A New Earth Week 2

I know Oprah and Eckhart and many of you are on week 5. I am on week 2. I just finished watching week 2 and want to share my thoughts.

Something that struck me was when Eckhart said that 98-99% of human thought is useless and repetitive. Ummmm, really? Think about how much of our day is spent in human thought... really think about it. 98-99% of it is useless and repetitive? What a waste! The energy that is put into something that is useless is amazing!

They were talking about people and their stories and the story is not who we are. It reminds me of my friend Skip who is the head trainer for the North American Journey. He always talks about people who carry their stories around with them like a big ball and chain. They drag it around with them and then every chance they get they begin spinning that ball and chain around them (spinning their story), knocking people over with it and then dragging it on and doing it all over again.

The moment I heard this I knew I related to it. I was always knocking people over with my story, over and over and over again. I was being dragged down by it. I started to think about this blog and realizing that I have been sharing parts of my "story" here in this venue. I wanted to see what my motivation is. Am I swirling the ball around again? The answer is yes and no. I realize that some of the time I am telling my story in context to my healing, in hopes that it will resonate with someone else, someone who may be able to see something in me that they wouldn't be able to see in themselves.

I have become aware of some times when my story has come out of an egoic place however. A place where I get a chance to once again share my "poor me" story. I am not sure if you all can see the difference or can sense the difference but it is clear to me. What another wonderful awareness that I have received.

Who am I? This is a big thing for me. One of the most profound moments in my journey has been when I was able to ask myself this question over and over just as Eckhart discusses. It brought me to the most intense experience with my true self that I have ever experienced, one that I cherish. The amazing thing is that now I have the ability to ask myself that question anytime and find the truth beneath my ego.

I was taught to do it a bit differently than Eckhart described. He said that the question is to be asked over and over and not answered. It is in the empty space that you get a sense of your consciousness. I believe that is true. Because I was so wrapped up in my labels that I had to answer the question over and over again. It went something like this;

mom, daughter, woman, ugly, pretty, mom, wife, student, teacher etc.

This went on for some time until the strangest thing happened. I found the word strawberry pop out of my mouth. I burst out laughing at the idea of myself as a strawberry. From there, however, became this awareness that I was connected. I was a part of everything. My answers shifted to things like;

water, rain, clouds, air, birds, stars, milky way, etc. until just like Eckhart said there was no answer. There was only this emptiness, this expansiveness, this consciousness. Mmmmmm, it was a defining moment for me.

They talked about people clinging to their illness and that it is important to shift your attention away from it. To no longer talk about your illness because it empowers the illness. When there is pain, find the parts of the body where the most aliveness can be found and focus on those areas. Pain requires surrender. There are two kinds of pain, physical pain and psychological pain. When the mind complains it creates the psychological pain on top of the physical pain.

Very interesting. I will be reflecting on this and putting it into practice as it seems to be an area I could use some help with.

There was discussion about weight loss and how it is a spiritual process. Oprah said something about allowing yourself to be fed from the energy that is already here. One thing that was said in relation to buying but I think applies to many of us and eating as well was this,

"When you can no longer feel the life that you are, you are likely to try and fill up your life with things."

For me it has been food. Of course I can relate to "things" being used here as well, but seeing how my focus has been on my eating, this struck a chord with me.

I have posted before about the food being used to fill me up, to make me feel good, important, special or comfortable. I would guess that the way to avoid this is to spend time feeling the life that I am, feeling the aliveness in my body, my inner body. I can do this be being present and in the moment often throughout the day.

I realize I have written a lot here today. I have done this as a type of journal for myself and I hope there was a kernal of truth here for you. I want to leave you with a quote I found inspirational:

There is more power in letting go than holding on.

Reflections on Tolle

Photo by Lutz R Frank on Flickr

I have just completed reading the transcript from the Oprah and Eckhart online class that happened on Sunday night. I tried to log on and watch but my computer didn't want to cooperate so I waited until today and read it instead.

I took some notes so I decided to post them hear along with some of my thoughts regarding what I read.

In order to awaken to your life's purpose you must ask Life, Grace, Consciousness or God what it wants for your life. Instead of asking; "What do I want?" ask, "What does Grace want?"

This has been very powerful for me and is something I learned at the Manifesting Abundance retreat through The Journey. I have used it many times and in fact used it when I began this year of Vibrant Health. You can read about it here.

I think this is a good exercise to do frequently and especially when there are decisions to be made. I try to do it at least twice a year and sometimes quarterly. It keeps me focused on my path.

Find spaces of silence so that you may hear the answer. The answer may not come right away.

So often we send out our prayers and we never take time to listen to the answers to them. Our minds are moving in a constant flurry and there is no room for the quiet. I remember when I did my first Journey process I was so enamored with silence. I had these huge experiences with a powerful and resounding silence. I didn't know that silence was my own truth, my own essence and it was being hidden by my ego and the incessant noise of my mind.

Nature is a beautiful access point into inner stillness

I do not spend enough time in nature. I can't wait for spring!

Become aware of your conditioned mental processes. How you react in every day situations? What kind of thoughts go on in your head? What is it you are putting out into the world? It contributes to the collective consciousness.

Recognize the voice in your head as conditioned thought processes from your past, your childhood, your upbringing and culture.

The only way to gradually go beyond the conditioning thought is to be a witness. You don't need to act on it or say go away, I don't want to be thinking this. That doesn't work.

Wow, this was huge for me. I read it over and over again. I only need to be a witness, not try to change it? I guess that when we are making a decision to change it, that may be coming from our ego, trying to be "good or better." Simply by witnessing it we are allowing our awareness to expand. So interesting!

"The majesty and power and omniscience of this force that we call 'God' cannot be contained in church." Oprah

Oooh, the words melted in my mouth like coconut butter. She did go on to say that if going to church allows you to feel like you are being of service then you should use it.

"If there is dissatisfaction, that is not a good place, not a good starting point for changing your life. The ego may tell you that but it isn't. You need to find a place of acceptance." Eckhart

"No matter where you are, come to terms and become friendly with the present moment. Because if you do not become friendly with the present moment, you're not friendly with life because life is only now. If you're not friendly with life, life cannot support you." Eckhart


Wow, I never would have thought of that. Usually when we are most unhappy with out lives do we feel compelled to make changes. This is saying the opposite, that we need to come to terms with where we are right now and then make changes from that place of peace and acceptance. Once again I imagine that making decisions based on our unhappiness leads to decisions that come from the ego. This is a complete paradigm switch for me.



What is my relationship with the present moment? Is there any negativity in which case I'm fighting? I'm making the present moment into an enemy.

What you resist persists. Make peace with the moment.

Acceptance of what is first. Then action comes out of the acceptance. It no longer comes out of resistance.

Books that were mentioned:

Discover the Power Within You by Eric Butterworth
The Seekers Guide by Elizabeth Lesser
Any books by Joel Goldsmith
Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

FREE BOOK

Oprah had Suze Orman on her show today and Suze is giving her book Women & Money Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny away for free! All you have to do is go to Oprah.com and follow the links to download the book. You have until 7:00pm CST on Thursday, Feb. 14th to download it.

Clear the Clutter

Today Oprah had Peter Walsh on the show talking about his new book Does this Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat. It was such an interesting topic that hit home for me. I have had a problem with clutter my whole life and I know it is a symptom of my inner feelings.

Once I opened up a cabinet door in my kitchen to reveal a cabinet that was STUFFED with stuff. It was piled up all over the place and barely being contained by the door. I whipped that cabinet open and said to my mom, "This is how my mind feels!" That was the best way I could explain my issue with disorganization to my mother who couldn't understand it.

Recently I have been making small steps to clear out the house and organize things. I have done most of my kitchen, my front hall closet and my upstairs bathroom. The lower level of the house is pretty good although there is a bit of clutter in my blue room right now. I have been able to keep it up too which is the important part. Usually I will get fed up, clean out and then slowly but surely things begin to creep in and take over again.

The upstairs of my home is a completely different story because it is a mess (except for my bathroom). Every time I walk up there I get so deflated. My basement is also equally cluttered. It is another place I can't stand to be.

The thing that hit me was when Peter said to her, "What do you want your home to feel like, to be? Does this stuff accomplish that?" The answer is a blaring no for anyone who is buried in clutter.

This new book shows the corelation between extra weight in your home and extra weight on your body. He is saying that you can't lose weight on your body if you are weighed down by extra weight in your home.

I see the corelation however I believe that instead of the problem being one or the other I like to look at it like an interconnected relationship. Any efforts made in one area are felt in the other areas. In fact he even said, "The house, the head, the heart, the hips. They are all connected." I believe that to be true and I believe that the best approach is to work on the whole package.

As I have been cleaning up my body, I have been drawn to clean up my home. It has been natural and I know I can do more to speed the process along. I am going to commit to spending 10 minutes each day clearing out a section of my home. I am going to do the Trash Bag Tango every day from here on out and see what kind of dent it creates in my cluttered home.