On the Importance of
Acceptance, Enjoyment & Enthusiasm

"Awareness takes over from thinking. Instead of being in charge of your life, thinking becomes the servant of awareness."
~ Eckhart Tolle

I was on the verge of losing it. So instead of allowing that to happen, I took four days off. Unfinished work went undone. But, I would not have been productive during that time anyways. Letting go of all thoughts from work, I found time to read the book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Ekhart Tolle. As with most "self-help" books, I usually walk away with some kind of new wisdom or perspective. This book was no exception. It came at just the right time.

Most of the book centers on defining and understanding the ego, a subject I really did not understand and have been meaning to study up on. I did not realize that the book would go into so much detail about the ego. In fact, the whole time I was reading it, I kept thinking, 'This book should be called Understanding the Ego' and the ideas of the "New Earth" and "Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" were not made clear until the very end. After Tolle turns his readers into virtual ego experts, they are better able to understand what he means by his title. At least that's how it played out for me.

The portrait of "A New Earth" painted by Tolle, equates to what many understand to be "The Age of Aquarius". It is a widespread, state of ego-free consciousness where more people are experiencing an"awakening" and they find that "Awareness takes over from thinking. Instead of being in charge of your life, thinking becomes the servant of awareness."

The most valuable wisdom contained in the book begins on page 295. (I still recommend reading the book in it's entirety, but if you are short on time, it would not hurt to go ahead and start here!) On that page, Tolle begins to explain "The Three Modalities of Awakened Doing" which are acceptance, enjoyment and enthusiasm. When one lives a life centered around these modes of operation, the ego and thus suffering cease to exist. They simply dissipate.

A new season in my state of consciousness has begun, as the infamous Ecclesiastes verse indicates, for every thing there is a season, a purpose under heaven. The break would not have served me well, had I not been in the state of exhaustion and frustration at its' onset and had it not been for the break, I would not have taken time to read Tolles book. Thus, the purpose for everything that has occurred has served me in this moment. This is not the first time I've come to this conclusion, but every time I recognize this, I feel a complete sense of renewal.

Any book that can help one move in that direction is a book worth reading!

Joy and Gratitude,
Crystal Achey

Order the Book