Contemplating the Ordinary | Eckhart Tolle Teachings

So part of this is of course to be give more attention to the present moment. Because the more you think, the more future you generate and the more attention you give to the present moment, the less thinking. Because to be really present, you don't think about it, you just are with it, give it attention. I recommend the little things of life to be more attentive to all the little things that make up every hour, every day, every minute, every hour and give them more attention. Walking steps, one step at a time. Objects that you're handling all the time, you're handling objects in your life. You're always touching something, putting something here and there. Is everything that you handle just a means to an end? Or are you able to just appreciate the simple presence even of a so called inanimate object? Contemplation also of all the lovely things that make up your environment, part of your environment. For example, if I were sitting here alone, let's say I'm waiting for everybody to arrive, I might be sitting here looking of course at the flower. Sense of stillness. And then there's a glass table here and then there's a glass of water here. And there's a clock and a bell and tissues. And they all reflect the light in different ways. There's a little bit of a rainbow effect in the glass of water here. And then the lights are reflected on the bells, almost like a mirror. And there's the clock ticking away. It's a beautiful scene. Sometimes you go to an art gallery, well, not so much with modern art, but a very favorite thing would be still life artists. And it took a while in art before they discovered the artists, in the history of art, before they discovered the seemingly insignificant things and started to give attention to those. Before that happened, they were very much interested in the huge things, the saints or the kings or the huge battle scenes or the big. They painted those things or the important people or some dramatic thing, volcanic eruption or whatever, fire. And then at some point they started to discover the beauty and the incredible sense of the quality that is in the little things. They started painting, for example, simple people. The Dutch artists, perhaps, perhaps they are not that knowledgeable about artists, but the famous Dutch paintings show they don't. Not so much big important people. They show simple people. A woman in the kitchen baking bread people, simple people sitting around the table eating a very simple meal. And it's the light, incredible light effects that comes. Light comes through the window. There's an incredible sense of presence and aliveness in the painting. And this is a scene that in Normal life you would never have. Unless you're really very conscious. Nobody would have stopped and said, oh, isn't that amazing? These people are sitting around a table eating a simple meal and there's light coming through the window. Nobody would have done that. Perhaps after more of these artists depicted relatively seemingly insignificant things, perhaps it motivated some people to give more attention that. But even now it's still people very much overlook that. You overlook then a large part of your life, you don't give it attention. When I say give attention. There's an element of appreciation, of everything, of the little things. And you begin to realize that your entire life consists mainly of little things. Even if you are vip, it still consists mainly you're always sitting somewhere, standing somewhere, looking around, handling things, going from here to there, either on a bus or your private debt. And this giving attention that is sometimes called gratitude. That's kind of part of it, this appreciation. But I don't necessarily use the word gratitude too often because it implies that you say to somebody, oh, thank you. But there is a simple appreciation of the isness of things, of their presence. So you no longer regard almost continuously your entire environment as a means to an end. And what's the end? You need to get to some future moment where suddenly everything is going to be better than now. And so you're always on your way. It's a stepping stone to the next moment. In every object that you handle has only utilitarian value. But as no value in itself is never appreciated for its beingness. And then you do the same to human beings. They only got what can they do for me now? How do they fit into my schemes, into my plans? Because there's a future orientation continuously, which is the mind. Because there is no future. It's created by the mind. It becomes extremely enjoyable to be just to be contemplating the little things that surround you. Then you. There is something. Yes, there is an element of gratitude that comes with it, this appreciation. It's an element where you appreciate the sense perceived world. This is an aspect of reality. It's not the deepest aspect of reality, but it is the surface of the ocean and it's beautiful. And that also means it's not just when you are quietly contemplating, it's also when you're going from A to B to perform some action. You're going to buy something, going to the. Whatever it is, post office. Appreciate the journey and every step of the journey and look around so that the 10 minutes of going to the shop or driving to the shop or taking your bicycle to the shop isn't completely wasted and reduced to means to an end, then you can actually that every moment is significant and ultimately it's only ever the one moment. And then this waiting game comes to an end. Waiting for the. For the big break. That's an expression. I don't know what break. What breaks, but waiting for whatever it is. Of course, you have a goal. You may have a goal in life and you're moving towards it, but in the meantime, this is now a and yes, you know, you're moving towards becomes very enjoyable to be wherever you are. When you have this ability to contemplate the little things, both when you are passively contemplating or when you're. Even when you are moving, being engaged with things, it.