Hey lookingforme! Thanks for your kind words and support was really great to read them tonight when I logged in to check my blog. Very interesting what you say about being present. Tolle says frequently that the most sudden transformations from the sleeping state most people live their lives in to full consciousness happens as a result of huge events in our lives. For him personally it was when his life got to such a point that he just couldn't carry on any more, he was depressed with every area of his life and went to sleep thinking what's the point with it all and woke up in a state of pure presence, where everything in his room seemed new. He said he thinks his mind was so distressed the only solution was for it to breakdown the layers of identification and it left him in this state of presence. He suddenly appreciated the gift of life and realised everything he needed he already had inside of himself. He then took himself out and lived on park benches for a number of years! (In complete bliss) - and the rest, I guess as they say, is history! (Now an international best seller and celebrity of worldwide acclaim!)
So it's interesting to hear your personal account of how you broke free from the lunacy that most of us live with day in day out. At a retreat he run, one member of the audience complained about this. He said that Tolle has said himself that people need big events which almost ruin their lives to bring them suddenly in front of presence, and the member of the public said they think that people that haven't had those yet can't break through into presence themselves. He used a great analogy saying it was like people that have gone through these events are breaking the rock of ignorance away with dynamite, whereas people that haven't but are seeking presence are chipping away at it with a penknife! Tolle said it's still possible to get the rock out with a penknife it might just require a bit more work.
I've spent alot of time trying to chip that rock away to experience presence and I find I have a few brief moments of it, but it's so fleeting and I get pulled back into the utterly insignificant trivialities of social life almost as soon as I'd escaped them. I'd love to have what you have which from your post seems to be a continual appreciation for what really matters and an ability not to get pulled back from your presence into the slumber that most of us walk with every day!
Wow... hopefully that wasn't too convoluted for any nice people out there reading my blog, I just got so excited to be talking about this stuff with someone that it just kind of came out haha!
Thanks again for your kind words really motivating to read that you think i'm going to dissapear, ha fingers crossed! and thanks for sharing your personal story really nice to read about
diet update
Stuck to plan today, just got in from Cinema and watched 'the social network' - excellent film, really recommend it
- and... all I had was a bottle of water in there! Have to buy some new work clothes next week as my jackets too big now - so moving along nicely!
GL all, have a great weekend!
