I've read the 2 books by eckhart tolle called "the power of now" and "a new earth" a few times and it teaches a really awesome spiritual practice which takes away mind activity and lets u connect with ur "inner being"

I've found this very useful and its benefitted me in meeting new people as u dont hav the ego running ur mind and theres no self-pity

I was just wondering is there anyone else in the forums who use this practice and whether its benefitted them ??

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Living Life without fear

I've read the Power of Now, and his theories on the ego attaching to pain and your mind using you to its own ends are spot on. I am still having trouble putting this into practice in everyday situations.

When i am in nature with nobody around I can become conscious enough to block out past and future for short periods and feel some kind of joy at just being. However, add a person to it and immidiately I lose that feeling. I try to get into that state of mind in public places or where there is the hustle and bustle of the city (traffic, shouting etc.) but it is very difficult if not impossible.

I am reading the book for a second time, but am thinking of trying some of his audio material, or maybe another book?

Well thats wat use to happen to me but this stuff takes practice to do especially when ur use to excessive thinking..
what i am use to is always feeling the inner body when doing things, that way you dont pay much attention to the outside world.. and also thinking about space in objects and silence around sounds takes u into the body
I've only just read the books but i am downloading some videos on practicing presence.. i would link it to you but not too sure i am allowed to link torrents on here :s

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Living Life without fear

The Power Of Now is a great book. What ive practiced doing with it was observing my thoughts, being as consciously present as I can be wherever I go, and meditating on my thoughts and emotions to be more in that state of as Eckhart liked to call it "No mind". Usually whenever I was going through an intense emotional experience I would practice meditating on my emotions as the "Silent witness". This alone had amazing benefits on me and permanent ones too. I felt happier, more energetic, and more at peace with myself.

The other meditations I did were observing my thoughts and not judging them and also just meditating on the present moment. Observing everything I hear and just trying to be as consciously present as possible. Everyday I meditate on something else. Monday is meditation on emotions, Tuesday is meditation on thoughts, wednesday is meditation on the present moment. Meditation has great benefits. Try this for 2 weeks and youll see and feel how you behave and feel differently.

Another great book on "Inner Game" that im currently reading is Nathaniel Brandens Honoring The Self. Great book on self acceptance, self esteem, finding where your problems come from, getting in touch with your true emotions, and so much more. Id highly reccomend it for anyone whos getting into the game.

yehh i get wat u mean with all that, and i like his theory on the pain body which makes total sense, acceptance and salvation is the cure, and u can use pain to ur advantage..

i'll give ur meditation method a go and i also read great reviews on that book u mentioned

the one thing that annoys me bout this practise is that it rids the ego therefore u dont feel the need to improve urself :S (eg. doing gym, overcoming fears, buying new clothes)

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Living Life without fear

I read "The Power of Now" about 6 months ago during Christmas during a self-help book binge, and although I found the whole thing a bit flakey, there were some good tidbits that I picked up and incorporated into my life. I wouldn't call it life-changing, but it's definitely an interesting enough read to make one go, "Hrmm, I never realized that about myself".

@Sgt. Troy: I have a hard time understanding why one would not feel centered in the present when interacting with someone socially. Connecting with people is one of the few times during the day that I'm not obsessing over what's happened in the past or what might happen in the future, instead just focusing on talking with another person and dealing with what's happening right now. Maybe that's just me....

thx for all this input.. but i need another answer.. has anyone here been able to feel the inner being throughout the whole body?? because i only seem to feel it in my arms and a bit in my legs and there seems to be blocks toward my torso and stumuch :S i am guessing i just hav to practise feeling to get rid of these blocks or is there an easier way ?

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Living Life without fear

Well, I have to deal with social anxiety. Mainly this happens in public places when I'm not talking to people. When I do talk to people I sometimes get anxious and have the monkey chatter in my head, but other times I can occasionally get lost in the conversation and just connect with the person, which seems to shut off the junk talk in my head.

I have always wondered why my mind stops the negativity in some social interactions which then go well, while other interactions are completely uncomfortable and awkward. It appears after reading this book that it is down to finding myself in the moment, without my shy identity or fear of the future.

However, I cannot call on this state when I want to. It happens or it doesn't - most the time it doesn't. It is what I am aiming towards, but I just don't quite have a grip on how to get there.

I did once. I can say it's the most relaxed i've ever felt in my life.

I felt "at one" with the world. Almost like I was part of some bigger thing, the inanimate objects around me had just as much value as I did.

The circumstances in which I obtained this feeling were accidental. I had been looking into how to self hypnotise and various ways to control my life through the power of the mind. Anyway I got hold of the audio of "The Secret" (some of you may have heard of it) and there was lots of it about being at one with the universe. Anyway I stopped the audio and said over to myself how I was at one with the universe, repeatedly. I just became more and more relaxed. I had it as you described, in some parts of my body but somehow I managed to concentrate it inside my head. I could feel it washing over my body before hearing a popping noise in my ear, this almost signified me arriving in complete peace and serenity. Think a fully body orgasm (seriously!) it didn't last too long, probably about a minute but it's still the best feeling i've ever had.

That's my story, i'm not advocating going out to buy The Secret btw, but you could maybe try that technique I done. I've also heard doing it once you wake up in the morning makes it easier to get into that state of being. I hope you achieve it soon,

DesertSun.

Odd. My anxiety is before and during approach. After doing the Newbie Mission twice, the first five minutes each time just sucked for me. I was grinding my teeth at one point! After the initial 5 minutes, my fear has peaked and then starts to subside, by the 10 min mark I'm feeling "normal" with the activity and progressing as I should.

My issue clearly has to do with over-analyzing beforehand, exaggerating negative outcomes, and amplifying what should be normal anticipation and excitement into shear terror. Medication has helped in the past (Valium), but I don't want to rely on that forever....I want to stand on my own two feet and be able to walk up to a perfect stranger and ask about the weather or what time it is without having a case of flop-sweat.

I am using visualisation techniques, which I imagine would come under NLP at the moment. I believe they are of some benefit to me and I do see some improvements socially. I hope they will pay off in the long term.

http://eckhart-tolle-forum.inner-growth.info/

found a forum about these practices

and apparantly Real Social Dynamics have spoken about this material (POWER OF NOW) and how it helps socialise naturally insteading of building a shell around ur true self using lines and material

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Living Life without fear