Tips to Live in the Present Moment | Eckhart Tolle

That is some practice to get used to until it becomes second nature to have your attention in the present moment rather than elsewhere. Have the main focus of your attention in your daily life in the present moment, the rest of your attention. So that's the main focus here is this. The rest of your attention is where you want to go to. Whatever task you're engaged in has a certain purpose. The purpose is you want to finish the task and it has achieved its purpose. And that's here. And that's in your peripheral. The peripheral vision of your consciousness. That's where you want to get to. And this is what you're doing in order to get there. And your main attention is not where you want to get. And in the meantime you're just doing it in order to get there. You can see how that already creates an inner stress. I'm here, but I want to be there. That's the normal way of living is the main part of people's attention is there. But in the meantime they are here where they don't really want to be. Rather be there, as shown in famous stickers on bumper stickers on cars which say something like, I'd rather be fishing. When I visited Ram Dass, the spiritual teacher who has now passed away, he lived on Maui on his car. That's a good teaching on a bumper sticker. So your attention is, and this is a reversal almost of how humans normally usually live. It's the opposite that is in itself already a shift in consciousness. And then of course, you also were of the past. There are certain things that they may have relevance in the present. That's fine. So peripherally past and future, usually future is more important because you're moving towards that. And here's the central vision of present moment. In the present moment, you're either actively doing something or you are more passively perceiving something. You're there as an observer or you are just there, not actively doing, but simply perceiving. That could be. When you travel back from here already, you might be sitting in a car. If you're driving, you're doing something there. It's particularly important to be present. Or you might be sitting on a plane and there's a good opportunity for being the. You go into the witnessing mode. There's nothing particular to do unless you get out your laptop and start doing, doing. That's fine. Situations arise that are. They are challenging rather than problematic. And then you face the challenge. You look at it, so to speak, not necessarily visually, but you give it attention that this is the challenge. Instead of unconscious reactivity, the challenge is your flight is cancelled. It's not one of the greatest challenges a human can have, but some people react as if it were. And when any challenge arises, is there anything I can do to respond to this situation? Or is that something where I simply have to say, well, for the time being and accept the way it is, because right now there's nothing I can do? I heard, for example, at some airports, they're so busy, not sufficiently staffed people, when the plane lands, they're still trapped on the plane for two or three hours. It has happened in Toronto and other places. That's a good opportunity of surrender. Some people can't do that. They start screaming and shouting. No particular purpose, but they can't help. Happens to them. So always the question, is this an opportunity for surrender or is action called for? That is some practice to get used to until it becomes second nature to have your attention in the present moment rather than elsewhere. And it usually implies you are aware of your surroundings. That's inseparable from present being in the present through your senses. A more alert human being than a normal human being, but an alertness in which there is no tension. Often alertness in a human is associated with being tense, but there is an alertness without tension. But it's not enough to be just aware of your sense perceptions. That's a good thing. It also can help you to avoid dangerous situations that otherwise you just stumble into and you don't know how you got there. You're more alert of your surroundings. You see how animals in that sense are very alert because if they are not, they get eaten by other animals. So many animals have this incredible alertness. Not the same as the human alertness, but it is an alert awareness of their surroundings that many humans don't have. They walk in the street and they're not really there in their mind thinking about all kinds of things except where they are. And so they're not here. Whereas the. The bird sitting on a branch or the deer that's stepping out of the forest and there's a field and the deer stops for a moment. And the ears, they're very huge ears, they go. And it can hear probably a hundred times better than a human or a bird on a branch sitting, it goes like this and then suddenly it goes. And of course there's no decision making involved. When a bird suddenly flies off, it did not think, I'm now going to fly off this branch and I'm going to go over there. It just happens there Is a flow to life. There's no mind, there is a consciousness there, but there's no conceptualization at all. But when an animal rests, an animal also rests completely. It is completely at rest, not thinking about my life. I have to figure something out. What's the purpose of it all? This is why it can be very healing to live with an animal. Yes, it can be quite a bit of work too. But it can be very healing to live with an animal and to have an animal presence in the house. Dog, cat. Usually this unproblematic existence. Except when the dog or cat are neurotic, which can happen, but there are reasons for that. Usually connected to their early life. Just like human childhood. When things go wrong in childhood leaves traces. But usually dogs and cats normal state is unless they are hungry or want to go for a walk. They can be rooted in being and joyful. The cat purrs, the dog's tail wags and it's a joy just to see it. No problem with no psychological problems. Unless it spends too much time with neurotic humans. It's a conscious practice. So an animal can bring you into the present moment just to look at an animal in the present moment. An animal that is lives with humans may not be quite as alert as an animal out in the wild, because it knows that the environment is relatively protected. Nevertheless, dogs are quite alert, and cats. So you become again the center of your attention. Always bring back into the present because it's first of all, because it's all there ever is. Well, that's a good reason. Because it's life itself, your life situation. Yes, it exists in time. There's a past and a future as far as your life situation is concerned. But it's not your life. I wrote about that a long time ago. But it's so important. People confuse their life situation with something more fundamental, more real, more immediate, deeper, which is called life. Life situation is circumstances and events in your life. And most of your life situation experience in your mind. And then life situation, relationships, work situation, financial situation, living situation, all kinds of problem, often problematic situations. It's very rare that all of these situations are working smoothly and perfectly. Relationships, family, professional, work, financial environment, living situation, health situation, all working in harmony and perfectly. It can happen for short periods, but usually something somewhere goes wrong. It has to periodically, frequently. That's normal and that's good. But your life situation always has this element of uncertainty, instability too. Although you might not recognize that when you look at seemingly solid things and your life is experience of this moment. The only thing there ever is.