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A simple reminder to pause and be present
It can be very challenging to find yourself in the present moment, free from any distracting thoughts.
Learning to escape your mind is no easy feat. Like most people, you probably spend far too much of your time dwelling on the past and thinking about the future. Our minds are constantly in motion, subject to uncontrollable compulsive thinking.
As Eckhart Tolle put it, “Not to be able to stop thinking is a dreadful affliction, but we don’t realize this because almost everybody is suffering from it, so it is considered normal.”
It was Tolle that suggested that our minds cause us a great deal of turmoil. The inability to shut our minds off is the cause of so many of the negative emotions that we experience on a daily basis. The nonstop flow of thoughts is what overwhelms us, filling us with fear and worry.
Constantly drumming up the past results in depression and fixating on the future results in anxiety.
Lao Tzu summed this up very accurately: “If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present.”
The key to finding contentment in life is to simply live in the present. Free yourself from your thinking and you’ll find that much of your worries, stresses, and problems will eventually subside and become more and more unsubstantial.
This is a simple reminder to pause and be present.
