44 - The Power of Now

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Diálogos en inglés 44. The power of the earth.

Philip, what is this book? What is the power of

Well, The Power of Now is a very very famous book. It's a best-selling book. I heard about it first from my mother. She recommended it to me. But I didn't I didn't read it immediately. Um it wasn't until a few years later that I I saw it again.

should always listen to your mother's advice is advies. Ah yeah. You should always listen to your mother's advice.

Yeah advice is incontable in English. Yes, I know. Well I I did listen to it, I just um took a while to sit down and read it. Um so yeah I read it uh a while ago now and I've also listened to the audio version and you've read it, have you? Mm-hmm.

Yes I have.

Did you enjoy it?

I did, yes. I think it has changed something inside me. Yeah. I am a different person now.

Yeah, it's pretty pretty powerful book. And um

Yeah, that's why it's called the power of now.

That's pretty powerful.

It's pretty simple, pretty straightforward, but we live in such a busy world that we don't realise what there is inside us.

Yeah, and so what is this book about? What does it teach us?

Book you find lessons uh and some meditation exercises or it's basically about uh positive thinking about your life and about not letting your mind control you. And staying in the present moment, enjoying every moment without focusing in the past or in the future.

Focusing on or focusing on the future. Yeah, exactly. And uh

Um so b uh it will be a very helpful book, uh for people who feel a bit stuck or who had some bad experience in the past or some people that feel like they need to wait for some specific moment to to come in order to be happy. Yes. Or uh also people who have anxiety or a lot of worry.

Yes.

Just people who are interested in meditation and in spiritual guidance.

Yes, so basically it's a spiritual guide. So I'm gonna read a little extract from the first chapter of the book to give you a taste of what this book is like. So here we go. A beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. What is a beggar, Isabel?

It's someone who is asking for money in the street. So to beg uh means suplicar. Yeah.

And so a beggar had been sitting by the side of the road for over thirty years. One day a stranger walked by. Spare some change, mumbled the beggar, Mechanically holding out his old baseball cap.

Some spare change means si tienes algo de dinero suelto.

Yeah, spare some change.

Some coins, no?

'I have nothing to give you,' said the stranger. Then he asked What's that you're sitting on? Nothing, replied the beggar. Just an old box. I've been sitting on it for as long as I can remember. Ever looked inside? asked the stranger. No, said the beggar, what's the point? There's nothing in there. Have a look inside, insisted the stranger. The beggar managed to pry open the lid. With astonishment, disbelief, and elation, he saw that the box was filled with Gold.

I see, so I think uh the author of this book The all thought. So I think the author of this book the author Author. Yeah. The author of this is that correct? I think the author that's difficult.

You don't need to pronounce the R.

A ver... The altar yes. The author author.

おさ Yeah.

The author. Yes. Oh my god, it's so difficult. The author of this book. is the stranger in the story and he's uh telling you that even if you believe there is not much inside you you just have to stay Quiet for a moment, look inside and find how much you have.

Yes, I think the author is using this short story to show us his relationship with the reader. So we the readers are the beggar. and he is the stranger asking us to look inside the box. This short story shows how people are always searching for happiness outside themselves and looking and waiting for happiness to arrive, but actually if they just look inside It's there already for you to to enjoy.

Yes, you always uh try to to fulfill yourself with external things. No, you f try to find pleasure and happin happiness from things that are around you, like for example, uh some entertainment, food. Some pleasure, no? People go to spas, they go shopping, they try to fulfill themselves with this, but you don't really need any of this. Your happiness is is inside. Doesn't come from outside.

extract that I'd like to read, which I think um summarizes what this book is really about. And it says The beginning of freedom is the realization that you are not the possessing entity, the thinker. Knowing this enables you to observe the entity. The moment you start watching the thinker, a higher level of consciousness becomes activated. You then begin to realize that there is a vast realm of intelligence beyond thought.

Usually we live uh we live our lives and uh our mind is constantly running. You have thoughts every second coming to to your mind, even when you are having a shower or cooking dinner or you're walking in the street and you are constantly thinking, I need to do this and oh no at least This happened yesterday, oh that's horrible. And yes. Uh you feel uh stress uh stressed and anxious, no. But when you realize that this is your mind trying to to control yourself.

Yeah.

Into your your mind.

Yeah, I think that's one of the most important lessons from the book, being conscious of your thoughts.

Hm, this has really changed me because I had never realised about this very simple fact.

Yeah, because we are so identified with our minds. We think that we are our thoughts. Mm. But in fact there is a l a higher level of consciousness that you can access if you Become the observer of your thoughts.

Yeah, and it it's not always easy to put it into practice, but at least if you have this information and you are aware of this, it's much easier to to realize when it's happening, no, and to stop it.

Yeah.

Because I s I know so many people who are always stressed, they get frustrated with any silly things that happen to them and it's because they are letting their mind uh send all these uh negative messages and they are yeah just being controlled by them.

ΑΜΑΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡΕΡ� And here's an extract that uh talks a little bit about that. Um Let's see. I've got my copy here. So the single most vital step on your journey towards enlightenment is this Learn to disidentify from your mind. Every time you create a gap in the stream of mind, the light of your consciousness grows stronger. One day you may catch yourself smiling at the voice in your head.

Yes and and something that used to happen to me a lot before I read this book was that I didn't seem to be relaxed uh while I was in in a specific moment. Like for example I couldn't lay on a beach uh and relaxed there for hours. I was always thinking I have to do something or thinking of what's next or maybe my mind was was still somewhere else if I went on holidays.

You were thinking about yesterday.

My mind was still on my routine, uh, on my normal daily life and

Yeah.

And I don't know, I just couldn't uh stay there and stop thinking about anything else and enjoy myself or sometimes maybe I was

Yes, it's very important because yeah, if you go for lunch and you're thinking about what you're gonna do after lunch, you're not enjoying the present moment. You're not enjoying your lunch.

Yeah. However then you like thinking about this past moment as if it was a really enjoyable time. Lola Oh, do you remember when we had lunch at this place? It was so lovely. Yeah. And you seem to enjoy the moment more. Then in the future, no? And

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yes. And and if you're having lunch and you're not in the moment then You can look down at your plate and all the food is gone and you've eaten it all and you didn't even realise because you weren't in the moment and you didn't enjoy it.

Well you need to practice more of this,'cause every time we eat I look at your plate and it's empty two minutes later.

It is difficult, yeah.

But for example also yeah things like um like yeah having a shower, riding your bike, uh going for a walk.

Yes.

just so nice to

Try to stay in the moment.

Keep your mind in blank and when you are in the shower instead of being thinking, Oh, I have to cook dinner, go to bed, whatever, go

Tomorrow I have an important message.

But tomorrow I have to do this and this or what oh k stress, get stress, no? Yes. Just stay there, close your eyes and just feel the water. You don't ev you are not conscious, you don't even feel the water going down your body, the temperature

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. Or or when you're, for example, going up some stairs.

It's going to be a little bit more.

Going up some stairs.

Ah, going up the stairs.

Mm. Yeah. I find after reading this book I try to make sure that I'm Staying in the moment while I'm going up the stairs and feel feel my legs working and maybe even count the stairs. Um

Count the stairs. Yeah. Okay, I will try that.

Yeah because when you're going up some of the Your mind is in the future when you're going up some stairs, no? Because it's not a very nice activity.

Mm. But I f when I am exercising uh I find it easier to stay in the present moment.

Yeah, yeah, I mean if you're going for a run then yeah, running is like meditation. Mm. But going up some stairs, maybe you're just coming home. We don't have a lift here, so we have to go up the stairs. Every day we live on the third floor And so it's just it's just one of the things you can do to try and stay in the moment and be conscious of the present moment instead of spending ninety nine percent of your time in the future or in the past.

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Yeah, and I like it when I am on my bike. I think I read it on the book or uh somewhere. Yeah, just try to focus on the movement of the bike, uh the sound of the wheels spinning.

Yeah.

Yeah, you stay enjoy the moment.

And uh an important point that Echo Telet makes in the book is that um the past and the future don't exist really in reality. Um This is quite deep, but uh the only thing that really exists is the present moment. If you think about the future, it doesn't exist because it's not here yet. The future is just in your mind, is just an im an imaginary situation in the future. It doesn't exist. And the past is uh recreation of events that that happened but it's not it's not real. You can't touch it.

Yes, he says that time is an illusion. It's true if you think any anything that has ever happened to you. The moment that that happened was the present. Yes. The now. And everything that will happen to you in the future, it will happen to you in that specific day and time. And it will always be the present.

It will happen yeah, now.

Wow, great discovery in this podcast, no? Yeah. Past and future doesn't exist. Past and future doesn't exist.

Yeah. Yes. Wow. That's uh this is deep. This is heavy stuff.

Our listeners are gonna say, What are these crazy people trying to tell us?

If you yeah, they might think that. But uh yeah, it takes a while to actually understand it because um the first time I read the book I was a bit confused and then I listened to it, the audio version, and I understood it a bit better.

And I think it's a book you need to read more than once.

Definitely. It's written in a like a conversational style, isn't it? W between between a a learner and a and the teacher, Ecartole. Mm. Um so there are questions asked and then Ecotole answers the question.

Yeah, he gives you examples and also something that I really like is that after some uh specific lesson that maybe will take you a little while to understand, there is a symbol before you start reading the next paragraph and this symbol means that you need to stop for a moment and think about what you've just read or heard.

In the audio version there's like a chime. Yeah. That you hear.

Yeah, I think that's what it's all about. Seeing the world uh uh from a different perspective and and you can also see with when there is uh a problem uh when something bad happens to you, yeah you can see that different people act in different ways.

Not to cry over spilt milk.

No llorar sobre leche re ramada. Yeah, it teaches you as well to accept. Uh I have some quotes here, maybe I can read them for you, Philip.

This one is very good. It says the primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it. Mm-hmm.

Yes. And I I I think um he mentions how in any situation there are three things you can do. You can accept the situation It is what it is, and just accept it. Don't fight it. Or you can remove yourself from the situation. So go somewhere else. And you won't have to deal with it? you can take some action and change the situation. To make it better for you.

Yeah, this is uh something that happens every day to everyone. We are always complaining about things but then we don't do anything about them. So if you are not happy with something, if you cannot change it, then accept it. It will be better than being trying to fight or yeah, live or do something to change it. But don't just stay there complaining. That's not going to help

Yes.

To smash your car. Ha ha.

Yeah. It's difficult, really difficult to actually put it into practice. I mean, in moments when there is a crisis or there's a lot of stress or something bad happens, then This is i is when it's very difficult to stay in the moment and try not to be taken over by your mind. I think for me one of the most valuable lessons I learnt from the book was um related to what Ecartolet

But you are English. Queuing is the national sport.

Yes, but still I feel so stressed in these situations where I have to wait. I don't want to wait for anything. I'm so impatient in queues or at traffic lights. But uh Ecot de Lay says that waiting basically what it means is that you're not happy with the present moment. And you want to be in the future, you want to be somewhere else. You don't want to be in the present moment. And he says in the book, why not just enjoy the present moment when you're waiting? Why not just

But then this is uh where people will look at you and you are they're so happy and relaxed they will try to jump the queue.

Yeah, yeah, well that's what happens. Yeah. It's very, very annoying here in Spain. They don't know how to queue. They all just try and push in front of you. Even if you have a ticket With a number they still push in front of you. That's what happened to me in the post office the other day.

that's really good but imagine the other person's face

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What?

It's a different way to to look at it and it's it's much much better way to to see the world and to to react to these situations.

'Cause you have to wait anyway, there's nothing you can do. Uh well uh if you can push in and no one notices, yeah you can do that. But yeah. If you the situation is there, there's nothing you can do. So accept it and try to enjoy instead of fight it.

Don't fight the situation, don't give yourself grey hairs.

Mm.

And just enjoy every moment. So we hope this uh doesn't sound too crazy for you and we hope that you might like to do that. Highly recommend it. You can read it, order it on Amazon or You could listen to the audio version as well from audible.com. And the book is in is in English, of course. Um, but you could read it maybe in Spanish first and then read it in English.

Yeah, in Audible they have it uh in Spanish and and in English but also in many libraries on the internet because this book has been translated into thirty three languages.

Oh really?

yes very very popular so yeah definitely I think you should you should try because You can only get uh positive things from it in my I think it has changed my life. Just a little bit.

Yeah, it's definitely changed mine. And there is a sequel to the book, I I haven't read it yet, but I've heard it's even better than this one.

There is what, sorry?

As a sequel.

What's the sequel?

The next book. So I think it's cool.

Yes. And uh enjoy the book and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening.

Thank you and remember to stay in the present moment.

Maybe we should do some meditation now as well just

I think they are sleeping already. Yeah.

Thank you. Thank you for