Book Recommendations on the Power of the Present Moment from Rev. Susan Snowden
DON MIGUEL RUIZ
There is only one thing that keeps us from Being in the present moment and that is the constant chatter in our heads, bending reality to fit the lies we tell ourselves. We create a personal history which has nothing to do with the Truth of our Beingness.
Don Miguel Ruiz, a Toltec like Don Juan, offers a profoundly simple means to live in the Now by observing Four Agreements:
1. Be Impeccable With Your Word.
2. Don't Take Anything Personally.
3. Don't Make Assumptions.
4. Always Do Your Best.
Like Eckhart Tolle (see his work below), both men teach that by turning off the stories we tell ourselves in our minds, we move out of suffering. Once we stop living in our heads, and truly inhabit the present moment, we find the Tao of the Now and peace.
The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book
From the Amazon website: "Sit at the foot of a native elder and listen as great wisdom of days long past is passed down. In The Four Agreements shamanic teacher and healer, Don Miguel Ruiz, exposes self-limiting beliefs and presents a simple yet effective code of personal conduct learned from his Toltec ancestors.
Full of grace and simple truth, this handsomely designed book makes a lovely gift for anyone making an elementary change in life, and it reads in a voice that you would expect from an indigenous shaman. It's the how and why one should do these things that make The Four Agreements worth reading and remembering. "
The Four Agreements Toltec Wisdom Collection: 3-Book Boxed Set
From the Amazon website: "This three-book set by bestselling author don Miguel Ruiz offers his most widely acclaimed works:
The Four Agreements reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering.
The Mastery of Love illuminates the fear-based beliefs and assumptions that undermine love and lead to suffering and drama in our relationships.
The Voice of Knowledge reminds us of a profound and simple truth: The only way to end our emotional suffering and restore our joy in living is to stop believing in lies — mainly about ourselves."
The Four Agreements Companion Book : Using the Four Agreements to Master the Dream of Your Life
From the Amazon website: "The Four Agreements introduced a simple, but powerful code of conduct for attaining personal freedom and true happiness.
Now The Four Agreements Companion Book takes you even further along the journey to recover the awareness and wisdom of your authentic self.
This Companion Book is a must-read not only for those who enjoyed don Miguel's first book, but for anyone who is ready to leave suffering behind, and to master the art of living in our natural state: happiness."
ECKHART TOLLE
At the age of 29, while contemplating suicide, Eckhart reports experiencing a spontaneous transformational spiritual awakening and moving into a profound state of awareness. He drifted for a bit, reading spiritual texts such as the Bhagavad Gita, Tao Te Ching, the New Testament, and writings by Krishnamurti, and Ramana Maharshi. These great works helped him to understand what had happened. After twelve years of teaching what he learned, he wrote his first book, The Power of Now, chronicling his journey.
My dear friend, Jean, who is quite inspired by these works, gave me a copy of Eckhart's second book, A New Earth. I started watching videos of him online and find his spoken words even more profound than his written ones. While the message maybe old, the messenger is new. Eckhart embodies the message in his presense, and that is the best demonstration of practice what you preach. I include several DVD offerings because Eckhart is best experienced.
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
From the Amazon website: Ekhart Tolle's message is simple: living in the now is the truest path to happiness and enlightenment. And while this message may not seem stunningly original or fresh, Tolle's clear writing, supportive voice, and enthusiasm make this an excellent manual for anyone who's ever wondered what exactly "living in the now" means.
Foremost, Tolle is a world-class teacher, able to explain complicated concepts in concrete language. More importantly, within a chapter of reading this book, readers are already holding the world in a different container--more conscious of how thoughts and emotions get in the way of their ability to live in genuine peace and happiness."
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
From Eckhart Tolle's website: "Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.
Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world.
This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one. In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates.
Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are—which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently think we are—and learn to live and breathe freely."
Eckhart Tolle: Awakening in the Now (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "Eckhart Tolle's newest DVD, as seen on PBS, offers viewers key pointers toward Spiritual Awakening in the Present Moment.
At a time when thoughts of scarcity often rule the day, Eckhart Tolle reminds us that our greatest treasure can be found in the richness of the present moment.
As seen on PBS, the bestselling author of A New Earth (Penguin, 2008) helps us transcend the compulsive thinking that keeps us from truly creating a better world."
What is Meditation? (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "Can one realize the Self through meditation? Whether you are new to meditation or have been a long time meditator, this talk can change the form of any meditation practice into a meditation without form.
Learn the key ways to go beyond formal meditation. Then, with or without the use of practices or methods, realize and live who you are at the deepest level. Life itself then becomes a meditation.."
Finding Your Life's Purpose (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "If you've been searching in vain to find your true purpose in life, Echkhart Tolle has some straightforward advice: stop struggling. For the primary purpose of every human being is simply to be-fully engaged in this moment, aligned with the natural flow of reality itself.
On Finding Your Life Purpose, the bestselling author of A New Earth invites viewers to discover the twofold intention of our human incarnation: first, to free yourself from thought-based reality and its inherent dissatisfaction; and, second, to express in your own way the grand vision that universal consciousness has for your life.."
Practicing Presence: A Guide for the Spiritual Teacher and Health Practitioner (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "Learn to apply the wisdom teachings of Eckhart Tolle and steer your clients toward true and lasting transformation. At this retreat Eckhart supports and guides the teacher / practitioner to bring the spacious, aware stillness and acceptance of what is into their working modality with individuals and groups.
Session Titles:
1. The Two Requirements to be an Effective Teacherand Health Practitioner
2. Mastering the Art of Living in the Two Dimension
3. The Right Use of "Pointers" as a Teaching Ai
4. About Enlightenment and the Use of Techniques
5. Charging money for your Spiritual Teaching"
Eckhart Tolle: The Secret of Happiness (2 DVD Set)
From the Amazon website: "How hypnotized are you by the content of your life? That is to say, how deeply are you identified with your ideas, opinions, labels, profession, society, culture?
The first step towards finding true happiness is realizing that you have been attached to and seeking happiness through the content of your life. In this extraordinary teaching session, Eckhart Tolle shows you how to become free of fear, unease, discontent, and other dysfunctions of the human mind, by going beyond identification with content.
The deep inner stillness that underlies his words serves as a transmission that will reveal to you your own inner depth, a dimension of consciousness that is one with the eternal Now. This is the only place where true happiness can be found."
Doorway into Now (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "Eckhart Tolle, in his home town, Vancouver, British Columbia, speaks to an audience eager to hear his uncomplicated, insightful and profound teaching that takes the listener through the doorway of the present moment.
It is from that state of alignment with the Now, that true solutions for our troubling times arise. In this talk, Eckhart brilliantly articulates how our history is a reflection of human unconsciousness and explains the nature of the awakening of consciousness that has now become an urgent necessity.
More importantly, this captivating session represents an opportunity to experience at first hand the realization that Eckhart s words point to: who you are, at the most fundamental level, is deeper than any thought."
The Flowering of Human Consciousness: Everyone's Life Purpose (DVD)
From the Amazon website: "In TheFlowering of the Human Consciousness you will come face to face with Eckhart Tolle, for a transformational meeting with this respected teacher and author of the international bestseller The Power of Now.
In clear, simple language, Tolle explains the process of entering this "miraculous" state of presence that is always available to us. We are lost, he says, in the maze of our own compulsive thoughts. Only by ceasing this "mental noise" can we dissolve our egos, and enable the "flowering of a new consciousness" to proceed -- a transformation that cannot be understood with the mind.
From guidance about stress and career, to insights into the nature of the ego and the delusion of time, here is a far-reaching session that documents the vision of this modern spiritual teacher, and the truth he brings."
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