Power of now

[tommydykes]

Hi,

Just browsing for other titles by Eckhart Tolle and found this website. Fascinated by his book, currently been working hard trying to excel for the last four years of university and have in my last year found it difficult. Something popped and I thought, i really am not enjoying this. I have been thinking for the last 4 years that I could not be happy and succesful, yet it never occured to me that this was insane (why be succesful then?)

Finding it very hard however to think otherwise, I am aware that if I am busy and enjoying myself I feel guilty and so feel I am not achieving anything.. now I am aware of it, its driving me insane. I work very hard, 9 - 11 for alot of the week and feel guilty about taking breaks.

So I have the mind set that with a few weeks left I just have to persevere to get this finished then I can move on, but this is not the power of now, I am waiting for something to end and something new to begin.

Any like minded people, because I dont even know why I am like this. I believe its against who I am, but feel it is who I should be from family, cultural and social nonsense. I feel I need a way to break this stupid mentality. Have I just become aware of it and so am feeling like this? Perhaps I should never have become aware of it because I am now going to fail. Its confusing!!!

Tommy

[Shamou]

True success is, "feeling good for the right reason..." Success is not about acquiring anything... but about feelings...

That being said, you can only "feel" success in the "here and now"... not in the past and not in the future... So, if you can make each moment a "success" you are the most successful person on planet earth...

And, the reason that you feel that you have to rush to the next task at hand is the fact that you are no longer interested in the one that you are working on... you have the feeling that what you are working on is less important than what you will do next... not so... each moment of our life is as important as the next...

Good luck to you... and remember, "Present time consciousness" or PTC for short...

.

[InJoy]

Originally Posted by tommydykes

Hi,
I am aware that if I am busy and enjoying myself I feel guilty and so feel I am not achieving anything.. now I am aware of it, its driving me insane. I work very hard, 9 - 11 for alot of the week and feel guilty about taking breaks.

Tommy

Has it occurred to you that enjoying yourself and achievment need not be mutually exclusive? In fact, in my case, I achieve the most when I am joyful. More directly when I am joyfully in the moment! Even taking breaks, or rest, can be vital towards reaching your goals.

I wonder what your thoughts are that lead you to the feelings of guilt during both busy-ness and rest. If you can pinpoint what you are saying to yourself just before you feel guilty, you can make changes in your thoughts that will then change those feelings to more productive ones.

It sounds to me (based on very limited information about you, of course) that you have a questioning spirit and an intelligent mind. These are really nice message boards filled with people who are willing and able to help you stretch your perceptions and belief systems if that's what you desire. I hope you will feel at home and stay for a while.

[tommydykes]

Thanks for your response. Very impressed with the depth of replies. I question everything and what occured to me through reading the power of now, was that the questioning mind that has made me good at what I do, is in fact what makes me stress.

Fascinated by creativity and wrote a dissertation on it, though what interests me is that can you ever be creative in a proffesion, when people expect you to achieve something? Surely true creativity (from the power of the present) can never be aimed at a specific goal driven by business or managament etc. Surely a truly creative act is is non achievement.

I will definatley be a regular and hope to calm my restless mind.

Cheers!

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by tommydykes

Surely true creativity (from the power of the present) can never be aimed at a specific goal driven by business or managament etc. Surely a truly creative act is is non achievement.

I beg to differ with you... creativity in itself is an achievement... and creativity done under the request of a manager is also an achievement...

As an example... if your boss asks you to create an advertisement for the motorcycle that the business produces... you (or someone qualified) could create it...

Creativity always begins with the end of goal of that creative endeavor in mind...

And, keep on questioning yourself... that's how we learn...

.

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by InJoy

Has it occurred to you that enjoying yourself and achievment need not be mutually exclusive? In fact, in my case, I achieve the most when I am joyful......

Tommy, I think InJoy has a point here. Enjoying your achievements is "success".

Nor should you feel guilty about taking breaks. You need them to refresh yourself and have a rest. People who pace themselves and take proper breaks usually accomplish more in the long run.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by tommydykes

Hi,

Just browsing for other titles by Eckhart Tolle and found this website. Fascinated by his book, currently been working hard trying to excel for the last four years of university and have in my last year found it difficult. Something popped and I thought, i really am not enjoying this.

Tommy

I like Eckhart Tolle and his book The Power of Now. In it he says if I am not experiencing joy it is because I am not in the moment. The options are to accept it or change it. Sometimes the change is in how I am doing things not in the what.

It is all right to have goals and to work towards them but if I am firmly fixed on arriving instead of living this moment I am cut off from my bliss. If I make an internal shift to the present moment I can almost always discover my bliss again.

Good luck on your journey. May you lead an interesting and happy life.

[InJoy]

Originally Posted by tommydykes

I question everything and what occured to me through reading the power of now, was that the questioning mind that has made me good at what I do, is in fact what makes me stress.

I would imagine that this is pretty normal. I know that I had the same stress response when I started looking deeper into the meaning of life and the world that I inhabit (or the world that inhabits me). Sometimes still I come across ideas that seem to contradict what I already "know", but more and more I have come to trust that my questions will be answered and the confusion will lift.