The Power of Now

"The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds,

the one factor that remains constant. Life is Now. There was

never a time when your life was not Now, nor will there ever be."

Eckhart Tolle

Have you ever noticed that, no matter where you go or what you do, it's always Now? That no matter how much you worry about, or plan the future; analyze and ruminate about the past, you never actually live in either of those places? In fact, no one I know has ever visited the future or the past, they have only ever lived in the Now. Back in 1998, after 19 years of meditation and spiritual practices, I came across a book, and a teacher, that profoundly changed the course of my life forever. The book was; The Power of Now, and the teacher was Eckhart Tolle; a gentle and unassuming man who's simple and powerful pointing to the reality of who we are, shifted my life in ways that continue to this day.

In this simple yet powerful book, Eckhart pointed out the Truth that, though we may spend most of our life obsessing and planning the future, or regretting what we did in the past, all we ever have is this present moment, right Now. Up to the time of reading The Power of Now, and doing several Intensives with Eckhart, I had been what can only be described as a 'professional seeker', having spent many years trying to figure out who I was, and where I could find this elusive state of 'enlightenment' (always in the future) that all of my teachers talked about. Despite the fact that I had read hundreds of spiritual books, had several 'guru's and went on numerous retreats, I was still as lost as I had ever been. In this state of confusion and frustration, I had given up all hope of ever finding the elusive state of peace that I had been told was possible.

Then, into the middle of all of this seeking, Eckhart Tolle and his amazing book, dropped into my lap, and with them came the teaching that opened my eyes to what had always been true, yet never truly seen; EVERYTHING I was looking for was already available HERE and NOW, in the present moment. In fact, for the first time, I truly understood that there is only NOW; that the past and future, which the mind (the voice in the head) told me was where I would find myself, was in fact, an illusion. The more that I lived in the reality of the Now, the more clearly I saw that, nothing was lacking. Ever. I also could see the Truth that, past and future did not exist, except as a thought, and there is only ever right NOW. In fact, my whole life had unfolded right Now. This remains THE most transformative and earth-shaking Truth that I have ever discovered, and it has liberated me from the seeking for 'something better' in a future that does not exist. This Truth has left me right where I am; in the only space that has ever existed; Now. As the great Zen question asks us, 'If not Now, when?'