Befriending the Moment

I've been re-reading A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. (I highly recommend it, if you haven't already picked up a copy.) It's been a year or so since my last reading and it always surprises me how much I rediscover from a book like this.

This makes sense considering how much I've changed since the last reading. I've grown and stretched and fallen and gotten up again. I've slowed down and sped up and slowed down again.

One passage that got my attention, although it was one of many, was about what our relationship is with the Now, this moment. How are we treating this moment? Tolle puts out four possibilities for how we treat the Now: as a friend, as an obstacle, as a means to an end, or as an enemy.

It stopped me in my tracks. I thought about how many times in the day that I rush through activities because I want to get to the end. How I treat much of my time in overcoming perceived obstacles. That there are even times when I feel as if the moment is against me.

Then I realized why I've had this urge for the past month to just slow down. It is precisely to look at this most important relationship. To make give myself the space to make friends. To break the pattern of doing, once again, and relax into "being".

It never fails to be fruitful without me trying to make it that. It always is surprisingly effortless and abundant. It never ceases to be peaceful when I let go of all the cookey and seemingly rational reasons to keep going the way I've been and just "be" and let "it" be as it is.

If you dare to reflect upon how you relate to your world, consider this question: How's life treating you? How are you treating life and, most importantly, this moment? Are you friends with the Now or are you making it something else? Let me know what comes up for you...