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AS you might well be aware that there is much talk about mental health of recent times as this is mental health awareness month.
My own dealings (I don’t like the words battle or fight) with anxiety/depression have been well documented and my main advice here would be to treat it like you would a friend.
A good friend is someone you would spend time with, get to know, and especially not judge particularly in times of difficulty.
Also if you had a particular nugget of wisdom you would impart that information to a good friend.
To that end I am going to write about something that was a huge help to me in this whole area.
A good friend (you see the chain continues!!) introduced me to a book called ‘ The Power of Now’ by Eckhart Tolle and I can honestly say that it was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. In fact I could add that I would not be here today writing this article only for it.
I must have fallen on a nugget of gold for I later discovered that many other people have found the same gold as to my knowledge the book has sold over 32 million copies worldwide.
I was also very fortunate to download the audio version or the book as this gave me a chance to digest the wisdom and voice of the inimitable Eckhart Tolle.
The strange thing is that this book is all about embracing The Now, and then the realisation that ultimately all we have is Now. The past is gone and the future has not yet arrived so the only game in town is Now.
So if Now is all we have then we might as well embrace it and make it as good as we can.
According to Eckhart Tolle – Embracing the Now is the way.
My greatest awareness is the following when I came to realise that Jesus Christ preached the very same thing when He said — I Am (is) the way.
Note: I always include the word (is) in brackets as things can get lost in translation. Jesus never said “I Am the way” in English as He spoke in some form of Hebrew, which in turn was translated into Greek and then Latin and finally into English.
In any case the real question is…what is the difference between I Am and Now?
You can juggle your brains to eternity and I believe you won’t find a difference. You may as well be arguing over the difference between a tomato and a tomatoe – the same thing only a different pronunciation.
What Eckhart Tolle was saying to help release us from inner turmoil was exactly the same as what Jesus Christ was preaching two thousand years ago.
He didn’t say I Was (past) or I Will be (future). He said ‘I Am’ (The Now) (is) The Way.
He went on to say ‘Come follow me (take my advice) and I will bring you rest (freedom from turmoil).
So in summary finding The Message of my greatest friend Jesus Christ (I Am (is) The Way to the best of my ability has been my greatest Awareness.
Like any good awareness I would like to pass it on.
• Next week I am going to write about — My Greatest Application
