20 Tuesday Apr 2021
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Here is a thought from Eckhart Tolle that I will tuck in my pocket as I consider the events of this day and travel through the hours. Perhaps you will join me…
Acknowledging the good that you have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.
May your day be blessed abundantly.
31 Sunday Jan 2021
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As I prepare to leave the first month of this new year, hoping for increasingly positive turns of events, I will ponder Eckhart Tolle’s thought for today, thinking it holds great meaning for me and maybe for others. He says: “You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you and allowing that goodness to emerge.” I believe many of us could benefit from that thought. Dig deep if you will and try to look from God’s point of view!
03 Sunday Jan 2021
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blessings, Eckhart Tolle, epiphany, gratitude, present moment, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Eckhart Tolle has an appropriate message for today. His “Present Moment Reminder” says the following:
When you make the present moment the focal point of your life instead of past and future, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it the quality of your life – increases dramatically.”
That seems a perfect corollary to the celebration of the Epiphany, the date of which is usually January 6th but has sometimes been changed to accommodate the faithful whose work schedule is Monday – Friday. I think of the song from the movie “Mame” that shouts out how “we need a little Christmas, right this very minute…we need a little Christmas now.” It was difficult to have a “normal” Christmas this year so maybe what we ought to try is a “do-over,” spending some time on this day when we celebrate the manifestation of Christ to the world to consider how we see Christ in those people who cause gratitude to rise in us whenever we think of or encounter them – and all of the blessings – spiritual and physical – that we have been given over the past year.
28 Monday Dec 2020
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desire to please, Eckhart Tolle, grace, life, lightness, present moment, resistance, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
After reading over what I wrote on Saturday and lived through yesterday that provided me no time to write, I am convinced that I am finally coming closer to understanding how to BE in the face of this existence we call LIFE. I have known for a long time that I am not in charge of my life but only responsible to respond to it as it unfolds. I can do that with resistance or acceptance, tightening or loosening my hold on it as I go. Tightening only gives me pain as muscles are not flexed but stiffened. Allowing what comes to wash over me with openness and deep breathing is a better stance. Conveniently—and no longer surprising to me—I find Eckhart Tolle’s “Present Moment Reminder” today quite apropos. He says:
To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way good or bad.
15 Sunday Nov 2020
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Advent, Eckhart Tolle, possibility, present moment, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, waiting
It appears that I was correct when I “woke up” (read: “was shaken out of my lethargy”) yesterday about the possibility, the inevitability of never going back. I should have known when I read Eckhart Tolle’s Present Moment Reminder earlier this morning. He said this:
Give up waiting as a state of mind. When you catch yourself slipping into waiting, snap out of it. Come into the present moment. Just be and enjoy being.
It took the Sunday lectionary readings from the U.S. Catholic bishops to recognize how late it is. Did you know how soon the season of Advent is upon us? With all the consternation about the danger of traveling for Thanksgiving, have you even thought about readiness? Internal readiness, I mean…
St. Paul reminds the Thessalonians today that “You, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness…for all of you are children of the light. Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober.” It’s as if he is saying, “There has been enough hand-wringing and lamenting about the state of our country and the world. It’s up to each one of us to take charge of our situation because the healing will come from the inside.” It is true that we are in a season of distress, the like of which most of us have never seen before, but if we wait, let it be in a state of active waiting. Give up passivity and step into possibility and trust. Love as you have never loved before – not just for your own well-being but also for that of those who walk with you. Be here now and love the opportunity to BE!
21 Wednesday Oct 2020
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A few days ago I read a sentence that Eckhart Tolle had on his website. It was a “thought for the day” that might well be be made into a poster to hang in the bedrooms of busy people – or anyone really. See if you agree.
Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.
And remember that stillness is not the same as silence. Just check into your brain if you think you’re in stillness to see if there are still thoughts running around, and then breathe, letting everything fall away in the same way that the leaves are falling these days from the trees even when there is no wind – or even a breeze. They just let go…
17 Monday Aug 2020
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I’m on retreat this week so I’m not sure how my time will play out for blogging. We start with morning meditation at 7:30 so, as my father used to advise, it’s “short stories” for now. Here’s a word from yesterday that came from Eckhart Tolle as a Present Moment Reminder. It seems perfect for me today and, if you are willing, it could be your prayer for everyone seeking to deepen their spirituality in “the Now.”
Eckhart reminds us: Awareness is the greatest agent for change.
15 Sunday Mar 2020
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I found this quote from Eckhart Tolle in my email this morning. Although it may sound totally self-evident to you, it seems to me that it could be useful in our day today because there are so many strictures on our lives right now. If we want to use (rather than squander) this “however long” experience, having a simply stated goal like this might be just the thing to help us remember that consciousness is the way to proceed…
You cannot find yourself in the past or future. The only place where you can find yourself is in the Now.
08 Sunday Dec 2019
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Eckhart Tolle, future, live in the present moment, past, present, quality of life, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Good afternoon – or good morning as the case may be. I’m writing from California today, having arrived last night for a Thanksgiving/Christmas gathering with my siblings – a rare and wonderful occurrence. Eckhart Tolle has the perfect message for me for today in his “Present Moment Reminder.” Maybe it will strike a chord with you as well.
When you make the present moment the focal point of your life instead of past and future, your ability to enjoy what you do – and with it, the quality of your life – increases dramatically.
Blessings on your day…and throughout the week.
04 Sunday Aug 2019
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awareness, change, consciousness, Eckhart Tolle, possessions, The Sophia Center for Spirituality
Eckhart Tolle posted something this morning that caught my eye in its simplicity and its perfect depth of meaning. It was easily said, I suppose, as we are all about “catch phrases” these days, but I plan to spend time and effort with this one.
“Awareness,” he said, “is the greatest agent for change.”
I had been thinking about today’s gospel, the one I always refer to as “bigger barns” and talk about as akin to the relatively recent appearance of the storage units that dot the landscape in most towns these days. I wonder sometimes as I look around my bedroom how I acquired all the books I see or why I can’t find an empty hanger on which to place the laundry I just took out of the machine. How many of us can name all our possessions these days, I wonder.
Seeing what is in front of us to see and doing what is before us to do becomes more difficult unless we stand still for a moment every little while, look about us and shake off all the accretions of the last ten minutes. (I hyperbolize, no doubt, but only to make what I am coming to consider as a very important point.)
I challenge us all to see how long we can pay attention to anything in particular today before we fall out of consciousness. Let’s see what we see!
