree', they then believe they know what it is so they lose their relationship with the oak tree and it loses it magic.) Have you ever watched a child experience something for the first time - they see MAGIC in everything an airplane, a star, the moon, rain, etc. Once they know what they are and they see these things again and again - it's like 'oh ya, that's an airplane' as if to say 'no big deal'.
• The world loses it's miraculous quality and it's aliveness once you give the child the concept. ENCOURAGE the child to continue to experience the tree - to touch the bark, to look at the leaves, to see how the sun shines through the leaves...etc.
• Content & Structure of the Ego - what is EGO? The ego is the false sense of self based on mental concepts and our identification with form. Content is what you identify with yourself (and it differs from everyone). An example of this is when someone loses their job from a company they have been with for a long time - they become depressed or sometimes even suicidal - they were so identified with their job that they felt their identity was taken from them when they lost their job.
• The Ego sees for something to identify with.
• Nothing is wrong with things, thoughts & opinions but the moment you identify with opinions, you need to defend them.
• When people are sharing a depressing or negative, to stay present - do not buy into the story, do not empower the story - be in a state of ALERT AWARENESS, don't even resist their thoughts.
• The ego & weight loss - and AHA moment for me. This is a spiritual process of loss. Be conscious of what your body needs. Be aware. Feed your body from within. Overeating is a part of the ego or the unconsciousness - substitute for a sense of aliveness. (ex. I worked on this last week - staying present, recognizing what my body needed, reminding myself if I was eating because my body was hungry or because of another reason - I lost 3 lbs last week.)
• Identification with Things - see who you are, NOT through things.
• When you no longer feel the life that you are, you are likely to try and fill up your life with things.
• Example when children become identified with things, a shopaholic mom buys her child things when they have a good day - the child now identifies that these things as part of who they are and their little egos are formed
• Examples of how you can change this in your child - MOST IMPORTANTLY change this in YOURSELF, live the example. Point out things to the child that are of intrinsic value - that you can not buy, something in the natural world, in nature but don't pick flowers because that will enforce the 'ACQUISITION INSTINCT' - allow the flower to 'be there' and enjoy it for it's beauty.
• Honour the world of things, not despise it - but we can not honour things if we try to find ourselves through them. Honour them by giving them attention. BUT if something happens to them or they get stolen - it's OKAY because you do not identify YOURSELF through them
• Anytime you feel yourself to be superior or inferior to anybody - it is ALWAYS your ego.
  
• Wanting keeps the ego alive, much more than having (ex. you have a house with nice things, then you want more things, more square footage, etc).
• How do we stop that? See the illusion of seeking fulfillment in the future. Realize that the thing that is of PRIME IMPORTANCE in our lives, we always overlooked (and that is the ego ). The thing that is of PRIME IMPORTANCE is the PRESENT MOMENT.
• The ego lives through the past & future, it identifies with the past and looks to the future to complete itself.
• When you are present, the ego can not survive.
• The NOW is the foundation of the rest of your life.
• Moving beyond ego - become aware, if you are aware you can not become possessed by your ego - live in the present moment.
• Make friends with the PRESENT MOMENT.

So that's my point form summary of my views on Chapter 2.

A New Earth - Chapter 1

I finally had a couple of hours to watch Chapter 1 Podcast session with Oprah & Eckhart Tolle. What an inspiring, educational & exciting one & a half hours. I received so much insight into the most difficult conceptual chapter in this book. Luckily the remaining chapters are mostly practical (much more exciting).

I have so much to say - I took 9 pages of notes that I want to document for later lessons in my awakening. There was so much.... There were many quotes, some 'take home - to-do's' and some questions & comments for me to post on the Oprah website.

I will start by mentioning that despite the difficulties with the live session (on the night this podcast was aired) the format and delivery were extremely user friendly. KUDOS to Oprah & her team for taking on such a risky platform and a job very well done! It was simple to use, relaxing to listen to, the flow was easy to follow and the content was explained in a way that was simple to understand. They (meaning Oprah and Mr. Tolle) took the time to answer the questions in depth for the viewers, as well they chose questions that were relevant to many. By the time the 1.5 hour session concluded, I had all but a few questions answered and left finished with incredible insight and peace.

I'm going to 'throw out' there much of what I wrote - it may be 'mumble-jumble' to some but I just want document in order to continue on to the 2nd chapter (to get caught up before Monday night):

• Rather than asking yourself what you want to do in life ask WHAT DOES LIFE WANT FROM ME?
• Ask for moments of stillness and when you find them, these are potentially where the answers are
• What is my place within the WHOLE?
• Experience the world like a baby - for the first time
• Stop labelling, starting with nature (it's easier with nature than with people)
• When you have mental abstractions (lost in thought, listening to the voice in your head) you can't take in what's around you
  
• Religion is the open door to spirituality
• Christianity - the free thinking form has many paths to God
• Technology amplifies egoic function
• Awakening is not just about thinking or being positive, it's about putting our ego's in check
• The voice in my head is conditioned thinking (from your upbringing, your childhood, society, etc) - when you begin to awaken, these thoughts still come up....allow it, be aware of it and recognize that it is an old thought process
• To go beyond this - just be there as the witness and don't fight it
• Your thinking is only a small part of the totality of thinking
• Don't identify with the thought, just give it space
• Energy fields are formed when groups of people come together (even if not physically). Don't just live this way in your group only, don't become dependant on your group....your responsibility is to bring this new level of consciousness into your own life & your family.
• LIVE PRESENCE IN YOUR DAILY LIFE (even when you are surrounded by the old egoic consciousness).
• Bible quote: BE STILL & KNOW THAT i AM GOD.
• Get in touch with the deepest part within & invite the stillness in (book idea below).
• Go back to nature to feel it - sense the stillness around you, that is also within you.
  
• Find the stillness, presence in your daily life moments in everyday motions (ie. getting a cup out of the cupboard, walking down the stairs or washing your hands - feel the water flowing over your hands, smell the soap, etc) - do it consciously, be present
• Learning to do these simple things will retrain your mind
• Everything we do is a 'means to an end' - so you rarely think in the moment because your mind is always on the next step (ie. making a cup of coffee - your mind is on drinking the coffee)
• When you purchase things (forms) from your ego, they don't satisfy you for long however you can enjoy the world of FORM but don't let yourself be defined by your 'things'.
• Ask yourself: What is MY relationship with the present moment? (and be conscious of the answer)
• What you resist, persists.
• Make peace with the moment to get yourself out of it
• Experience the book, rather than explain it.
• Accept that this book is NOT for everyone, only worry or concern yourself with YOU!
  

BOOK IDEAS to further your understanding, mentioned by Oprah
Note: the Author's names may not be spelled correctly

The Power Within You
By: Erik Butterworth
In reference to finding out how to reconcile spirituality & religion

The Seekers Guide
By: Elizabeth Lesser

Stillness Speaks
By: Eckhart Tolle

Coming to Your Senses
By: John Cabit Zens

NOTE: A New Earth - thoughts each week will continue on this BLOG. Be sure to add any thoughts or comments if you too, are reading the book or following the online classes!