Eckhart tolle: the pwer of now

episode 123

SHOW TRANSCRIPT

Hello, and welcome to the Moonshots Podcast. It's episode 123. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always, I'm joined by the man who is definitely in the now Mr. Mark Pearson Freeland. Good morning. Good morning, Mike. I am in the now I'm enjoying the Sydney or terminal weather, and I'm very excited for today's show.

How are you doing? I am just thriving in this classic series. It has. Over-delivered already, if you ask me all of that good stuff from Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, but Mark, we are going somewhere very deep right now. Today. We are going to be digging into Eckhart Tolles, the power of now this book, Mike, I think it's fair to say it is regarded [00:01:00] as one of the sort of leadership, but mostly motivation self-aware books that are available nowadays.

I mean, you just have to give it a quick Google search to see how many reviews, how many purchases has happened of this book. I mean, it's a real powerhouse. It is, it is, it is. I think it's the, uh, the go-to playbook for mindfulness. I think that's how I would put it. So, um, it very much expands upon the book that we covered from Carnegie, how to stop worrying and start living.

And we know that everybody listening loved that one. That was incredibly popular. So thank you to everybody for all those listens and, and all that feedback that we received. I mean, Mark, it's crazy. It's like, um, I don't know, but the classic series is really working in the Philippines because we're now number four on the business podcasts in the Philippines.

So a big shout out to our Philippine listeners. And we want to hear from you guys too. So going get on the [00:02:00] emails, uh, let us know what you think, but today we are going into the power of now this is really some deep work today. I think Mark, don't you think that's fair? We should give everyone a bit of a heads up.

This is some deep work today. Yeah. If you think about the shows that we've done, um, not only in the timeless classic series, but also a lot of the, uh, entrepreneurs, innovators, authors, and guiders that we've covered on the moonshot show so far, some of it's pretty pragmatic. Some of it's quite a lot of tips about how they live their life and how they're, you know, motivated each day today, though, Mike, we're going.

I'd say it's another lap up, isn't it? You know, we, we started with quite a DNA foundational look with the Dale work. And the habits that we learned from Covey were really, really practical that we can do each day today. We're now almost coming out of our bodies and thinking about spiritual enlightenment and thinking about how we react to, you know, things around us from a, from an internal perspective, the truth is Mike.

I think the message [00:03:00] is, is actually kind of dare I say simple, or maybe I'd replace simple with kind of essential, but it takes a little bit of work to really get through through that barrier and really understand. Okay, well, what is Eckhart trying to say? And how can I go and do this each day? Yeah. So. I think if you enjoyed the series so far, I think this one, I really hope that we bring something very, very unique and magical, uh, to our listeners today, we are going to get into mindfulness thinking about the mind, um, true being.

Um, so it's a fair warning. If you're ready to kind of do that, you know, I've got my lemon and ginger tea, so that set me up for this podcast. So I'm ready to go, but I think here's my pitch to you, Mark, and to our audience about why this episode is so important. I truly think that if you are [00:04:00] trying to achieve.

Something special in life. If you've set yourself a stretch goal, you're not sitting on the couch, you're working on it. You've decided to try and be the best version of yourself. If that has happened, we know that as a prerequisite trouble will come, your way challenge will come your way. We might even go, as far as saying, suffering will come your way because you know, nothing that is meaningful will come easy.

That is life. That's the joy of life. And I think that air-con toll sets us up to get through that because what happens, Mark is when tough times come, most people run away. Don't they? Yeah. We we've heard this in a few of our shows as well. Isn't it? It's so this fight or flight reaction, it's so easy to see an obstacle or a challenge and think, ah, that's not for me.

I'm going to go the other way or I'm going to avoid it. And, and [00:05:00] we've seen in so many people that were studied on the show that they were resilient and resilience comes from your mindfulness and your awareness and your ability not to let the situation get the better of you. So if that is speaking to you, then we are ready to do some very deep work.

And what I really hope that all of you do today as we go through the work of Eckhart toll and his book, the power of now that you realize that suffering. Is a choice. Stress, anxiety is a choice. And if you work hard enough on it, if you train yourself, you're being in your mind, you can unlock the power of now.

So with that, I think Mark, it is important that we rock straight into it. So why don't we hear from the guys at fight mediocrity, talking about their impression where they see the magic in the work of Eckhart toll and the power of now [00:06:00] most of you people wake up and have a constant stream of negative thoughts until they go to bed.

And the majority of those thoughts will never actually happen. And the things that will don't even really matter or are simply going to be challenges that they're going to overcome. It's funny that most people might not even realize this. It has become the norm, unless you've tried to become aware of your thinking.

Or tried meditating. You might not even realize what your mind is doing to you. Now, the mind is probably one of the most powerful tools that we have, but the more powerful something is the more dangerous it is. If a person doesn't know how to be in control of it, it's literally like taking a chainsaw and giving it to the guy who has no control over or his limbs.

So why is it that you want to become aware of this or as Eckart totally says, watch the thinker because it's killing you. The more we study, the more we realize that it's [00:07:00] physically killing us. If you go outside and look at people, you will see cortisol producing machines. That's literally what everyone has become, and it's apparent in how they walk and how they interact with each other.

It is literally killing you. Not only is it ruining your life, it's literally physically killing you. So a lot of people have come to understand this. And most people have started to see the value in becoming present, but really there are two obstacles to becoming present and it is the past and the future and people have an easier time reconciling the past with the present, even though I'll still get questions like, Oh, so, um, what are your biggest regrets in life?

And I'm like, uh, I don't know, like playing, you got to have some, but I really don't know because I don't think about that. It just doesn't make sense to take something that isn't and let it negatively affect something that is. And I think most people understand that maybe not in practice, but at least in theory, they understand that.

But the really big problem [00:08:00] has come with the future and the present moment. How do you reconcile those two? I want to set those powerful goals. I want to have a powerful vision. But how do you reconcile that with being present to the moment? It's a great intro clip might because it's kind of building on what I was alluding to earlier on in the show.

I think the core proposition of the power of now is kind of simple. Learn how to be present, learn how to be in the now don't let the past in the future blind you for what's happening right in front of your eyes. But the truth is it's so hard, isn't it? It's so hard to be present. So, so let's, let's try and, uh, paint an example that we can both relate to.

I think, um, this idea of. The past and the present and the future and trying to live into it. I just Marvel at my, [00:09:00] uh, the wrestling match. I go through to try and meditate or think about nothing. My mind is a mischievous mind. It wants to think and be curious and jump around. And so first thoughts here is like, just trying to get your mind to stop for a moment is hard.

And when that mind gets into mischievous mode, You know, here's what happens. You're sitting there and you start thinking, Oh geez, that meeting yesterday really sucked. Or, uh, that, that, that thing, that, that person sent me, I was expecting that to be much better. And now I've got to do a ton of work. That's bad, bad, bad.

And then I'll have, geez, I've got this big thing to Morrow and we're really not set up for that. Uh that's I'm really worried about that. And then this person said this thing, so I don't even know if they're going to be like, this is what the mind does. Doesn't it, it runs, it looked going in regretting the past, worrying [00:10:00] about the future.

Meanwhile, you're sitting in the moment, but yet you're so busy with everything else, but the moment isn't that crazy. I think one of the powerful. Lessons, I guess we've learned from the power of now. And you know, we've got a whole show look forward to Mike, but it reminds me of the Ron holiday book. Uh, ego is the enemy.

You know, you are fundamentally your own worst enemy on you because I'm the same if I'm trying to do that in fact, this morning. So before we started recording, I did a bit of yoga. I haven't done yoga in a while, but I just felt like today was the day. Uh, I wanted to get into the now and it took me 15, 20 minutes to slowly turn down the volume of my mind that thinking mind, that was thinking around, okay, well, what do I need to, to, to consider what's on my agenda today, happening tomorrow, and exactly to your point what it's so and so thing, uh, how am I going to get the response that I want?

[00:11:00] You know, all these things that you can't physically control, your bind is distracting you with. It totally totally is. And, um, you know, the, I think that the, the thing start with is the awareness is that, and we're going to talk about this more in, in, in really embracing the power of the moment being in the here and now.

So we'll get to that later in the show. So stage into that, I think the, the, the, the real thing that we're setting up here is that when you go with the big vision and that clip spoke about this tension, if you have it, the vision of what you, or your product or your project could be in the future, it is very tempting to be drawn into the future.

And to be so in [00:12:00] love with the future that you don't put your energy into the now, right? So there is this inherent tension that you're like, okay, well, if you're going to be the best version of yourself, then you have a vision of your future self. So that can be very alluring and that can draw you away from doing the work in the now.

So it's quite interesting how, uh, echo tolls work really helps us deal with the tension between being present, but having a vision of yourself in the future, because it's almost like they're opposed aren't they? Because if you're so busy with who you might be in the future, are you putting in the work today and low, I've gone through that process?

For sure. And I'm sure some of our listeners have as well where you're focused on. That future that, that, I don't know, maybe it's a holiday, maybe it's a good weekend. Maybe it's, uh, uh, moving country or, or changing job, whatever it is. It's very easy to, to either get excited or get [00:13:00] distracted, like you say, by that future state.

And it's not right, because like, uh, Cal Newport would say, if you're going to get the most productive workout, you got to do that deep thinking, don't you that deep work. And I'd argue that where, um, some of the, the, uh, resonance that the power of now had for me when, when I was reading it. And when we were putting together, the show is it reminds me of just focusing on the here and now turning off the notifications, turning off or time, blocking yourself into action so that you can give your all into the present moment or the present problem.

It's a dangerous tension. Isn't it? This idea of how, um, Your mind can run wild between the now and your future self isn't it it's, it's it's really, uh, I can't wait to get into all these clips. So, so where do we go next in this journey into the work of Eckhart Tolle? Well, it's a, it's a [00:14:00] great, uh, build actually our cards, uh, been listening to us.

And the next clip that we're going to hear is actually echo himself, uh, reminding us that we get to choose which way we want to get. So here's Eckart telling us how obstacles can be opportunities. Uh, yes, we live at the time of great change and also a time of, uh, uh, enormous adversity to, we started with the virus and a great change and, uh, Uh, diversity, uh, actually inseparable because, uh, humans will not change unless they are faced with obstacles and adversity.

So I believe there's a connection between the Corona virus and the, this movement that just started off for racial equality and so on. [00:15:00] Um, the virus presented the enormous challenge for millions of people and every challenge. Isn't about unity for waking up. We may need to talk about what exactly, I mean, by.

Waking up or awakening. It means of course, a challenge, whatever form it takes, whether it counts on a personal level affecting you, or whether a challenge happens collectively when, once there's a huge challenge or of some form of adversity that suddenly arises in the collective and it challenges millions of people.

And this is what happened with the virus and in the face of challenge, whether it's of a personal kind or collective kind, uh, you cannot, you cannot stay the way you are. You can go. Either one [00:16:00] way or the other. So one way is a challenge makes you more unconscious. It pushes you into it, deeper into ego, egoic, reactivity, and negativity, and, um, um, okay.

Conflict with other human beings becomes magnified. So one way it's up one effect that a challenge can have on a human being is it can make him or her more unconscious, more reactive, more deeply entrenched in the egoic patterns. Uh, the other thing on the other hand, a challenge can have the effect of forcing you to become more conscious, uh, and, uh, I have experienced it in my own life when faced with the challenges [00:17:00] of life before I went through a kind of shift in consciousness, and that was 29.

Uh, whenever something bad happened around me, I would usually go into reactive mode and, uh, uh, become very unhappy or angry or even more depressed than I was already. And, uh, so it's very important to, to realize that the importance of using. The adversity that inevitably arises in everybody's life, often on a podcast, on a personal level or on a collective level, uh, to see, to recognize that as an opportunity for becoming more conscious, instead of less conscious awakening out of the egoic mind pageant, Ooh, the egoic [00:18:00] mind pattern.

So Mark, I want to try relating to this and tell me if you think I've got it. But I think this reactive mode, which is one of two choices when we face challenge is where you find yourself with where the ego takes over the mind and you blame judge and get angry at the situation or others. And the other choice is to become more.

Conscious more, self-aware less blaming of the situation, less fighting, uh, of the situation and more aware of what's truly happening. Have I, do you think I've got it? Yeah. Yeah. I would build on that and say you, when you're conscious, you can also allow external triggers such as. The frustrations of someone else maybe, or an additional moment of stress to then be deflected.

So if you [00:19:00] want, if you're unconscious and you're right, if you're ready to blame people, maybe you're angry or you're providing judgment on situations or individuals. And actually you are reacting in that kind of unconscious ego egoic mind as that can't cause it, but if you can be that a little bit more conscious with yourself, thoughts, feelings, reactions, then you you're going to respond in a more, uh, I'd say positive way because you control how you respond.

Right. Um, so, so basically the trap that we need to avoid is being reactive, which is allowing a situation to trigger things like anger, frustration, judgment, and blame, right? He's what Eckhart Tolle's talking about. We need to be more like Teflon, just let those things pass. Don't absorb them because then that all of that, um, tension comes inside of you.

You know, you know, this is why they often [00:20:00] talk about when you allow your, you know, in some of the classics, uh, ancient, Greek and Roman thinkers, they talk about, if you allow your enemy to get you angry, then they've got control of you. So just like if you get angry at a situation, the situation is controlling you.

And I think what he's talking about is be conscious, um, be aware of the situation, but don't absorb. The negative things around you and don't fall into the trap of blaming, judging, getting angry at others or other situations just be like Teflon. I think that's the lesson. Yeah. If you can be like Teflon, then you can, you know, respond to them in that positive way.

I think what's fascinating about this particular idea is again, it feels a kind of a lot harder than, than it probably sounds, you know, our listeners might be thinking, okay, well, this is kind of makes [00:21:00] sense. I get it. If I can control my reactions and if I can get my way out of being in this egoic mindset, but it is, it's a little bit of a challenge.

Isn't it, Mike. And I'm curious to know how do you practice your own, uh, ability to either identify or notice if you're going into that mindset in order to. Get your way out of it. Do you do, do you do anything that, um, is kind of proactive in that sense? Well, you know, something you'll find in this book by a cartel, the power of now is you will find there is this idea of watching the thinker.

And I think that what I do is whenever I have an unhappy sort of a negative thought or an anxious or stressful thought, I am first recognizing that they are negative [00:22:00] thoughts that I have the capacity to change. And what I mean by that is when I find myself blaming, judging, getting angry at situations or other people, the first step I have based on the work in this book is like, hang on, Mike, what?

Whoa, Whoa, your mind is being mischievous here. Mm, there is nothing to gain giving energy to negative thinking because those negative thoughts are almost always driven by the ego. And so this is going to take you nowhere. So even when you find yourself in a situation that might trigger negative, thinking being step one for me is know that you are thinking negative and know that that is as, uh, Eckhart Tolle would, would say, that's the ego driving the egoic mind.

So then what I do is always a couple of [00:23:00] simple things. I always pause before response, I try to create some distance. One of the great Caesars of Rome was told to, to say the entire alphabet before he made a decision. Just to slow him down, just like easy, easy. Don't don't have some quick reactive, um, thought pause.

The second thing here is if you let go of ego, then all I try to do is if, if I'm in a frustrating conversation is just to try see the goodness in the person on the other side, to see that they're fighting battles. I don't know what they're fighting, how, and then, you know, if the removal of ego means, um, that then you choose to serve others right.

Rather than yourself. So if you then just try and go, okay. [00:24:00] I can see a negative thought. I like, I, I name it pointed out and say, okay, that is, uh, I know you going mind speaking that is, uh, my ego taking control of the situation and it doesn't have to drive my response. The classic thing here is when you see great sports teams or bands have these really, uh, uh, big bust ups and they all go their own separate ways.

What has really happened here? There's a group of people that were putting the cause before themselves. And at some point the ego takes over, right? Surely that's how old are these things break up great companies, great bands, great sports teams when it all breaks up a little too early it's because the ego took over, right?

Yeah. It's gotta be right because somebody or someone or some business or a group of people. Yeah. I have decided to allow that there, uh, Reactive minds to, to influence it. Right. I quite like the alphabet [00:25:00] story. That's a, that's a great one. I remember, I remember that, um, something that I'd build on is when you got a, a choice or a situ, if you've got a situation that happens and you are at the mercy of it, whether it's that email a meeting, uh, an uncomfortable conversation and events, right.

And occasion, I think it's within the power of know that that Alcott actually calls out as well. But it's really stood out in my memory is accept that situation as though you chose it yourself. Which I think is so interesting. So no matter what it is, whether you love it or hate it, if you can practice and accept that occasion as though you had chosen it yourself, suddenly it becomes less of a, a grating event.

Doesn't it suddenly you're just reacting to it in a more, okay. Well, this is what it is right now. Um, you're going to deal with it. Yeah. That's, that's a great one. [00:26:00] Um, I, uh, that's really good that you brought that out. I didn't pick that up as much as you did. So that was great. I would say that part of this kind of process, um, to not.

Enter interactive mode. Like you've got those simple hacks, say the alphabet before you react. Um, another one is like, save the draft of the email and the more volatile the email, the longer you should, um, wait before sending. Right. So another thing here would be like, save it as a draft and then return to it in the morning if you can.

Um, I would even say, um, that the context here is, and it's a big thought in his book, which is about accepting things. Um, and we're going to get to actually some great thinking on how you can sort of get there, but you know, that saying, well, it is what it is, right. I think where that is [00:27:00] really coming from is just accepting that someone else might be in a reactive mode.

And it just is what it is. It's like Marcus really is talked about at the beginning of his day, he was getting, he knew obstacles were coming. And that's why that stoic thinking the obstacle is the way that's why Ryan holiday wrote the book. The obstacle is the way I think part of what we're saying here is the undeniable fact is challenges coming your way and do by accepting that, and even Joe Rogan talked about embracing discomfort, right?

If you can do this, I think the keys, a formula to Eckhart's thinking is if you, you know, except. Th the situation or the person is in their reactive mode. If you accept that and you can just be like Teflon, um, you can avoid the suffering because if you don't accept it, [00:28:00] if you fight the situation or the person, then actually that leads to a whole lot of suffering, right?

That's where our mind runs crazy. Our emotions take over and our ego takes over. I love what Michelle Obama says. When they go low, we go, you go, hi. Oh yeah, that was a good one. Right? And that's what we discovered in our show on Michelle Obama. So it's this re reflective action. Is that when others are coming at you with negativity, no, it's driven by ego and you should become more of a servant to that person.

You should become more humble because once two egos go at each other, then it is a mess. Yeah. It's a, it's a total mess. And. I think the next clip that we've got Mike is, uh, actually from, uh, the other guys, wisdom for life who have this great idea of, uh, an, a great ability to raise the [00:29:00] awareness of that act, not saying, and what we're discussing right now.

So this next clip, we're going to hear his wisdom for life, talking about how we should all learn how to surrender to the now first step is awareness. Observe how your mind labels, judges, and creates resistance to what is over time. This will get easier to do, and you'll become somewhat objective of the mind's thoughts and they won't have such a firm grip over you.

You can then allow the present moment to be work with it and not against it, accept it as it is, and then act known as saying that you have to accept a crappy situation and do nothing about it. Remember, it's still okay to say no to people or to walk away from situation, but now let it be a non-reactive.

No. Not from reaction, but from insight except the moment as it is as if you had chosen it and then do something about it. If needed Eckhart calls this surrendering to the now surrender is the letting go of mental, emotional [00:30:00] resistance to what is, and I must stress this point. This does not mean giving up or being complacent as Eckhart totally stated.

True surrender does not mean to passively put up with whatever situation you find yourself in and do nothing about it, nor does it mean to cease making plans or initiating positive action. Surrendering is yielding to, rather than opposing the flow of life. The only place where you can experience the flow of life is the now.

So to surrender is to accept the present moment unconditionally and without reservation. When you acknowledge that there is resistance, you're making resistance conscious. You're no longer coming from reaction and resistance. Once you acknowledge it, ask if there's anything you can do to change, improve, or remove yourself from the situation.

And then take action on the one thing you can do in the now not the other a hundred things that you may or may not do in the future, but what you can do right now, totally also States the external [00:31:00] conditions that were being resisted also tend to shift or dissolve quickly through surrender. It's a powerful transformation of situations and people.

If conditions do not shift immediately, your acceptance of the now enables you to rise above them. Either way you are free. And if you cannot surrender, take action immediately speak up or do something to bring about a change in the situation, or remove yourself from it. Take responsibility for your life.

Eckhart States surrender does not transform what is at least not directly surrender transformed you when you're transformed. Your whole world is transformed because the world is only a reflection. Life is like a mirror. If you saw something in the mirror, you didn't like, would you attack it? Of course not because you would be attacking yourself, become friendly with it, and it becomes friendly towards you.

There are no problems only situations to be dealt with now, or to be left alone and accepted as part of the is-ness [00:32:00] of the present moment until they change or can be dealt with. So see if you can catch yourself complaining either through speech or thought when you're complaining, you are not accepting, what is you make herself into a victim.

Uh, so much to say about this one first thought for you, Mark. Isn't it amazing how Eckhart Tolle has thinking that can relate to authors like Ryan holiday or even Navy seals? They yak are willing like the, the, the truth here is the ability to get over problems to like, and when I say get over, I mean, get over it.

It's a problem. Don't fall into that reactive mode. Remember Jaco, Willink problems are opportunities. I will even go further to say that the work that we did on Dale Carnegie, he specifically says you should accept and embrace the worst that could happen. Because when you do [00:33:00] that, what often happens when you face a problem or a challenge and you just embrace, wow, this is bad.

You have to acknowledge and accept are all the things that could happen. But invariably, what happens. Is the worst outcomes don't happen. In fact, if you start improving upon them, all of a sudden, very quickly, what was a daunting, maybe stress inducing challenge actually turned around to be like, Oh, well it wasn't so bad in the end, after all, actually things turned out pretty good and you know, things are okay, so there's this great saying, um, talking about accepting where things are at not regretting the past in, uh, Dale Carnegie's book had to stop worrying and start living.

He, he talks about don't try and saw sawdust, right? Don't try and fight what has happened. Right? You can't source it's been sawn done except, and then the move out of that also in Dale's book, which relates so closely to Eckart [00:34:00] tolls is he talks about make lemonade with lemons. And what he's saying there is work then with what you do have.

And make, if you got lemons, you make lemonade, don't try and make orange juice with lemons. Right? And I think this ability to just accept where we are and find your way out of it, whether it's through hard work or removing yourself, knowing that you're in a, in a, in a lose lose situation, whatever it is, surrendered to the node, it is what it is, is so powerful because I think we all fall into this trap of fighting with the past and not accepting the current situation.

We're also bent out of shape. We're also fired up. So emotional. So egoic mind as echo would say about where we are, that that belies you from any ability [00:35:00] to move forward, because you're still so upset about where you are. It's so true, isn't it? I mean, How many times have you been so focused on the past that you let a good opportunity, whether it's, you know, a holiday or your weekend or a night off fly by and you realize I didn't take advantage of that.

I've really missed out on the now and this idea of making the, now that primary focus of your life, rather than dwelling in that past or that future, and just dwelling in what's happening right now. It, again, it just seems so simple, but it's so hard to do sometimes. Yeah. So powerful. Now what's interesting that it's come up in the clips so far is it's not about just like saying, well, I'm just going to accept what happens and make no effort.

Right. I think it's definitely, you always make your best effort, but therefore it [00:36:00] becomes easier just to accept. Well, you know, to take a sports analogy. I went out, I paid as high as I could. We didn't win, but I enjoyed myself. Right. I think we can all relate to, Hey, it was a tough game. We didn't get the win, but you know what?

Gosh, we worked hard in those some really fun moments. There's really good moments. So I can still be satisfied and grateful for the experience. It's the same model, but we are where we are. So let's say for example, where we're a band, right. And our albums aren't singing. We would just say Mark, you're on vocals.

I'm on a keyboard. Mark. Did we turn up to two rehearsals? Regularly, what would you say? Yes, right? Yeah, we did that. Did we write the best songs possible? Did we search for as much inspiration as possible? Did we do everything we could? Yeah. Okay. Oh, well the albums just not selling. I mean, that is what it is, except that now be where we are right now, because what you see when [00:37:00] famous bands break up, they all start blaming each other.

Right? Oh, you didn't turn up here. You wrote that bad thing. Oh, you didn't do that. You said that thing, like that's all the egoic mind and isn't it. Yeah, exactly. It's the egoic mind, rather than the, um, you know, conscious one that understands other people, like you were saying earlier, when you can remember that the person you're speaking to, or the individual who sent you an email or whatever it might be is a human being.

They might have their own challenges as well. They might have their own stresses, their own frustrations. Then you realize, Oh, well, okay, well maybe we can work together. Maybe we can come out of this much stronger as a team by being able to share this moment, by being able to share this experience of learning together.

And actually I think, you know, going back to, um, you know, some of the work from Covey with, with being highly effective, that's what he's saying. If you can [00:38:00] learn how to work with others and create a habit of listening and having a habit of, you know, that good collaboration. Yeah. The, the, the situation is much more profitable than, um, perhaps it seemed at the beginning because you had that ego getting in the way and it was saying, well, no, I'm okay here to run the show.

I'm in charge. It's my decision. And when you have that in your mind, that mindset, suddenly every obstacle, every time somebody references a new idea, you're going to feel like shutting it down. And that's just so. Yeah, unproductive, isn't it? Yeah. And we've talked previously in other shows about being the last to speak in a meeting.

We've talked about a lot of things, whether as a, as an individual or as a leader of teams, you can practice all of these things. I go back to something that I'm working super hard on as a, is this book is actually the very basic step of [00:39:00] okay. The. Catching yourself in a negative thought or negative, um, conversation is capturing yourself in that and being aware that, that there is no nothing to gain from that it's wasted energy.

And so rather coming to terms with we are where we are, it is what it is. I can be in this moment, because I think from there, you can then do your best effort today. And this really helps you in terms of being mindful and not allowing, you know, it's really interesting that echo told talks about the suffering that anxiety and stress, anger, and negativity create in the human being themselves.

So if you're going out there trying to build a company, trying to create a community, trying to do something meaningful, you are going to face these moments of great challenge. And then. You can either grow through them or you can [00:40:00] be a victim of them. You can be re in that reactive mode. And I think we're now really prizing apart.

The core thing that Eckhart Tolle has to give in the book, the power of now, which is really understand that your mind is mischievous and it can often take you driven by fight or flight. It can often take you down to that reactive mode that buying mode, the anger mode, all of that, but you have a choice and this is the biggest, um, empowering message of this book is you have a chance.

You can actually go the other way. You can be like Teflon. And you're like, okay, we know where we are. All right. What can we do here and now to start either addressing this, fixing this, or putting it into the situation that's causing this negativity. And I think how good is this? Because so often Mark, I think the big thing here is this whole book of lays out something that is often a conversation happening in our mind.

[00:41:00] We're very rarely even speaking about this mindfulness, this presence, this awareness, it's all just the voice in our head. Isn't it? Yeah. What's funny for me or my journey of going through the power of now was that awakening that you have. I think that narrative that you're talking about that takes place in, in all of our minds is not one that you discussed with others.

It's probably not something that I would naturally have brought up and what's. You know, the bigger, harder moment for me when I was going through the power of nail was, Oh yeah. Okay. Other people might have this too. There are ways of dealing with, or making it better of identifying it and noticing what I'm reacting and this unconscious way.

This is so true. It felt to me, uh, as a very, um, almost personal, um, lesson because of how much I could relate to it. [00:42:00] Mm yeah. Mark, Mark. I would say that th th if you have this realization that your mind is mischievous. Yeah. I think this is very, this is the start, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And look, if we can all choose how to react to certain situations, then we have ultimate control over our lives.

And that's what everybody's looking for. But my talking about how to, to choose what, what people want to do. I feel like we should give our listeners a choice. Our choice of whether they'd like to get in touch with us and help us uncover who next to cover in the moonshots journey. Absolutely. I mean, the reality is muck.

We need help. We're totally lost we're out in the wilderness and we don't know. Who to cover who to study in our future shows. Do we go back to our classics, like even on Shannara for the founder of Patagonia, [00:43:00] Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, one of my absolute favorites, as you all know, Zahar who did the architect do?

We need to get into some creativity and flow? Um, do we need to go to some comedy with Joseph Gordon Levitt or John Cleese perhaps? Or do we need to really uncover some brand new people? We've had some great recommendations. Um, the boy, the mole, the Fox, the horse by Charlie and McKessie, uh, the subtle art of not giving a Mason.

I mean, there are so many places we can go, right? I mean, we need the audience to tell us who do we study next? And, and listeners, we'd love to invite you to go and poodle on over to www.moonshots.io, where you can not only. Get a chance to interact with us. You can fill out our, um, feedback form, where you can give us your thoughts, your tips, as well as the all-important recommendations.

You can also get in touch with us on all the [00:44:00] social medias, as well as via email. hello@moonshots.io, but also on our website, you can see all of our previous shows 122 other shows you can get into our transcripts. You can get into our show documents, you can get into a whole heap of information that we hope inspires you to continue learning with us.

It is a festival of moon shot ism over there@moonshots.io. It is absolutely full transcripts content. You name it, the archive. So get on over to moonshots.io, where you can interact fully with a universe of moonshot thinking and doing, and I tell you what else. We've got a haircut talking about interacting fully with the world around us.

So to throw us into the home straight of this show, we're on the closing stages of the race. Let's once again, listen to [00:45:00] AerCap toe talking about how to interact fully. What happens when you pay attention to the way in which you inter act with objects. Okay. It's use every minute of the day, you pick something up, you put something down, you unbutton your shirt, you take off your shoes, you lift this, put this there, open your back zipper.

You were looking inside, take something out. Can you feel it as you take it out? Can you feel that takes till that? And then you put it on the table. It makes us sound as you put it on the table, and then you have a glass of water and the light is reflected in it and it moves perhaps you drink and it tastes and you put it down again.

[00:46:00] And then you look at a familiar object and instead of using it. It's always as a means to an end here, you have the luxury of occasionally just taking an ordinary object that you handle every day. And just through a few seconds, give it, give it attention and acknowledge it's being just as sled as that object.

Just feel it. See it makes it, I said it makes a noise as you put it down. And again, you bring in sense perceptions, getting dressed in the morning, putting his pants on. They make a noise. As you put them on it a little bit, do things you pick up the tourist paste. You hold it for a moment. Put the cup on the sink [00:47:00] and then turn on the tap.

And then while you brush your teeth, you turn off the tap because you don't want to waste water, but that's not part of the exercise.

You can actually begin to alike and to enjoy the tiniest things around you, that would normally be completely overlooked. The S the thrill, the way in which you interact with a world of objects. And that brings a richness into your life. That doesn't depend on how many objects you own. You don't need to own them to interact with them.

And so you acknowledge their beingness and you, sometimes you might just put your hands as I'm [00:48:00] doing. Here's a table, it's a wood. And I'm putting my hand on it. And for a moment, I feel the smores texture surface of this table. I didn't, it feels very pleasant. And I don't know, but I don't need the mind to tell you that I can, I can sense that as a strange thing is even so-called inanimate objects in a strange way, having a life of their own.

So this, again, it's a nice big clip, which is a, is a wonderful demonstration of, of air-con and the, and the way that he, he thinks and approaches, um, the way he interacts with things. But I think I want to try and go a level deeper, Mike, right? And for me, the reason why this clip. Speaks highly [00:49:00] is where you actually went towards the end.

I don't need the mind to tell me this. I don't need the mind to tell me something. And that echoes what you were saying earlier around this, um, the separation and trying to get away from that mischievous mind and what I want to try and communicate and bear with me as I stumbled through a potentially confusing journey of my own brain.

But if I am getting ready in the morning, I will likely be thinking about the day I would like to be. I'm not a particularly stylish guy, so I'll just throw whatever I can, I'll be thinking about. Okay. Maybe when can I exercise or I'll be thinking, okay, well, how shall I get to the office? Or what should I make for lunch or whatever it might be.

There'll be a plethora of things. Right? And what you notice. Is, you can go throughout a week, a day, a week, a life by [00:50:00] doing that. However, when you take a moment and do what our cart is, communicating there, and you notice the small things, the toothpaste cap for me is, is a favorite because of, you know, there's a little ridges that has, and you know, there's tiny little details that the fog of the thinking mind blows out.

The fog for me would be my distractions for the day. Thinking about all of those various items. I said a second ago about journeys, what are some my gender and so on, everything else kind of blows away. It doesn't it. Um, when you open the curtains where you, uh, you know, uh, allow yourself to interact fully with objects, it kind of feels like all that focus is going away.

You're suddenly in that moment and you can see the richness of things around you. And it just feels like such a, again, such a core. Behavior that I think we've all been distracted from because of the [00:51:00] business of lives because of the notifications, uh, constant, um, disruptions, I guess is the word. I'd say the disruptions from being able to interact fully with something in the here and now.

And this is possibly one of the most pragmatic things that we can take away from the power of now, which is. Notice, interact with things fully in the here and now, because that's the practice, isn't it? That's the practice of thinking what's in front of me right now. And how do I respond to it? Yeah, because I think the, the mischievous mind that I keep labeling just keeps going and going and going.

And you'll remember that something that's come up in this classic series is to work in thought silos or air tight containers. And the reason that you want to do that is you can think about your day. That's fine. Wake up, do your morning ritual, take 10 minutes to look at your calendar plan out your day by now your week, but then let it be, [00:52:00] don't make the mistake that I certainly do where the mystery is.

Mine is continually processing. Um, so I forget to enjoy the delight of a moment. The classic thing is people are so busy in their head. They, and you'll ask them, how did your food taste? Hmm. And then like, uh huh. Yeah. Yeah. Like, and now here is where I want to build on what you said. If you're listening to the show and, and you're like, wow, this I could really do with less of this stress and anxiety.

I don't want to suffer through all these challenges and I want to be in the now. And so let's, let's really focus in on how you get into the now the understanding that I've taken from this book is to return to our five senses. And what I mean by that is Mark. Isn't it an interesting, like when you get to have a great meal and you really, um, [00:53:00] enjoy the taste of the meal, isn't it funny?

The wellbeing that, that creates, right. Like a great source or why don't, you know, maybe you just love this vegetable or this particular, um, type of meal and it's the wellbeing you feel from that? Why? Because you come into the moment because the taste grabs you. Doesn't it, that's a, that's a great example of bringing yourself into the now isn't it?

Yep. I got another one. I got another one. You walk past a, a restaurant or bakery and the smell. Right? Well, so good. It's a sense of wellbeing hearing a song that you like, uh, and all these emotions, these positive feelings come with that sound right. The point that I'm making here is if you want to come into the now look at your five senses that we all have, and really focus on the sensorial, because [00:54:00] what aircard is saying, it is not thought it is deep.

Inside of us. It is our human sensory and it show cuts through the ego egoic mind and gets to our inner self. Doesn't it? Yeah. You don't, you don't think you don't mentally process the song. You hear it and then you disappear. Feel it, you eat it, you taste it, you feel the wellbeing, you smell those fresh croissants, the bakery.

And it just cuts through everything that is getting to the, now that to me was the most powerful thing is like, stop thinking, start using those senses. That's why breath feels so good. That's why massage, you know, when you get those deep tissue massages and you're like, Oh my gosh, like it short circuits, everything.

And this wave of wellbeing, floods around you. That's cause you're in the now. That's how you [00:55:00] can forget the past. Stop worrying about the future and just. Uh, smells good. Tastes good. Feels good. Ah, it's also good Mac. Yeah. Yeah. He's that's what he's saying. Don't let your mind be a sixth sense. You know, don't let it be, uh, as important as those other five senses because when it does, that's when it controls your emotions, allow your five senses to be the ones that direct how you react to things.

Oh yes, that's great. And that will bring you into the now. So once you've, once you've got into the, now you've freed yourself because the mind's not in control. And then you can start to put the mind to work in areas that you control. You can even, and there's like this really great thing of watching the watcher, which is this idea of being aware of your mind and how it's a bit mischievous.

You can deploy your resources. In ways to work pleasure, connection with others, you can do it very intentionally. But what you can also [00:56:00] do is when you can get beyond your mind, you can feel how your body, your true self really is. And then you can work on that as well. And I mean, look, we could probably do like three or four shows just on this book, perhaps for you, our listeners.

If you want us to do a, uh, another followup show, um, on the power of now by Eckhart Tolle, please reach out to us, head over to moonshot study, let us know. We're happy to do that, but we'll let you drive, um, as our, as our listeners. But this to me, Mark is where you really start to see the, um, the power actually of, uh, getting into the power of now it is.

It is truly a lost art. It's truly something we don't speak about. And I think that's what, when, when Erica toll wrote this book many decades ago, I think everyone was like, Oh my gosh, he's given a voice. He is written to something that is all going on in our mischievous mind and he's put [00:57:00] it out there on the open.

And I think that really, really helps us quite done yet. We've got one more clip, one more Pearl of wisdom from Eckhart Tolle telling us how to go out and live in the present because that's the most important lesson that I think we've been talking about today that mischievous mind. So this final clip that we're going to hear from in today's show 123 is at cot toll telling us how we can manage ourselves today.

I would recommend particularly to become particularly a lot when you know, you're getting stressed, something, a situation is building up in some kinds of, for example, if you get anger takes over, when you get stressed could happen. When, when you feel stress building up towards it, you can become very alert so that you can, [00:58:00] doesn't take you over what, you know, the anger is about or about to come.

Or if it's, if, if you know, certain areas of your life are more likely to wake you unconscious sometimes, you know, just beforehand that those are going to arise in the next minute or so. And then you can be alert field the entire energy field in your body. Be a large it with every cell of your body. Then pick up the phone and talk about.

The financial situation where they are investment advisor. So that is treat those as spiritual practices and realize nothing is more important than consciousness, not the situation it's consciousness. Hmm boy, Mark. You really turned it up on that last group that is arigato getting [00:59:00] pretty deep on us. How w like, how do you process that?

Like, what was that it's again, building on the five senses, isn't it? The five senses the we'll have access to and encouraging us to go back to those. The core principles, those core behaviors, there's core things that we can all do. And similar to the clip beforehand, where echo was taking on us, on the journey of him getting ready in the morning, if you can practice those and you can do those repeatedly, you can really live in that moment of noticing how you react to, you know, the, the, the taste of the mint in the toothpaste or the smell of the bakery shop as you walk past it, or even the, the act of walking when you can do that.

And you can therefore live in that present, you can notice simultaneously. Okay, well, yeah, I'm also feeling a little bit anxious right now. Well, that's okay. Because I can do something about it later. [01:00:00] You know, I think when you've cleared away that fog that I was referencing. You are back in control, you're back in that driving seat and it's up to you, how you react or respond or, or, um, behave when you run into that obstacle.

So for me, that last clip really brings it all around. It's going back to that core principle of, be in touch with your senses, with your, um, physical being, rather than allowing yourself to get clouded by thinking too much. Yeah. Yeah. And you can think, we're not saying that you can't think, but set the boundaries to the thinking and know that that mind is mischievous.

You can get very reactive very quickly. You can stop blaming, fighting against everything. And I think that that's wasted energy. Isn't it, man. Yeah. It's totally wasted energy because you can be putting it towards living a happy life. Wouldn't we all love to live a happy life. Mike, rather than [01:01:00] the, uh, putting our energy into something that's a little bit more stressful.

Not only is it better for us in a day to day personal perspective, but also those around us. If you're in a good Headspace or a good mood or in a collaborative spirit, you're going to make it a lot nicer for everybody else who has to work with yourself as well. So change that and notice it change the energy into one of a positive process by being in the now and.

All of your immediate, um, interactions will, will be more positive. Yeah, Mark. I mean, this is, this has been a heavy duty thing. How do you think we did, did we make it a bit too heavy or did, were we able to kind of, you know, break it down and make it a little bit practical? How did it feel for you listeners notice that you can go very deep on the power of now and listeners, as Mike's already mentioned, if you want [01:02:00] us to do another show, we can do so we can do as many as, as you like, because the truth is we could spend an entire episode just talking around, focusing on the now or that mischievous mind and we can totally do.

So I think today has been a great, uh, taster, a great head nod towards the power of Mao and what I'd hope for all of our listeners is if you are. Inspired by the show. If you are interested to learn more, either get in touch with us or go and go and grab the book, go and pick it up. Because as you're probably hearing from, uh, myself, as well as Mike, this book is a pretty powerful one for us.

And it's certainly one that I've got highlighted, uh, on my bookshelf with, with many, many notes scribbled away on it. And we didn't go into all of them today. So maybe we do come back to the Mike, but I hope for our listeners, it's been a great little, um, deep dive into that slightly higher [01:03:00] level that we were talking about much more from the physical being and the noticing of your reactions in your mind building after those practical tips and habits that we were learning from Stephen Covey.

So it really belongs in this timeless classic series. It does. It does. And thanks to you, Mike, for helping me as I'm trying to navigate all this mindfulness and awareness, it is only a work in progress for me, but it was great, uh, to get your help, your support. Uh, so thank you to you, Matt. And thank you to you.

Our listeners, our moonshot is those of you who are really brave enough to be the very best version of themselves. And today we studied echo tolls, the power of now, and this journey really does begin with understanding that the power of the mind can be harnessed, can be used to be present. [01:04:00] And that's the start of the journey, because here's what we're up against the mischievous mind, that negative thinking that is all wasted energy.

And if you know, every time a challenge comes your way, you will know that there's a path and there's two choices. You can be conscious or reactive. And if you choose to be conscious, you truly will be on the way to the power of now. But in order to do that, you need to surrender to the moment, surrender to the now it is what it is.

So stop regretting the past. Stop worrying about the future and interact fully with the now touch it, smell it, feel it, listen to it, taste it, taste it all. Breathe it in. Don't be wondering aimlessly. Don't be absent and lost in your mind. Be here in the now, because if you do this, you'll find the very best moments in life.

In fact, what I propose to you, our moonshot is, is you'll find the very best version [01:05:00] of yourself. So what else is there to lose? Start now and discover the power of now. All right, folks, that's it for the moonshots podcast. That's a wrap.