Being A Witness To Our Thoughts And Actions

I received the following question from one of my subscribers recently and I am posting my reply in the event that my answer may serve others who read it.

Veronica: Would you please help me understand the concept by Eckhart Tolle of “how to be a witness to our thoughts and actions”. I have read about this several times in his book, “The Power of Now” but things are still somewhat fuzzy. Thank you. Annie

Dear Annie

I think what Eckhart means by "being a witness to our thoughts and actions" is exactly what I have been doing for the past 10 days or so.

I have been writing down any negative thoughts that I have, as soon as I become aware of them. I am surprised by how many seemingly insignificant, critical thoughts cross my mind each day. I have always considered myself to be a very positive person, and so I am amazed at how many negative little musings still sneak in.

As soon as I made a commitment to do this, I started really noticing them. LIttle things like, "what a gloomy looking day", or "that person isn't doing a very good job", or "what a terrible driver" etc. I suddenly became very conscious of what was going on in my head.I am also recording the positive thoughts and experiences as well, and in time, there will be much more positive than negative.

Most of us have these kinds of thoughts running through our minds constantly, all day long, but we are so used to them, that we don't even notice they are there. These are the things that keep our dreams and desires from manifesting.

As for actions, I think Eckhart means the daily little choices we make that are really not in the direction of our goals and aspirations, eg. like not keeping our word to someone else or even ourselves, when we said that we would do something and we don't. Just little things like that, that don't seem so important at the time.

Well, guess what? In the big picture, all of these little things add up and keep us stuck!

The objective is to remain focused on ONLY those things that we desire by appreciating all that we already have. Staying in a really good feeling place fueled by positive thoughts and emotions. This is not to say that when we feel very sad and need to cry, that we should not. We should let that sadness move through us. Once we allow ourselves to really feel it, it will move very quickly and we will feel so much better for having experienced it.

In the quotation you mentioned from Eckhart, I think he is talking about those negative thoughts that really DON'T SERVE US. I will give you an example of this. This morning, I suddenly started thinking of one of my relatives. I started to think of this person and of how thoughtless and inconsiderate he is and those thoughts made me feel very uncomfortable. I knew that I was having an unpleasant thought that would not serve me in any way, except to open me up to thinking even more damaging thoughts. (What we focus on expands.)

It does not do me any good to have those kinds of thoughts racing through my head. In fact, it actually stops my progress. I realized I was doing it right away, and this time, I stopped it right away. I even sat down and wrote some positive things that I remembered about this fellow over the years.

It is all really about living your life in a very conscious way. This is hard to do in the beginning, but after a while, it will become much easier and you will begin to notice when you are off centre, so to speak.

That is why Eckhart recommends that we try to BE in the moment. Because when we are fully present in the now, we are not having these kinds of thoughts. When you are totally absorbed in the beauty of a flower, noticing every detail of the stem and leaves, captivated by the exquisite colors and textures, intoxicated by the sweet fragrance and aroma, your mind is only there. You and the flower are one, in a kind of bliss state. I have done this with many flowers and they have spoken to me.

It can be the same for anything that we are doing, even folding the laundry. When we are so enthralled with that one experience, those negative thoughts really can't get in. The illusion of time no longer exists, it appears to stand still, and we seem to have forever.

I hope this has been helpful to you. It has been helpful for me just to write about it.

Funny, that you should ask about the very thing that I am working on. Synchronicity, at its best!

Love and blessings, Veronica