I read this sage advice of Eckhart Tolle during my ‘quiet time’ this morning.  I found it to be simple and sound advice so I want to share this with you.

“If you no longer want to create pain for yourself and others, if you no longer want to add to the residue of past pain that still lives on in you, then don’t create more time, or at least no more than is necessary to deal with the practical aspects of your life.  How to stop creating time?  Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.  Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.  Whereas before you dwelt in time and paid brief visits to the NOW, have your dwelling place in the NOW and pay brief visits to past and future when required to deal with the practical aspects of your life situation.  Always say “yes” to the present moment.  What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to something that already is?  What could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now?  Surrender to what is.  Say ‘yes’ to life—and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.

The present moment is sometimes unacceptable, unpleasant, or awful.  It is as it is.  Observe how the mind labels it and how this labeling process, this continuous sitting in judgment, creates pain and unhappiness.  By watching the mechanics of the mind, you step out of resistance patterns, and you can then allow the present moment to be.  This will give you a taste of the state of inner freedom from external conditions, the state of true inner peace.  Then see what happens, and take action if necessary or possible.  Accept—then act.  Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.  Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy.  This will miraculously transform your whole life!”