I am someone who's very much into the *so-called self help books, even the ones in which the ideas presented are mostly unpractical, I find them fun! I love reading other people's ideas and try to see things from their perspective, it makes me more open-minded and through this I have come across some fantastic ideas and practices that have had positive impacts in my life.
Recently, I have been reading Eckhart Tolle's "The Power of Now" and what an interesting read it is! From the name, one can already have an idea what it is all about. It is about living and basking in the light of the present moment. Now some of you must have read a couple of books on spirituality with similar concepts or even this very one, if so, that's super cool, maybe you can give me suggestions on how to improve as I am here to present the results of my little experiment.
The main point I picked from the books so far are:
*—Nothing exists outside the present moment, the Now. The person we were a minute ago doesn't even remember us and the person we will be a minute from now doesn't even know us yet, so all there's left is now, this present moment.
All our feelings, emotions, actions we experience right now is all there's, therefore we should pay utmost attention to them always. This brings us to the topic of awareness.
From what I understood, this is being aware of all our thoughts, but conscious and unconscious, our impulses, our emotions and our actions. We should closely observe all of the above at all times, if we do so, them we are aware.
So here's what I did:
Yesterday, I decided to carry out an experiment:
I made sure I paid close attention to the tiniest of details relating to my thoughts, emotions and actions as well as my relationship with others and things I worked with yesterday, and honestly, it was one of the toughest exercises I have ever carried out.
For example, I woke up as early as 5:00am and the first thing that came to my mind was to go and take a leak. On a normal day, I wouldn't even think about it and would just have strolled to the toilet to go take a leak and afterwards forget that I just took a leak. But this time, I was aware of every step I took towards the toilet, concentrate on the urine emptying out of my bladder and every step I took back to my room. While this may seem weird to the reader, it was actually strangely peaceful. There's this strong presence I felt within myself, like I suddenly became stronger.
I carried on this same attitude to the most mundane and most significant of my tasks yesterday: maintaining concentration on my feelings, thoughts, and actions all through the day. Of course since it was my first day, there were slips and subconscious errors but I made sure to regain attention the moment I remember. In just a day, I learnt a lot about myself that I never really noticed:
I discovered that I am not a very good listener:
This came to my awareness when I was talked to an acquaintance yesterday. We usually discuss almost same stuff and I would just wait for my turn to talk. But yesterday, I actually became aware of my wanting to talk and then consciously decided against it, then chose to listen. I was astonished when I figured there was actually a lot to learn from what the other dude was saying, something I hadn't noticed before.
I found out that I food actually tastes better when you are aware:
"Important" daily routine can overwhelm us at times that we fail to pay attention to the little things. Not that food didn't taste good before, but when I took my time, concentrated on the chewing, the churning, the swallowing, I derived much satisfaction and pleasure from the food than I would have on a normal day.
I figured I need to work on my self-control:
Not that I didn't know that beforehand, but I found out how important it is for me to get to it as soon as possible. I believe a strong will-power and self-discipline helps us live happy lives. People with addictions or lack of self control suffer a lot from poor life choices ending in regret and anxiety.
I found out all these in a day guys, plus added benefits from actually concentrating on what we are doing at that moment...just in a day!
Now imagine who one's life would transform if he does this for a week, a month....a year....
Let's all try to be more self-conscious beings, it will save us from a lot of trouble and generally improve the quality of our lives.
Thanks for reading!