A New Earth

Is anyone else planning to embarking on the 12 week course, Oprah is offering on the Eckhart Tolle book, "A New Earth"? I have decided to take part and have begun reading the book. It took me a while to get through the first chapter. I was wondering if this book was really for me, was it going to be helpful, would I understand it?

I highlighted only a few sentences and had marked the page with a few comments, but mostly, I was going back and rereading. Although, I had some doubt, I kept reading.

The first chapter asks an important question, who am I? I am a medium for the positive interactions of my spirit, my essence to interact with others.

The last part of the chapter, lead me to continue reading the book. It states, "heaven is not a location but refers to the inner realm of consciousness". The book gave me a truth that when a loved one passes, their being, their spirit, the essence of who they are stays with us. Their effect on us is lasting. What a beautiful truth.

If you are having trouble with the first chapter, I would recommend that you try to get through it and watch the Oprah webcast this Sunday. I am sure they are going to go through the chapter very thoroughly. The second chapter is better. It starts off talks about looking at a flower, a bird, or a stone without imposing a word or title on it. To just let it be. To experience the beauty, the wonder, and the moment as it is. Allow yourself to experience a sense of awe. Allow yourself to appreciate that every breathe you take is a miracle.

I feel that I have been able to experience this through being a parent. My little one is a miracle. How children experience things is just beautiful. It is so pure. Being a stay at home mom for the last 4 years, I have had many opportunities to experience many moment with her and to experience life through her eyes. I have been able to experience her sense of awe, and her amazement in the littlest of things. But those experiences are between making breakfast, doing a load of laundry, getting lunch together, cleaning the house, and cooking dinner. If I were to allow myself to be present in every moment, experience every moment with all of my senses, how beautiful every moment could be, how clear everything would be.

Somehow through life, we loose touch with our sense of awe. We lose touch with what is important in life, what should be important. Our ego wants more things, wants bigger things, wants better things. We think we are what we have or do not have. We buy something to make us feel important, to make us feel better than others. In the end, none of these material things will matter. In the end, you will be remembered by how your spirit touched someone else, not by the car you drove, the size of your house or the size of your diamond ring, and not by the designer handbag you carried.

You will be remembered how your spirit touched someone else and the sights, sounds, smells, and textures you allowed yourself to feel in that very moment will live on. The beauty of the sunshine was warming you face, the feeling of blades of grass between your toes and the joy you experienced as you did cartwheels with your best friend.

Life is about allowing yourself to be present to experience the wonder of every moment.