I’ve been reading a book recently called [AMAZON_AFF item=”powernow” text=”The Power of Now”]\u00a0by Eckhart Tolle.\u00a0 There’s heaps in there to keep you occupied; learning to apply some of the principles here can only make you grow spiritually in a big way I feel.<\/p>\n
The latest section I’m reading, nearer the end of the book, is really quite intriguing… it’s a question that comes up time and again in different forms throughout and it’s really been playing on my mind.<\/p>\n
In essence, a significant message from the book is acceptance<\/em>.\u00a0 Accepting what is, what has been and what will be.\u00a0 Though, he stresses that ‘what was’ and ‘what is’ is not relevant since all that we actually have is ‘what is’ right now <\/em>in this moment.\u00a0 Another term he uses for this acceptance is ‘surrender’; surrendering to what exists and the conditions of the moment you are now experiencing.\u00a0 He takes over 200 pages to go through this and more, so I can only give a pointer to what he says – you’ll have to go grab the book yourself to get the full text.<\/p>\n The prose of the book, in parts, is Q&A with the final chapter kicking off with the following question:<\/p>\n You mentioned “surrender” a few times.\u00a0 I don’t like that idea.\u00a0 It sounds somewhat fatalistic.\u00a0 If we always accept the way things are, we are not going to make any effort to improve them… How do you reconcile surrender with changing things and getting things done?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This idea of surrender and acceptance forms the cornerstone of the whole philosophy here, so getting this point clear in our heads is critical.Tolle points out that resignation and surrender are different, and that while surrender has negative implications for some people, this is not the context with which he uses the term.\u00a0 He states that “surrender is the simple but profound wisdom of yielding to<\/strong> rather than opposing <\/strong>the flow of life”<\/em>.\u00a0 Inline with his message throughout the book, all that we have is the Now and so accepting the moment absolutely and unreservedly is the surrendering to which he refers.<\/p>\n When you resist or oppose the current flow of your life, this leads to internal strife.\u00a0 The present moment is what it is, and if you don’t accept it and face up to it, you are fighting and denying the simple fact of life.\u00a0 Denial cannot <\/em>change the situation you face.<\/p>\n Surrender to the moment will free you to work through the external situation at hand and change it if that is your desire.\u00a0 Because you accept it you can now clearly define it since you can see more clearly what is there.\u00a0 You are present.\u00a0 You’re more conscious, and you can therefore better apply yourself to bring in solutions and set up goals that would transform the current situation.\u00a0 Stress, hardship and unhappiness, and many other negative emotions arise from resistance to the present.\u00a0 This reduce your ability to perform and make effective changes to those things you find undesirable.<\/p>\n There is heaps more to be said about this whole topic as I’ve only covered it summary.\u00a0 Have a look online, or grab the book itself for more information if this has intrigued you.<\/p>\n Any comments or suggestions are welcome below.\u00a0 Please feel free to offer any feedback on what I have said.\u00a0 Thank you for visiting!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve been reading a book recently called [AMAZON_AFF item=”powernow” text=”The Power of Now”]\u00a0by Eckhart Tolle.\u00a0 There’s heaps in there to keep you occupied; learning to apply some of the principles here can only make you grow spiritually in a big way I feel. The latest section I’m reading, nearer the end of the book, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[33,173,174,31,30,172,171],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cat-grow-your-mind","tag-acceptance","tag-be-present","tag-denial","tag-eckhart-tolle","tag-power-of-now","tag-resistance","tag-surrender"],"yoast_head":"\nDo not resist<\/h2>\n