Council for Health and Human Service Ministries

Word and Deed: Thoughts on Faith-Based Leadership

Nine Divine Spiritual Reminders to Stay in the Present Moment

Last month's article reflected on how small change achieved over time results in big dividends that can provide a spiritually rich life. These simple ideas are hardly new; in fact, you are already acquainted with most on some level of your being--intuitively, experientially, or deliberately.

As the holiday season begins and we find ourselves engaged and challenged by demands on time and finances, I offer the following reminders from Stillness Speaks, by Eckhart Tolle. These nine suggestions will help you remember what you already know: to stay in the moment and pause long enough to take a deep breath.

  1. Whenever there is some silence around you - listen to it. That means just notice it. Pay attention to it. Listening to silence awakens the dimension of stillness within yourself, because it is only through stillness that you can be aware of silence.
  2. Whenever you deeply accept this moment as it is - no matter what form it takes - you are still, you are at peace.
  3. When you make friends with the present moment, you feel at home no matter where you are. When you don't feel at home in the Now, no matter where you go, you will carry unease with you.
  4. A simple but radical spiritual practice is to accept whatever arises in the Now - within and without.
  5. Can you detect even the slightest element within yourself of not wanting to be doing what you are doing? That is a denial of life, and so a truly successful outcome is not possible.
  6. Throughout history, there have been women and men who, in the face of great loss, illness, imprisonment, or impending death, accepted the seemingly unacceptable and thus found "the peace that passeth all understanding".
  7. Sometimes surrender means giving up trying to understand and becoming comfortable with not knowing.
  8. Whatever you accept completely will take you to peace, including the acceptance that you cannot accept, that you are in resistance.
  9. Leave life alone. Let it be.

Shirley Nelson

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