WHY NOW

​Dear Why Team member,
I hope this week’s message serves to bring you more peace and appreciation for this present moment. 

Audio: 🗣

-​

-

​
Continuing the past two weeks’ theme, the way we see and feel about ourselves now, shapes our future, and how we see our future self determines the actions we take in the present moment, the NOW. 
 
One of the most powerful books I have ever read, that came to me at a particularly crucial time in my life, about fifteen years ago, is the book:
“The Power of NOW”;
the author is Eckhart Tolle.
The book provided a much needed shift for me as my thinking of the past and future was corrupting my present. Eckharts teachings have informed my speaking and writing ever since. What I find fascinating, at this writing, is how I return to him and his wisdom whenever life throws me a particularly significant curve ball. Of all the books and teachings I have experienced, aside from the Bible, it is his work that I return to when the going gets particularly tough - and that is Why this week’s message is bringing this book and Eckhart Tolle to you - and the peace his teachings can bring. 

For the past few months, I have been listening to countless videos of his on YouTube and it has been good food for my soul. If you have never heard of him before, I recommend first you read his book The Power of NOW;
I included some of my favorite quotes below. His follow up book A New Earth is also off the charts and can bring powerful perspective into your life. 
 
The Power of NOW can be a helpful “go to” for you as well when life is coming down hard. Why? When the past is weighing on you feelings of regret and/or guilt, the NOW awaits you to enter and experience peace - and when the future seems most murky, paying attention to NOW can significantly reduce anxiety. 

This book was written to help us transcend thoughts of the past and future. Too easy do we fall into: 
Oh I wish I could go back to such-and-such time or Oh, if I can only make it to this point in the future things would be different. Having clarity IN the moment is all we can control; we already lived the past and the future isn’t promised, hence all we can count on is NOW and it’s only up to us to make it great no matter the surrounding factors. 
 
Through this blog I endeavor every week to bring to you insights and understandings that have had, or are having a significant positive impact on my life. I subscribe to the belief that to whom much is given, much is required, hence my speaking and writing. I have been given so very much from family, friends, teachers, mentors and authors. It is a privilege to pass on to you, as best I can what has been so generously given to me.
 
Here are a few Eckhart Tolle quotes from his book The Power of NOW:
 
“Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.”
 
“It is not uncommon for people to spend their whole life waiting to start living.”
 
“If you get the inside right, the outside will fall into place. Primary reality is within; secondary reality without.”
 
“...the past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.”
 
“Nothing has happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing will ever happen in the future; it will happen in the Now.”
 
“What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly”
 
From Leo Tolstoy, What Men Live by and Other Tales:
“Remember then: there is only one time that is important-- Now! It is the most important time because it is the only time when we have any power.”
 
Here is wishing you more awareness of your present moment: living, working, loving, celebrating and enjoying the gift of NOW.
 
Make it a great NOW!

Steve Luckenbach